Nicole Edwards - Travis

If ever there was a strictly professional relationship between the two of them, that had since been replaced by a crazy hot attraction and based on the way his eyes flared with passion when he looked at her, Kylie knew it wasn’t one sided.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.