Pearl would have been heartbroken at the thought of her beloved pig being turned over to a shelter by her adored grandson.
She had to do something.
“That’s right, I said pig,” he snapped into the phone, ignoring Risa as she stood. “P-I-G. Ask how much in donations they’ll need to take one off of my—”
Risa snatched the phone from his hand and began to walk away with it.
“Hey,” he called after her, furious. “What the f**k are you doing?”
She walked a bit faster, her steps almost a run as she bolted for the pool. Gregory danced in happy circles at her feet, snorting and squealing with excitement. He thought they were playing a game.
To her surprise, Travis Jesson caught her by the waist and her towel fell to the ground. Gregory immediately grabbed it and dashed off with it, grunting happily. A big hand wrestled the phone out of her hand, though she did her best to hold on to it. She was standing really close to the pool, too, and when he wrenched it out of her hand, she had to hold on to him to keep her balance.
For some reason, though, he wasn’t letting her go. Instead, he stared down at her, at her heaving br**sts in the black bikini, and she felt exposed and vulnerable hugged up against his gray suit.
“Why did you do that?” he snarled at her.
“Your grandmother would be devastated if you sent her pig to a shelter. She loved that pig. She got it because she was lonely. You would know that if you’d come to see her in the last year or two.”
He seemed to flinch at her accusatory words. Dark eyes stared down at her, a mixture of fury and something else burning in them.
She was getting through to him, though. “Pearl wanted you to have that pig. She wanted it so much that she had them add it to her will specifically. Not me. You. Would you disappoint her like this? Can’t you give him a chance?”
Travis leaned in and Risa’s heart fluttered. Her hands were still curled on his shoulders, her heaving br**sts pressed against his chest. It was almost as if . . . he was going to kiss her. Forgettable Risa Moore? Kissed by the most eligible billionaire in Texas?
“Mr. Jesson?” A tinny, thin voice emerged from the phone at the same time Gregory gave a playful squeal from the side of the yard.
The spell broken, Travis released her and put the phone back to his ear, his gaze moving off of Risa and staring blankly into the distance. “Just call my driver and tell him that I’m staying overnight. He can come and get me in the morning.”
Risa stepped away to catch the towel that Gregory was dragging all over the yard with playful excitement. Her mind was in turmoil.
Travis hadn’t canceled his plans to drop the pig off at the shelter. But he was staying here. She gathered up the towel and knelt to scratch Gregory behind the ears, glancing back at Travis.
She found his gaze on her, even as he spoke into his phone and discussed business with his assistant.
Risa shivered. Was it anticipation or dread curling in her stomach right now?
* * *
After years of working for an elderly woman with health issues, Risa was a very light sleeper, attuned to waking up at the slightest hint of noise. So when she heard the low murmur of a man’s voice, she sat up in bed and glanced over at the clock.
Two in the morning.
What exactly was going on? Was Travis still working? She scrubbed at her eyes and tossed the covers aside, getting out of bed. She shouldn’t be so nosy, she knew she shouldn’t, but there was just something about Travis Jesson that made her toss aside all common sense. Pulling on a pair of pajama bottoms over her panties, she straightened the T-shirt she slept in and moved for her door, ignoring the bobbing of her full br**sts. She should get a bra if she was going to talk to Travis.
Then again, she just wanted to spy on him, and going braless meant that she’d avoid a midnight confrontation, which was smart if she didn’t want to creep the guy out. Since it was just spying, braless it was.
She carefully opened the door to her room, holding the handle and opening the door slowly so it wouldn’t creak. She began to head down the hall to the guest room where she’d left Travis, only to find the murmur of Travis’s voice coming from the opposite end of the house. Intrigued, she padded down the hall to the stairs, and peered down from the top of the banister.
The kitchen light was on.
Risa crept down the stairs, heading for the kitchen, her curiosity good and piqued now. She could still hear the low murmur of his voice. A late-night business meeting? A phone call? She approached the kitchen doorway and peered in.
Travis Jesson sat on the floor, his back against one of the kitchen cabinets. A half-empty bottle of whiskey sat on the floor next to his hand. A large photo album was cradled in his lap.
Strangest of all, Gregory was lying beside Travis, his head on Travis’s knee, watching him.
As she stood in the shadows, Travis took another swig of whiskey and turned the page in the photo album. “This is me when I was a boy,” he said, pointing at a picture on the page and staring at the pig snout resting on his knee. “I had a dog. Not a pig. What the f**k am I supposed to do with a pig?”
The pig said nothing, of course, only inched closer to his hand, looking to be petted.
There was a slight slur to Travis’s words, and judging from the amount left in the bottle—a bottle that Pearl had saved for special occasions—she knew he’d been here for some time. And he’d drank quite a bit.
“Risa says I’m supposed to keep you.” He leaned his head back against the cabinets, staring at the ceiling. “Grandma wanted me to have you. I’m not sure she realized how busy I am. I’m due in Tokyo for two weeks at the end of this month. Pretty sure Japanese hotels don’t like pigs.” He thumped the back of his head against the cabinet. “So either way I look at this, I disappoint someone again. If I keep you, I disappoint my business partners because I can’t go to Tokyo with a pig. If I get rid of you, I disappoint my dead grandmother. And Risa.”
He shook his head and took another swig from the bottle.
Well, now, this was interesting. Real interesting. Who knew that a little whiskey and a conversation with a pig would show that Travis Jesson had a heart after all? A smile curved her mouth.
“I should have been here, pig,” he said softly. “Should have been here to say good-bye.”
Sadness made Risa’s smile fade. There was a wealth of guilt in his voice. He blamed himself for not coming to see Pearl toward the end. Not coming to her funeral. The sad thing was—no one blamed him but himself. Pearl had thought the sun rose and set on Travis. She’d never blamed him for being busy.