Nicole Edwards - Travis

If chemistry was all it took, they would have been horizontal for most of the time they had known one another because what happened between them when they kissed was explosive. But every time they got close to rounding the bases and heading for a home run, Gage put the brakes on. A sudden, abrupt stop that sent Kylie careening headfirst into the dashboard, her brain jarring from the impact.

And of course, every time Gage halted their progress, Kylie managed to take a step back, taking advantage of the opportunity to reflect on what was happening between them. She genuinely liked him. They laughed, talked, and yes, he knocked her socks off with his kisses, but as far as going any further, she didn’t deny that taking things slowly was for the best. At least with them moving at a snail’s pace, she wouldn’t risk the possibility of getting too attached.

Kylie Marie Prescott did not roll that way.

Not after Travis Walker ruined her for all time.

Damn it.

Kylie instinctively closed her eyes, refusing to allow the image of Travis to come to mind. As a rule, she avoided any and all memories that involved him because as sure as the sun would rise in the morning, thoughts of him caused a painful ache to return, and the echo of long ago love still had a devastating impact.

Even all these years later, her body reacted in strange ways to those lingering memories that hadn’t yet faded around the edges. Sort of like muscle memory, the feel of his skin, his mouth, his hands, it was as though he hadn’t been gone from her life for ten years. No, it felt more like yesterday. Considering how he walked out on her after they’d been married only three weeks, it would make more sense if she wanted to slap him, not jump him, but damn it if she didn’t want to just…

Ok, totally inappropriate. Tune back in to reality, girl.

Kylie knew that it didn’t help that they were still married, which was a painful reminder each and every day. A mere technicality, she told herself repeatedly. But one she hadn’t put much thought into rectifying until she’d started getting closer to Gage.

In truth, the only thing real about their nuptials was the paper they’d received that validated it. It was easy to pretend otherwise because living with a man for three weeks did not a marriage make. Especially when he turned the other cheek and walked away as though she didn’t mean a thing to him.

If only she thought she could emotionally survive seeing Travis again, she’d seek a divorce. Every year she convinced herself that she’d be stronger next year. Since she still didn’t believe she could handle seeing him, and since he hadn’t yet taken the initiative himself, Kylie was still married to Travis Walker.

The only benefit was that she didn’t have to relive Travis ripping her heart right out of her chest and walking away with it still beating in his hands. Because sure as she breathed, seeing him would blow another crater right in the center of her chest.

Ok, you’re cut off now, woman. No more thinking.

Her inner monologue with herself was enough to set her straight as she headed down the back staircase. She busied herself taking notes in the kitchen, jotting down the ideas she’d come up with so far.

“Let me know when you’re done. I’d like to take you to meet some folks.”

Kylie was leaning over the island, her pen tapping steadily against the notepad as she stared back at him. Dropping the pen because, quite frankly, she was getting on her own nerves, she exhaled and smiled. She was suddenly eager to get some fresh air. Whether it was the close proximity of this handsome man or thoughts of the one from her past, she wasn’t sure, but the room was suddenly getting a little warm.

“I’m good for now. As long as you promise I’ll get to come back soon.”

“Darlin’, you’ve got the job if you want it,” Gage said, grinning.

“You don’t even know my price,” she informed him.

“Irrelevant.”

Money had never been a subject they broached up to this point, but Gage’s nonchalant attitude when anything even close came up made her believe he wasn’t necessarily hurting financially. Which made her question other things because she knew for a fact that a cop’s salary wasn’t going to give him money to burn.

No doubt, this project wasn’t going to be cheap, but at least she could do the work in stages. And she was extremely resourceful. She just needed some local crews to help because those she normally worked with weren’t likely to venture this far out. And if Gage was looking to save some money, he could add some elbow grease of his own.

After Gage locked up the house and helped her into his truck, Kylie allowed her mind to relax as he drove. The familiar song on the radio made her want to tap her foot on the floor, but she refrained. It was rare that she was in a good mood after such pressing thoughts from her past, but for some reason, just being in Gage’s company helped. That, and the prospect of the new job, made her smile.

For once, she just wanted to enjoy what life threw her way. It was high time she stopped trying to hide behind those events that had changed her life irreparably. Time to move forward.

Still smiling, Kylie pulled herself back to the present as Gage turned onto a long dirt driveway. In the distance, she saw a lovely old farmhouse come into view, the fresh paint and new roof gleamed radiantly in the bright Texas sunshine. This one looked significantly different than the one they’d just left. This one was sporting a recent facelift.

Refraining from asking questions, Kylie paid attention to the details of the house in case Gage was here to show her some ideas he had, her brain barely registering the men moving furniture into the house. As she focused on what they were doing, she noticed two more talking on one end of the beautiful wrap around porch.

Kylie mentally cleared her throat because… Wow! Did this place only breed hot, sexy cowboys?

