Travis (Alluring Indulgence, #3)

by Nicole Edwards

  The desperation in his tone made Gage’s groin tighten. Travis was hanging on by a flimsy grip, and Gage was more than ready to watch Kylie send him plummeting into paradise.

  “That’s it. Just like that.” Travis tossed his head back on the couch, his neck muscles standing out in stark relief, his jaw clamped tightly. Gage could see how rigid he was, forcing himself to stay still as Kylie took her pleasure, grinding her pelvis downward, raising up until her puckered nipples slid down Travis’ chest.

  Gage angled toward them, raising his hand to Travis’ face and urging him to face him. When he did, Gage closed his mouth down over Travis’, tasting the passion and need that the man had only recently unleashed.

  “Kylie, God, baby,” Travis groaned when he pulled away from Gage’s mouth. “You’re so fucking sweet. Oh, yes. Clamp your pussy around me. Milk me.”

  Kylie’s breaths became choppier, more urgent as she hurried her pace, dropping down on Travis’ cock like she’d been born to please him. “Come for me, Travis. Look me in the eyes when you come. I want to see exactly what I do to you.”

  Travis’ head jerked toward her, his body tensing as he locked eyes with her and Gage once again, a voyeur who was just as much affected by their intimate interaction as they were. When Kylie reached down and grabbed his hand, her fingers twining with his as she did the same to Travis, Gage lost his breath. It was almost as though she were grounding herself, reassuring herself that he was right there with them.

  “Come for me, Travis. Right… now.” Kylie didn’t look away, but her hand squeezed Gage’s painfully, her thigh muscles straining as she came, Travis’ doing the exact same.

  Chapter Forty Two

  ♂♀

  “I know for a fact you don’t have anything you can lay into me for,” Zane said the moment he walked through the door of Walker Demo. Never mind the fact he was grinning like a fool as the words tumbled out of his mouth.

  Travis laughed.

  “Oh, fuck.” Zane stopped after two steps, eyes wide, hand going to his chest. “It’s getting worse.” Zane said, looking shocked and entirely too serious.

  “I know, right,” Sawyer chimed in. “I think we’re gonna have to get him to the doctor. Second time he’s laughed in the last hour. I’m thinking it’s food poisoning.”

  “Fuck off. Both of you,” Travis retorted with a grin.

  Ok, so maybe he was acting strange. Even he had noticed that the smiles seemed to be at the ready, and he was feeling lighter, like that eighteen wheeler sized weight wasn’t sitting on his chest anymore.

  “See, now that’s better.” Zane grinned as he grabbed a spare chair and flipped it around before straddling it. “What’s up, boss man?”

  Travis held out hope. Maybe, just maybe, they’d leave him alone now that they’d gotten their jabs in.

  Staring back at his brothers, he jumped right into the reason he’d called them in that morning. The only reason he wasn’t still in bed with Kylie and Gage. “I wanted to make sure you guys knew the GC said they should be ready for a final walk through for the clubs in three weeks.”

  “Already? Holy shit that was fast.”

  “That doesn’t mean we don’t have a lot of work ahead of us. We’re just moving to a different phase,” Travis told him.

  “Got it, but still. I wasn’t expecting them to be finished for at least a month or two. They’re kicking ass.”

  That was an understatement. Travis fully expected the resort to be open at the first of the year, but at this rate, they might be a month early. According to the general contractor, the fact that they opted for the individual bungalows had sped up progress significantly. Probably one of the only design modifications Travis made that hadn’t sent the guy hovering on the edge of a coronary. After some lengthy discussions, Travis ended up sticking with the original hotel plans, except he modified them to downsize slightly. It was Travis’ only option for adding the additional bungalows he wanted.

  “Are we good with names for the clubs then?” Zane asked, glancing back and forth between Travis and Sawyer.

  “Hell yes. Shit, please don’t ask me to come up with something else because I’m not sure I’ve got enough brain power to handle that task again.”

  “Again? You didn’t come up with them in the first place, Mr-how-‘bout-Debauchery-or-Depravity.”

  “Wait, you mean I could’ve named my club Depravity? Shit, why didn’t I get a say in this?” Zane smirked.

  Travis pretended not to hear his brother, grinning as he continued, “So, y’all are still content with Crave and Covet, right?”

