"What?" Travis exploded. If he continued to behave like such a moron, he was going to give himself away. As nonchalantly as possible he turned to pack up his gym bag. "Why not?"
Luke snorted. "She says the guy thought he was God's gift to women, but"--he gave Travis a cocky half grin and lowered his voice--"she said the guy wouldn't be able to find a clit if a million bucks rested on it."
A growl rose up from Travis's throat. "I'll bet she's lying."
"I doubt it," Luke said. He slung his duffel bag over his shoulder. "She told me all about how she had to fake it three times before she finished herself off. The guy sounds like a major loser."
Travis wanted to slam his fist into the wall. Had Lily faked her orgasms with him? No way.
She couldn't have faked her explosion against his thigh. Could she?
What about when she passed out against his door? That wasn't just to get away from him so that she could play with herself, was it?
At least when his cock was in her he knew she had really come, he reassured himself. Then again, he was so far gone he wasn't exactly sure what had happened. It wasn't inconceivable that she had just clenched her muscles a few times and moaned so that he would fall asleep, and she could get away from him.
He'd never before doubted his abilities with a woman. Based on their ecstatic screams he had always been one hundred percent certain that he had left them satisfied.
But now that the doubts were stuck in his mind, there was only one way to find out if she was telling the truth. He'd have to see her again.
And this time he'd make sure she came so hard that there would be no doubt in either of their minds who was a good lover and who wasn't.
Then he'd be done with her. Once and for all.
4
TRAVIS STOOD AT THE ENTRANCE to Barker's Furniture, in the setting sun, hardly able to believe that he was about to set foot in the grubby store. As an architect who designed multimillion-dollar homes for movie stars, investment moguls, and foreign royalty, Travis had never considered working with an interior designer from the Barker's furniture department. His clients wanted only the best, so he found them hot new furniture designers who sold plastic couches for twenty thousand dollars a pop.
He had spent half the night trying to figure out how to get near Lily again without giving away his true intentions. He didn't want her to think he was interested in dating her. Because he wasn't. He just needed a palatable excuse to be alone with her again. Once he was, he would pull the best orgasm in the world out of her.
He was planning to hire her to furnish a room in the new San Francisco hilltop home he'd designed for a very wealthy couple. What the heck. He figured he could donate the furniture to charity later if he needed to. Nonetheless, he'd already wasted most of Monday in his office putting off this visit, wondering if he was just being a fool. Of course Lily had been satisfied by him. Of course he had made her come. Multiple times.
But that voice in his head, the one that kept saying Are you absolutely sure? just wouldn't shut up.
An elderly women opened the door for him. "Are you going to come in or stand outside scowling at our potential customers all day?"
Travis turned his lips up at the woman, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
"No need to bare your teeth at me, young man," she said, and Travis couldn't help but feel like a bad-tempered idiot. "Now that we've got you inside the store, is there anything I can help you with?"
"I'm looking for Lily Ellis."
The gray-haired woman eyed him up and down, stripping him naked with her gaze, so he added, "I've got a business proposal for her."
The woman cackled like the Wicked Witch of the West. "I'll bet you do, sonny. What I wouldn't have done for a business proposal from you in my day," she said, using her bony fingers to make quotation marks around the words "business proposal."
Inwardly, Travis recoiled from the sexual implications in the woman's words as he waited for her to tell him where Lily was. "She's in the back of the store by the dining tables. And good luck," the woman said, before walking off toward the storeroom, snickering all the way.
"Crazy old lady," Travis muttered as he weaved through the couches, lounge chairs, and coffee tables. A few seconds later he caught sight of Lily bending over a long pinewood table, dusting it in smooth strokes.
For a moment the only thing he could see was the two of them naked and writhing on the table.
Travis shook the image out of his head, forcing himself to look at Lily objectively. From his vantage point hidden behind a large armoire, he studied her in the light of day. Her hair was redder and shinier than he remembered it ever being before. Although the truth was that he had never really hated her hair. Sure, he preferred straight blond or brown locks to such a bright red, but all in all, her red curls weren't the worst thing about her.
