It was the businessman part of Travis that she had no idea what to do with.
* * *
After a week of living in his apartment, though, it was clear to Risa that the businessman side of Travis seemed to be the dominant one. She enjoyed his company—his laugh, his smile, his conversation. She loved his body, loved the way he touched her and brought her pleasure.
She hated his BlackBerry.
He was never further than a phone call away from his job, and that drove her crazy. Even when they were in bed at night, twined together, if the phone buzzed with an incoming message, he’d roll over, grab it, and start typing away.
Risa had to remind herself that this wasn’t a real relationship. It was a sexual interlude, nothing more. Travis hadn’t promised her more than two weeks of his time. He’d promised her money and that was it.
Strangely enough, the money wasn’t really a factor anymore. After spending a week with him, she didn’t care about the money as much as she just wanted him to spend some genuine time with her.
And with Gregory.
The pig adored Travis. There was something about him that Gregory had immediately taken a shine to, and whenever Travis was busy working, Gregory would lay at his feet to keep him company, or butt his head against Travis’s leg, demanding to be petted. Travis, for his part, seemed to be coming around on the pig. He petted Gregory and occasionally threw a chew toy for the pig to chase. Risa had even talked Travis into taking an early morning walk with her and the pig, and he’d carried the leash while they’d wandered a nearby park, hand in hand.
But then his phone rang and the moment was over.
She’d been doing her best to show Travis how to take care of Gregory, but it was hard to teach someone who was too busy for any sort of animal, much less an intelligent pig. She knew that Gregory liked to chew things when he was bored, so she took him on multiple walks a day to wear him out, but she wondered what it would be like when she left.
And she wondered why the thought made her so sad.
* * *
Risa checked her watch and drummed her fingers on the arm of the movie theater seat. She stared up at the small screen, willing Travis to show up.
His apartment building had a private movie theater that showed new releases. You simply signed up to have the theater for a few hours. Once Risa had learned about that, she’d been excited at the prospect of having an actual date night with Travis. And he’d agreed, once she’d talked him into it with kisses. He’d even moved a meeting for her.
Now date night had arrived and she had the room reserved, but he wasn’t there. The popcorn she’d popped had gotten cold, and she sat in the dark, waiting. She’d left him an hour ago in the apartment. He was reviewing a contract, and had promised to run down to grab them a few sodas at the corner store and meet her in the movie theater.
She checked her watch one more time and then stood up from the chair, worried. Surely nothing had happened to him on the way to the store?
On a hunch, she went to the elevator and punched the button for Travis’s floor. She slid her key in the lock and opened the door.
There was Travis, on the phone, his computer open in front of him. Exactly in the last place she’d left him.
“Are you f**king kidding me, Peters? Have you seen these suggestions they made? They’re a joke,” he said into the phone. “Did you see clause eighteen? No? Go look at it. I’ll wait.” He glanced at her as she walked in, and then turned back to his computer. His hand reached down to absently stroke Gregory’s velvety ear. “Did you see it? Exactly. That is absolutely not part of the deal.”
Risa felt cold. Little by little, her fantasy of him was crumbling. She wanted to have this time with him. So much. She wanted the memory of their short time together to be an incredible one that she could look back on with fondness. Her silly heart wanted Travis to grab her by the waist, nuzzle her neck, and beg her to stay with him forever.
But he was a busy man. Too busy for a pig. Much too busy for a relationship of any kind.
She’d been foolish to ever hope for one.
Very calmly, she went to his room and began to pack her bag. She took her clothes off hangers, folded them neatly, and then closed her small suitcase. She paused when she turned and saw that he had Pearl’s old photo album out on a nearby dresser.
So he’d taken a memento from his grandmother’s house after all? Risa moved toward it, compelled, and turned the pages. There was a picture of Travis as a young boy, with that same serious expression on his face, holding up a fish. Travis reading a book in a bay window. Travis playing fetch with a dog, a wide smile on his face. Her heart skipped a beat.
Travis with Pearl, his arm around her waist, as he wore a graduation cap. Travis and his grandmother sitting on her porch, smoking cigars as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Underneath the picture was a caption: First major business deal.
Where had that Travis gone? Suddenly sad for herself and for him, she left the photo album open to the picture of him and the dog. That was the Travis she wanted.
She picked up her suitcase and headed back into the living room, dropping it by the door. She suddenly realized that her car was still in Bluebonnet, still at Pearl’s house. Maybe she’d ask Travis if she could rent the place. Maybe there was a teaching job or two in Bluebonnet. She loved that little town.
“I’ll call you back,” Travis said suddenly, and she heard his phone click off. “Risa, what are you doing?”
