He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, reliving the incident this morning, the mouthwatering fragrance he’d inhaled into his lungs when he’d gotten close to her. All he’d wanted was to freeze that moment, absorb the light, flowery, intoxicating scent of her skin until it filled every cell in his body. He wanted her just that damn desperately. Maybe Ally was a tough woman, but he’d seen the flash of vulnerability in her eyes hidden beneath her sarcastic comments this morning. And he hadn’t liked it. How could she not know that she was probably every man’s wet dream? He knew for a fact she was his only wet dream, had known it for the last four years and thirty-two days. That’s how long he’d been beating off while fantasizing about Ally. He hadn’t been able to stop himself from getting close to her after she’d let down her guard, letting her know how damn beautiful she was earlier today. Ally was a fighter, and he hated seeing that hurt look in her beautiful green eyes, unhidden by those sexy, naughty librarian glasses she wore every day that drove him half crazy. The glasses fueled his fantasy of stripping Ally of every prim and proper notion from her brain and making her come until she became a wanton woman, needing nothing except him. Was it the glasses she usually donned for most of the day that had kept him from noticing the dark circles under her eyes, and how tired she looked? Or maybe it was just the fact that his dick was hard every moment that she was in the same room with him, and he’d been too damn defensive to notice. Grudgingly, he admitted that fighting with her kept her at a distance, which he desperately needed. But even that wasn’t really working anymore.
He’d barely contained himself from pummeling Jason Sutherland today, just because the guy smiled at Ally. Sutherland was supposedly an irresistible lure to women because of his golden good looks and money, and Travis didn’t want the man—any man under the age of eighty—near Ally ever again. She’d just gotten rid of a loser. Not that Sutherland was a loser, and Travis had actually ended up liking the guy. But he didn’t like Jason when he was touching Ally, and he hadn’t liked her touching Sutherland either. The smile she had given Jason this morning had slammed him right in the gut, making him wonder why he’d never seen that relaxed, happy look directed at him.
Maybe because I’m an ass**le whenever she’s around? Admittedly, he was an ass**le most of the time. Okay…maybe all of the time. But there was never a moment that he didn’t feel out of control about Ally. He’d just learned to rein it in because she was involved with another guy. He hadn’t had a choice. But had he known that she wasn’t happy, what that bastard was putting her through, he might not have been as hesitant to poach on another man’s territory. In fact, he would have done it quite happily and without remorse had he known that Ally wasn’t being treated the way she deserved to be treated. She might piss him off more often than not, but he hated the thought of her not being treated right by a man who supposedly loved her.
He started the ignition, waiting for it to fire up. Maybe it would have been better if he hadn’t known about her situation, if he was completely ignorant of the fact that her prick of an ex had hurt her. But now he did know, and it was driving him completely insane. She was working too hard, pushing herself too much. She could end up sick, collapse from exhaustion. Or some prick at the bar could decide she looked ripe for the picking. He was angry with himself that he hadn’t noticed before because he was too busy trying to get a grip whenever she was near him.
I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to do it.
Everything she was going through at the moment could be easily solved, her bills could be paid, and he could pay for her house. Travis scowled. Well…maybe not that house. He didn’t want her living in a home where her ex had banged another woman. Stupid bastard! But he could get her a different home. Hell, he could even help her get into an MBA program if that’s what she wanted. He could do it with a simple phone call. For some unknown reason, all he really wanted to do was make her smile, have her look at him like she’d looked at Jason this morning.
I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to do it.
Shortly, he’d have to spend four days in her nearly constant company on the trip to Colorado. If she ever learned exactly why he needed her to be there, he’d get nothing but scorn and disbelief from her. He’d never tell her. That had been decided before he’d ever insisted on her being there. She’d never have to know.
He wondered irritably what in the hell had possessed him to give her two weeks off. He hadn’t gone more than a few days without seeing her in the last four years. The office would probably fall apart while she was gone. Oh hell, who was he kidding? He’d probably fall apart. Being able to see her, even if they were throwing insults at each other, had been the only thing that had kept him balanced. And she’d still be working at the bar every night, with horny, inebriated men slobbering all over her.
I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to do it.
Nope. He wasn’t going to do it. Travis Harrison did not do anything to draw attention to himself. Making a vow to himself and his brother after his parents had died, he’d clawed to get the Harrison name out of the gutter, make it respected again. And for the most part, it was. There might be an occasional article in the tabloids, but none of it really scandal. There had been talk when their sister had returned after going missing for a few years, and it had been news when Asha had been found and recognized as his brother-in-law Max’s half-sister. But he’d deliberately and carefully never given the news something to talk about in the Harrison family. Not that he hadn’t done anything that could possibly be newsworthy after his parents’ deaths, but he made damn sure that the press never found out. Other than that, he’d kept his goddamn control, and he wasn’t about to lose it.
Travis released a frustrated groan and put the car in gear with a little more force than necessary. He executed a precision turn, the tires squealing as he left the pavement and started down the dirt road that led to the freeway.
I’m not doing this. I’m not. I’m not going to stalk the woman like some kind of lunatic with a dick that’s about to explode! I have control. I’ve always had control.
“Fuck it!” Travis growled, stopping the vehicle while he pulled out his cell phone, looked up the location of Sully’s Oasis, and programmed the address of the bar into his navigation system. Christ! Did she have to work in that neighborhood? The bar wasn’t far from the Hudson clinic, the same place where Simon’s wife, Kara, had been attacked by drug addicts. Didn’t Ally have any sense? And what the hell was wrong with her ex that he actually let her work in that area with drunken men?