Page 229 of The Billionaire's Obsession: Florida

“This one is…different,” Travis said hesitantly. “I just need you to be there, Alison. Itistechnically business. Your presence is required. The temp can stay and hold down the fort with Kade while we’re gone.”

Ally eyed Travis curiously, wondering what hewasn’tsaying. “I don’t have the necessary attire for that kind of function. I’ve never needed anything but office attire.”

“I’ll provide it. You’re dismissed back to your duties.” He waved a hand at her like she was a pesky fly.

God, Ally hated it when Travis did that. She felt like a naughty schoolgirl. “And how long will we be gone?”

“Leave Friday, return Monday. The actual ball is on Saturday night,” Travis answered absently, as though he had already put the whole thing out of his mind.

Ally stood, brushing imaginary wrinkles away on her tight skirt and tugging it down her hips. “Diet,” she reminded herself, turning to leave the office. She wanted to argue with Travis, but she couldn’t. He’d never asked her to travel with him, and it was part of her job as his assistant. The fact that Travis was a loner, and preferred it that way, was one of the reasons she was actually able to work a second job. He was usually alone, and didn’t feel the need for an entourage. And he never required anything from her outside of work hours. She’d do this for him just because he wasn’t demanding in that way, and he very well could have been. Somehow, although he was making light of it, it seemed important to him, and he’d never asked her to travel to events with him before.

“Totally unnecessary, Alison,” Travis said in a low, graveled voice so quietly that Ally almost didn’t hear him.

She turned back to him. “What’s unnecessary?”

“You don’t need to diet.” Travis scowled at her.

Ally rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Sure. My gorgeous body certainly didn’t keep my fiancé from banging another woman in our bed,” she answered facetiously, surprising herself again by the words that popped out of her mouth. She might do battle with Travis fairly often, but it had never gotten this personal.

Travis rose slowly, his liquid, fierce gaze never leaving her as he crossed the room unhurriedly, stopping right in front of her. Ally stepped back, trapping herself between Travis’s massive body and the door as he stepped forward again. His masculine scent filled the air around her and she almost sighed when she inhaled the intoxicating smell. She didn’t get this close to him very often, but whenever she did, her knees got weak just from the virile, musky male scent that emanated from his body like pheromones, beckoning her to get close enough to wallow in him. Travis might be a stubborn ass most of the time, but one thing Ally couldn’t deny was that he was a gorgeous, potent, testosterone-overloaded male ass.

Travis placed a palm on each side of her head, leaning down until Ally shivered as his warm breath caressed her ear.

“Yourex-fiancé was and is an idiotic fool. You, Alison, have the kind of soft, feminine body any man wants beneath him when he sinks his cock into a woman’s body. Every single thing about you is perfect.” His voice was husky, warm, and mesmerizing. “If he’d been smarter, he would have made you come, given you exactly what you wanted until you were so addicted to him that you’d never walk away, and he’d never want another woman when he had you in his bed.”

Ally nearly moaned against Travis’s shoulder, the seductive voice in her ear enthralling her. “He didn’t do that,” she admitted, leaning her head back against the door. Rick hadn’t given a shit whether she was satisfied or not.

Travis straightened, looking down at her from his towering height, his face changing to a mask of indifference. “Then he didn’t deserve you. Actually, he never did.” He stepped back, allowing space to open the door.

Ally fumbled with the door, flustered. What the hell had just happened to her? She scurried out, not looking behind her as she closed the door to Travis’s office, her hands shaking, her nipples hard and sensitive just from the sheer eroticism of Travis’s low, seductive voice whispering naughty words into her ear.

She sat down at her desk, dazed and confused, wondering if her overactive imagination had just conjured up that particular moment in time. Travis Harrison had never looked at her with anything other than irritation. And he’d certainly never said anything that made her hot and bothered in less than a few seconds.

Sipping her lukewarm coffee, she put her reading glasses back on and turned to her computer, giving herself a mental slap to stop thinking about Travis. After all, he hadn’t even touched her. It was nothing to make a big deal over. So, he’d thrown her a very strange compliment, but at the end of the day, it didn’t really change anything. Travis was just…different today, and in a very odd mood.

Shaking her head, she got back to work.

Jason Sutherland was in an excellent mood as he strolled into Travis Harrison’s top floor office, and he smiled when he saw a pretty blonde woman sitting behind a desk right inside the door. She had to be Ally, Travis’s assistant with whom he’d spoken earlier that morning. Her looks were just as appealing as her voice. Not that he’d ever notice her in a romantic way. But she appeared to be just as charming as she’d sounded on the phone.

“Mr. Sutherland?” The woman rose from the chair and gave him a friendly smile that surprised him.

He was used to a sly, artificially bright welcome from women, and looks that sized up him and his bank account at the same time. Hope Sinclair, Grady’s younger sister, was the only woman who had ever really treated him like a person rather than an eligible billionaire. In fact, Hope had always treated him with a little too much nonchalance, and way too much like an older brother for his taste—untilthe incidentthat had happened at Christmas when he’d seen her in Amesport. “Ally.” He grinned back at her, taking the hand she offered him in welcome. “It’s very nice to meet you in person. Please call me Jason.”

Ally took her hand from his and nodded as she answered. “It’s nice to meet you, too. Thank you for calling this morning. Mr. Harrison is expecting you. I’ll call him.”

“He’s already here,” a low, irritated baritone announced from the other side of the office. “Come in, Sutherland.”

Jason looked toward the voice, feeling underdressed in a pair of jeans and a buttoned-down shirt when he looked at Travis Harrison. Grady had already warned him that Travis was an intimidating son of a bitch, according to Simon, and now Jason knew why. The dark look on Travis’s face was almost homicidal, and Jason had to work to keep a straight face as Travis glanced at Ally in a proprietary manner and then back at him again. Really, Jason didn’t care that Travis was openly an asshole, and wasn’t the least bit daunted. He’d rather have a man be openly hostile than have him smile to his face and then stab him in the back. He had a feeling he’d always know exactly where he stood with Travis Harrison, and that was fine by him.

He winked at Ally as he passed her desk and sauntered into Travis’s office.

“She’s off-limits,” Travis growled at him after he’d closed the office door.

“She married?” Jason asked innocently, taking a seat in front of Travis’s desk.

“No,” Travis rumbled, sitting down behind the massive oak desk.

“Involved?” he pushed, smirking as Travis scowled at him.

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