She was wearing a well-tailored red suit and he'd have to be blind not to notice the way the fabric tapered in at the waist before flaring out to cup the curve of her ass.
He couldn't remember Lily ever wearing such a vibrant color before, and even though he hated to admit it, the crimson fabric nicely offset her creamy skin. He could only imagine how blue her eyes would look today.
Travis caught himself seconds before he started quoting a Shakespeare soliloquy to her beauty. For God's sake, he told himself, this is Lily.
Big, boring Lily.
His perspective firmly back in place, he stepped out from behind the armoire and called her name.
Lily jumped, dropping her dusting rag on the floor. She turned to him, shock painted across her face. "Travis, what are you doing here?"
As if he were approaching a skittish, hungry dog that needed reassuring, he held up his hands and moved toward her. "Don't look so worried, Lily. I've come to you with a business proposition."
With each step that he took, Lily took a step back, until she was pressed tightly up against the table. Her voice shaky, she licked her plump red lips, and asked, "A business proposition?"
Travis nodded absently, busy doing a thorough perusal of Lily's figure. How was it that practically overnight she seemed to have blossomed? Surely she hadn't been this ripe, this sexy before.
Or had she?
Crossing his arms across his chest, Travis got down to business. "I want you to work with me on a new house that I designed."
Lily's hand went to her throat. Travis wondered how her skin would taste at the pulse point that was beating so rapidly in her neck.
"You want me to work with you?"
"I need an interior designer. That is what you do, isn't it?"
Lily nodded.
Travis shrugged. "If you don't think you're up to it, I'll understand."
Responding to his goading exactly as planned, Lily took a step forward, a new flush on her cheeks. "Of course I'm up to it. What do you need me to do?"
He bit back a grin of victory. There would be plenty of time to savor the sweet taste of success after he had made her come so hard that she was begging for him to suck and lick and finger her again and again.
Throwing her words of his sexual incompetence back in her face was going to be well worth the wait.
"Why don't you come with me to the house right now, and I'll show you?"
Lily looked over her shoulder. "I can't. I don't get off work for another hour. And my boss is standing right over there."
All Travis could see was a greasy car salesmen type in a brown polyester suit. "That guy's your boss?"
Right then, the beady-eyed man looked over and frowned at them.
"Go away. We can talk later," she hissed, looking desperate.
"May I help you?"
Travis held out his hand. "I'm Travis Carson." He handed the man one of his business cards.
In an instant, Lily's boss went from snide to obsequious. "Oh my. Carson Architects. It is an honor to meet you, sir." He bumbled and stumbled all over himself, saying, "Albert All. I'm the head of this department." He puffed out his
chest so far that Travis was afraid his inflated stomach was going to pop and shower them with furniture-salesman guts.
"How may I be of service to you?" Albert asked, shooting Lily a clear sign to get lost.
Lily began to scoot out of the way, but Travis reached out for her elbow and held her firmly by his side. "I was speaking to Lily about a large decorating job I need taken care of."
Albert nodded so fast that his many chins threatened to overtake the rest of his face. "How wonderful, sir, that you thought of Barker's. I would be happy to introduce you to my top designer."
Travis had an unreasonable urge to defend Lily. "I've already found her," he said, delighted to watch Albert stutter with outrage.
Lily turned to Travis, her mouth a soft "o," and he couldn't help but want to kiss her, her boss be damned. But he reined in his impulses. There would be time for kissing later.
Turning back to the purple-faced Albert, Travis said, "I'd like to take her to the job site right now, if you don't have any objections." The greasy man opened his mouth, and Travis knew he had to shut him down with the promise of money. Lots of it.
