The Cowboy's Summer Love (19 page)

“Travis, what are you doing?” Tess asked, her hat clutched in one hand as she glared at Travis. If he didn’t quit acting like, well, like himself, something was going to happen she was sure she’d later regret.

“Something I’ve wanted to do all day,” he said, taking the hat out of her hand and tossing it to the ground. He tipped his own hat back, put his hands to her waist and slowly lowered his head to hers.

Tess sighed when their lips connected. Raising her arms, she looped them behind Travis’ neck and stood on tiptoe. He drew her closer against him and deepened the kiss.

“Tessa,” he breathed her name on a whisper, making goose bumps break out on her skin. Burying her face in his neck she relished the feel of their bodies melting into each other as she absorbed the strength and love he offered.

Lifting her head, she pressed hot kisses along his firm jaw to his chin before he captured her lips in a passionate kiss that left them both trying to catch their breath.

“Travis,” she whispered, running her hands along his shoulders and over his chest, igniting sparks of fire everywhere she touched him. His insides were molten and his ability to reason was quickly dissipating.

Leaning down, he kissed her neck, nibbled her ear. “You are so beautiful, Tessa. So warm and soft. So absolutely beautiful.”

She pulled back to look in his eyes and saw the sincerity there. He wasn’t teasing her or baiting her. Travis was simply loving her.

“You look pretty good too,” she said, kissing him lightly. “For a hooligan.”

Travis felt her smile against his lips and nipped at her, making her giggle.

Although the heat between them cooled, Travis knew it wouldn’t take much to rekindle it later.

Plopping her hat back on her head, he gave her a once over and decided she didn’t look like she’d been involved in anything untoward. He popped her bottom playfully then tugged her back into the yard.

Brice, Trent and Lindsay were heading up a volleyball game while Cady tried to show Trey and Ben how to play croquet. Cass and Ashley were tossing around a plastic set of kid’s horseshoes. Tess looked to see her folks visiting with Cady’s Aunt Viv and her husband Joe. The overall feeling of the group was one of fellowship and contentment.

“Want to try your hand at croquet?” Travis asked, as they watched Cady teach Trey how to hit the ball.

“Sure, but I’ve never played before,” Tess said, looking over the equipment. Travis picked up a mallet and handed it to Tess.

“The object of the game is to hit the ball through the wickets in the correct order on the course,” Travis said, pointing to the ball Cady hit with her mallet.

“How do you know so much about it?” Tess asked swinging the mallet back and forth in her hand.

“One of the guys in my squad got a croquet set for Christmas one year, if you can imagine. We set it up when we didn’t have anything better to do,” Travis said with a shrug, helping Tess get lined up with a ball. “Just give it a tap and try to get it in the wicket.”

Tess sent the ball careening wildly across the lawn.

“This is harder than it looks,” she said, studying the ball and mallet.

“Let me help you,” Travis said, stepping up behind her. Before she could turn and hand him the mallet, he put his arms around her, placing his big hands over her smaller ones on the handle. Helping her line up the mallet with the ball, he kept his arms wrapped close around her, his warmth firmly at her back.

Tess could care less about learning to play croquet, but she was greatly enjoying the lesson. He guided her hands to swing and the ball went into the wicket. “See, that isn’t so hard.”

“I’m not quite sure I’ve got it down. Maybe you better help me with the next ball,” Tess said, giving him a flirty grin.

“Yes, ma’am,” Travis said more than happy to provide his assistance. When he looked down to see if she had her feet properly placed and was lined up with the ball, his eyes dropped to the round fullness teasing him from the lace-edged top of her dress. Squeezing his eyes shut, he blinked twice and tried to proceed with the lesson, but his ability to concentrate had just been blown to bits by his glimpse of her cleavage. Tess was a modest girl and had no idea what happened every time she clamped her elbows to her sides and smacked the ball. If Travis hadn’t been so close, peering over her shoulder with his eyes locked in a downward position, he would never have noticed the view. Deciding to behave like a gentleman, he stepped away from her but the smile she shot him over her shoulder when she finally hit the ball successfully was like a magnet, pulling him back.

Trey, who was trying to hit the ball without sending it sailing across the yard, noticed Travis as he ogled Tess’ upper anatomy. Shooting his brother a warning glare, Trey followed it with a good-natured wink.

Travis cleared his throat and stepped back from Tess. “I think you’ve got the hang of it now.”

He watched her hit the ball a few more times and decided he needed to do something to cool down. Visiting the dessert table he scooped up a big bowl of banana ice cream and took a bite. The flavors exploding on his tongue took him back to summers when he was a gangly adolescent and Tess was learning her way around the kitchen. She enjoyed making different flavors of ice cream. He thought it was the summer he was thirteen that she made a different flavor almost every day for a month. The unanimous winner was banana.

Sitting down near some neighbors he hadn’t seen for a while, Travis visited while he ate the ice cream then helped himself to a second bowl. He had forgotten just how good it tasted.

“Did you save me some?” Tess asked, sitting down next to him and looking into his half-empty bowl.

“Nope. You’ll have to get your own, honeybee,” Travis said, spooning up a big bite.

“I would, but it’s all gone,” she said, looking at him with her lip stuck out in the pout that used to get any one of the five boys in the Morgan and Thompson clans to do her bidding. Only this time, instead of finding it cute and endearing, Travis thought it looked seductive.

