A Bravo Homecoming (7 page)

Twin lines formed between his brows. “Okay, that’s a lie.”

She frowned, too. “What’s a lie?”

“I did think about maybe asking you out at first.”

“You did?” She wasn’t sure she believed him.

“Yeah, but your dad said he’d kill me if I laid a hand on you.”

Sam swore under her breath. “I never knew—and he’s more talk than action, you have to know that.”

Travis shook his head. “He loves you. And he thought he was doing right by you. And I like your dad. I wanted him to like me. So I kept my hands off. And you and me, we became friends. I guess I got used to things being that way, to seeing you as a pal and not as a woman.”

Her throat clutched. If she spoke, she knew her voice would break. So she simply gave him a soft smile and a slow nod.

“Sam…” The way he said her name told her everything. She read his intent.

And she read him right. He cradled her face. And he kissed her.

Their third kiss.

It was as good—no, better—than the two that had come before it. They stood in the yellow room, sunlight pouring in on them, and they kissed.

Her mouth knew his now.

And welcomed it.

He gathered her close, so tenderly. He cradled her against him. She drank in the taste of his mouth, gloried in the hardness of his body pressing all along hers.

She knew him. She knew that what had happened with Rachel had damaged him, deep down. And then all the awfulness with Wanda had only made him more certain that love wasn’t for him. He probably wouldn’t be changing his mind about that.

Not even for her, not even though he trusted her and cared for her and treasured her as a friend.

If she let this go where it seemed to be going, if she took advantage of that doorway between their two rooms, she would have to go into it with her eyes wide open. She would have to accept that she was one Cinderella who would get to keep the glass slippers, but would most likely have to let her prince go.

And what about their friendship? Even she, with her limited experience in the male-female arena, knew that bringing sex into a friendship—even a really solid friendship—could blow it all to hell.

He lifted his mouth from hers, took her shoulders and spoke with tender gruffness. “I could stand here kissing you forever. Or at least, until dinnertime.”

She put on a teasing grin. “You’re so easy.”

He touched her cheek. He seemed to really like that—touching her. Which was fine. She liked it, too. He said, “But we should go back downstairs.”

“Right.”

He took her hand. “Come on.”

She leaned closer, breathed in the scent of his aftershave, and kissed him again, a quick kiss that time. “You go on. I’ll be down in a few minutes. I want to unpack.”

Travis went to the game room and played pool with his brother Jericho and Jericho’s wife, Marnie. They seemed real happy together, Jericho and Marnie. They were easy and content with each other.

And yet, they had that spark between them, too. Travis had always kind of thought that Jericho would never settle down. He’d been the family rebel, the complete bad boy, and he always said he liked his women tall and curvy and gone in the morning.

Marnie was short and slim, with a certain toughness about her, not what Travis would have thought of as Jericho’s type. But they’d been married within weeks of their first meeting. And it had turned out to be a great match.

Travis won the game with Marnie. And then Jericho won the second game. Donovan, who was married to Travis’s sister Abilene, rolled up in his wheelchair to take on the winner. Donovan was good. But Jericho was better.

By the time Jericho won that game, it had been over an hour since Travis left Sam upstairs. He started to wonder. Had she come downstairs yet?

Was she okay? Nervous about being surrounded by his relatives? Hanging back in her room to get away from all of them?

But she hadn’t seemed anxious about his family. She’d breezed through the endless introductions, so cool and easy. She really knew how to handle herself around a crowd now.

And then she’d gone upstairs and gotten cozy with his mother.

The new Sam was pretty much a revelation, all the way around.

He thought of her room upstairs, of the door that connected it with his, of how much he liked kissing her, how he’d like to share a whole lot more than just kisses with her.

Then he told himself not to think about that.

Thinking, after all, too often led to doing. He’d always looked after Sam. And having sex with her wouldn’t be looking after her. There were about a thousand reasons they shouldn’t go there. And then there was the heat between them—the heat that made all those reasons too damn easy to forget.

He glanced at his watch.

A half an hour until dinner. Where was she?

He turned for the door to the long hallway that led to the front of the house.

And there she was. She’d changed into a slim skirt and a different sweater.

Their eyes met. Wham. Like a big bolt of lightning, searing him where he stood.

He realized there was no way he would last the coming week without holding her naked in his arms.

Jericho said, “Hey, Sam. Want to play?”

She smiled at his brother. “Eight ball?”

“That’s the game.”

“Sure.” She went to the table, expertly racked the balls and then chose her cue from the ones on the wall while Jericho broke.

