Free AintNoAngel by J L Taft

seconds he collapsed on top of her and Jessie
closed her eyes, her arms and legs wrapped around him as their bodies cooled
and their hearts slowed.
    Hours later they lay in his bed, the light shining in dimly
from the street lamps outside. Jessie was sprawled on his chest as Travis ran
his fingers up and down her back.
    Before long, curiosity got the better of her. “When did you
get your tattoo?”
    He was quiet for a long moment and she wondered if he wasn’t
going to answer her.
    “I was eighteen and I had just found out that I had been
adopted.”
    She traced her fingers over it. “Do you regret it?”
    “No, it’s a symbol of my youth. I grew up the day that my
adopted parents told me about my real parents.”
    “Do you want to talk about it? Sometimes it helps.”
    He was quiet and Jessie hoped that she hadn’t pushed too
hard. She didn’t want to make him upset but she wanted to know more about him.
    “I went to see them that day,” he began. “My real parents.
They had a big office in the city. I just took off and didn’t say where I was
going. It took me a couple days to get there. Plenty of time for me to think
about what would happen.”
    He paused and Jessie knew it was painful for him to talk
about. “What happened?” she gently prodded.
    He sighed. “You aren’t going to leave this alone, are you?”
    She smiled at him. “Probably not.”
    He reached out for her hand and laced their fingers
together.
    “When I got there they wouldn’t see me.”
    Jessie sucked in a breath. She didn’t understand how some
people could be so cruel.
    “But as I was leaving my father caught me at the door. He
said that he was sorry but they just couldn’t deal with a kid. I think he was
surprised to see that I was practically an adult. But it didn’t change
anything.”
    “I’m sorry, Travis.”
    “Don’t be sorry. It was a long time ago.” He closed his eyes
and Jessie leaned up to kiss his cheek before settling back on his shoulder.
    “I look just like him,” he whispered.
    Jessie lay awake for a long time, thinking about what he had
told her. He may say that it was in the past but he still wasn’t over it. He
was stubborn and she wondered if he would ever be able to leave it behind and
reconnect with the parents who raised him.
    She would give anything to have her own parents back.

Chapter Seven
     
    Wednesday dawned bright and clear. It was going to be
another scorcher. Jessie made several phone calls and did some paperwork while
the guys loaded the last of the supplies they needed for the day into the
trucks.
    Travis had been adamant when they had gotten back from his
apartment Tuesday morning that they sleep separately. Needless to say it had
put a strain on their relationship.
    He had made himself scarce all day Tuesday and then had
avoided her all day today too. He kept himself busy, first with setting up the
call-trace equipment on her phones and then taking it upon himself to be the
resident handyman.
    He had fixed a window in the little-used dining room, rehung
the hinges on the greenhouse door, realigned a drawer in the kitchen and lord
knew what else.
    But he certainly hadn’t been coming to her to ask what
needed to be done so that only left one person—Betty.
    He insisted on sleeping on the old, lumpy couch in the
downstairs den. She had tried her best to get him to sleep in the spare room
next to hers. He said he wanted to be down there if she needed him but she
would have felt much better if he was right next to her. Either in the spare
room or in her bed.
    It should have shocked her that she let herself rely on him
this fast. After all, she had already learned this lesson.
    But Travis was different.
    Cyrus had viewed her as a possession, a pretty thing that
gave him a challenge. But Travis on the other hand looked at her like a real
man looked at a woman.
    Oh, she had no delusions that he would suddenly change his
mind and want something more. But if sex was all he wanted then she