Chapter 15 #2
“I think I can keep my own priorities straight, thank you very much.” He gave her hand a tug to encourage her to join him on his lounge.
Wearing a short sundress over her bathing suit, she stretched out next to him and dragged a finger over the stubble on his jaw. “I like to look at you.”
He snorted. “You like to look at me?”
“Got a problem with that?”
“I got the better end of the whole looking thing. I get to look at you.”
She burrowed her face into his neck. “How many more days?”
The caress of her breath on his fevered skin made him hard as a rock. “I’ve lost track. Surely, it has to have been a week by now, right?”
“Feels like a month.”
He cupped her face and brought his open mouth down on hers.
In a matter of seconds he shifted on top of her, she wrapped her legs around his hips, and his tongue explored every inch of her mouth.
“I know I said we should wait, honey.” He sounded as breathless as he felt.
“But I can’t wait anymore. I want you so much I feel like I’ll die if I can’t have you. ”
“Yes,” she said. “Now.”
He looked down at her. “Are you sure?”
She nodded.
Raising himself up and off the lounge he reached for her hand. He brought her into his arms and held her for a long time.
When he finally released her to lead her inside, he hoped he was doing the right thing. He reminded himself that this was her first time, and he needed to be careful with her. This wasn’t about him. This would be all about her.
“Peter?”
“Hmm?”
“What’s that?”
“What’s what?”
“There.” She pointed.
On the south end of the property, flames shot from the roof of one of the houses under construction. “Oh no, oh shit,” he whispered as he released her hand. “Stay here. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He ran for the elevator.
After they located Dash, Travis and Liana spent an hour on the beach with her.
Travis threw the stick at least a hundred times and they marveled at her ability to find it even in the encroaching darkness.
The paparazzi had gone wild the moment Travis and Liana stepped onto the beach, but the photographers could only take so many shots of two people playing with a dog before even they got bored.
Liana was thrilled when Dash brought the stick back to her.
Travis gazed at her with amazement as she tossed it.
“What?”
“She won’t fetch for anyone but me. Not even Beck. It drives him crazy.”
Delighted, Liana smiled. “Really?”
“Really.”
Dash returned with the stick and dropped it at Liana’s feet.
“Don’t forget who feeds you, you ingrate,” Travis growled at the dog.
She ignored him and barked at Liana to get back to the game.
Liana sent the stick flying and cried out in surprise when Travis tossed her over his shoulder and spun her around. “I’m going to puke,” she shrieked between gales of laughter. “Put me down!”
“Wouldn’t the photographers love to get a shot of the very fancy Liana McDermott with her rear end in the air. Over here, boys.”
“Travis! All the blood’s rushing to my head!”
He ran a hand over her bottom. “Mine, too.”
“Oh, that’s so disgusting,” she said between new fits of laughter. “Put me down. I’ll give you your dog back. I promise.”
He let her slide down the front of him and held her there. In the inky darkness he could barely make out her features but could see her looking up at him with eyes full of what looked an awful lot like love. Did he dare to hope?
Dash’s sharp bark interrupted the moment.
Travis bent to get the stick and sent it sailing down the beach one last time. While Dash took off in hot pursuit, Travis leaned in to kiss Liana softly. He wasn’t sure which one of them moaned first, but by the time Dash returned their arms were tight around each other.
The dog whimpered and rolled in the sand while she waited for them.
Dazzled, Travis was shocked to realize that were it not for the prying eyes of the media he would have eased her down onto the beach and taken her right then and there.
That loss of control was new to him, and it made his heart and mind race.
But he showed her none of that when he put his arm around her and whistled for Dash to come with them.
They were bending to pick up their shoes where they left them by the steps when they heard Beck frantically calling their names, just as Travis’s cell phone rang.
Travis raced up the stairs ahead of Liana and Dash. “What’s wrong?” he asked his frazzled security director.
“Fire,” Beck said, out of breath. He pointed to the south end of the property.
Travis looked to where Beck pointed and saw the plume of smoke and dancing flames.
“Fire department’s on the way,” Beck said.
Liana caught up to them and gasped when she saw fire licking the sky in the distance.
“Go on up to my place, Liana,” Travis said without taking his eyes off the fire. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“I want to come with you,” she said, gripping his arm.
He took her hand. “No.”
“Please, Travis.”
Travis tore his eyes off the fire long enough to glance at her and see the concern in her eyes. “All right.”