Travis sat back down. Jericho sank four balls and missed the next shot. Sam took over. He watched her play as he’d done so many times in the years he’d known her.

She won that game and then took on Matt, second born and CFO of the family company, BravoCorp. Sam ran the table that game. Poor Matt didn’t have a chance.

She was something, all right.

But it wasn’t her skill at pool Travis was admiring.

Uh-uh. It was the way the sweater showed off her breasts and the skirt hugged her body. It was the flexing muscles in her calves when she bent to sink a shot.

Matt’s wife, Corrine, challenged Sam next.

Travis’s sister Abilene sat down next to him. She leaned close. “It’s good to see you in love again after all these years.” Abilene chuckled. “You can’t take your eyes off her.”

He wanted to tell his sister to mind her own business, but how smart would that be? She and the others were
supposed
to think he was in love with Sam, that he couldn’t help staring at her. He answered as a man in love would answer. “She’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“And you’ve known her for years…”

“Yeah, funny how that happened. We’ve both been on the same job for several months now. Working closely together.”

“Working together. I know how that can be.” Abilene shifted her glance to her husband, who sat in his wheelchair on the far side of the pool table. Donovan seemed to sense his wife had glanced his way. He turned to meet her eyes. They shared a slow smile.

Travis felt some relief, to have his sister’s knowing eyes on her husband, instead of on him. “How’s that dream house you two are building coming along?”

“It’s finished,” Abilene said. “We moved in six months ago. I love it.”

“Good.”

She turned to him again. “And you are out of touch, my dear brother. You know that, right?”

“Guilty as charged.”

“I’m hoping Samantha will make you come home more often. I’m planning to talk to her about that.”

“You’re as bad as Mom.”

“Not quite. But give me a couple of decades, I will be.”

“You’re scaring me, Abilene.”

“Just don’t be a stranger.”

Right then Kira, Matt and Corrine’s older daughter, stuck her head in the door. “Grandma says it’s time for dinner.” Kira was—what?—nine now? She’d always had a bossy streak. Apparently, that hadn’t changed. “Everyone has to come and sit down.”

Corrine said, “Tell Grandma we’ll be there soon, sweetie.” She banked a shot and sank another solid. “Mom. Now.”

Corrine sent her daughter a quick smile and took another shot. Two more solids dropped into pockets.

Kira pulled a face. “Well, hurry up, please,” she huffed, and marched off the way she had come.

Corrine laughed. “My daughter is destined to rule the world.”

Matt winked at his wife. “It could happen. After all, she’s as beautiful as her mother and almost as smart.”

“You’re a smooth talker, Matt Bravo.” In quick succession, Corrine dropped the rest of the solids and then the eight ball.

Sam applauded. “Oh, you are
good.
”

Corrine grinned. “I’ll give you a rematch if you’ll come visit me at Armadillo Rose. That’s the bar I own in San Antonio. We’re closed tonight and Monday. But Tuesday would be good.”

“We’ll all come,” said Marnie. “Make it Bravo family night.”

“It’s a date. I’ll expect you.” Corrine hung up her cue.

“What do you say, Travis?” Sam sent him a questioning glance.

“Sure,” he said. “Sounds great.”

Corrine added, “And Sam, another thing. Friday is Black Friday. And that means shopping. We meet up in town at 4:00 a.m. It’s the first year we’re all going together—all the women in the family. We want you to come, too.”

Shopping—and at 4:00 a.m., no less. Travis had a feeling that wouldn’t be Sam’s idea of a good time.

But she put on a big smile anyway, and said, “I would love that.”

When they went in to dinner, Travis held out Sam’s chair for her, taking total advantage of the moment to bend close and breathe in the faint scent of that tempting perfume she wore. “Having a good time?”

She sent him a look that flirted and challenged. “A
great
time.”

“I’m glad.” He took his own seat, smoothed his linen napkin on his lap.

They’d had the salad and the girls from the kitchen were serving the prime rib when his dad started the toasts.

The first was to having the whole family together. Everyone raised their glasses. Even the two oldest kids, Kira and Ginny, picked up their glasses of milk and held them high. Four-year-old Ginny was his brother Gabe’s stepdaughter.

“To our whole family.” Kira echoed her grandfather.

“Our whole family, yeah!” Ginny chimed in.

Luke’s son, Lucas, shouted, “Yeah!” and sucked on his sippy cup.

Travis was starting to feel a little sentimental, sitting there at the long table with its embroidered white cloth. He loved his big family, and he was happy for all of them, that each of his brothers and sisters had found someone they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with. That his parents had worked out their problems and still held the seats of honor at either end of the table, that they were still giving each other tender glances, so proud of their children, so pleased with their grandchildren.

