Page 53 of Beyond Question

“Well…” I pause to gather my thoughts, but the tour guide has made his way back up to our level again, so we turn towardhim to listen to his latest presentation. We’ve stopped in Little Italy, and a few key bits of history are surprisingly new to me.

“This is our food stop, so you’ll have thirty minutes to grab a bite to eat and take some pictures for the ‘gram.” He disappears back down the stairs and everyone begins to stand and begin moving forward.

I look at Travis, raising my eyebrows. “Are you hungry?”

He barks out a laugh. “I’m always hungry.”

“Well…” I pause to watch the people shuffle past us toward the stairs, then say, “Should we go eat?”

“Are you hungry?”

I shrug. “I could eat if you want to.”

“I can wait.” His voice is quieter as he says, “Do you think that’s the only way to find happily ever after? The marriage and fence and babies and all that?”

“No, Travis, I don’t.”I hope not.“Not everyone wants those things, sohappyandforeverlook different to each individual person.” I pause, considering my next words because I saw the way he watched his friend during that baby shower a few weeks ago. Other people probably didn’t see it—Cabot certainly didn’t—but I caught that look of longing. “They’re not leaving you behind.”

He tenses, and I squeeze my eyes shut. Maybe I overstepped—

“That’s…” He chuckles. “Wow. It’s not just books you like to read, huh?”

I laugh and shake my head. “I think being a book nerd gives you a little extra insight into the way the human mind works.”

“Can’t get that from numbers.”

“No, you certainly cannot.”

He sobers and his eyes lock onto mine with an intensity I’ve seen in them before. My breath catches in my lungs. “Read me right now, Paige.”

My gaze flicks past him. The top level of the bus is empty. There’s noise below, and the lights of the city above, but we’re alone. So I look back into his eyes.

“Tell me what I’m thinking.”

“You’re thinking you want to kiss me.”

Travis nods. “And you’re thinking you want me to.”

I nod, lips parting on a quick intake of breath.

Travis growls as he leans forward, a rumbly sound deep in his chest, and as his lips crash against mine, the breath leaves my lungs in a moan because holy shit, I wish I hadn’t waited so long for this moment.

His lips move against mine, urging them to open, and when they do, his tongue dances along the length of mine, drawing my tongue into his mouth with firm strokes that send sparks of lust clear down into my toes.

His hand grips my jaw, tilting my head so he can deepen the kiss while his other arm squeezes around my upper back, pulling me closer.

Each stroke of his tongue makes my breath catch, and before long, I've pulled back because, once again, this man has broken my brain and I’ve forgotten how to breathe. His fingers still hold my jaw. His eyes focus on my mouth with such intensity that my heart beats faster.

Travis looks like he might devour me at any moment.

“Holy hell,” he murmurs, swooping back in to kiss the corner of my jaw. “That was even better than I imagined.” And then his lips slant over mine once more and he’s kissing me senseless all over again.

Exceptsenselessisn’t the word because my senses are heightened.

Every single sense. The way he feels, tastes, the woodsy scent of him. The sounds below us on the street, peoplechattering excitedly, cars going by… everything is magnified in the intensity of this kiss.

When he pulls back again, he searches my eyes. His lips quirk up to one side, then he leans in to nudge my nose with his. “I’m going to do that a lot now.”

“Consider me warned.”

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