He visibly slumped with relief. “Good. Does this mean you’ll start returning my texts?”
I had to smile at that. The man had probably texted me a hundred times over the past few days. “Maybe,” I answered coyly.
Accepting his apology didn’t mean he wasn’t going to have to work for it.
His eyes were blazing with intensity as he looked down at me. “I’ll take it. And I’ll text you later. Have a good class.”
With a nod, I watched him walk to his Jeep, admiring the way he moved. For such a big man, there was something so graceful about him.
I shook myself out of my Travis fog and focused on getting to class.
****
My phone rang later that night just as I was crawling into bed. My heart thudded with anticipation when I saw Travis’s name flash on the screen.
“Hi,” I murmured in greeting as I snuggled deeper into my covers.
“Hey.” His voice was impossibly sexy over the phone.
“This isn’t a text,” I commented with a smile.
“No, I wanted to hear your voice. How was the rest of your day?”
“Good. I taught three classes, and then I had to help Mabel pack. Charlie’s taking her on some romantic getaway. She seriously packed a month’s worth of clothes.”
He chuckled. “Oh yeah? So, are we settled on Charlie now?”
I laughed. “You never know with May, but taking her away somewhere will definitely give him some points. I’m going to watch the house for her while she’s gone.”
“Are you going to sleep there?”
“No, but I’ll definitely take advantage of her tub,” I shared. I missed having a bathtub desperately, and May’s was like a small swimming pool. “How was your day?”
“Fine. Things have been a little more hectic since I lost my best receptionist, Sarah, last year. Since then it’s been a revolving door of ineptness.”
“Why did Sarah leave?”
“She was mysterious about it. The girls are still pretty upset. They were close. And whether he admits it or not, there was something going on with her and Theo. Obviously, I could check up on her, but I’m choosing to respect her privacy.”
“So, you’re sans receptionist?” I asked, enjoying any small detail about his life he was willing to share.
“As of this afternoon when I fired the last one? Yes,” he grumbled.
“I don’t imagine it’d be an easy job working for a bunch of type A retired military guys,” I commented.
“Who says I’m type A?” he replied, sounding comically affronted.
“Um, the dictionary?” I retorted, earning a deep belly laugh from him in response.
“I guess that’s fair enough. So, what’s on for tomorrow?”
“The usual. Work, then more work. I’ll pop by May’s to get her mail and check on things. She gets about a hundred catalogues a day. Then I was hoping to catch Ryan on Skype at some point. We haven’t talked in a few days.”
“You two are close,” he commented.
“Yes,” I replied simply.
“Maybe I’ll get to meet him one day.”