The next toast was for Abilene and Donovan. Abilene was expecting their first child in May. Donovan caught his wife’s hand as they all raised their glasses again.

And he brought it to his lips. “You changed my life,” he said. “Thank you.”

Abilene’s eyes were definitely misty. “You’re welcome.”

“You’re a complete sentimentalist.” Donovan’s voice was husky.

And she answered, grinning through her tears, “You bet I am. A big bowl of emotional mush…”

Everybody laughed, though Travis didn’t think the rest of them got the joke any more than he did. It was clearly a private thing, between Abilene and her husband.

Travis watched them together, thinking how they had it all. Just like his other sister Zoe and his half sister, Elena. Zoe and her husband, Dax, had a happy toddler. And Elena and Rogan had a big, handsome baby boy.

And then there were his brothers. All six of them. Each had found the woman for him and then been man enough to work through whatever crap got in the way of a good life with the right partner. They were brave men, his brothers. They’d fought to claim their happiness.

Travis realized he admired them.

Maybe he needed to take a lesson from them—and from his sisters. And his mom and his dad, too.

Maybe it was time to let the pain of losing Rachel go. To accept that he’d made a big mistake with Wanda. And move on. To stop turning away from the possibilities life offered for fear of what might happen if he dared to take another chance.

He turned to catch Sam’s eye. She gave him a glowing smile that had his heart beating crazy-hard inside his chest.

And when he reached for her hand, she gave it. Willingly. Without a second’s hesitation.

She amazed him. She could hold her own with the toughest roughneck around. And then, inside of a single week, with a little coaching from an expert, she’d turned out to be one hell of a gorgeous, tempting, sexy woman, as well. Every time he looked at her now, he didn’t want to look away.

He wove his fingers with hers as his dad raised his glass again. “And now, to Samantha and Travis. Samantha, we are so glad to welcome you as part of the family. Travis, congratulations. My son, you are one very lucky man.”

A
t a little after midnight, Sam stood at the bay window in the yellow bedroom. She could see the waxing moon, riding high in the dark sky above the softly rounded overlapping hills.

It had been a great day and an even better evening. Travis had stayed close to her after dinner. He’d been frankly affectionate, taking her hand in his, laying his arm casually and possessively across her shoulders when they all sat together in the living room for after-dinner coffee. And then later, in the game room, when the two of them played checkers, he took any slightest excuse to catch her eye, to share an intimate glance with her.

He also touched her knee under the table. And he brushed her leg with his. He acted like he couldn’t keep his hands off her, like he didn’t want to let her out of his sight.

She’d basked in his attention. And she didn’t really care if he was faking it for the sake of the family. She was having the best time of her life and she’d decided to just go with it. To love every minute and not worry about what would happen when the week was over. The end seemed a long way away. After all, it was just midnight, barely the beginning of the second day.

She heard the hallway door open in his room. Because she’d left the adjoining door standing wide in invitation, it took only a glance over her shoulder to see the light go on when he flicked the switch in there.

“Sam?”

“In here.” She turned again to the window and the crescent moon swinging from a star out there in the night. The soft sound of his footsteps approaching thrilled her.

He came and stood behind her. And he did just what she’d hoped he might do. He stepped close and his big arms came around her. She settled back against his solid strength with a sigh. He nuzzled her hair. She tipped her head to the side, anticipating the touch of his mouth against her neck.

And then his lips were there, so soft and warm. “What are you doing, alone here in the dark?” His breath fanned her skin as he spoke.

“Watching the moon.” She turned in his embrace, slid her hands up his hard chest. “Waiting for you.”

He kissed her. There, at the window in the soft darkness, with only the muted light from the other room and the faint glow provided by the moon.

When he pulled back, his eyes shone in the dimness. “It’s funny…”

Something had changed in him. She felt it,
knew
it. She touched his lower lip, so soft compared to the rest of him. “Tell me.”

“I roped you into coming here, into pretending we’re in love.”

“Uh-uh, you didn’t rope me into anything. I came because you offered me the way to make some changes in my life. And also because you’re my friend and I’ll do just about anything to back up a friend.”

He framed her face in his two hands. “Even something pretty stupid?”

She gave a low chuckle. “Yeah. For a friend like you, I’ll even do stupid.”

He traced her brows with a touch that lingered. “I want you to know…”

“What?”

“I think I’ve been played by my own game.”

“Played?”

