Nicole Edwards - Travis

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.”

Kylie pivoted around, staring back at the man filling the doorway. She could’ve sworn the relatively small space seemed somewhat larger before he walked in. As she stared at the sexy, dark haired cowboy with the seductive brown eyes, she still found it strange how he’d blown a mountain-size hole in her life in just a matter of weeks with his unexpected arrival on her doorstep looking for her specifically. The fact that he lived about an hour away according to him had made her question why he’d seek her out to help him in this endeavor in the first place.

Although she didn’t normally take such ambitious projects so far away from home, the longer she stood there, the more interested she became, and she couldn’t help but wonder whether the attractive cowboy cop played into her enthusiasm just as much as the house did. And she was no longer wondering how he’d found out about her or whether she would want to have to live out of a hotel for the foreseeable future just to be close to the house she was working on.

Just that morning, Gage had talked to her about a timeline and getting things rolling. According to him, he was tired of living in his modest rental in town, and was looking forward to moving into the house that had been in his family for generations just as soon as the renovations were completed. The sooner the better he’d told her. Kylie didn’t make him any promises as far as timing was concerned because he hadn’t even allowed her to see what she was getting herself into until now.

If she did take on the project, she’d be able to work on a home that appealed to her unlike any other since her own house, and she’d have the opportunity to continue pursuing this relationship with Gage. Although he seemed genuinely interested in hiring her to do the work on his house, he also seemed open to the idea of them getting to know one another better.

Over the course of two months, they had become quite relaxed with one another, hanging out, going to dinner, movies, playing miniature golf. All of the things a couple would do if they were dating. And although they hadn’t ventured down the path that would lead them to what would likely be scorching hot sex, Kylie didn’t doubt that it was in their future.

For all of three seconds, back when she first met him, Kylie had worried whether mixing business with pleasure would cause problems she didn’t want to have to deal with. But the longer she was in Gage’s company and the more she got to know him, the more she wanted to have her cake and eat it too.

Her dating life had been dormant for quite some time – or maybe a better term would be nonexistent. The reason? Well, she’d used one excuse after the other, most of them pertaining to her being too engrossed in work to have time for anything else. No way would she have entertained the idea of a relationship, but that was before Gage walked into her life. Not that what she and Gage had could be considered a relationship, but she knew for a fact that it was more than friendship. Or she hoped so. After all, the couple of times he’d kissed her sure didn’t feel like just friends to her.

“You ok?”

Caught a little off guard, but more than grateful for the distraction, Kylie turned away briefly, trying to wipe the smile from her face. When it didn’t work, she gave in and turned back.

Gage truly was one of the most attractive men she had ever seen. Dark hair, dark eyes, and a body that tempted her to sin like the devil. “Fine, why?”

The smile he shot her direction made her tummy dance with a sweet tingle that she’d been oblivious to for longer than she cared to admit. Or maybe she just hadn’t had that tingle in a solid decade or so.

“You’ve never heard of Coyote Ridge?” he asked, his attention directed to the chipped plaster that clearly needed some attention.

The way he asked the question made her feel as though she should have heard about the tiny little town that this man called home. “Nope. Not until today,” she said casually, trying to redirect her wayward thoughts back to the house and the possibilities.

Kylie had become somewhat accustomed to Gage’s random questions, most of them fairly personal in nature. He’d certainly asked more than his fair share over the last two months since she met him, especially considering how remarkably little he’d been willing to share about himself. He was just naturally nosey – or so was his answer after she scrounged up the courage to ask.

Rather than squirm beneath the scrutiny of his gaze, Kylie slipped beneath his arm and out into the hallway once again. As she admired the finer details, she found that her thoughts about Gage weren’t ready to be wrangled in just yet.

For the better part of two months, the two of them had been dancing around the subject of sex, neither of them fully embracing what was bound to come sooner or later. No pun intended. Considering they were acting very much like a well-established couple – one that had subconsciously agreed to a no sex clause – Kylie couldn’t help but wonder what the next step for them would be.