Leaning in closer to Albert as if they were talking man to man, and trying not to hurl from the putrid smell of his onion breath and nicotine-stained teeth, Travis said, "It's much easier to see an eighty-thousand-square-foot house in person than it would be for me to describe it to her. You understand, I'm sure."
Without waiting for a response from Lily's railroaded boss, Travis turned to Lily, and said, "How about we take my Jag?" as he propelled her toward the door.
They walked through the store and out onto the sidewalk without saying a word to each other. Travis opened the passenger door, and Lily woodenly sank into the plush leather seat.
"How did you do that?" she said in obvious amazement.
"Easy. How do you put up with that pompous loser every day?"
Lily giggled, and Travis was surprised by how easy it was to be with her. Just like when we were kids, he thought before he shut down that part of his brain.
"Just barely," she said.
Travis started the engine and shot out onto the street. "Why don't you quit?"
"And do what?"
He shrugged. "Start your own business."
Lily laughed again, but this time it carried a strong dose of self-deprecation. "Yeah right. Like anyone would want to hire me." She turned to him with a look of suspicion. "You don't even know what kind of decorator I am. I know you're not really hiring me to work on a house. And Albert is going to kill me when he finds out he's not getting your business. What's going on, Travis?"
Travis was having a heck of a time keeping his eyes on the road. His hand kept wanting to move off the stick shift to Lily's thigh. And the soft, slick bounty that lay beneath her skirt.
"Nothing is going on," he insisted. "Look, you're right, I've never seen your work. But Luke said you're great and that you should open your own shop. So how about we'll start with one room, and if my clients like it, we'll see about the rest of the house."
Lily studied him carefully for a long moment, and it took all the manliness he possessed not to squirm under her gaze. He held his breath, waiting for her reply. If she didn't go for this, he had no idea how he was going to get her alone again.
And if he couldn't get her alone, he couldn't get her naked.
And if he couldn't get her naked, he couldn't make her come.
Travis had to make her come. That day. No one had ever questioned his virility, least of all himself.
Lily blew out a breath. "Fine. I'll work with you." Brushing back a springy curl from her cheek, she said, "What styles do your clients like?"
"I think you'll get an idea when you see the house." He pulled into the long driveway and drove beneath thick canopies of hundred-year-old oak trees, parking in front of a huge Italian-inspired villa, high in the hills of San Francisco.
"Wow. What a beautiful house." Lily stepped out onto the brick pavers that lined the driveway and walked toward the front door with her mouth hanging open. "You want me to work with you on this house?"
Travis smiled, pleased that she was so awed by his work. "Wait until you see inside. And the view."
He opened the front door with his key, and they entered the empty house. "My God," she said, her eyes wide. "This is straight out of the Tuscan countryside. I see murals and bright blue tiles. Mustard walls with a faux finish and soft fabrics. Rugs, the most glorious rugs atop the wood floors. And with the way the sun is setting through the oak trees ...''Lily's voice fell away. "This house is a perfect extension of nature. From the outside, in, and back again."
Not bothering to mask his surprise, Travis said, "I was thinking along those exact lines when I designed the house."
Lily bit her lip, and the worried look came back. "There's no way that I can get your clients what they need at Barker's. Whoever furnishes this house should be combing through trunks of furniture shipped straight from Italy. The designer should probably even fly to Italy on a buying trip for textiles. The truth is, Travis, you're wasting your time with me."
Travis stared at her as the fading sunlight through the huge windows covered her in a soft, warm glow. He had a hallucination of the two of them lingering over a bottle of Chianti in a sidewalk restaurant on cobblestone streets before he took her back to a villa and made love to her all night long.
Before he was wise enough to stop himself, he said, "Quit your job. I'm hiring you to furnish this house. It'll be your first big commission."
Lily spun around. "No," she said, stepping backward toward the door. "I don't think I could ...''
"You can."
"The entire house? Every room?"
Travis took another step toward her and spoke quietly, suddenly sure that she was the only person right for the job. Even though he'd pretty much gone out of his way to avoid her for the past two decades, and certainly never thought that he'd become her champion, Travis found himself saying, "Go for it, Lily."