“I think I…needed for this to be fake. At first. Otherwise, I couldn’t make myself take the leap. Take the chance.” He shook his head. “Am I making any damn sense at all?”

She held his gaze. “You are making perfect sense.”

He brushed her cheek with his thumb. “So…if this, with us, turned into something real…” Her heart expanded inside her chest. And the darkened yellow room suddenly seemed a magic and wondrous place, filled with light. He asked, “Could you maybe be into it?”

She didn’t play coy. Coy wasn’t her style. “I could. Yeah. No maybe about it.”

He sucked in a slow breath, said her name so softly. “Sam.”

She commanded, “Kiss me again.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. He took her mouth, his tongue delving in. She kissed him back, stoking the fire. And she pressed her body against him, drinking in the groan it brought from deep in his throat, feeling the hard ridge beneath his fly, the proof that he really did want her. Her breasts tingled and down below she felt so soft and hot, a melting kind of heat…

When that burning kiss ended, he said, “I don’t want to push you…” His voice was low and rough.

She gave a husky laugh. “Oh, yeah, you do.”

His mouth quirked up at one corner. “All right. I do.” Then he grew serious. “I know you’ve been hurt, Sam.”

She held his gaze. “We both have.”

“And this is pretty sudden.”

“Sudden? We’ve been friends for twelve years.”

“You know what I mean.” He looked at her so intently. As though he could see into her heart and liked what he saw.

She confessed, “Yeah, I do know.” Joy. She felt such joy. It filled her like a golden light, bright as the sun. She laid her hands on his chest again. She could feel his heartbeat. And the diamond he’d given her caught a random ray of light from the other room and glittered in the darkness.

Somehow, the sight of that sparkling stone brought the doubts creeping in, turning the golden glow of her joy a little gray around the edges.

This magic between us started with a great, big lie….

And they were
still
lying to his family.

He must have seen the shadows in her eyes. “What? Tell me.”

She touched the side of his face. “I was thinking that maybe we need to stop lying to your family.”

He didn’t hesitate. “Fine. We’ll tell them in the morning.”

She winced. “You’re so brave. And all of a sudden, I’m a total coward.”

“It’s your call.”

She wrinkled her nose at him. “You always say that.”

His eyes shone. “Because it is—and you can look at this way….”

“I’m listening. Give me an excuse
not
to tell them. And make it a good one.”

“All right. How about this? Tonight the lie is starting to become the truth.”

She did like the sound of that. “Not bad.” She turned in his embrace, taking his arms, wrapping them around her again, resting back against him, absolutely loving how easy it was becoming for her—to touch him. To
be
touched by him.

His lips brushed her hair. “I’m just saying we could wait awhile. See where this goes. Now it’s not about my family anymore. It’s about us. You and me.”

“Us,” she echoed, loving the sound of that simple little word. She gazed out at the moon. Really, he did have a point. They weren’t lying to his family anymore—or they weren’t
completely
lying. Not if they were really together now.

A lie is a lie,
said a reproachful voice in the back of her mind.

Sam shut her eyes with a sigh.

Travis whispered in her ear, “Do me a favor.”

She sighed again. “Anything. You know that.”

“Don’t overthink it. Decide tomorrow.”

He was right. About everything. They would bust themselves to his family. Or they wouldn’t.

It would work out between them—or it wouldn’t.

That was the beauty of falling for Travis. She trusted him so completely. He wasn’t Zachary Gunn. Travis was the right man to take a chance on.

This, for them, tonight, was the real beginning.

You didn’t ask how it would end when you were only at the beginning.

You had to be willing. Truly willing. She saw that now. Willing to give yourself, willing to let the right man hold your heart in his hands.

Willing to open yourself.

Yeah, she might get hurt. Her heart could end up bruised and battered. But a heart, after all, was for loving.

And loving was about what you gave, not what you got back.

He took her shoulders, turned her to face him again. And he kissed her.

Everything made sense then, when his mouth touched hers. She put away her doubts and kissed him back. She drank in the taste of him, reveled in the feel of him.

A few moments later, he whispered in a prayerful voice, “I want to be with you, Sam. All night long.”

“I want that, too.” She touched his hair, at his temples, loving the warmth of the silky strands against her fingertips, loving that he saw her—
really
saw her—as a woman now.

“But I don’t want to rush you,” he said, so tenderly. “And I’ve got nothing. No condoms.”

She gave him a slow smile. “We could probably manage to find some of those tomorrow….”

“Tomorrow.” He made a low sound, almost a groan. “You’re right. We need to wait.” But his eyes said he didn’t want to let her go. And he didn’t let her go. He gathered her close again, kissed her some more.

