She turned back to his duffel and unzipped it. Layers of clothes sprang from the bag. With a muffled curse, she forced them back inside and tried to arrange them in some semblance of order. The sight of the jumbled clothes reminded her of the conversation they needed to have. Trent was usually a neat freak. It was confirmation of what she knew instinctively.

Something wasn’t right.

She folded the clothes as the sounds of the shower filtered out of the bathroom behind her. By the time the water turned off she'd created three neat piles, one for underwear, another for his dress shirts and another for casual clothes.

“Hey baby.”

Trent stood in the doorway to the bathroom, a towel tucked snugly around his waist. Even as her mouth watered, she had to remind herself of her plans. Dinner first, then they needed to talk. She was determined to keep her head on straight so they could have a conversation. It wouldn’t do to get lost in passion and ignore the lingering tension between them. So Trent and his mouthwatering abs would just have to wait for a few hours.

“Matt and Penny are coming over for dinner. I have to go to the store to pick up a few things. If I’d known you were coming in so early I would have done it last night.”

“That's fine. You. Go. On.” He punctuated each word with a mind-drugging kiss. By the time he was done, Mara was ready to rip his towel off. Especially since his skin was appealingly warm and still slightly damp from his shower.

“I'm going to get some work done while you’re gone then I can give you my undivided attention tonight. Actually, can you bring me my laptop case? I must have left it on the couch up front."

He pulled her up on her toes to meet his kiss, anchoring her against him in the way that never failed to turn her to mush. He was so handsome with his sun-kissed blond hair and those piercing blue eyes that always made her melt.

By the time he released her, she could barely remember her own name let alone what he’d asked her to do.

Grocery store. I’m supposed to be going out.

“Okay, I’m going. I love you.”

She hugged him tighter, suddenly overcome with emotion. It was easy to assume the worst when he wasn’t here but she just couldn’t believe the emotion he showed toward her was feigned. No one had ever treated her the way he did or so openly showed his affection. There was probably something bad going on with work which would explain why he was suddenly traveling so much.

Guilt tightened her belly. She’d been stewing in her own insecurity this whole time and assigning him false motives when he was likely just trying to keep from losing his job. Trent had always had weird hang-ups about money. Her brother had given her a sizable loan to buy the townhouse and when Trent had found out about it, he’d been furious.

Like a lot of men, he seemed to think that if he couldn’t financially support her, then she wouldn’t love him. But Mara didn’t need that from him. She’d been supporting herself since she was old enough to work.

Trent pulled her closer and kissed her forehead the way he always did. “Be careful out there. You know I love you more than life.”

A smile on her face, she left the room and headed back down the hallway to the living room to grab her handbag.

When she spotted his laptop bag and suit jacket on the chair, she remembered that he’d asked her to bring his stuff. The jacket was one of her favorites on him, a pale gray pinstripe that brought out the intense color of his eyes. She folded it over her arm carefully. Something bulky poked out of the fabric.

With one hand, she slung the laptop case over her shoulder and then reached into the inner pocket. Her hands met what felt like rough cardboard. She pulled it out. It unfolded in her hands, showcasing the bright colors of what was obviously a child’s drawing.

But that wasn’t what turned her heart to ice. It was the childish scrawl at the bottom right above a painstakingly written name.

Travis.

Quickly, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and took a photo. Her hands shook as she refolded the drawing and tucked it into the inner pocket of the jacket where she’d found it. She dropped the laptop case and coat jacket back on the chair and then grabbed her own handbag. Her mind was in a whirl as she let herself out, locking the door behind her.

Different scenarios ran through her head as she drove through the familiar streets of New Haven. She soothed herself with the sight of the cheerful red awnings of the businesses on Main Street and the graceful arch of the trees that bordered the road.

It wasn’t until she pulled into the parking lot of the grocer

y store that she spoke the words aloud that had been screaming through her brain for the entire drive.

“Trent’s middle name is Travis.”

* * * * *

AS SOON AS he heard Mara drive away, Trent opened his laptop and got to work. Running a company in absentia was one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do. But the knowledge that he wasn’t doing it for his own benefit was what bolstered him. His older brother had borne the brunt of his father’s expectations for years. He could take the reins for a short time, at least until his father was back on his feet.

He logged in to Townsend Industries remotely and spent a few minutes catching up on email. His assistant, Gina, usually responded on his behalf to anything that wasn’t pressing and sorted the rest of his correspondence into folders. It was always hard to catch up after he’d been visiting Avery. When he was there he wanted to spend as much time as possible with Travis. As a result, his own work tended to slide. Now that he was helping his father out after a health scare, his work was compounded.

As he read through some of the documents his assistant had forwarded on, he thought of how it must be killing his father to have to step back. James Townsend III had taken over Townsend Industries from his own father twenty years ago and Trent didn’t think he’d missed a day of work since. Having a heart attack was probably the only way to make him miss a day at the office.

Tags: M. Malone The Alexanders Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net