Nicole Edwards - Travis

“Why’d you do it?”

The question had burned on the tip of her tongue ever since she climbed into Beau Bennett’s kickass truck and listened to Florida Georgia Line stomp out a cool country beat on the way home.

“Do what?”

Lord, please grant me patience. Please don’t let me lose it right here on this man.

“Seriously, Gage? You show up at my house, telling me you want to talk and you ask me that?” Kylie stared up at him, anger and frustration flowing like a raging river threatening to spill over its banks.

She wasn’t sure she’d felt this much resentment for one person in all of her life. Not even Travis after he walked out with the flimsiest of breakup excuses she’d ever had the pleasure of receiving. At least he hadn’t been dishonest about it. She might not have liked that he did walk away, but he had the decency to tell her, rather than blindsiding her the way Gage had.

Propping himself on the railing that outlined her porch, Gage sat at an angle, his hands resting on one leg as he stared out at the yard, or maybe something beyond that only he could see, Kylie wasn’t sure.

She wasn’t going to prompt him to talk. If he had something to say, she was sure he would say it. Glancing down at her toes she figured he had about three minutes tops and then she was going back in the house and calling it a night. She didn’t care if it was – Kylie thumbed her phone to remove the screen saver – three o’clock in the afternoon.

“I like you,” he said, his voice almost too low to hear.

Wow. Was he kidding?

“You’ve got a funny way of showing it.” Kylie didn’t know what else to say to that. She wasn’t even sure how to interpret that statement.

They’d known each other for two months before he brought her peaceful little world crashing in on her, and honestly, she had thought they were getting along nicely. They’d gone to dinner a few times, shared some laughs, and even a few kisses that had turned her knees into Play-Doh. But none of that mattered much when the person you trusted throws a curveball at you… And aims straight for your face.

When the silence got to be too much, Kylie picked up her iced tea and her nail polish and stood to go inside. She didn’t have the restraint to sit out here and wait for him to talk. As far as she was concerned, Gage couldn’t say anything to right the wrong as it was. There was no reason to listen to him try.

“Well, I’ve got things to do, so you’re welcome to go try to sell sorry somewhere else,” Kylie said through clenched teeth as she moved to the door.

Just before she reached the knob on the screen door, Gage’s strong fingers wrapped around her arm and damn it all to hell, the heat in his touch was like an electric current plugged directly into her vein. On instinct, she jerked away from him and whirled around until they were face to face, spilling tea down the front of her shirt in the process, but she ignored it.

With as much of a glare as she could muster, Kylie met Gage’s knowing brown eyes.

“I shouldn’t have done it, Kylie. I know that now. I wish I had known it then.”

“You can honestly stand there and tell me that you had no idea that what you were doing was wrong on so many levels? I’m not even sure you are who you say you are. Hell, maybe your name isn’t really Gage Matthews.”

“It’s actually Jason.”

Kylie jerked, her attention focused directly on his face. “You lied to me about your name?”

“My full name is Jason Gage Matthews. I go by Gage.”

“Is your birthday June twenty fourth?” Kylie had no idea why she asked that, but she knew she’d eventually catch him in another lie.

“Yes. Born in nineteen eighty.”

Kylie stared up at him, letting the memories of their conversations flood her. Based on the stories he told, he was a police officer and had gone to the academy fresh out of high school. His parents died when he was a teenager.

“How did your parents die?” she questioned him and the instant the faint sadness clouded his eyes, she regretted the question.

“They died in a car crash,” he said, his voice low and full of pain. “I was fourteen years old. They were coming back from one of my dad’s business trips in Houston. He fell asleep behind the wheel.”

Kylie felt like a complete and total jerk. That’s the same story he’d told her the first time, and just like then, her heart broke for the little boy who lost his parents so tragically.

“My grandparents took me in, raised me until I graduated from high school. I went to the police academy as soon as they’d let me in. I’ve been undercover for the last few years, working on various task forces. Would you like me to give you a phone number so you can verify that?” Gage grabbed the back of his neck with both hands and turned away from her, pacing several feet away and then back.

Kylie forced herself to keep her composure. She had every right to question him. He’d obviously had ulterior motives when he showed up at her doorstep. She didn’t trust him. She had no reason to.

“You lied about who you were and why you were here, Gage.”

“Not true.”

When he took a step closer, she took one step back. Her butt hit the screen door, and she realized she had nowhere to go. This wasn’t going to go well, she could feel it. Even as angry as she was, the pained look in his eyes still managed to steal an ounce of her resistance. “No?” It was the only word she could come up with.

“No. I hired you to renovate my house.”

“Is that right? So you’re telling me that it was just a coincidence that we both happen to know Travis Walker?” The cold chill of the tea against her skin wasn’t doing a damn thing to lessen the sweltering heat of anger forming on her insides. Heat infused her face as the anger bubbled hotter, threatening to overflow and cause a scorching stain on the wood at her feet.

“How do you know Travis anyway? It’s obvious the two of you are friends. Or were anyway,” she said, forcing the angry tears to stay locked up behind her eyes. She could not afford for this man to see her cry. He wouldn’t understand that they weren’t sad tears.

“We’re not friends,” Gage answered quickly.

“Not friends. So what? Family?”

“No,” Gage said sadly, thrusting his hands through his hair as he turned away from her. “I’ve known him most of my life.”

