Her lashes lowered over her eyes. Her brain scrambled and she tried to get the English words out. "You j-just did."
His expression became pained, and his thumb took a few more strokes of her lip, his arms refusing to release her, as his brain was screaming at him to do.
His voice became hoarse as he asked the question he needed to know the answer to. "Has a man ever kissed you before, Angel?"
Pink blossomed on her cheeks and her breath caught, but she answered, "No."
Travis knew she was untouched, but now he understood how innocent she was. It was a compelling reason to let her go, but an insidious voice in his brain kept telling him that he deserved to have that first kiss.
After all, some other man would get the gift of her virginity, and an anger so savage took hold of him that he didn't think twice, just reached back down to her and took her mouth with his.
Selena's brain shut down completely when she felt him part her lips and plunge his tongue into her mouth. Shock and ecstasy reverberated through her body as she hung in his arms. She lifted her hands and wrapped them around his wrists to anchor herself, so she wouldn't fall. Her brain was inundated with feelings, mainly a wave of shock at the intimacy of his actions. His mouth was totally open on hers, his tongue taking deep strokes of her mouth, his lungs breathing into her mouth.
His body surrounded hers, his hands leaving her face and encircling her completely.
She felt one of his hands move down her back to her bottom, and her mind splintered into a million fragments as a shaft of sexual desire hit her body for the first time in her life. She ruthlessly pulled her brain from the shock and tried to focus on the kiss she was receiving.
When he realized she was with him, the kiss changed. He began coaxing her into a response, his hands becoming gentle and his tongue teasing hers to join him. He lifted his head. "Please, kiss me back. Kiss me back, baby." His mouth came back down to hers.
Selena responded to the need in his voice and slowly gave him her tongue. He groaned in her mouth and his hands sank into the firmness of her butt. He began to knead her flesh. Her tongue joined his in a slow, sensual swirling, their mouths open wide on each other.
Travis felt her go to his head like liquid fire. His brain shut down, and his body shifted into automatic pilot. One hand left her butt, and unerringly searched for one of the small, soft swells that tempted him. He pushed her shirt up, and his hand came around and pushed her bra out of the way and found the delicate mound of her breast.
When Selena registered his hand on her naked breast, she jerked her mouth away from his, and pulled her body from his in shock. The movement dislodged his hand from his prize. He slid his hand back to her butt. She pushed against his chest, her breathing ragged with her agitation.
Slowly, his heart rate steadied, and his breathing slowed. He registered the shock on her face, and he hissed a single expletive. She jerked and pushed against him harder.
He slowly released her and stepped away from her. Why the hell had he done that? He had no control with her. None. He needed to find it, fast.
"My fault. It won't happen again." He brushed past her and out the door.
****
The following day, Selena moved quietly around the kitchen, cleaning up after lunch. Travis sat at the table, his eyes silently following her every move. She was nervous in his radius, and kept glancing back at him every few minutes to see if he still watched her.
He did.
Travis sat at the table in a semi-state of arousal. The same way he had been since the first time he saw her, a week ago. Today, the tension was electric between them. She looked at him every few minutes, awareness and curiosity in her eyes. It was the damn curiosity that was going to break him.
He wanted to be the one to teach her. To show her what it would be like between them. His erection strained against his jeans as he thought about the moment that he would push into her.
He had never had a virgin before. He had never wanted one. But it was different with her. The tantalizing image of the sexual education he could give her threatened to push him over the edge. The way she had gasped when he pushed his tongue into her mouth brought a parallel vision of what her reaction would be when he pushed his body into hers.
Her body, pliant in his arms, giving him what he needed, became a provoking image that wouldn't let up. He was about to come unglued. He needed to get the hell out of there.
****
Selena glanced up from wiping down the counters when she heard his chair scrape back from the table. She watched him push his hat back on his head and slam out the back door without a word or a look.
She slowly took a few deep breaths that she needed so badly. Did he regret the kiss he had given her the day before? Was he angry she had pushed him away?
The feel of his hand on her breast had shocked her, but she desperately wanted to experience more of his kisses. The feelings he evoked in her were confusing and distressing to the already turbulent situation she found herself in.
She needed to concentrate on doing a good job here, so she could stay long enough to get a good grasp of her speaking skills, and hopefully, to find the grandparents in Texas she had never met.
Two hours later, as she was folding towels in the laundry room, Juan knocked and stepped into the house with Slim, the cook. The men had their hats in their hands and approached her to find out if she was willing to give Slim a few cooking lessons. With Juan acting as translator, she happily agreed, and a few minutes later, followed them out to the large kitchen located behind the bunkhouse.
She had never seen it before and was astounded at its industrial size. It was big enough to feed an army, which feeding seven starving ranch hands equated to.