Nicole Edwards - Travis

To my husband:

You, above all else, are what keeps me going every day. You’ve changed your entire life to accommodate my dream, and I am forever grateful that we get to take this journey together.

I love you.

~Nic~

♂♂

At the party for Kaleb and Zoey…

Gage Matthews wasn’t sure exactly what he expected was going to happen if and when he ran into Travis Walker again, but this specific scenario wasn’t anywhere on the list.

He’d been coming back from the bathroom on his way to rejoin the pre-wedding slash bridal shower slash bachelor slash bachelorette party when Travis stepped right in his path. In the dining room of Travis’ parents’ house of all places.

Now that he was pinned against the wall, Gage was fighting the ever present supply of lust that bubbled inside of him anytime he laid eyes on Travis. It seemed to be a response that was hardwired in his brain at this point. Going toe to toe with the man was a byproduct of that reaction as well and… well, Gage was more than ready to put up a fight.

Considering what the reward was going to be, he didn’t see a downside one way or the other.

“What the fuck do you want, Walker?” Gage asked, maintaining a defiant bite to his tone.

With the sheetrock at his back, a hard, warm body at his front, Gage stared into stormy blue eyes that appeared to be trying to read his mind, versus determining whether he approved of the physical contact or not. His dick was already answering the latter for him, so he doubted Travis had any questions as far as that went.

What he couldn’t determine was what Travis was thinking. The shadows in the man’s eyes were just as vivid as they always were, guarding whatever deep, dark secrets he harbored.

Despite his desire to be pissed at Travis for blowing his cover to hell and back in order to save his brother Zane’s life – which, by the way, Gage would’ve done without the threats Travis had made to his physical well-being at the time – combined with a staggering urge to take him to the ground and bury himself balls deep inside of him, Gage found himself waiting for Travis to explain what the hell he was doing.

“I’m picking up where I left off,” Travis stated. He was eerily calm, his restraint admirable as he kept Gage’s body pinned between his and the wall.

When Travis lifted one hand, gripping Gage’s chin firmly, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to turn away. He also knew clear as day what was about to happen. He welcomed it, damn near close to begging for it. But, he prayed the indifference he let settle over him was shielding him from Travis’ scrutinizing gaze.

He’d silently been taunting Travis for weeks, every time the opportunity presented itself. The last time, at Zoey’s and Kaleb’s bachelor/bachelorette party in Vegas, Gage had gone out of his way – probably a little overboard – to make sure Travis understood Gage’s role in Kaleb’s current relationship.

And just like that night, Gage recognized Travis’ determination to exercise his own version of payback at the next opportunity.

Gage had been banking on it.

And here they were.

Granted, there wasn’t any privacy where they stood but considering his hunger for this man was picking up speed and rumbling in his veins, Gage wasn’t sure he even gave a shit where they were.

But Gage wasn’t giving in just yet. “And you picked now to do this?”

“It will happen again, I told you that,” Travis answered, sounding bored. But the way his gaze slipped down to Gage’s mouth told him that Travis wasn’t holding on as well as he wanted him to believe.

Before he could get another word out, whether it was to defy him or to beg, Travis’ mouth came crashing down on his. A blatant claiming that took Gage by surprise, but not for long. Instinct kicked in and he kissed Travis back, one hand snaking into Travis’ hair, an attempt to hold him close.

God, this was beginning to tear at him. The teasing kisses, these promises of what might happen in the future. It didn’t matter that his body damn near melted from the heat churning between them, there was still this little niggling voice deep in his subconscious that suggested Travis was just fucking with him.

There was no doubt that Travis wasn’t a man who was searching for a forever kind of love. He was a onetime only kind of guy, and since Gage had had his fair share of meaningless sexual encounters, he wasn’t currently in the market for another.

No, what he wanted he seriously doubted Travis could ever give him. Which made this – whatever it was – all the more disappointing.

Before they broke apart, a fleeting thought sprang to mind as though it had been planted there: a flickering image of him and Travis and a beautiful woman trapped between them, her body coming apart as they both fucked her. At the same fucking time.

His dick twitched, a warning that he was about to get in over his head.

Their mouths separated, their gazes locked as they both worked to suck in air, and Travis said, “Will. Happen. Again.”

A promise that Gage prayed Travis would keep, but one that still pissed him off, making him crave revenge against this man for putting thoughts in his head that he knew were better left alone.

Damn Travis Walker.

♀♂

Kylie Prescott couldn’t stop smiling as she stepped onto the wide, rickety wood steps that circled the old farmhouse. According to the tax records the house was built in the late 1800’s and according to Gage, his great, great something or another grandparents had built the house with their very hands. That alone made this project so much more exciting than most she had worked on.

The piles of pictures taken throughout the last several decades certainly hadn’t done the house justice, although they had given her a vivid journey through the wondrous childhood Gage had lived. Not only had she felt the love showered upon every person within the visual catalog of their history, she knew the house would still have remnants of such a sweet, loving family within its walls.