As they ran toward Beck’s truck, Dash rocketed past them heading in the direction of the fire.
“Dash!” Travis yelled. “Dash, stop!”
The dog ran off into the darkness like Travis hadn’t spoken.
“Goddamn it!” Travis said.
“She wouldn’t go near the fire,” Liana assured him as Beck sped down the dirt road that led to the construction site. “She’s too smart for that.”
While he drove, Beck conversed with members of his staff on the radio.
They arrived at the fully engulfed house just ahead of the fire department.
“There wouldn’t be anyone in there at this hour on a Friday night, would there?” Travis asked.
“We’re trying to confirm that with the contractor,” Beck replied.
They froze when they heard Dash’s bark coming from the direction of the burning house.
Travis lunged toward the house, but Beck held him back.
Dash’s barking became more frantic.
The fire captain directed men and hoses before he rushed over to talk to Travis and Beck. “Is there a dog in there?”
“We hope not,” Beck replied with a grim set to his mouth.
“There must be someone in the house if she’s barking like that.” Travis struggled to swallow the overwhelming fear that lodged in his throat.
The captain hollered into a walkie-talkie to alert his men that there might be someone in the house.
Travis, Liana, and Beck stood back and watched two firemen enter the house while the others pointed hoses at the fire.
The barking had stopped, and Travis was staring at the fire when Liana’s hand closed tightly around his.
“She’s going to be okay,” Liana whispered.
The fire radios crackled with the news that the firemen had found someone inside. Paramedics came flying out of the ambulance carrying equipment and a stretcher.
A few seemingly endless minutes later, two firemen carried a body out of the house.
“He’s alive,” one of the firemen called to the paramedics. “But just barely.”
As the paramedics went to work on the injured man, Travis let go of Liana’s hand and pulled his arm free of Beck’s grasp.
“Did you see a dog in there?” Travis yelled to one of the firefighters who had been inside the house. “A yellow lab?”
“No.” He wiped the sweat from his face. “We heard a dog barking, but we couldn’t find it.”
The paramedics loaded the injured man into the ambulance and took off with the siren blaring and emergency lights flashing.
“Dash! Dash!” Travis called. Bolting toward the house, he heard Liana scream for him to come back. He kept moving until his feet were pulled out from under him. He landed hard on the ground under Beck just as the second floor of the house crashed down onto the first.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Beck roared.
“Dash is in there! I’ve got to get her!”
“You’re not getting yourself killed for a dog.”
“It’s Dash,” Travis wailed, fighting Beck’s iron grip.
“I know, but you can’t go in there, Travis. You can’t.”
Travis had tears rolling down his face when he let Beck pull him up and lead him back to where Liana waited for them, her own face awash in tears.
She held out her arms to Travis.
He fell into her embrace. “We’ve got to get her.”
“Maybe she didn’t go into the house.” Liana held him close. “Maybe she was barking from outside.”
“Then where is she?”
“She could be scared, Trav,” Beck said.
Travis began calling for her and yelled until he was hoarse from the acrid smoke and the strain on his voice. Long after the firefighters had the fire under control, he still called for her.
The fire captain walked over to them with a grim expression on his face. “Arson,” he said, holding up a singed gas can.
“We’ve been having problems with vandals,” Beck said. “Nothing like this, but the police are aware of it.”
“I’m calling in the state fire marshal,” the captain said. “Until we complete our investigation, this is a crime scene. No one goes in there. Am I clear?” He directed the question to Travis, in particular.
“You’ll have our full cooperation,” Beck assured him.
“Mr. North?”
Travis nodded.
The fire captain walked away, and Beck turned to Travis. “I’ll get my whole team down here to look for her. We’re going to find her.”
Travis couldn’t look away from the burnt ruination of the house or stop the flood of tears that cascaded down his face.
“Why don’t you go home, Trav?”
Travis shook his head. “No,” he said in the hoarse whisper that remained of his voice. “Not until we find her.”
Beck put his hands on Travis’s shoulders. “She might be hiding because she’s scared of the way you sound. You need to go back to your place and wait. I’ll call you the minute we find her.”
Travis gestured to what was left of the house. “What if she’s in there?”
“Then we’ll get her when the fire marshal arrives. Go home, Travis.” He handed his keys to Liana and steered Travis toward the truck. After he had gotten Travis into the passenger seat and closed the door, Beck squeezed Liana’s shoulder. “Take care of him. I’ll find Dash.”
Liana nodded. “Okay.”