That was all it took. She swirled around and her face lit up. "
Si
, Travis. Y-yes. They are wonderful."
Happiness exploded from her. Her eyes flashed and twin dimples popped out on her cheeks. Travis wanted to reach out and touch her so bad he could taste it. He was fairly salivating; he wanted it so badly.
"I picked them up because of you, you know." The minute the words left his mouth, he was appalled he had said them.
Her eyes widened. "R-really? For me?" Her words were a breathless whisper.
He decided to go with it. Hell, it was the truth. "Sure. I don't need any damn skunks.
I thought you might enjoy watching them. I heard about this old farmer years ago, up in the Panhandle, who raised a couple of baby skunks. I knew that the mama cat would probably accept them. She was nursing her babies, anyway. So I picked the damn things up."
He came to a sudden halt when the timer on the microwave started beeping.
A soft, extremely feminine look crossed her features. "Thank you, Travis. It m-means a lot th-that you think of me for this." In her confusion, her words got tangled up. She watched him for several beats of her heart, then quickly turned to the microwave.
His chair scraped back, and she put the leftovers in front of him. She turned to the refrigerator to pour him a large glass of iced tea, and he asked, "Who told you about them?"
She put the drink in front of him and stood beside his chair. "Juan. He took me to the old barn."
Travis swallowed a large bite and took a drink of tea. "Yeah, well, he stole my thunder. I wanted to show them to you."
He sounded like a little boy who hadn't gotten what he wanted. Pleasure speared through Selena, and she leaned over and gently kissed his cheek, then moved away to the door leading to the living room. "Thank you, Travis." Her heart was in her eyes as she turned and left the room.
****
Selena agreed and ran to the house to pack up the sandwiches and a water bottle.
She met Gus around the front and jumped up into the old farm truck. The drive wasn't as quick as she anticipated. They seemed to travel over miles of dirt roads and terraces. It was almost June, and the ranch was an explosion of color. The dirt was red, newly tilled, a multitude of wildflowers grew all over the pastures, and the leaves on the trees scattered about were a bright, deep green. The horizon was dotted with black, moving figures that Gus pointed out as the Black Angus herd.
Everything looked vibrant and alive.
Selena soaked in the beauty around her.
Finally, the truck pulled up and Selena saw a horse grazing and Travis nearby, bent over, his naked back glistening in the sun. He looked up when he saw the truck pull up. A scowl crossed his face when Gus and Selena got out of the truck.
They walked over to him. Travis ignored Selena and turned to Gus. "What's up?
Why'd you bring her here?"
"She brought your lunch, Boss. I guess she was worried about you." Travis looked away from Gus to Selena who was holding a large sack and hesitantly watching him. "You want the food? I'll drive her back." Gus waited for an answer.
"No. She can stay with me. You go on back to work. I'll bring her back to the house when I'm done here. Thanks." He turned away and began wiping his hands on a rag already dirty with grease stains.
"See ya' later, then." Gus walked off, and the truck roared away.
Travis threw the rag to the ground and swiped the bag out of her hand. He opened the top and took out the water bottle. He guzzled half of it and took out a sandwich and unwrapped it. "I'm beginning to think you don't understand English as well as I thought, Selena. I specifically told you to stay away from the hands and stay at the house. In fact, I've told you more than once." He took a large bite and started eating the sandwich like a starving man. He wolfed it down and started on the second one.
Selena watched him in amazement as he ate the food she brought, and yelled at her for bringing it at the same time. She stood in silence. She didn't know how to react. His moods were ever changeable, volatile.
He ate, standing up, and scrunched up the bag when he was finished. "You got anything to say to me? Anything in your defense?"
"Am I on tri--trial?"
"Yeah, you're on trial. And I'm the only judge you're going to get. No jury of your peers. Just me. My decision. Got that?" His voice rose.
Selena took a step back from him. "What's wrong w-with you? How can you b-be so nice and then s-so mean?"
He stalked toward her. "Really?" He reached down and swiped her wrist and held it tightly in his grip. "Really? You don't get it yet? You haven't quite figured it out? I told you what happens when a man wants something he can't have. Have you forgotten so soon? Are you saying I can have it? Are you? I tell you what, Angel, you let me take you back to the house, strip you naked every night. You sleep in my bed, and we'll see just how nice I can be." He slammed his mouth down on hers. His tongue went deep, tasting her sweetness. He pulled her into his body, his erection straining against her. He lifted his mouth from hers. His hand went to the back of her head and grabbed hold of her hair and pulled until her eyes were on his.
His face was menacing, his hold on her uncompromising. He fisted his hand in her hair until she was completely captive. His other hand went to her neck and felt her racing heartbeat. His hand roamed down and settled on her breast. Her flesh swelled against his palm, her nipple hardening. His thumb moved back and forth across the tight little pebble.
They stood there, panting together. His touch gentled, and his words became beguiling. "Come on, baby. You don't want to be a virgin forever, do you?" His mouth lowered and he took a gentle kiss from her parted lips. "I can make it good for you. You don't need to be scared. I won't hurt you. It won't hurt at all."
Selena stiffened and fear went through her. Fear of herself, not of him. God, she wanted to say yes. She wanted to be naked in his arms. Everything he said, she craved, also. She craved his kisses, his touch. She wanted to know what it would be like with him. He made her knees weak. He made her tremble. She had only known him a couple of weeks, but he was the one.
Shock reverberated through her system. She thought he was the one, but he only wanted to use her.
She pulled away from him, accusation in her eyes.
He stood in front of her, blatant masculinity dripping from his pores. He had a dominant nature, and she felt its intensity now.
His eyes were riveted on her, his nostrils flaring.
