Untitled #1053

Untitled #1053 by ssaarah

I looked at the clock. 12:45. That was 45 minutes past the time that I was supposed to be meeting with Travis. I figured it would be a great time to go to lunch. I was a little surprised that he hadn’t come after me with a vengeance but then again maybe he didn’t really care that much. And you know what? Neither did I. I grabbed my bag and opened the door to my office just in time to see Travis growling at me.

"It was about time." He said sharply. I parted my lips and then re-closed them, not wanting to say the first thing that came into my head in an office full of people  

"Hi to you too Travis. Do you need something from me?" I asked in a nice tone, ignoring his words completely.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he literally said the words through his teeth. He looked about to burst he was so mad. Men.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I answered nonchalantly and made a point of not looking at him, or that perfect face with those perfect eyes.

"I have been waiting for you for almost one hour." He said coldly apparently intent on following me today. I smirked as I brushed past him.

 "What's an hour compared to two weeks?" I retorted before walking down the hall with an extra sashay to my step, feeling his eyes on my ass and getting hot for a second before I pushed those thoughts away.

"Point taken Lila, but still not okay." He was still following but I was barely listing as I pushed the door of the building open, not holding it for him.

"I don't care." I replied stubbornly, "What are you doing now? Following me like a stalker? People talk Travis." He groaned again, and I took a moment to revel in the fact that I knew how to piss him off.

"We need to talk about your project." He said in monotone.

"I'm going to lunch." I retorted, still walking and ignoring him.

"So am I apparently." He snorted as if there was nothing else to do. Like go back to his own damn office and leave me the fuck alone.

“Inviting youself to lunch with me?” I questioned, wincing a little. “That’s pretty clingy Trav.”

“Don’t you push me.” He growled as I crossed the street to my favorite Thai place.

“I'm not pushing you anywhere, you’re following me.” I replied. “If you have some information about my project you can e-mail me.”

“Lila stop walking.” I turned to him and cocked a brow.

“What do you want?”

“I wanted to meet with you at 12. I don’t like waiting.” I widened my eyes at the man in front of me who was so gorgeous it hurt to look at him.

“YOU don’t like waiting?” And then I turned around and walked into the restaurant.  “Table for one please.’ I asked the hostess before I heard the door close behind me.

“Two. Table for two.” I sighed.

“Fine table for two.” I shook my head and pulled out my ipad. “But I'm warning you I have a lot of work to do.” We sat down in a booth and he pulled my ipad out of my hands and stared at me.

“I'm denying your proposal.” He said simply. I widened my eyes. Never in a million years did I think that my silly idea would get denied, but you know what? Who cared at this point. I had plenty of other things to do.

“Okay. Is that all?”

"No." he said dryly and broke eye contact to grab a menu.

"Then what?" I said sharply and he just ignored me, playing my game but I wasn’t having it. "Travis I'm talking to you."

"I hear you loud and clear." He retorted flatly, annoyance showing in his voice that no matter what he was saying still sounded sexy to me.

"What else?" I asked not bothering to sound bored anymore I just wanted to get this over with. "What are you doing, can't you answer to me?" He glanced over the top of his menu at me and I was captured by those damn eyes again.  

"Pad thai or green chicken curry? I'm torn." He said seriously, trying to piss me off, though it wasn’t working. Much.

"I hate you." O snorted and crossed my arms over my chest, not being able to ignore the way his eyes shot to my chest as I did. Huh…

"You're breaking my heart." He said flatly though this time he sounded like he was grinning.

"Seriously Travis, just tell me!" I sighed as I leaned into him from across the table and he took another glance down my dress.

"I will when you'll stop acting like a six year old." He said slowly then leaned back, watching the waitress approaching our table. "I hope you're ready to order."

“My usual.” I said simply, still glaring at Travis who even though I’d sworn to let him suffer this time was getting under my skin again.

“Green chicken curry for me.” He replied with a soft smile at the waitress before turning towards me when she walked away. “Is your tantrum over?” I didn’t say anything. I just pursed my lips and waited for him to keep talking. “I’ll take that as a no.”

“What is it you want from me exactly?” I asked, barely restraining my temper.

“Curry for now.” he grinned. “We’ll see what comes up later.”

“So you just want to spend time with me then?” I felt my lips twitch upwards slightly and he just watched me with those amazing eyes.

“If I was going to put away time to spend with you it wouldn’t be here.” He said simply, cryptically.

“Oh? Would it be at a locker room instead?” I watched as he blinked at me and then gave me a hint of a smile that looked so good on him I had to restrain myself from jumping across the table to his arms. What was it about him?! I felt like I was losing my mind.

“Maybe.” He replied, taking a sip of his water.