When Gage pulled the truck to a stop, Kylie unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out. She continued to stare up at the beautiful house, her eye for detail noting the few things they’d done to stick with the house’s former glory, although there were quite a few enhancements they’d made to modernize it as well. Either way, she was impressed. Wouldn’t have been her choice, but then again, it wasn’t her house.

Gage surprised her when he walked around to her side of the truck, taking her hand in his. That tingle that had been stirring in her belly erupted into a volcanic explosion of activity, and she wondered if her palms were going to start sweating. God, she hoped not. At least not while he was holding her hand.

Hoping she made a good impression on these people, whoever they were, Kylie pasted on a smile and fell into step beside Gage.

♂♀

Gage Matthews wasn’t quite sure what prompted him to take Kylie’s hand in his as he led her away from the safe haven of his truck and toward the house. But the moment their palms touched he knew it was a mistake.

With her soft, delicate fingers linked with his, he felt that spark he’d grown accustomed to over the last couple of months. The one that ignited in his loins and radiated out through the rest of his body, kick starting more than just his libido. Somewhere along the way, this woman managed to cause hope to bloom in the dark, cold corners of his soul.

Holding Kylie’s small, cool hand in his, feeling the way she squeezed his fingers as though he just might be able to ground her in this unknown situation made him hate himself that much more.

He knew he needed to cherish this feeling for as long as he could, because a few minutes from now it was going to be stripped away from him, and he had no one to blame but himself. His actions were about to have disastrous results on what little of a relationship they had built to this point.

Ha! Relationship.

As if he could even classify what was going on between him and Kylie Prescott as a relationship, but for the life of him, he hadn’t come up with a way to describe it any other way. Only his version was more on the fucked up side of things because lies and vendettas didn’t provide the necessary platform for a relationship, but that’s exactly how Gage had started out constructing this – whatever this was – with Kylie.

Lies. Deceit.

God, he was such an asshole.

Shit.

His stomach churned painfully.

If he had had anything to eat in the last twenty four hours, he might be worried he would lose it right here and now. Except Gage couldn’t eat. He couldn’t sleep either. No, he spent most of his time trying to figure out just what the hell he’d gone and done.

He wasn’t even sure at what point this had seemed like a good idea, but he knew he was past the point of backing out now. His first mistake was obviously getting so caught up with this enigmatic, funny, cute woman over the course of several weeks. And the more time he spent in her company, the more he’d let himself get carried away in some sort of selfish fantasy. One that he suspected would be shattered right along with the rest of his hopes up to this point.

It was true, when he walked up to her door that one fateful morning, he’d had an agenda. Somewhere along the way, he had managed to convince himself that getting close to her was his punishment for what he intended to do. How he ever thought she wasn’t going to be hurt by his dubious actions, he still didn’t know.

Initially, he intended to treat his interaction with Kylie as a business transaction. He would wine her, dine her, convince her he needed her help to restore the house his grandmother left him when she passed away two years ago. And from there he would use her to cause an explosion of epic proportions right in the middle of Travis’ life.

Yep, walking away unscathed was also high on his list of things to do, but at this point, the latter seemed like a pipedream.

Fuck. Since when had he become such a bastard?

Gage had learned more about himself in the past couple of months than he wanted to acknowledge. The first of which being that he harbored an intense desire to keep Kylie close although his actions said otherwise. Or at least they were about to. The second was that he wanted to punish Travis Walker in ways he had never imagined. The man managed to get under his skin and quite frankly, Gage didn’t fucking like it.

Or maybe he liked it too much.

Somewhere along the way, a vindictive series of lies and underhanded deception had led him to the path he was on this morning. The biggest lie of them all was that Gage wasn’t affected one fucking iota by the way Travis had plastered him against the wall and kissed him with an intensity that damn near blew a fucking hole through the top of his head. Twice.

It shouldn’t matter to him that he knew so little about a man who single handedly brought the brick and mortar walls of his life crashing down around him at the same time he effectively made the earth shift beneath his feet. A man that Gage had known for most of his life because Travis was Kaleb’s brother.

What mattered was that Gage had a ridiculously powerful attraction to the man. One he absolutely wasn’t happy about. And on top of that, after what clearly was leading to a tryst to rival all, Gage hadn’t heard a single thing from Travis. Not that he’d attempted to make contact either, but he also hadn’t been the one to initiate what was – no, make that what had been – happening between them.

Yet, none of it explained what he was doing here or how he somehow dragged the seemingly innocent woman at his side right into the eye of the storm. For weeks, he tried to tell himself that he needed to remain detached and he’d be fine. His original plan hadn’t even taken into account what this would do to this unsuspecting woman.

Sweet, innocent, charming… Kylie was all of those things and he was about to risk everything they’d established between them thus far. Her honesty was something he had come to cherish, but none of it mattered the closer his feet carried him to Kaleb’s front door.

This was the beginning of the end.

And to think it all started with a kiss and a need to get a rise out of Travis for putting him in a position that he feared Travis would never follow through with. Paying Travis back for the shit storm of emotions he managed to rain down on him when he least expected it had morphed into something totally unexpected.