Read Online Beauty Shot (Hope Parish Novels Book 5) by Zoe Dawson - Free Book Online Page B

being in my
life, and Deke was one of the best friends I’d ever had.
    I ran my hand over
my hair. “Geezus, Deke…Emmie.” I couldn’t
face them, so I grabbed my hat and bolted.
     
    #
     
    Emmie
     
    “Deke? Are you
all right?” He groaned, and I helped him into a sitting
position.
    “Yes. Dammit!
This has gotten out of hand. Don’t blame Travis.”
    “Travis hit you? He knocked you down?” Violence had been part of my other
life, the constant danger, and always the chance of getting caught. I
didn’t know if I could handle it anymore. I wanted a different
life, away from all that. I could barely believe Travis had hurt
Deke. They had seemed so close. “Why did he hit you?”
    He rubbed at the red
spot on his cheekbone. He looked at me. “He, uh, has a thing
for you.”
    My jaw dropped. The
memory of him naked was seared into my retinas. God, the way that man
was built on the outside. Damn .
And, his man parts were…impressive.
    That’s why
he’d gotten hard while I was staring at him. Because of me. I
couldn’t forget the way he was built on the inside, too. Sweet,
funny, gentle, smart. Gorgeous, normal, amazing Travis Blackwell liked me? That pathetic hope in my heart expanded from one heartbeat to
another to full blown desire. “No….he does?
W-what…Ohmigod.”
    “He thinks you
have the hots for me.”
    I know I must have
stared at him blankly. Then it dawned on my shocked mind. “Ohhhhh,
that’s why he hit you.”
    He nodded and looked
at me expectantly, but when I didn’t move, he said, “Emmie,
he’s in agony. Go after him. Now. I’m fine.” He pushed at me and I let him go.
    Springing up from
the floor, I dashed out of their dorm room and headed for the stairs
so I wouldn’t have to stand around waiting for the elevator. I
knew where Travis’s first class was, and if I had to, I’d
go right in there and make him come out and talk to me.
    By the time I got to
the lobby, I was running full out. I hit the doors of the John Jakes
dorm and collided with a solid mass of muscle who stumbled back, arms
going around me to steady me. After I regained my balance, I looked
up into Travis’s unhappy and apologetic cobalt blue eyes. I
could almost feel guilt and pain radiating off him.
    He didn’t let
me go, but just stood there. Finally he said, “I was coming
back. To explain. Emmie…I—”
    “I don’t
have a thing for Deke. We’re just friends,” I blurted
out. “I like you, too,” I said in a rush. “That’s
not exactly true. I’m crazy about you, but Travis—”
    “You are?”
he said, relief and wonder in the deep voice rumbling in his chest.
He drew me inside and into a secluded alcove.
    “I’m not
very good with girls, Emmie. As usual, I’ve misinterpreted the
whole thing. Deke must think I’m an idiot.”
    “You are an
idiot,” I said before I could stop myself. If only he’d
told me. “But he completely understands. He was the one who
sent me after you.”
    “I should have
said something to you, but I didn’t want to horn in on Deke’s
territory. But I got worried that he’d hurt you, and it got all
muddled up in my stupid mind. I was jealous.”
    “You’re
not stupid. It was just a misunderstanding.”
    His face softened,
and I didn’t think I would ever get tired of watching emotions
move across his features or ignite in his eyes. As soon as I thought
it, I saw an expression I’d never seen before. He was going to
kiss me. My breath caught with anticipation. I had dreamed about
kissing him for so long, ever since I’d seen him and his
perfectly beautiful mouth.
    But I’d held
back, and even though a kiss was about to happen, and there was no
way I would refuse him, I was still worried. Travis didn’t
really know me. He knew the funny, often sarcastic Emmie who hid
everything behind a layer of Goth attitude.
    He didn’t know
the real me. I blanched to think how he would react, he was so
white-bread American and I so…wasn’t.
    He opened an
emotional