Somewhere in the back of his brain Travis realized that working together on a long-term basis was completely at odds with his plan to take her just one more time and be done with her. Clearly, the hot sex they'd had after the fashion show had messed with his usual clear thinking in a serious way.
Lily squared her shoulders, and her look of doubt transformed into an excited smile. "Oh what the heck. I'll do it!"
She held out her hand. Travis wrapped her long slim fingers in his own, and yet again he was surprised by how soft her skin was.
He couldn't let her leave, not yet. Somehow he had to figure out a way to seduce her before leaving and make her think that it was her idea.
Still holding her hand, he said, "Do you want to see the rest of the house?"
Her blue eyes sparkled. "Oh God, yes."
Travis smiled and headed into the kitchen, vowing that the next time she said, "Oh God, yes," it was going to be from the spasms racking through her as he pumped hot and hard into her.
LILY COULD HARDLY BELIEVE the gift Travis had given her. She followed his trim, buff form from room to room, nearly salivating at being so close to him for so long. Now that she had accepted this job she would get to see more of him, wouldn't she?
At the same time she was a bundle of nerves, sure that at any second, the other shoe was going to drop. She wasn't naive enough to believe that Travis asked her to come see this house because of her interior-decorating skill. Something else was going on; she just hadn't figured out what it was yet. It likely had something to do with him punishing her for daring to think she was worthy of sleeping with him. If she had had any concern for self-preservation, Lily would have refused his offer to decorate the house and kept herself as far away from him as she could. But she couldn't resist being so near to him.
Things were no different in high school when she had followed Travis around the halls, hiding behind her books. He always had his arm around at least one of the cute little cheerleaders, and Lily knew without a shadow of a doubt
that she had been completely invisible to him. Utterly unimportant.
But still, she couldn't keep from wanting him. As crazy, as irrational as her lust for Travis was, she had never been able to let go of it. And now that she had been given a taste, she wanted him for every meal. She was as pathetic as she had always been.
As a teenager, stolen glances were all she could get. Why did she think it would be any different now? Sure, she had come apart in his arms. Yes, his body over hers had felt so right. But that didn't mean that things were any different than they had been in high school.
Luke's plan from their Sunday brunch popped back into her head. She tried to accept her role in all of it, but she was having no better luck now than she had during brunch.
"Travis is lucky to have even gotten to be with you once, especially after the way he's treated you. You are an incredible woman, and it's up to you to show him that he's going to need to treat you really well if he wants you to be with him ever again. And this is how you are going to do it: You are going to rip him apart, then put him back together. But only after he earns it."
It wasn't that she couldn't see the truth in what Luke was saying. Playing hard to get was likely the best plan of attack with a womanizer like Travis. But it was hard for her to think about ways to make Travis chase her when she didn't feel worthy of him.
Travis was beautiful, brilliant, confident.
She would never call herself beautiful. Or brilliant. And certainly not confident. Thank God she had splurged on the new red suit at the mall after brunch with Luke. If she had been wearing one of her regular shapeless pantsuits, she would have felt even more inferior.
It was crazy for Luke to tell her that she needed to break down Travis's confidence. She had treated him like a sex god on Saturday night--after all, he had been a sex god, an orgasm-generating machine--and she was supposed to recant all that? She sincerely doubted that Travis would buy her act.
They entered the most lavish master bathroom that Lily had ever seen outside of a glossy magazine spread for Architectural Digest, and she sighed.
"Is something wrong, Lily?" Travis asked, his voice as smooth as butter.
She forced a bright smile and tried to tamp down on the voice in her heart that was telling her she was lucky to have stolen so much as a kiss from this man. Don't forget, she coached herself, he dropped you from his life for no reason and has looked right through you for twenty years. You should be demanding an apology for how unworthy he tries to make you feel, not mooning over him.