“Well that would be better than this.” I mumbled and reached for my ipad but he pulled it out of my reach. “Are you trying to pis.s me off?”

“Maybe.” He grinned again and I glared further.

“Stanford graduates usually have larger vocabularies.” I spat.

“Oh? Are Yale girls usually so pouty?” he asked, his hand reaching out to run his thumb over my lower lip. Fuck.

“I was right. I do hate you a little.” He shrugged and pulled his hand away but still kept his eyes on me.

"I don't care."

"Because you're heartless?" I rolled my eyes, still obviously annoyed, god it was easier when we were naked. When we weren’t I just wanted to slap him most of the time.

"Totally." He answered flatly as he leaned back, and just stared at me. I looked back at him just as hard but didn’t say anything as I noticed the annoyed look on his face and knew I was getting to him just as much as he was getting to me. "What?"

"You're getting mad again." I pointed out and he inhaled deeply, forcing a grin even though I knew better.

"No darling. I'm perfectly fine." I opened my lips to snap at him for the pet name but figured if he wanted to play that way I could to. After all that’s what we did.

"Allright baby." I retorted flatly. The waitress bringing our food paused our challenge and I really was starving so it took me away from our debate as I inhaled.

"Do you always eat here?" he peeked up at me.

"I do a lot." I answered simply, licking my lips at the delicious food. "Are you wondering how I burn all the calories?" I asked, looking up and smirking at him.

"No."

“Are you wondering if I’ll help you burn them off?” I grinned and I watched as a hint of a smile crossed his gorgeous face.

“It’s a tempting thought.” He admitted, watching me as I took a big bite of my pad thai. I closed my eyes and made little moan as I chewed because this place really had the best Thai food in the city.

“So yummy.” I said to myself as I swallowed, taking a drink of my iced tea before turning back to him. “If you want to go to the gym with me after work you’re welcome.” I added, trying not to think about watching him work out…or about him sweaty and naked in the showers.

“I’ll remember that….do you go to the gym every day after work?” I shook my head though I was confused to why he was asking so much about my life.

“No every other day. I go swimming at the Y on the off day.” I explained before digging into my food again.

“I have a new project for you.” He said after watching me eat for a moment, and I blinked as I looked up at him.

“A work related project or did you read about a new position you’re dying to try?” I bit back, annoyed by his sudden change in topic but adjusting fast anyways. I saw that hint of a smile again but it was gone in a second.

“I don’t need to read about new positions Lila. I know your brain is all about sex when you’re around me but let’s try to focus.” I almost growled under my breath. He was damn good at this game, whatever it was.

“You interrupted MY lunch. Remember? It’s not work time for me. It’s lunch time.”  He looked like he was conflicted to which emotion was going to bubble over first but he was as good at this as I was and so he just took a deep breath before speaking.

"Fair enough." Ihe said simply and started eating again.

"Why are you giving up so easily?" I asked bluntly, back to being the no filter Lila. Damn it.

"Because you're right." he shrugged as he reached for his glass to take a big gulp of water, not moving his eyes from mine though.

"I know what-" I started to speak but Travis’ phone started ringing and it cut me off. I followed his hand as he took out his iphone from his pocket and glanced at it, then ignored whoever it was. Interesting.

"Who was it?" I asked hurriedly, but as soon as the words left my mouth I regretting them. Not only did I know he wouldn’t tell me, but I didn’t care. I didn’t.

"No one." He answered, proving me right. I just nodded and then looked back at my food while I thought about the man who had kind of turned my life upside own. He was right. I really knew nothing about him. It didn’t sit well with me.

"You're a very cryptic man Travis." I said eventually.

"Interesting choice of words." He stopped eating, setting his elbows on the table to stare at me again instead. "You're a very smart girl Lila. Sometimes I almost forgot how young you are."

"Jeez, are we back to the age thing?" I snorted.

"Almost."

“If I'm so young and insignificant, then why are you ignoring calls to spend more time with me?” I asked, tilting my head to the side. His hand shot up again and then I felt him tracing my neck, probably still seeing some of the marks his teeth had left there last weekend. I shivered and then cursed under my breath, hating my bodies reaction to him.

“You amuse me.” He replied simply, returning to his food and letting my eyes roam over him without him noticing.

“Huh.” I licked my lips and for a few moments we ate in silence before I spoke to break it. “Was your family dinner nice?”  he looked up at me. “I'm just making conversation.”

“Yes.” He nodded.

“Yes what?” he glared again.

“Yes. Family dinner was nice.” He retorted.

“You have two brothers? Is Rob’s father married?” Travis nodded.

“He is.”

“None of my brother’s are married, haven’t even gotten close….” I sighed and he blinked at me.

