More than a Mistress(26)

He grinned. "Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know. Everything. Eating a hot dog bought from a pushcart."

"Ah. Definitely a gourmet experience, not to be missed."

"Go on, laugh. But it's something I always wanted to do."

"I am not laughing, Princess." Travis grinned. "Why would a guy laugh,  when he finds out his woman would rather have him spring for a two-buck  hot dog than a two-hundred-dollar meal at the latest bistro?"

"Is that what I am?" Alex said, her color deepening. "Your-your woman?"

"Yes." His smile tilted. "I know what you said-what we both said-about  not getting tied down, about not wanting commitment, but while you're  with me-"

"For as long as it lasts, you mean."

"That's right. For as long as it lasts, you're mine."

The angle of his jaw dared her to argue. What would he do if she did? If she said, I'll sleep with as many men as I want...

Except, it would be a lie. How could she want any man, after Travis? How could she ever want...

"Alex? If you don't like the ground rules, tell me. Because I don't  share." His voice roughened as their eyes met. "You see only me. You  sleep only with me."

"Are the rules the same for you?"

His mouth twisted. "Yes."

She nodded. "All right."

"Okay, then. That's settled." A minute went by, and then Travis cleared  his throat. "So, what else is on this Wish List of yours, Princess?"

She smiled. "Oh, lots of other dumb things."

"For instance?"

"Well ... driving a car like your Porsche."

"Aha. The lady has a hankerin' to put the pedal to the

metal, hmm?"

"I had a little convertible once," she said dreamily. "A red one..."

"And?"

Alex gave herself a brisk shake. "This is silly. I'm a grown woman, Travis. These are childhood wishes-"

He reached across the seat and took her hand. "My very first car was a red convertible."

She looked at him. "Really?"

"Uh-huh. It was a Mustang, so old it was damn near an antique." He  flashed her a quick smile. "Took me a whole year of savin' up to buy it,  too. What I got paid for workin' the barns. Rodeo money-"

"Rodeo...?" Alex laughed. "I was right! You are a cowboy."

"I rode bulls." He squeezed her hand, took his away and laid it back on  the Comanche's yoke. "I had some crazy dream of becoming champion."                       
       
           



       

"Whoops," she said, "there's got to be a lawyer joke here somewhere. Like, it takes a lawyer to turn a bull into a steer..."

"Very funny," Travis said wryly. "What happened was, my second time out,  I got two ribs busted and my nose broke. So I decided maybe there was a  better way of making a dollar than getting my neck broke."

Alex clasped her hands in her lap. "Ah."

"Ah, what?"

"That explains the nose. I wondered how that had happened."

"Uh-huh." Travis touched his finger to the bump. "I was gonna have it fixed but Catie said-"

"Catie?"

"My stepsister. She said it would drive the girls wild." He chuckled. "So I let it alone."

Alex smiled. "Well, I'm glad you listened to Catie. She was right."

"Was she, now?"

"Stop fishing for compliments, Mr. Baron."

Travis laughed, reached for Alex's hand and brought it to his lips.  "Okay, darlin'. Now you know I was once crazy enough to think I could be  a bull rider. And that I had me a red Mustang."

"I love it when you lapse back into that drawl of yours."

"Me? Drawl? Why, darlin', whatever do y'all mean by that?" He smiled.  "You going to tell me what else is on that list of yours, or do I have  to guess?"

Alex sighed. "Honestly, it's all so silly... Okay. I always wanted to  drive a fast car. And ride a roller coaster. Oh, and walk in the rain."

"You've never walked in the rain?"

"Not barefoot. Not without an umbrella. Not with my face turned up to  the drops." She gave a little laugh. "I must sound like an idiot."

"You sound like a woman who's fallen into exactly the right hands, Ms.  Thorpe," Travis said solemnly. "Here, right beside you, is a man who  hates shoes-"

"That's because he prefers boots."

"Well, yeah." He chuckled. "But not on the beach, where I live."

"You live on the beach?"

"Uh-huh. I have a house at Malibu."

"Oh, that must be wonderful. The sea, the sand, the sky..."

"Now you're going to tell me you've never been to the beach," Travis said, with a little smile.

"Of course I've been to the beach. San Tropez. Martinique..."

"What about right here, in southern California?"

"The truth?"

"Uh-huh."

She laughed. "Never."

"Never? As in, not even once?"

"No. Carl and my father both thought too many liberal Hollywood-types owned houses on those beaches."

Travis shook his head. "What a deprived childhood you had, Ms. Thorpe!  No wading in the water. No walking in the rain. No roller coasters or  chili dogs..."

"Chili dogs?"

"Trust me on this, darlin'. A naked hot dog's nothin', compared to a  chili..." Travis paused and pressed a button on the yoke. "Piper  five-eight foxtrot." His voice was suddenly brisk, his tone all  business. "Roger. Traffic left to right, across my heading."

Alex sat back, watching with fascination as Travis scanned the sky  around them. He had so many faces-it amazed her, how readily she'd  written him off that first night, that first weekend. Had she been  afraid of letting herself see the real man? No. That was silly. Why  would she have done that? The real man was the one she'd been searching  for, when she'd gone into the auction on Friday night.

She'd wanted someone to teach her what sex was really like, and she'd  found him. She'd wanted a lover women dream about-a lover she'd dreamed  about, and she'd found that, too. Travis had awakened her to passion.  She'd become a different woman, in his strong arms. And, when their  affair ended, she'd walk away, head high.

She'd gone into this with her eyes open, not wanting a fairy-tale ending  but her own identity. Her independence. She had a lot of years to make  up for. The last thing she wanted was a man who'd demand things of  her-aside from the pleasure she brought him in bed.

And she had brought him that pleasure. The things he'd whispered to her,  the ways he'd touched her ...oh yes, she'd made him happy, in bed.

But he wouldn't ask for more than that. Well, good. That was how she  wanted it. It was exactly how she wanted it. She wanted a lover, in this  new existence of hers, not a man interested in forever after.

She wanted Travis, just as he was.

Of course she did, Alex thought, and turned her face blindly to the window as the Comanche soared through the sky.



"I didn't mean we had to do it all tonight," Alex said, as she stared up  at the huge steel structure that rose in stomach bending loops, high  above the Magic Mountain Amusement Park.

Travis clasped her hand in his. "We aren't," he said lazily. "So far, all we've done is have hot dogs-"                       
       
           



       

"Chili dogs," Alex said, and smiled. "Fantastic!"

"See what I mean, darlin'? You have to trust me. I said you'd love 'em,  and you did." He jerked his head toward the 'coaster. "And you're gonna  love that, too. Unless, of course, you've changed your mind."

"Just listen to you, Cowboy." Alex laughed. "You're trying to sweet-talk me into getting on that thing."

"I am, for a fact." Travis put his hand under her chin and tipped her  face to his. "I won't let anything happen to you, Princess." He bent to  her and brushed his mouth over hers. "I'll hold on to you, tight, all  the way down."

She smiled into his eyes. "You promise?"

"Cross my heart." He drew her closer and kissed her, long and sweet.  "I'll always take care of you, Alex," he said softly. "Always."

No, she thought, no, he wouldn't.

Her vision blurred again, the same as it had when they'd left the airport. But she managed to smile and kiss him back.

"In that case, Mr. Baron," she said lightly, "lead on."

But, once on the roller coaster, Alex screamed.

She shrieked.

She clung to Travis and swore she was going to die.

And, when the ride ended, she dragged him to the end of the queue and made him take her up again.

Travis figured she'd have begged for a third ride, if he hadn't diverted  her attention by asking her if she'd ever tasted cotton candy.