Free A Bravo Homecoming by Christine Rimmer Page A

especially now that he’d moved closer. He rested his elbow on the back of her seat, his forearm against her headrest. And then she felt his touch at her temple, so lightly. And then gone. “What is this?” he asked, his voice low and teasing—and puzzled, too. “You and me fighting? We never fight.”
    She undid her own seat belt. He backed off an inch or two so she could slide the shoulder harness out of the way. And then she turned to him. He leaned close again. His handsome face was only inches from hers. She could smell his aftershave. She’d always liked his aftershave. It had a clean, fresh scent.
    “We never kissed, either.” She glanced down at those tempting lips of his—and then back up into his eyes. “Until last night. First time for everything, I guess.”
    He touched her hair, the same way he had done the night before, brushing the backs of his fingers against the short strands. And he spoke so softly, “I liked kissing you. I liked it a lot.”
    She held his eyes. “Don’t say it.”
    He frowned. “What?”
    “That you liked it too much. ”
    He chuckled then. “You know me way too well.”
    “Yeah, I do. So from now on, don’t feed me any bull. I can see it coming a mile away.”
    “You sure you’re still up for this?”
    She gave him a patient look. “What did I tell you the other night when you called me at the Four Seasons and caught me bawling my eyes out?”
    He grunted. “That you were sure and I should stop asking you if you wanted to back out.”
    She leaned into him sideways and nudged him with her shoulder. “So what about you? Is it possible that you’re the one who wants to back out?”
    “Hell, no.”
    “You’re not feeling guilty for trying to pull a number on your mom?”
    “Sure, I feel guilty, but I want her off my case for a while. If you’re still on, we’re going for it.” He started to retreat back behind the wheel.
    She just couldn’t leave it at that. She caught his arm. “Maybe you should kiss me again, before we go. I mean, how many engaged people do you know who’ve kissed only once?”
    He stiffened, but only for a second. And then he took up the challenge and leaned close once more. “I guess I deserved that.” His lips were an inch from hers. She felt his warm breath across her mouth.
    “You know you did,” she whispered back, loving the shiver of excitement that stirred just under the surface of her skin.
    His glance slanted down, toward her mouth. Her lips seemed to tingle in anticipation.
    Yeah, okay. Maybe she was playing with a big ol’ ball of fire. And that wasn’t smart. But there was a certain feeling of power she had now, knowing that Travis found her attractive, knowing that he wanted to kiss her, even if he felt that he shouldn’t.
    There really were definite benefits to being all feminine and womanly. Benefits she’d never understood before. It felt good to be womanly, to look in a man’s eyes and see that he wanted her.
    She thought of Zach Gunn then, of her one measly attempt to find what other women had—a little romance in her life, for cryin’ out loud. Had Zach ever even once looked at her the way Travis was looking at her now?
    She couldn’t remember.
    And truthfully, at this point, she didn’t even care.
    Travis said her name then. “Sam…” So soft and gentle, and with something like wonderment, too.
    She had to resist the longing to lean in that fraction more and make the kiss happen. Because she wanted him to do it. She wanted him to make that choice.
    And finally, he did.
    He closed the tiny distance between them and his mouth touched hers—gently, at first. Kind of soft and careful, a kiss with a question in it.
    But then she sighed in delight.
    And that must have been the answer he was waiting for.
    Because he slanted his mouth the other way and reached to pull her even closer, easing his big hand around the back of her neck, sliding his fingers up into her hair.
    The kiss deepened. It seemed to happen so