“Here,” he said, holding out his spoon to her. She took the bite and savored the cold confection, closing her eyes and enjoying the flavor. Travis watched her swallow and lick her full lower lip. He was strongly battling the desire to lick her lip as well.

“That’s pretty good, if I do say so myself,” Tess said, giving him a smile and eying the melting ice cream in his bowl. “You better hurry up and finish that or I’ll have to go find you a straw.”

“You want some more,” Travis said, holding out the dripping spoon.

“No, you go ahead,” Tess said, shifting her skirt to keep from getting ice cream splatters on it. “I can always make some more another day.”

“Promise you’ll let me know when you do,” Travis said, eating the rest of the ice cream so fast, it gave him a brain freeze and he winced.

Tess laughed. “You never could finish a bowl without giving yourself a headache.”

“Well, maybe if you didn’t make it so good, I wouldn’t have this problem,” Travis said, massaging the spot over his eye that was aching.

“You, my friend, need to learn restraint and moderation,” Tess said, getting up from the table and gathering up trash. It was almost dark and the yard was emptying out. Brice and Ben were scrubbing the barbecues while Mike and Trey cleaned up the roasting pit area. Trent and Lindsay already had the lawn games packed and started folding up chairs and loading them into the pickup. Cady helped Michele carry food into the house and wipe off tables. Cass, who had run herself ragged, slept curled up on the front porch swing.

Travis loaded up tables and helped set the Running M Ranch yard back to rights. When they were all done, the only signs that a party had taken place were the bags of garbage lined up by the trash can and the scent of barbecue lingering in the air.

Watching while his family said their goodbyes and drove off, Travis waited until they left before thanking Michele and Mike. Teasing Brice, he inquired as to the whereabouts of his new girlfriend which made Brice flush bright red and say they had broken things off. Travis couldn’t say he was sorry.

Taking Tess by the hand, he asked her to walk him to his truck as he bid a final farewell to her family, who were going inside to bed.

Strolling along, Travis tried to think of something clever to say, something that would make Tess smile or laugh. Instead, he looked up at the sky and inhaled deeply as Tess’ scent floated around him. When they got to his pickup, he turned on the radio, opened the tailgate and tugged her up to sit on it beside him.

“It’s a beautiful night out, isn’t it,” she said, staring up at the inky sky riddled with twinkling stars.

The moon was full and bright, shining with enough light to allow Travis the ability to study every detail about Tess. She’d removed her hat at some point and her hair fell in a tumble of curls around her face and down her back. Her eyes were sparkling, a sure sign she enjoyed the evening. Tess had what appeared to be a chocolate child-sized handprint on the front of her skirt where a tiny hand pressed against her and the toe of one boot was decorated with drops of ice cream.  

She looked like a woman very comfortable, at that moment, in her own skin. Skin that was soft, smooth and warm as it reflected the moonlight. Travis thought he would lose all control when she tipped her head back, exposing a creamy expanse of throat, releasing a contented sigh.

Bracing his arm behind her, Travis smiled when she shifted so she leaned against him, her head tucked against his shoulder. There were many times when they were growing up that she sat just like that, leaning against him, Brice, Trey, Trent or Ben, but tonight it was different. Tonight it was just the two of them - a man very interested in the sweet, alluring woman sitting beside him. There was nothing brotherly about his feelings or intentions.

They looked up at the stars not saying anything for a while then a slow song came on the radio and Travis got to his feet. Taking Tess’ hand in his, he kissed her palm and looked into her eyes.

“You promised me a dance,” he said, his voice deep and gravelly while his blue eyes glowed from an inner heat. “Will you dance with me?”

Tess couldn’t answer as she nodded her head. She knew she was playing with fire, but right now she couldn’t think of anything she’d like more than to be in Travis’ arms. If someone asked what song was on the radio, she couldn’t have said. All she knew was when Travis drew her into his arms and swayed to the music, she felt herself melting into him.

His hands ran up and down her back, shooting sparks of electricity through her entire being. When she felt his lips on her neck, she tipped her head to the side to grant him better access. She heard him moan as his hands settled at her lower back and he pulled her tight against him.

“Tessa, you taste so good,” he rumbled, running his lips along her neck and jaw.

She pulled his head up to meet her eager lips, kissing him long and deep. Pressing closer to Travis, she could feel his heart pounding against her own. Rubbing her hands gently across his shoulders and chest, he picked her up, setting her back on the tailgate.

Travis rained kisses on her cheeks, her eyelids, her chin, moving to her neck and along her shoulders. His lips followed the lacy edge of her neckline, right to the point where it buttoned in the front. That lace had called to him, taunted him, all evening. When they were playing croquet, he kept envisioning his lips trailing along that delicate edging, sampling every bit of skin it covered.

Reason had fled about the time Tess laid her head on his shoulder and Travis didn’t stop to think of the ramifications as he deftly undid the first then second and third buttons of her dress. Trailing hot kisses along the exposed skin, his fingers were slowly working their way from her waist up higher. Travis felt Tess put her hands to his head as his lips caressed her incredibly soft skin. If she was pulling him closer or pushing him away he couldn’t tell. He was working on the next button of her dress, when she slammed back into reality and sat up with a gasp. Eyes popping open, she stared at Travis and he could see hot shame wash over her face.