Nicole Edwards - Travis

Ok, so yes, he was being a dick. Getting Kaleb pissed off by pestering him about Gage’s whereabouts was too easy. And a little amusing. Which only helped to take Travis’ mind off of some of his questions. Like why no one had heard anything from Gage. Not since the man passed out at the club, sleeping off a bender on the couch in Travis’ rented apartment.

Since he walked out the door after Gage began to stir in the early morning hours, Travis hadn’t seen or heard from him. Not that he expected to because he was pretty sure Gage didn’t remember a thing. And he was almost certain he didn’t realize it was Travis’ apartment he was passed out in. It wasn’t like Travis had any personal items there that would give him away. He liked his anonymity, and since the apartment was little more than a recreation room when he was in town, he didn’t feel the need to clutter it up with personal shit.

Despite Kaleb’s steadfast denial, Travis was pretty sure he kept in touch with Gage regularly. Ever since the mishap at Kaleb’s when Gage showed up with Travis’ wife in tow, Kaleb was keeping his distance from Gage, but he knew he wasn’t shunning him entirely. Not that Travis had shared any information with his brother, but loyalty was loyalty. As it should be.

Over the course of two months, Travis had managed to retain some of his sanity. After the first time he drove by Kylie’s house on a stakeout mission to see whether Gage was there or not, he hadn’t been back. Of course, his stupid ass still wanted to go see how she was doing, but somehow he’d manage to argue himself out of that epic mistake waiting to happen.

Finding Gage at her house would’ve been the worst thing that could’ve happened, but much to his surprise, he had found no evidence to support Gage was staying with her. He’d been a happy mother fucker after that little revelation.

Didn’t mean he wasn’t interested in going back, but Travis had focused on getting his life back to normal. There was no sense in throwing any additional chaos into Kylie’s perfect life. Gage had seemed to handle that splendidly, and Travis saw where that got him.

Missing. That’s where.

Not that Travis expected her to embrace Gage with open arms, but if he knew anything at all, it was how painfully difficult it was to let a woman like Kylie slip out of his hands. He didn’t think Gage was immune to her sweet charm either, even if he’d pulled the most dumbass move anyone could possibly come up with.

Travis had gone rounds with his own conscience ever since, wondering whether Kylie would even give Gage the time of day after that incident. Surely not, but then again, Travis had never expected her to waltz back into his world one day and blow his resolve clear to hell and back.

Now that he knew exactly where she lived, it had been even more difficult to refrain from going to see her. She was a temptation he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to walk away from the second time, and Kylie Prescott deserved so much better than him. And that was the only valid reason he was keeping his distance.

He was having a hard enough time keeping his attention from straying places it shouldn’t in the first damn place. If his reaction to her after seeing her for less than five minutes was any indication, Travis knew that showing up on her doorstep would only make things worse for him.

And her.

“What time?” he asked Kaleb, doing his best to piss him off even more because he didn’t have anything better to do.

“Not doing it today, Trav. You can take your pissy attitude somewhere else. I’ve got work to do.” Kaleb didn’t bother looking up from his computer, and Travis knew he wouldn’t get anything more out of his brother.

Mission accomplished.

Truthfully, he was so fucking frustrated with the entire situation that irritating the shit out of his brothers, and anyone else who stepped in his way, had become his sole focus. He’d much rather turn his aggravation on Gage, but again, the man was MIA.

Travis still wasn’t entirely sure what prompted Gage to react the way he did. Hell, they had shared a couple of kisses. Granted, they would’ve shared much, much more had they ever had the opportunity in the form of just a little more privacy. And since the timing was never right, Gage couldn’t pretend to be the scorned lover.

Standing, he decided he would go check to see what other sort of trouble he could get mixed up with. He hadn’t been by the resort yet today, so maybe he’d start there. They’d come a long way in recent months. Much farther than Travis expected anyway. He figured his contractors were well aware of his temper and considering he was riding their ass day in and day out, he had expected some serious progress. Just not this much.

They would be thrilled to see him.

Grabbing his hard hat off of the small table in the miniscule kitchen area, Travis took off out the door. He could’ve sworn he heard Kaleb sigh in relief as he stepped out into the oppressive, Texas heat. The thought made him smile.

Travis rounded the front of his truck and was just about to climb in when he noticed an unfamiliar truck pulling down the dirt driveway that led to the construction office. Glancing down at his watch, he checked the time and tried to remember if he was expecting anyone. He didn’t think he had any meetings, so he waited for the stranger to park.

The windows were tinted and the bright, morning sun was reflecting off of the glass so he couldn’t see who was in the four door red Chevy pickup. He knew it wasn’t one of his contractors because one, their trucks didn’t look that clean and shiny – or new – and two, they wouldn’t bring that fancy shit on the property. Hell, Sawyer was even keeping his prized possessions locked up these days thanks to all of the construction going on around them.

The driver’s door finally opened, and Travis watched as a woman got out. Long, golden brown hair was all he could see because she was facing away from him, but he knew at once who the silky hair belonged to. His body had a strange reaction to the sight of her, and he was tempted to jump in his truck like he never even noticed her. He realized it was too late for that when Kylie turned and faced him, their eyes connecting over the hood of her shiny red truck.

So maybe there was a tiny amount of hope that swelled up from one of the dark, dusty corners in his chest, but when Kylie didn’t greet him with either a smile or words, he forced himself to think rationally. Why in the world would she have come to see him? Whatever it was, he knew it wouldn’t be good. As she approached, Travis tried to find words but came up bone fucking dry. He didn’t even know how to greet her.

Tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans, his attempt at appearing cool and collected, Travis watched intently as she opened the passenger door and leaned in to grab something. Without contemplating the results of his actions, Travis let his eyes linger on her stunning ass encased in a pair of tight denim shorts as she leaned into the truck, her toned thigh muscles stretching beautifully.

Ok, shit. Now something else was stretching. Fuck.

He must’ve been admiring the view for a little too long because when he looked up, Kylie was glancing back at him over her shoulder and she didn’t look happy about being visually molested.

But hell, it made him feel better.

“Hey,” he said, finally finding his voice.

“Hey.” Kylie shut the door with a little more force than was necessary and then closed some of the distance between them.

Just like the first day he laid eyes on her almost eleven years ago, the woman stole his breath right out of his lungs without a please or thank you. Not only was she stunningly gorgeous, remarkably little had changed about her appearance over the last decade. Her eyes were still a sparkling baby blue, her hair still long and silky, her lithe body still just as curvy and sexy as hell in those faded blue jean shorts and… boots.