“Does that bother you?” he asked, raising a brow, seeming interested but annoyed at the same time. I shrugged.

“I want more nieces and nephews to spoil and cuddle.” I admitted. “Plus I want them to be happy.”

“And you think they have to be married to be happy?” I shook my head.

“No I guess not. But a life of one night stands isn’t fulfilling, all of them are in the top of their career fields, they have no reason not to try to give love a chance.”

"Uhm."

"What? Seriously Trav, you need to stop with those one word answers." I scoffed.

"Or what?"

"It makes you look stupid." I said seriously, making him actually laugh at ne. "Oh good god." I snorted, shaking my head.

"I still have my looks." he winked at me before taking the last bite of his food, sipping some water then wiping his mouth with his napkin as I watched those lips that had the power to make me a crazy woman.

"What did you mean?" I asked seriously.

"But I said nothing." He retorted, loving every second of annoying me with his stupid deflecting.

"Travis!"

"I knew you were a romantic." he said eventually, my voice quiet and, if not necessarily nice, just normal. Huh.  

"And you're getting it from what? I just said that I think that my brothers have everything, the only thing they're missing is love."

"I didn't mean to insult you." he smirked wide at me. "Maybe they don't want love and they're happy with how their life is." I licked my lips, understanding the point of view but then again he was just a man.

"Bullshit." I said eventually.

"Not everyone has the same idea of how life could be Lila. What works for you might not work for them." He shrugged nonchalantly.

“First of all. They don’t know if it would work for them because they’ve never tried it.” Travis opened his mouth to speak and I held up my hand to silence him, seeing how it irritated him turned me on a little I had to admit. “Secondly? I want them to have love not because I want it. I'm too young for love.” Travis looked surprised for a second before recovering.

“Finally you admit your youth.” He teased, taking a long drink.

“Youth comes with benefits baby.” I grinned back.

“I remember all about your benefits.” His eyes went stormy and for a second I thought he was about to pull me into the bathroom by my hair to have his way with me.

“I'm pretty hard to forget I know.” What was with us? We’d had sex already….a lot and yet I still felt like the sexual tension between us was so thick it was hard to breathe.

“Young and cocky. Not a good combo.” His eyes were set on mine  and I slowly licked my lips as I leaned into him.

“Not as bad as old and cocky.” I winked.

“Lila…..” he was growling again and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love it. I groaned softly and let my eyes close before I opened them and gave him my best sexy stare.

“How badly do you want to spank me right now Travis?” I asked softly, grinning and leaning back in my chair as I changed my topic. “You had a project you wanted to give me?”

"Yes." he said eventually, his tone back to cold and all business.

“Are you going to tell me or what?" I asked, trying not to sound annoyed at his tone change.

"I'm just following your rules." He retorted as the right corner of his wicked mouth lifted just so slightly in a lopsided grin that made me ache. "Are you done eating?"

 "I dunno, are you in the mood for a dessert?" I asked casually, keeping my face straight.

"No." he answered, doing a good job of not thinking the way I knew I was thinking.

"Okay..." I trailed off, nodding my head slowly.

"Can I talk?" he was smirking and I swore the man just as much out of annoying me as he did from fucking me. Insane.

"Since when you ask for anyone's permission?"

"Since you're a pain in the ass." he smirked from ear to ear, and I just rolled my eyes. “I suggested your name for designing the new covers for the iPhone 5c. They should be our for Christmas and it's a lot of work, but I'm sure you can do it." I blinked back at him, not really knowing what to say because it was. Well it was a nice offer. More than nice.

"Really." He nodded.

"The one they launched with the new model sucks. It shouldn't be hard for you to do better." There it was, an insulting compliment. “Also your other project has been pushed for late February, it was good but the timing wasn't right."

I narrowed my gaze on him. “Why didn’t you just start with that?” I asked after a while. He blinked.

“Because you told me you didn’t want to talk about work while you were eating.”

“Right.” I shook my head. It was flattering, his offer, but still I was so mad at him for being rude before it was making me a crazy person. Me crazy around Travis? Go figure.

“You seem upset….my project offers you much more and you’d still be able to finish yours.”

“That is so not the point Travis. But yes. I’ll do the new cover designs, and yes mine will be better. Not because it would be easy, but because I'm damn good at my job.” I grabbed my bag to get my wallet out  but when I did it tipped over and everything fell out on the floor. “Fu.ck” I scooped up the pens and pencils, my makeup bag and my wallet before realizing that Travis had grabbed my sketchbook and was flipping through it. “Hello!” I reached for it but he moved just in time, look intensely at the pages in front of him.

“What is this?”

