With her eyes downcast at the floor, she knots her hands in her lap, and mumbles, “Yes, well, that won’t be so hard to do.”
“What did you just say?” I ask with incredulity lining my voice as my heart hammers in my chest. I lift her chin to search her eyes for the truth. “Say it again,” I softly demand.
Her eyes are rimmed in red as she stares at me dead-on, full of genuineness. “I think I had fallen in love with you, Travis, and I don’t know whether or not it’s a Stockholm thing, or if I’ve truly lost my mind.” A couple tears of frustration spill over her cheeks as she hoarsely whispers, “How can I love and hate someone so much, all at the same time?”
“Oh, baby.” I lean in and give her a gentle kiss on the lips. “I don’t like to hear the past tense of had fallen in love, but soon, real soon, I plan on hearing nothing but the present tense. You can’t hate me, Jules; you just can’t. I’m not the enemy here,” I whisper the last words on a plea.
“I don’t know anything anymore, Travis.” She sounds so downhearted and unsure of herself. I pray to God she can find it in her heart to forgive me, and truly love me one day.
“Soon, I promise you…very soon, there will be no more lies.” I look at the stone in her necklace, which glistens in the morning light. As much as I want to, I can’t tell her this necklace is her lifeline should our plans go south and she gets captured. I need this secret to be mine, because hell if I know where her head is right now. She’s been through too much for me to be able to predict her thoughts and next moves anymore. Shit, for all I know, if she knew what was in this necklace, she could decide to ditch the medallion and take off to God knows where. Of course Nick would be the one to find her then, since he’s on the other end of the GPS tracker in her hip.
These bastards need to be dealt with now while the chase is hot; otherwise, I’d take the damn tracker out myself this very minute. The device will be like drawing bees to honey, and as soon as they expose themselves, my men and I will take them out. I’m certain Jules will survive the war. It’s surviving the aftermath I’m concerned about.
Jules
“Relax, baby,” Travis nonchalantly says, as if there's not a team of killers tracking us down, ready to pop out in front of us at any moment.
“That's easy for you to say. Not only are you a very skilled marksman, you're also used to this type of villainous lifestyle.” I’m not being a smart ass. My nerves are wrecked, and he makes walking the plank look so easy.
He arches one of his brows as a half-grin easily spreads across his lips. “You’re not doing so bad surviving in this lifestyle yourself. Now, do you want to start smiling, or do I need to kiss you stupid again so you can start relaxing?” he asks, then he glances to his left, noticing an alleyway. “Mmm…I wonder how many kisses it will take before you’ll be willing to have me right in this alley.” He looks at me out of the corner of his eye, wearing a cocky smirk.
Immediately, I blush and look the other way. A deep chuckle escapes him, and I just want to smack him for being so relaxed and carefree right now. Apparently, my non-answer is unacceptable, because when I don’t respond fast enough for his liking, he makes a move. I squeal and lose sight of the sidewalk beneath my feet as he wraps his arms around my body, lifts me up off the ground, and then twirls me around.
“Travis, put me down,” I giggle. The man must have a death wish. How can he look at the perils of danger and laugh in its face? He couldn’t be any more unaffected by what lays around the corner. “Stop. This is not the time for playing.”
He stops spinning me and slowly lets me slide down the front of his hard body as he palms the globes of my ass. I inhale a sharp breath. He’s such a bad boy. He knows exactly how to affect me. He holds me tightly against his chest, and his eyes begin to smolder as if he’s actually considering us doing it in the alleyway. He grinds his hips into me and I lose my breath. This is seriously considered indecent PDA, but somehow, he makes me not care.
He nips at my lower lip, and then huskily whispers, “I’m serious. It’s either the alley, or relax.” How does he do this? He’s acting all horny, but able to stay all-business at the same time. He has me in a tizzy, and my panties are soaked. I wrap my hand around the back of his neck as I stand on my tiptoes so I can pull him down to kiss my lips. Oh, damn, his lips are magic, and his tongue sends butterflies flying low in my belly. The alleyway doesn’t look so bad at the moment.