“But you’re not friends? Jeezus, Gage, could you just answer the damn question?” Kylie was hovering on the edge of murderous rage, the thoughts from that day flooding back as Gage seemingly tried to explain in as few words as possible how this had all come about.

“His brother is one of my friends,” Gage answered, turning back toward her and locking her in place with his dark brown eyes. “What about you, Kylie? What happened between you and Travis?” he asked, resuming his place in front of her so that she was once again trapped between his towering frame and the screen door. His nearness caused Kylie to lose her train of thought.

“What?” He was not the one who should be asking questions here. As far as she was concerned, Gage Matthews should be groveling at her feet after what he did.

“What happened? The two of you are still married. Why is that?”

“It’s none of your damn business,” she argued, seriously tempted to launch what was left of the iced tea right in his face. Twisting out from between him and the door, Kylie managed to escape inside. She didn’t have time to shut the door before Gage was right behind her.

“Damn it, Kylie. Talk to me.” Gage’s tone was sharp, and it only pissed her off more.

Kylie snapped.

Turning to face him, she gave in to the urge and threw the rest of the tea right in his too handsome face, small chips of ice and amber liquid raining down on him while her body vibrated with the strength of her rage. If she had expected satisfaction from such a juvenile act, well, she got it. The stunned look on Gage’s face made her heart flutter wildly, but she wasn’t even close to being able to smile.

She felt her face heat further, knew she was about to scream. “Fuck you, Gage. I don’t owe you a damn thing. If you want the story, why don’t you talk to Travis? You obviously know him much better than I do. And I have nothing left to say to either one of you.”

Doing her best not to throw the glass at him as well, Kylie turned abruptly, heading to the kitchen before slamming her glass and the bottle of nail polish on the granite countertop before taking a deep breath. She was lucky neither shattered beneath the jarring impact. Her hands were shaking, her breaths were ragged and uneven and those damn tears she had fought to hold in had spilled free, running down her face.

The next thing Kylie knew, she was being pulled around, her body coming up flush against Gage’s hard chest seconds before he crushed his mouth to hers. Her brain told her to fight him off, to push him away because she didn’t want this, but her traitorous body ached in violent need of what he was offering.

Wet shirt met wet shirt, hot skin melded together as the desperation won out, both of them eagerly seeking what the other was suddenly giving. Kylie thrust her fingers in Gage’s soft hair, knocking his Stetson off in the process as she held him close, their tongues licking and tasting.

So good. Jeezus, the man could kiss. Hot, sensual. There was a thesaurus full of adjectives that came to mind describing how incredible Gage’s mouth felt against hers, but she pushed all thought from her brain. For nearly three weeks she’d been ruled by emotion and right now, Kylie was going to be led by sensation.

Nothing more, nothing less.

When all was said and done, she was still kicking him to the curb.

♂♀

It was a damn good thing Gage had waited until the massive hangover from three days earlier had subsided. He wasn’t sure he could’ve faced this angry side of Kylie without firing on all cylinders.

And right now, with her molded against his body, Gage couldn’t have let her go if she insisted. The way Kylie’s mouth fused to his, her small fingers latching into his hair, sending sparks of pleasure/pain trickling along his spine, he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to let her go.

The soft, rounded curves of her breasts were crushed to his chest, and he had the sudden urge to lick them, to taste her sweet skin. When her fingers released his hair, Gage continued to palm the back of her head, holding her close. He damn near sighed in relief when she yanked his shirt up and over his abs, forcing him to release her mouth so she could rid him of the clammy cotton. Once he was shirtless, Gage didn’t hesitate before pulling her against him once again, one hand cupping her ass, the other her head as he bent his legs, aligning them perfectly so he could grind his erection against that sweet spot between her thighs.

Later, much, much later, Gage would replay what had happened to try and understand how they got to this point, but for now, he wasn’t going to over think it. He needed this woman more than he needed to breathe. Air was suddenly an extraneous element that meant little without this woman’s taste flooding his tongue.

Kylie managed to remove her shirt, barely breaking their kiss in the process and Gage growled, a feral sound that reverberated up from his chest, when his bare skin met hers. Hard against soft.

Attempting to keep them both upright, Gage maneuvered them against the kitchen wall, his much bigger body crowding her until she couldn’t do anything more than wrap her arms around him.

When she bit his lip then licked the sting as she clawed his shoulders with her sharp little nails, Gage damn near forgot what he was doing. There wasn’t an ounce of gentle in her movements, and he wasn’t sure he’d survive if this headed that direction anyway. He wanted to devour her. Right here in her kitchen.

“Touch me,” Kylie insisted, her lips brushing against his mouth as she spoke.

Gage was so damned surprised, he couldn’t even question her. He wanted her to keep talking, to tell him exactly what she needed but he couldn’t get words to form. He unclipped her bra, roughly dragging the silky white lace down her arms until it fluttered to the floor. Gripping her beautiful tits with both hands, Gage pressed his mouth back to hers, wanting to taste her desire, to inhale the need he could sense building.

Kylie broke the kiss, tossing her head back as she moaned. “Mouth. On me. Now.”

Cupping one breast in his hand, Gage hefted the glorious weight in his palm as he leaned in and sucked the pebbled tip deep into his mouth, firmly stroking her nipple with his tongue while squeezing the other between his finger and thumb, the heavenly taste of her skin making him light headed.