When Roses Collide

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Harley's mouth gaped open and her tummy fluttered as if she had swallowed a whole hoard of butterflies. Of all the things she expected to come out of his mouth, that was not one of them. Adonis bewitched by her? Woo-boy...how was that even possible? Every time they have been together it had ended in a fiasco or with them both snipping and snarling at each other like a couple of dogs fighting over the same bone.

Except...there had been one time when things had worked out just fine. A raging case of the warm and fuzzies overcame her as she remembered the kiss under the oak tree. There had been no worries that day. No Rafferty, no fears...just a kiss which still made her toes tingle. Harley wanted that moment back again. Without Brady, she sighed to herself. But sadly, there was a Rafferty and with him came a whole load of troubles and worries. Problems she didn't want Travis to get tangled up in.

"I think you are mistaking pain in the ass with bewitching." She rolled her eyes. "I've caused you nothing but trouble since the day I arrived."

He shook his head. "That's not true. You're unlike anyone I've ever met. The more I get to know you, the more you entice me. Just looking at you sitting there...you are so beautiful."

His eyes roamed over her body emblazoned with enough heat to make her pussy liquefy.

"Hell...watching you breath blows me away." Travis grazed her cheek gently, reaching up to tuck a few stray strands of hair behind ear. Easing her guitar out of her clenched fingers, he gently leaned it against the porch rail. Encroaching deeply into her space, he gently ran his nose down hers and looked into her eyes.

"Sunshine, it's all I can do to keep my hands off of you when you are around and I'm finding I don't want to even try," he said quietly, giving her a boyish grin that made her heart stutter. "I couldn't stay away from you even if I wanted to."

"You...you should stay away from me." Harley pushed the words out of her throat despite the fact they almost choked her.

Even though she was proud of herself for actually saying the words, her body refused to obey her brain's command to pull away. Like a mouth to a flame, she was drawn to his heat. I'm going to get burned, Harley thought. But, she couldn't think of a better way to go than to be scorched in his arms.

His chuckling laughter brought her back from her wandering thoughts.

"Are you warning me off?" His low rumbling drawl did profound things to her body. "I think you have that backwards. I should be warning you away from me, but there is no stopping what I feel for you," he murmured as he picked her shaky hands out of her lap. Bringing them to his lips, he ran them softly over her knuckles. "And I have no intention of stopping."

"Ah..." Harley's brain function fizzled out at the touch of his lips.

They were so warm and gentle. Watching the feathered pair of luscious distractions run across her knuckles made her feel a little dizzy and she closed her eyes. Imagining where else those lips could be distracting her had Harley panting for air. The naughty visual made her nipples grow hard and a rush of moistures flood her panties.

She barely managed to hold back the moan before it escaped, but her body, the traitor that it was, started to tremble. She worried her bottom lip as she tried to rein in her runaway lust. Taking a deep breath, she reopened her eyes fully intending to put an end to these shenanigans, but when she collided with his baby blue gaze staring at her with dark intent...all rational thought flew out the window.

Cocking his head to the side, he reached up and tapped his finger against her bottom lip. Harley let it out from under her toothed assault with a pop.