  “Yep, that’s what we agreed on,” Sawyer confirmed.

  “Which one do I get?” Zane asked. The man was enjoying this way too much, but Travis didn’t have it in him to piss his brother off at the moment.

  He could thank Gage and Kylie for that. For the last week, they had ensured Travis didn’t have enough energy to crawl out of bed, much less to build up a good mad. He had to say that he was enjoying the feeling.

  He wasn’t even trying to keep it hidden anymore. Those four walls constructed of steel beams, granite and encased in bullet proof glass around his heart had crumbled into dust. Although he fully accepted what that meant for him, he’d opted to take things one day at a time, reluctant to bring up anything that might have either of them running in the opposite direction. As a natural-born pessimist, Travis still had his doubts on forever, but at least he wasn’t hunting down Cupid with an assault rifle.

  “So, you ever gonna spill what happened?” Zane’s question pulled Travis from his thoughts, and he faced his youngest brother.

  “You talking to me?”

  “Hell yes.”

  Confusion wracked him as he searched his memory banks for what Zane was referring to. When he came up empty, he jacked one eyebrow up, cocked his head to the side and waited for Zane to continue. As he expected, he didn’t have to wait long.

  “You know… when’d you have the lobotomy performed? Who was the doc? I’d like to send a thank you card and flowers.”

  “Fuck. Off.” Travis smiled, and he was almost positive his lips reached his ears. Both Sawyer and Zane laughed right along with him.

  They quieted when the door opened and in walked Braydon and Brendon. Great. Just what Travis needed. The damn peanut gallery. Knowing the twins, they were armed and ready to give him shit too.

  Travis glanced behind them to see Jessie, looking as though she’d been told that morning that she was going to witness some kind of demonic exorcism.

  “Hey, Jess,” Travis greeted her as the others glanced back at them and echoed their good morning’s.

  “Hi.” So she wasn’t talkative in the morning like her sister was. Remembering how Kylie managed to crawl out of bed every morning, chipper and grinning, made him smile again.

  “Hey, you guys heading over to Gage’s?” Brendon asked as he stepped into the small space, his head bouncing around as he looked at the three of them individually. “Wait. What happened?”

  “It’s no biggie,” Zane answered in all seriousness. “It looks like Travis’ personality transplant is permanent, and we were just getting the goods on who performed the surgery so we can buy him a gift to show our appreciation. You know, like a house.”

  Travis forced a frown and wiped the smile from his face, hoping they’d take the hint. As he glanced down at his laptop, the damn thing came back. Shit. The room erupted in more laughter, and for once, Travis gave in and joined them.

  Braydon stepped around Brendon and the smile that broke out on his face told Travis that he was going to hate where this conversation was about to go. “So what’s the word, Bubba? Who’s responsible for this amazing feat?”

  “Don’t y’all have work to do?” Travis asked, the smile falling of its own accord as he watched the silent interaction between Brendon and Jessie. If his instincts were correct, and they usually were, there was some tension between the two of them, and it wasn’t sexual.

  “We�
�re on our way to Gage’s,” Brendon told the room when everyone quieted down.

  “Who’s coming with?” Braydon asked.

  “Every one of you better be there,” Travis responded, glancing at each of them in turn.

  “I’m in. V’s getting ready and I told her I’d stop back by and pick her up.” Zane’s response came with the sound of a man in love.

  Travis couldn’t help but wonder if that was what he was feeling. Love? The word was so alien to him, he wasn’t sure he even knew the accurate definition.

  “Yeah, I’m in. As soon as I finish up here with Travis,” Sawyer stated and Travis knew that since they didn’t have any more real business to tend to that there was a personal conversation he was required to join in.

  Tempted to run out the door and avoid any and all interrogation, Travis had to force his ass to remain in his chair. He was not up to talking, and he didn’t care if it was Sawyer doing the questioning. He had no intention of sharing. Not yet. He didn’t want to jinx what currently was as perfect as he could have imagined it to be.

  “Where’s E?” Zane asked, searching the room as though Ethan might just jump out from behind one of the file cabinets.

  “Haven’t seen him since last night at Moonshiners,” Brendon responded. “Think he was arguing with Blake. At least it looked like an argument to me.”

