Travis
Travis
An
Alluring Indulgence
Novel
Nicole Edwards
Copyright © 2013 by Nicole Edwards
Kindle Version
All
rights reserved
. Except as permitted under the U.S.
Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a
database or retrieval system, without prior permission of the publisher.
Travis
–
An Alluring Indulgence Novel
is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the
author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover Image by:
MARYNA BORYSEVYCH
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.
Before
stepping inside the house, knowing her brain was going to go offline with the
overwhelming excitement that would overtake her mental processes, Kylie turned
to glance once more at the exterior.
“How
many acres does it sit on?” she asked as he opened the sun faded door, swinging
it inward, gesturing for her to precede him into the house.
“Almost
fifteen.”
From
what she could tell, there wasn’t anything else on the land, with the exception
of a dilapidated one car garage that should just be condemned rather than risk
the thing falling in on them. The idea of what might be living in there made
her skin crawl.
As
she stepped over the threshold, all thoughts of creepy crawly things evaporated
right out of her mind, replaced by the exaltation of seeing an old historical home
for the first time.
“Wow,”
she breathed as she stepped into the entry.
As
usual, as soon as her feet landed on solid, old hardwood, she felt as though
she were in a time warp, imagining the life that passed through the walls for
the last two hundred some odd years. Thanks to Gage’s family history and the
wonderful pictures he had shared with her, there was a resplendent slideshow
playing in her head.
Just
like she expected, as was the norm for the period in which the house had been
built, there were walls everywhere, enclosing small spaces to create more rooms.
The term open concept that so many people longed for these days hadn’t even
been a blip on the radar so long ago.
The
small foyer, which was large enough to possibly hold a coat rack, led directly
into a lovely parlor, spacious enough for a vintage chair or two to liven up
the space. Enclosing the small sitting area was a set of French doors that
Kylie wanted to remove in order to open up the area.
Her
feet propelled her forward until an elegantly ornate staircase caught her eye.
Each wide step was gloriously rich in color and continued upward in a “U” that
placed the second floor above Kylie’s head, but left a wall of stained glass
windows running tall and proud and visible from both downstairs and up.
Kylie
smiled. Imagine being able to see such articulate detail day in and day out.
Her revitalizing eye said the staircase would only need a little buffing and a
fresh coat of varnish for it to sparkle like the sun. As though they’d been
protected by the hands of God over the years, the windows didn’t appear to need
anything more than a quick spritz of Windex.
Wringing
her hands together, Kylie willed herself to calm down. There was a flurry of
excitement spinning wildly in her belly as she took everything in. She did a
one eighty and found herself standing in the dark wood trimmed doorway that led
into the fairly open living area. The room was somewhat awkward because it was
long and narrow, but with the appropriate placement of furniture, Kylie could
see it as a place for families to gather.
Without
slowing, anxious to see more, Kylie continued through the living room, then the
dining room with its floor to ceiling cabinets that would be used to display
precious tableware, fine china, and whatnot. The dining room was separated from
what she assumed was the kitchen by a wide door that swung both directions.
Kylie pushed inward and stepped into what was probably the most awkward of all
the rooms.
The
kitchen was rather large, but the placement of the island and a small butler’s pantry
didn’t suit the space. Her brain automatically began calculating what additional
square footage she could free up by remodeling the room entirely.
Just
past the refrigerator, there were two additional doorways. One led to an
oversized utility room with a door that would lead outside. The other led to…
Kylie squealed a little as she stepped into the hallway. There in front of her
was another set of stairs, this one much narrower with steep steps leading to
the second floor.
“This
is amazing,” she muttered to herself as she quickly ascended to the next floor.
From
what she could tell, the second floor was where the bedrooms were, the doors on
one side while opposite them was the magnificent view of the stained glass
window overlooking the side of the house. Kylie peered out, realizing the
decayed remains of the garage were visible. Without question, they were going
to have to tear it down and relocate somewhere else. She did not want anything
obstructing Gage’s breathtaking view through the multi-colored glass.
She
wandered through the first three bedrooms quickly. They were spacious and each
led to a covered terrace that overlooked the back yard. One had a decent sized
bath attached, the other two were connected by one large Jack and Jill
bathroom.
Out
the door and down the hall, Kylie came upon two additional bedrooms. She spent
the most time wandering through the last two and the shoebox sized bathroom
between them. Strangely enough, one of the rooms was the largest of all the
bedrooms, but there was no possible way she could expect this to be the master
suite with the miniscule shower, pedestal sink and toilet in what was
supposedly a bathroom.
Daring
to look, she moved to the other side of the small bath and opened another door,
where she would have expected to find a closet. Not a closet. The door led to
the other room, though this was much smaller, possibly used as a nursery at one
time or another. The idea to steal some of the space from the smaller bedroom
for the bathroom and use the rest as a large walk in closet hit her and made
her smile brightly once more.
God,
she wanted this job. She’d been doing this – restoring historic homes – for the
last eight years, but never had she taken on a project quite this large.
“You
still interested?” Gage’s deep, thundering voice filled the interior of the tiny
bedroom she was standing in.
“Are
you kidding?” Kylie was grinning from ear to ear as she stared at the cracked
plaster and the hideous floor. She wondered whether there were hardwood floors
beneath the dingy, shaggy, olive green wall-to-wall carpet.
“Perfect.”