Goddammit
! He had sworn to himself that he wasn't going to try to seduce her, and then he had gone and done just that. "Shit." He turned away and dug his cell phone from his pocket, flipped it open and pressed a button. He spoke into the phone. "Yeah, get back here and take her back to the house."
He ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket. "I'm not going to apologize. You're playing with fire and you know it. You better watch out, little girl, because you're going to get burned. I want you to get back to that house and stay there. You can go to the barn and see those damn skunks, but that's it. Nowhere else. You stay away from the men." He grabbed her chin in his hand and lifted.
"And when you get back to the house, you better make me something real sweet for dessert, because I want something for all the
goddamn
trouble you're causing me."
Two days later, the UPS truck delivered the packages.
Selena carefully opened the front door and made sure the snake was nowhere to be seen. The UPS guy was steadily going back and forth to his truck, dumping box after box on the front porch. When it was all finished, she thanked him and stood staring at the ten boxes. Maybe she should have asked him to take it all around to the barn, because surely this was ranching equipment.
Then she took a closer look at the labels.
Selena Taylor
was the recipient on all ten boxes. Confusion spread through her as she looked at the boxes. One by one, she brought them into the living room. She went to the kitchen to get a knife and carefully began to cut the seam of the transparent tape and opened the flaps on the first box. She lifted out the packing material and found five shirts, all of various styles and colors. And all in her size. Frowning, she carefully put them all back in the box and didn't open any more.
That evening when Travis was eating his dinner, she walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. "The boxes came today."
He swallowed his food and watched her standing there, nervous tension radiated from her body. "Good. I'm seriously sick of seeing you in those rags."
An arrow of pain pierced her heart. "You send them back. I don't want them."
"Bullshit. You're keeping them. And you're welcome." His voice was rough with temper.
She glared at him. "I didn't say thank you."
"Fine. Whatever. Just wear the damn clothes. That's all I want."
"No. I won't. You send them back." Her face was mutinous.
He pushed his chair back from the table and slid slowly to his feet. His eyes narrowed on her and he started toward her. Selena didn't want to be cornered by him and glided toward the mudroom door. He followed her. She pushed open the door and walked outside. He continued to follow her.
She was a few paces away from him and turned to face him. She stood in the yard, glowering at him.
He crossed his arms over his chest. The shirt he was wearing was a t-shirt with the sleeves completely cut out, a favored style for him, and his hands pushed his biceps into two bulging threats. "You're going to wear the goddamn clothes if I have to strip you naked and put them on you myself. Don't you for one minute think I won't."
She glared at him mutinously, her body bristling with frustration and anger. She couldn't form the words she wanted in English, so she leaned down, picked up a handful of the dry Texas dirt, and hurled it at him.
Travis raised his arm and deflected the biggest pieces of dirt and rock just as Gus, Curley and Clinton stepped out of the bunkhouse. He didn't have time to see if they moved on before he had to raise his arm again. More dirt came his way.
"Selena, I'm warning you, you better quit that shit." His words were stern, and he expected to be obeyed immediately.
Selena ignored him and threw more dirt. "Go away. You leave me alone." Her words rang across the yard and arrested the three men walking toward the kitchen.
"
Goddammnit
. I'm not throwing shit at you, you can't throw shit at me. You better play fair, Angel, or you're going to regret it." He started prowling toward her, but was intercepted by the three men.
Clinton was the bravest only because he was the youngest and didn't know any better. "Selena, are you all right?"
Selena jerked her head and saw the three men directly behind and to the left of her. She started to speak but Travis cut off any words she might have said.
"This is none of your
Goddamn
business. You three just keep on walking." He reached Selena and grabbed the hand full of the dirt she was about to sling in his face.
All three men hesitated, not knowing what to do.
Travis felt the bite of fury. "I'm warning ya'll, if you still want your jobs come sun up, you better keep moving now. You know
Goddamn
well I'm not going to hurt her."
Selena struggled against the hand that held her.
Travis yanked her to him, his scowl blazing into her face. "Tell them. Tell them they can go. Tell them you know I won't hurt you."
She stuck her tongue out at him.
His voice rumbled, "Selena--"
She yelled at the top of her voice. "Go. You can go. He won't hurt me."
Travis looked from her face and motioned with his head for the men to leave. First Gus, then Curley turned and walked off. Clinton continued to stand there for an agonizingly slow moment before turning his head and spitting a stream of tobacco juice on the ground at Travis's feet. He tipped his hat back on his head and said in a voice laced with tension, "Selena, if you scream, I'll hear you." Then he gave Travis one more speaking look and turned and followed the other two men.
Travis didn't waste any time and started pulling Selena back toward the house.
She jerked her arm and dug in her heels, but it was like trying to fight against an immovable force. In moments, she found herself standing in the mudroom, rubbing her arm where he had just released her.
Travis turned to the door and slipped the bolt home. Selena gasped at the implication. She had never seen that door locked since she had come here. It was always left open.
Selena stamped her foot and shook her head defiantly. "You get your way, always!
Always, you get your way!"
Rage and frustration poured from her. Travis saw her emotional turmoil, and it set off answering feelings in him. He stalked toward her. "You bet your sweet little ass I always get my way. And baby, you better understand me right now when I tell you that's how it's always going to be." He reached out a hand for her, but she executed a quick maneuver and flitted away from him.
She immediately turned from him and started for the kitchen. She ignored him and picked up the dirty dishes from the table. With economical movements, she moved around the room and began to restore it back to order while he lounged against the wall, watching her.
Travis took a moment and tried to control his raging emotions. Anger, lust, and impatience were a conflagration about to erupt any second. He tried taking deep, calming breaths. He needed to be careful. He remembered his threat from earlier, that he would strip her and dress her himself. At the moment he said it, he had meant it.