The fact that the house still remained within the family made her want to work that much harder to restore it to its former glory. Her inspiration could also have come from getting to know Gage and hearing the stories of his youth, the years he spent growing up here, the love of his grandmother and grandfather as they raised him after the devastating loss of his parents when he was a teenager.

From where she stood, the vast overhang covering the porch having seen better days, Kylie could tell that, at some point in the last two centuries, someone had done significant work to the exterior, although time had taken its toll, and it was definitely time to rejuvenate and preserve what had been restored so long ago.

There was a lot of work that needed to be done; however, even through the years and the many hands that held hammer and nail, the original uniqueness of the structure had been maintained. A bubble of excitement erupted in Kylie’s belly. In her experience, that didn’t happen very often.

And yes, since the day she met Gage Matthews, when he went into detail about this little project of his, she’d hoped he wasn’t pulling her leg. Clearly, he had been upfront and honest with her. That made her heart sing all the more.

As she spun in a slow circle, taking in the white paint flaking on the strong, sturdy bones of the old house, she felt Gage move up behind her.

“What do you think?”

Rather than turning to face him, Kylie let his arms encircle her from behind, pulling her against his hard body. Leaning her head back on his chest, a comforting warmth consumed her. For two months, the more time she spent with him, the more she’d begun to care for him. Not only was he able to set her body ablaze with just a slight tilt of his lips, but he also had managed to make her feel protected. Cared for.

If ever there was a strictly professional relationship between the two of them, that had since been replaced by a crazy hot attraction and based on the way his eyes flared with passion when he looked at her, Kylie knew it wasn’t one sided. In the weeks they’d spent getting to know one another, she still felt as though there were sizable gaps in his life story, but the irrational side of her brain had attributed that to him being a cop. He tended to do the whole evasive answer thing, and though it got on her nerves, she somehow gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Since she wasn’t interested in a happily ever after at this point – not to say she wasn’t on a fast track in that direction – Kylie had opted to take their relationship one day at a time. She didn’t make a point to date many men, nor did she find herself in situations where she was trying to get to know a man to the extent she’d gone to with Gage, but she did see a considerable amount of similarities between him and a man she used to know. Mysterious and secretive were two words that immediately came to mind.

At least he hadn’t been prevaricating when it came to his childhood home. It was everything he told her it was and then some.

“It’s charming,” she said, her insides beginning to slowly overheat as his body conformed to hers. “Superb, marvelous, stunning. You’re welcome to stop me at any time because I could go on forever.”

Gage chuckled, his laugh vibrating through her.

She was grinning like a kid at a carnival with a pocket full of money, ready and determined to win the big prize no matter how she had to do it.

“I could listen to you forever, so feel free to keep going,” he teased.

Kylie elbowed him lightly in the stomach and he laughed again, pulling away from her and taking her hand in his. “Come on. There’s more to see inside.”

Another giddy feeling erupted in her belly, and she followed, the strength of his fingers enveloping her hand. That protective feeling enveloped her again. She had no idea what it was about this man, but it just felt… right.

Adrenaline burned like jet fuel in her veins as Gage unlocked the front door. Now that she knew the house he’d beamed about actually did exist, she couldn’t wait to see the interior. For the last couple of months, Kylie had had countless encounters with this sexy cowboy, but until now, he hadn’t offered to show her the house he’d been so interested in hiring her to restore.

Until that morning.

She’d been surprised when he blurted the idea as they sat at a small café having breakfast, which had become a frequent occurrence for them lately – the breakfast part that is. Until today, Gage hadn’t even told her where the house was, so for him to mention that he was ready for her to see it, she hadn’t known what to say.

Initially, ‘yes’ had been the only word to come to the tip of her tongue, but she didn’t let him off the hook that easily. He had smiled when she finally caved after giving him a hard time for a few minutes. Playfully of course.

Now that they were here, the tiny town of Coyote Ridge, which was nothing more than a tiny blip on the Texas map, was growing on her. When she tried to do some research on her cell phone regarding their destination, Gage had taken her phone right out of her hands, laughing and insisting that this be a surprise. He wanted to be the one to introduce her to the small town, so she’d acquiesced. Only when she promised had he given her phone back.

As soon as they turned off of the main highway, they had stopped at a small gas station – simply named Gas ‘n Go – just within the town limits. After conversing with Henry Powers, the sweet little old man who ran the store, Gage had purchased their sodas and they’d been back on the road again. It seemed Gage had been content to sit there and chat until Kylie started asking inquisitive questions regarding the town. Before Henry could even get an answer out, Gage had grabbed her arm and hightailed it from the store like it was burning down around them.

He made up for the confusing behavior by pulling her close and kissing the daylights out of her, which he must’ve come to realize was always an easy way to get her to stop talking. Even though she hungered for those kisses, it still irked her that she knew remarkably few details about Gage’s hometown because he was the equivalent of a closed book, but seeing the house had once again redirected her focus, and she was eager to see more.