“It’s my sketchbook. It’s where I draw out my ideas for paintings and the good ones get put into my collection. Can I have it back please?” he flipped it towards me, showing me the first page where two hands were intertwined tightly against satiny sheets. It was just the hands, but somehow when I was drawing I’d managed to capture every emotion of the couple without even trying. The perks of inspiration…

“It’s very good.” He said simply, still staring at it and then reaching out for it again, but this time I snatched it back up.

“Don’t act so surprised.” I blinked and he shrugged.

“Sorry.” I looked up at him and for the thousandth time I felt confused. He wanted me, but he didn’t, he was annoyed by me, but he wasn’t, he hated our age difference, but it didn’t really matter, and he was an as.shole. Except when he wasn’t.

“If you wanted you could see the full size version.” I said without thinking, putting myself out there but already knowing the answer.

“Lila…” I shook my head and then shrugged.

“Too bad. The sketch doesn’t even do it justice.” I looked into his eyes, feeling that I wasn’t hiding any of my emotions, that I was letting myself be vulnerable in front of him and as much as I hated it in that second I couldn’t bring up my walls.

“I believe you.” He replied, something having shifted between us, or maybe it was just him. Or maybe I was reading into it again. Either way I was in over my head, and I needed to pull back.

“Good….so no dessert then?” He shook his head, though he was still looking at me as if he was seeing me differently, whatever that meant.

"I think it's time to go back to work." he said instead.

"Bummer." I replied, forcing a pout even though I could feel the shift between us, not just sexually, although that was still simmering close to the surface. This was much bigger. And much scarier.

"The sooner you start the sooner you're done." he grinned , it looked like in spite of himself and I tried not to smirk but failed the same way he had.

"Blah blah you do really talk like an old man." I teasted him."One of the many perks of being young is that I'm full of energy and I can do everything super fast." He laughed and I ignored how warm the sound made me feel.

"Yeah sure, how should I call you, wonder woman?" he asked with amusement, "No wait wonder girl would fit better." I rolled my eyes, even if I’d been her for Halloween two years in college.

“As long as I got the wonder part." I shrugged and bit down on my lip as I looked back at him with the same intensity he had shown.

"You earned it in bed." he said in a lower tone, surprising me so much that I blushed as he leaned in slightly. "We'll see if you surprise me with your work too."

"Oh because it's all about you in the end, isn't it?" I asked in a sarcastic voice, but for some reason I wasn’t all that annoyed this time.  

"Well I gave you the project, so..." he  trailed off with a shrug, still looking at me when his phone rang. Again. This time he answered it with a groan. "I'm busy." he said sharply. I couldn’t hear her side of the conversation but god he looked pissed. More pissed than I made him and that was an accomplishment.  "I'm working, I'll call you later okay?" he said in a final tone before hanging up and taking a deep breath before running his hands through his hair.

"Damn, this person got you really mad." I said without thinking.

"I get mad really easily." he joked,  as he got up, waiting for me to do the same, "Can I pay for your lunch since I ruined your break?"

“Damn right.” I nodded as if I had been expecting it the whole time even if really I’d wanted to pay for both of us just to spite him. Even if that didn’t make any sense. Travis shook his head and chuckled as he set some money on the table and stood up, waiting for me and holding the door open. “At least old men are chivalrous.” I said under my breath, secretly loving the sound of his laughter.

“Yes, thank god for old men.” He shook his head and I blinked up at him.

“Is it usually that easy to make you go from mad to laughing too?” I teased and he looked down at me, his eyes capturing my body and my mind like they always did.

“Not usually.” He admitted.

“I must be special.” I shrugged, licking my lips and running my hands through my hair as we walked down the street back towards work. It felt like a lunch date, but I knew that was ridiculous even if a part of me was begging to be wrapped up in his arms again and kissed the way only he had ever kissed me. Like he would die if he didn’t posses my body….

“Must be.” He conceded and for a second I didn’t know what he was talking about until I’d remembered his words.

“Are you saying something nice about me while I'm fully dressed?!” I asked, feigning shock and enjoying the sound of his laughter again.

“It looks that way. Don’t get used to it.” I grinned in the parking lot and stepped closer to him, our bodies pressed up against each other and the normal attraction we had hummed enough for both of us to hear it.

“Don’t get used to being dressed?” I asked softly.

“Lila…” this time it wasn’t a warning tone that he used, it was more like a groan of frustration, one I was desperate to kiss away, to get lost in pleasure instead of emotions.

“I'm not teasing.” I whispered even softer, knowing I was putting myself out there, knowing I was going against everything I’d said I didn’t want from him.

“I know.” He groaned then he reached forward and pressed a kiss against my forehead, before walking past me into the building without another word….and leaving me wondering what on earth was happening.