Shrugging nonchalantly, he crossed his arms. “I’m fine. I’ve been told to take some time off work. I guess getting arrested doesn’t look too good. I need to resolve this issue and then I can come back.”
“Oh, no. Are they firing you?” She set her bottle of water down and almost joined him on his side of the kitchen, but Dax’s words stopped her movement.
She had no reason not to trust Travis, but strangely, she couldn’t seem to make her feet move and comfort him like she wanted.
“Not yet. I’ll be back soon. Of course, my father says this is the perfect time to quit and make my way into the family business.”
His hair that never saw anything but sweet perfection looked like a bird’s nest as he ran a tired hand through it. It didn’t look like it was the first time he had done that same gesture.
“You’re facing serious charges and your father thinks it’s a good time to talk business. That’s not very considerate. You don’t sound worried about going to jail. Wrong place, wrong time sort of thing, then? I knew you had nothing to do with something like this.”
He straightened up from the counter, a dash of pride combing his face. “You believe it was all a mistake. You have such faith in me.”
“Am I wrong in that belief?”
Ignoring her question, she found herself becoming suspicious when he said, “Serious charges? You make it sound like you know what charges I’m facing. How is that possible?”
Why couldn’t he just admit it was a mistake? Duh, Sarafina, because it wasn’t. Even though a slight suspicion crept in, she still had a hard time believing Travis would hurt her. He would never do such a thing.
“I finally managed to get a cop to tell me. Smuggling guns into the country seems like a very foolish thing to do. I can’t picture you doing something like that.”
“Your belief in me confounds me. You have no idea what that means to me. Smuggling guns does seem very foolish, indeed. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. And I don’t want you to worry about anything. This will all blow over and go away soon.”
“You sound very sure of that.”
Laughing, with not much humor behind it, he said, “My father has a lot of money. I have retained the best lawyer out there. He assures me it will all fix itself soon. Why worry?”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Have you talked to Dax since the wedding?”
Sarafina almost let the water bottle slip through her fingers. She had started to pick it up at the same time he asked the dangerous question. Did Travis see him at the precinct as well? Why would he ask her that?
“Why would I?”
“You two hit it off pretty well. I thought he was the one who took you home.”
If he could be evasive and ignore her questions, then so could she. “Perhaps I didn’t want to ruin your evening by you taking me home.”
“So, you said you were leaving with someone so my evening wouldn’t be ruined?”
“Just looking out for your libido.”
He laughed. A true one this time. “I do love you, Fina.”
“I love you, too, Travis.”
Taking in her appearance again, his eyes trailed up and down her body. It unnerved her. “You don’t look like you want to go out. I was going to offer to take you to dinner tonight. For making you crawl out of bed so early in the morning.”
Considering herself silly for not wanting to comfort him, she walked up to him and looped her arm through his. He couldn’t have been involved in anything. “How does takeout sound?”
“Like a very good plan.”
He escorted her to the living room where they proceeded to squabble over what place to order from. Just like old times. A comfortable sensation swarmed the room, making Sarafina forget about everything that happened. After pulling out a bottle of wine, they shared a few glasses as they ate pizza—an argument she won—and enjoyed each other’s company like nothing bad had ever occurred.
Closing the lid of the pizza box, Travis rubbed his stomach. “Good choice, Fina, I will concede defeat in that small war.”
Tossing a playful punch to his shoulder, she chuckled with delight. “I always win the wars, and don’t you forget it, buster.”
“You managed to take a shitty day and turn it into something good. Thank you.”
Grabbing her glass of wine from the coffee table, she smiled. “You’re welcome. I hope you resolve the issue soon. I hate to even think of you behind bars.”
“Don’t worry. That will never happen. Please, don’t worry about anything. Would you care to join me for dinner later this week?”
The word yes teetered on her tongue. Why was she hesitating? Darn Dax for making her doubt Travis. “That sounds nice.”
“Great. There’s this new Italian restaurant that opened that I’d love to take you to. So, you’re not seeing anyone? You’re not seeing Dax?”
“I’m not seeing anyone. Why do you keep asking about Dax? There’s nothing between us.” She seriously wanted to know why he kept asking about Dax. Did he suspect Dax was working for the FBI?
If so, what would he do about that? Hurt him?
That was silly. Travis would never hurt another soul.
“No reason, really.”
She wanted to press the issue because she didn’t like how he kept inquiring about Dax when her doorbell went off.
“Expecting anyone, Fina?” Travis stood up, his body taut with sudden tension and his eyes alert.
“No, but I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“I’ll get the door.”
He walked away before she could protest. Could it be Dax? Did he change his mind and come back? As much as she wanted that to be true, she sincerely hoped it was the opposite. The pissing match between them would be inevitable. Why did that thought jump into her mind? Travis was a friend, not a potential boyfriend. He didn’t see her like that.
She followed him, her face lighting up with happiness when she saw who was on the other side of the door.
“Dominic.”
“Travis.”
Sarafina rolled her eyes as the two stared each other down and pushed Travis out of the way. “What a surprise. Come in, Dominic. I missed you.”
“Ah, I missed you more, darling,” Dominic said as he stepped inside, placing a light kiss on her cheek while glaring at Travis. “I’m not interrupting anything, I hope.”
“No, of course not. Travis and I were eating pizza. Just a lazy night at home.”
“I should be getting home myself. I had a wonderful night with you, Fina, as always.” Travis pulled her into a tender hug, pressing a warm kiss to her cheek that lingered longer than normal. “I’ll call you later this week.”
“Okay. Goodnight.”
Travis walked past Dominic, eyeing him strangely. “Dominic.”
“Travis.”
Dominic closed the door behind him, flipping the lock before turning back to her with two hands on his hips as he gave her a nonsensical look.
“Start explaining. What was he doing here?”
8
Plopping down on the couch, she grabbed her glass of wine and took a nice, long sip.