Love You Madly(50)

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He’d rejected her. That was all there was to it. Not that she could blame him, exactly. She had been horrible to him all those years ago, and since seeing him again she hadn’t behaved any better. It was enough for her to cover her face with the pillow and groan in frustration.

She looked at the clock again. Quarter after three. This was ridiculous. Her daughter was God knew where and she and Travis had until tomorrow night—scratch that, tonight—to find her before she was lost forever.

And Meredith was worried that Travis didn’t like her.

It was shallow and selfish, but knowing this didn’t make the humiliation any easier to bear. She’d thrown herself at the man, and he’d kindly said no.

That was it. She sat up. At this rate she wouldn’t get any sleep, which would make her not just useless later but possibly a threat to her daughter’s life if she made a wrong step. She still had a bottle of Ambien downstairs in the kitchen with the rest of the household medication. She’d been prescribed it after her ex-husband told her he was leaving for some college girl. She’d spent too many sleepless nights wondering why she’d let herself think—even for a moment—she could have a happily ever after.

But she’d only taken one pill before she realized she wasn’t going to start medicating herself to forget. Instead she began yoga and came to the realization that she wasn’t designed to be anyone’s mate and that her destiny was to be happy…alone.

Outside Travis’s room, she paused. But his deep, even breaths told her she didn’t have to be afraid of disturbing him.

Clearly the effects of their little rendezvous hadn’t given him a moment’s pause. Hadn’t kept him up for the past hour, sick with embarrassment.

She shook her head. Men.

She slipped by the open doorway and made her way to the stairs, careful to avoid the creaking third step. At the cabinet, she dug out the bottle and poured a glass of water. She turned, about to toss the pill in her mouth, only to find Travis’s hulking body in front of her.

A scream tore from her mouth followed by the sound of shattering glass. Cold water splashed at her feet.

“Don’t move,” he said and stepped forward enough to grab her by the waist and lift her into his arms to carry her past the broken glass. It happened so fast that it took her a moment to realize that she was being held in the warm arms of the very man she’d come down to try to forget.

The thumping of his heart under her hand made her aware she had braced her hand against him.

And that he wasn’t wearing a shirt.

Immediately she wanted to run her fingers across the smooth expanse of skin, to see if he’d tremble at her touch. She shook her head. Madness.

She should move her hand. There was no need to brace herself for anything now that they were completely still. But she was loath to remove it, the intimacy so comforting and heart-stopping at the same time. She looked up to see he was watching her, his mouth quirked in the slightest smile. So rare it made her stomach twist—not uncomfortably.

“I heard you on the stairs.” Of course he had. “Wanted to make sure you were okay. Did something happen?”

Other than realizing she’d completely lost her mind where this man was concerned? No. Nothing had happened. She shook her head.

True to his word, he had showered, and he now had a clean soapy smell, stronger than the more musky and sweaty scent of earlier, but neither less nor more appealing.

“Are you going to speak anytime soon? Because in the entire time I’ve known you, you’ve never stayed silent this long.”
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How could she form words when it was taking every ounce of control she had not to press herself against that hard chest, to nuzzle his smooth skin with her mouth?

“If I set you down, you’re not going to faint, are you?”

Okay, now that was ridiculous. She’d never do anything so foolish. “I think I’ll manage,” she said, her tone more imperious than she’d intended, but at least she’d spoken.

He released her legs first, and she slid down his body. His smile disappeared.

“What were you doing?” he asked and stepped around her. He grabbed some paper towels from the counter and managed to cover the spill and sweep it and the glass into a pile. She was a little disappointed that he’d slung his jeans on before coming down, but the moment he bent down, giving her a different angle of his butt and quads than she’d previously seen, she was contrite.

“I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I might take something.” She tilted her head, trying to get another angle just as he came to his feet and tossed the towels and broken glass into the trash.