It was morning now, and as Kim listened to the shower running, she kept smiling as she remembered last night.
Travis entered the room
wearing a towel and drying his hair with another one. “You continue looking at me like that and I’ll need another shower.” He gave her a hot little look. “In an hour or so, that is.”
Smiling, Kim stretched. “I had a good time last night.”
“Yeah?” he said as he sat down on the bed beside her and stroked her hair back from her face. “I did too. How about if today we—”
“Oh!” she said and sat up straighter. “I forgot to tell you that I know where Tristan Janes is buried.”
“That isn’t what I was going to suggest we do, but we did come here for that purpose.”
“Right. To find more of my relatives.” Bending, he kissed her earlobe. “Maybe we could just call people named Janes and ask what they know.”
Travis got up and headed for the bathroom. “I already checked the local phone book and I asked Penny. There are no Janeses left.”
“When did you talk to her?” Kim asked.
“This morning while you were asleep,” he called from across the room.
Kim glanced at the clock. It was a little after nine and she didn’t think she’d ever slept so late in her life. When they were kids she and Travis had been outside before six. “Are you still a morning person?”
He put his head around the doorway, his cheeks covered in shaving foam. “I’m usually at the office by seven. What about you?”
“In my garage workshop at six.”
“Of course I’m having breakfast by five,” he said.
“Four-thirty for me.”
“I’m in the gym at four.”
“I don’t bother to sleep at all,” she said and they laughed together at their one-upmanship.
He came out of the bathroom, freshly shaved and nude. At Kim’s look he paused in starting to dress, but then he turned away. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
As she started to get out of bed, she realized she too was naked and hesitated. Travis had his back to her but he was watching her in the mirror. It’s not as though he hasn’t seen me nude before, she thought as she threw back the cover and walked across the room with all the bravado she could muster. She paused at the bathroom door and looked back at him. He was buttoning his shirt—and he was smiling broadly.
She showered and washed her hair, copiously applying conditioner to make it as silky as she could. When she got out, she dried off, put on the hotel robe hanging from a hook on the door, and began to blow-dry her hair. Travis came in, fully dressed, and took the dryer from her. She was glad to see that he was a bit awkward with the big hand dryer—which meant he hadn’t done such a domestic task before. As Kim bent her head forward and felt his hands on the back of her neck and in her hair, she didn’t think she’d ever felt anything so sensual. There was something so very intimate, so private, about what he was doing that she thought it might possibly be sexier than sex. What a funny thought! Sexier than sex.
“What’s that laugh for?” he asked as he turned the dryer off.
“Nothing, just silliness.” Turning, she put her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Thanks,” she said. “I enjoyed that.”
“Me too.” He ran his hands down the back of her body, and gave a pat to her rear end. “Get dressed so I can get some food! You wore me out last night.” He left the bathroom.
“You?” she asked as she began putting on her makeup. “You spent most of the time on your back. I was the one doing all the work.”
Travis looked around the doorjamb. “So what channels of TV do you watch when you stay up all night? I think we should watch them together.”
“Go away,” she said, laughing, “and let me get ready.”
He went back into the bedroom and put on his watch. “So tell me how you found out where Janes is buried.”
With a curler clasped to her lashes, she told him about meeting the caretaker, Red, and the highlights of what he’d told her. Minutes later, she was finished and went to the bedroom to get dressed. Travis sat down in a chair to watch the show.
“So who’s here that we can take with us?” she concluded as she started to fasten her bracelet, but then held out her arm to Travis.