Long, endless arousing kisses.

His hands caressed her back, moving lower, cupping the twin curves of her bottom, bringing her tightly into him. So she could have no doubt of her effect on him.

Sam loved every touch, every brush of his lips against her own, every stroke of that hot, hungry tongue of his. She didn’t want to stop any more than he did.

But she knew that they had to.

And so did he.

With a low, bleak-sounding moan, he took her by the arms and put her away from him. His dark eyes blazed down at her. “Good night. I mean that.” He released her and stepped back. And then he turned sharply on his heel and started for the open door to his room.

Sam realized then, as he walked away from her, that she couldn’t do it—she couldn’t let him go.

In an instant, she’d kicked off her shoes, whipped her sweater over her head and reached behind her to unclasp her bra. “Travis.” She dropped the bra to the floor.

He turned. Saw her standing there, naked from the waist up. His eyes flashed molten. He said something dark and intimate. She couldn’t make out the word. But she took his meaning. “Sam, come on. Don’t do this to me.”

“You could…stay here with me tonight,” she said softly, feeling suddenly shy and way too vulnerable. “We could…be together in every way but that one.”

He said her name again, raggedly, “Sam…” It was a plea.

“Well, I mean…” It was hard to keep holding those burning eyes of his. But she did it, somehow. She didn’t look away. “If that’s all right with you. If that’s…something you would feel comfortable with.”

“Comfortable.” He growled the word. And then he came back to her in three long strides. “You have no clue what you do to me, do you?”

She felt a smile tremble across her lips. “Oh, I think I do. I think…you do the same thing to me.”

He took her shoulders. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

“I know exactly what you mean.”

“You are so beautiful. You always were. Why didn’t I see it before? How could I have been so blind?”

“Stop talking, Travis. Stop talking and kiss me.”

He obeyed. He kissed her, so deeply, as his hands strayed, skimming the tops of her shoulders—and downward. He cupped her breasts.

It felt wonderful. Perfect. Just right.

She started walking, guiding him backward, toward the waiting turned-back bed. They fell across it, kissing and kissing, pulling at each other’s clothing, rolling, so she was on top. And then he was on top.

There were clothes flying everywhere. His shoes hit the bedside rug, one thud. And then another. His sweater landed on the lamp, his socks…

Who knew where his socks went?

They were gone. And so were his jeans.

And his silk boxers, too.

She rolled again, to gain the top position. And she loved the way he felt, pressed so close, skin to skin. At last.

He whispered her name as she kissed him.

She touched him, running her hungry hands over his broad, hard chest, tracing the sexy trail of hair that ran down the center of him, over his flat belly, and lower, all the way to where the hair grew thick between his lean hips. Then she encircled him.

He was so hard. She stroked him, still kissing him. He groaned his pleasure into her open mouth. She had no shame with him, no shyness, even though she’d only known one other man, one single time, before him.

Her skirt was off and then so were the little panties that matched the hot-pink bra she’d dropped on the floor by the windows.

And then he touched her. In her most secret place. She opened for him.

And after that, well, she lost track of the world. Of time. Of everything.

There was only his caress, his magical, tender fingers making her body feel weightless and yet heavy and lazy at the same time. Making her rock her hips up to him, making her beg him not to stop.

Never, ever to stop.

There were no barriers. She felt utterly safe—and yet in danger, too. A tempting sort of danger, the kind that couldn’t be denied.

He urged her onward, into the expanding hot light of her own pleasure, until she felt herself hitting the peak. Oh, it was wonderful. The waves of completion rippled outward, from her center to the top of her head, the tips of her fingers, down all the way to her toes.

Until there was nothing but his touch. And her body. And the slow, delicious fade into sweet satisfaction.

A little later, she took him to the same place he had taken her.

And then at last, side-by-side under the covers, cuddled up close, they whispered together.

They talked about their work on the
Deepwater Venture.

She told him that yes, she was still sure that she wanted to try for a land job now. “This may sound crazy, but I’m thinking of going back to school. I mean, more than just a few classes. I have enough money put away to go for two years, straight through. With the online classes I’ve taken, I’ve almost got my bachelor’s degree already. I’m thinking I might like to become an accountant.”

He blinked. “That’s a long way from being a tool pusher, Sam.”

“I know, but that’s okay. It’s
good.
I’m pretty damn smart, you know?”

“I do know.”

“And I want to try something completely different.”

“You want to get out of the oil business?”

“Could be.” She rolled to her stomach, braced up on her elbows. “But then, the oil business needs accountants, too, right?”