She braced herself and turned around, a wide smile on her face. “I’m sorry, Travis, but I’m leaving.”
The scowl on his face was furious. “Why? Because of tonight? Something’s come up. There’ll be other nights to go to the movies—”
“No, there won’t,” she interrupted him. “You know why? Because you don’t have time for anyone in your life.”
He stared at her, his jaw set in an angry line.
Risa sighed. “I’m not telling you this to make you angry, Travis. I’m really not. It’s just become very apparent to me that you were right and I was wrong. You don’t have time in your life for a pig. You don’t have time in your life for a pig-keeper, either. I’ve really enjoyed our time together.” Her voice grew soft. “Really, really enjoyed it. I wish I could stay longer.”
“Then stay.”
She shook her head.
“Fifty grand,” he said suddenly. “Give me a month and I’ll give you fifty grand.”
Annoyance flashed through her. “Have I asked for the money, Travis? For the last time, this isn’t about the money. You can keep every damn dollar that you promised me. I came here because I wanted you to love Gregory, but I mostly came here because I had a fantasy of you, and I was half in love with you the moment you walked through your grandmother’s door. Being with you has been part of that fantasy, but the reality is that you don’t have time for anyone.”
He said nothing.
“Well?”
“I’ll pull some strings. Get you a teaching job here. We can build a school, if you want, and you can—”
She threw up her arms, cutting him off. “You’re still not listening to me.”
He still stared at her as if not quite comprehending her. “Everyone has a price, Risa. I want to know yours. I want to know what it’ll take to make you stay with me for a bit longer. I . . . like you in my bed.”
That was a lot for a man like Travis Jesson to admit, she knew. She went to him and very lightly placed a hand on his cheek. “You know my price, Travis.”
“I don’t—”
She hated herself for saying the next part, but she had to. “I’m not like your grandmother. I can’t forgive missed time.”
Travis flinched.
She continued. “Time is the only thing I want from you, Travis. I want us to be a real couple. If you want me to live here with you, I’ll stay. I’ll look for a teaching job in Houston. Keep your thirty grand. Keep all of it. We’ll be a real couple and try this thing out. But I require time and effort. I want someone that will be with me, not someone that’s with their BlackBerry.”
“Risa,” he said, leaning to kiss her hand. “I want to be with you. But you have to understand my job. I didn’t get where I am today because I took a backseat on things. There are opportunities out there, and I’m not about to leave them on the table. I have a very important meeting in Japan in a week that I cannot miss.”
“I’m not asking you to quit your job for your pig nanny, Travis,” she said with a wry, sad smile. “I’m not asking you to make a choice. You are who you are. I am who I am, unfortunately, and I want the chance to be with someone who wants to be with me. It’s not that I’m giving you an ultimatum. It’s that we’re two immovable objects. You have your work on this side, and I am on the other. The two aren’t going to meet in the middle.”
“I want to be with you—”
“Then you know my price.” She picked up her suitcase and headed for the door. Every step felt like a thousand years. She wanted him to change his mind, to tell her that he’d make time for her. But he said nothing. When she got to the door, she turned back to him. “You might want to arrange to have your assistant feed Gregory twice a day. I left instructions on the refrigerator door. I don’t want him to starve.”
His arms crossed and his look became stubborn. Almost furious. “I can feed a pig, Risa.”
She knew he could. The question was, would he have the time? So she didn’t address it. “Can you call the car for me? My car’s still back at your grandmother’s.”
“I’ll call it in the morning,” he said harshly. He turned to his desk and pulled out his checkbook. “So half, then? Fifteen thousand?”
Her heart hurt. “I told you I don’t want the money, Travis. Keep it. Use it to hire a dog walker to take Gregory out in the mornings.”
“Then what do you want?”
“I want the car.”
His jaw set stubbornly. “In the morning.”
She would not be bullied. “Very well, then. See you in the morning.” Risa went to the guest bedroom and shut the door.
* * *
Goddamn it.
Travis stared at the closed door, furious. How dare she try to force him to change his ways for her? How dare she say that what he had to offer wasn’t good enough? Most women threw themselves at him, eager for his money and power.
This one turned her nose up at his money and wanted him to give up his power.
Un-f**king-believable.
Travis turned back to his computer and kept working, going through his ever-filling inbox. There was simply too much to be done before his Japan trip, and he didn’t trust his subordinates enough to handle the finer details.
He worked for another ten minutes and then shut the laptop, too furious to concentrate. He stood up abruptly, his chair scraping on the hardwood floors.
At his feet, Gregory danced in excited circles, his pig snout quivering. He snorted with enthusiasm, clearly thinking they were going out for a walk. “Sorry, pig,” he told it. “Not right now.”