  “I saw him talking to Beau before I left last night,” Braydon tacked on. “It was late, so I’m sure he’s still in bed.”

  Right. Travis knew E better than that. The man didn’t sleep late. Ever.

  “Well, we’re stopping in town to get breakfast tacos and then heading over. You might wanna get your ass in gear. I doubt Gage is gonna be all that happy we’re runnin’ late,” Braydon informed the room.

  “We good, Trav?” Zane asked.

  Travis looked over to see his youngest brother standing to his feet. Rather than risk what might come out of his mouth, he nodded his head and then returned his attention to the computer screen. Not that he had any interest in what was reflected there, nor could he even tell you what it was.

  “You coming with us, Bubba?” Braydon asked, and Travis looked up.

  “I’ll catch up with y’all at Gage’s. Seems like I’ve got an unexpected meeting that’s come up,” he told them as he peered over at Sawyer.

  The twins and Zane picked up their own conversation as they walked out the door, and Travis pinned Sawyer with a glare.

  “Answer me this, big brother.”

  Travis wanted to ignore Sawyer, but he knew it wasn’t going to work.

  “I’ll wait all day, you know I will,” his brother said when Travis didn’t take the bait.

  If he was close to any of his brothers, it was Sawyer. Probably because they were the oldest of the seven. Regardless, Travis knew he was being called to the carpet, and he would answer his brother’s question, no matter what they were, despite his reluctance. Much to his relief, Sawyer didn’t pull this shit often.

  “Is this thing with you and Gage and Kylie serious?”

  The abrupt tone of Sawyer’s question told Travis the man wasn’t looking for gossip, and he wasn’t looking to pass judgment either. That didn’t make answering the question any easier.

  “Would it bother you if it was?” Ok, that was so not the answer that was cued up in his head. In fact, he’d prepared something along the lines of “fuck off, it’s none of your damn business”, but it somehow got translated into something ridiculous on the path from his brain to his mouth.

  “Have you ever known me to be one to judge?” Sawyer asked, the gravity of his tone reflecting how serious he was.

  Travis pulled off his hat, set it on the edge of the desk as he leaned back in his chair. Thrusting his hands through his hair, he closed his eyes. Fuck.

  “Since I don’t need to hear your answer to know what you’d say, I’m going to ask you this. Are you trying to keep this to yourself?”

  Yes. “No.”

  “Ok, bro, I’m calling bullshit.” Sawyer’s tone had turned dark, his offense at being lied to apparent.

  “What does it matter?” Travis met Sawyer’s eyes.

  “It doesn’t. Not beyond the fact that we just want you happy, and it’s clear you are. That’s a good thing, Trav. You know I’m not one to offer advice, but you need to look at it this way. If you’re happy, what the fuck does it matter what others think?”

  “Do you even know what you’re asking? You know my track record, right?” Shit. He didn’t want Sawyer to see his self-doubt.

  “And like I said, if you’re happy, what does it matter?”

  “Because this is serious shit, damn it. I’m not just playing fucking games like the rest of ‘em. I’m not looking for a temporary threesome.”

  Sawyer leaned back, steepling his fingers over his massive chest and stared at him as though he’d just revealed the secret to the universe. Surprisingly, there wasn’t any judgment in his eyes. Travis wasn’t sure that made him feel any better or not.

  “You love them? Both of them?”

  Travis looked down at the desk. He damn sure wasn’t answering that question. Even if he was starting to believe that it was true. He had no interest in ruining a good thing by spouting words like “love” or “forever”.

  “And just so we’re clear, I don’t care if you need two people to make you happy or ten. When it’s right, it’s right.”

  Travis didn’t make eye contact. Wasn’t sure he could. His brother was saying all of the things Travis had been thinking for the last few days.

  “Trav, look at me, bro,” Sawyer said gently.

  When Travis looked up again, there was a world of understanding in his brother’s blue eyes as he once again leaned forward, his forearms resting on his desk.

  “In case you don’t remember, we grew up in the same house. Under the same roof with the same set of morals and values. Our parents taught us to be ourselves, and that means we don’t judge others. Granted, we might get away with straddling that moral line more than others, but it also means it’s expected that we do what we should to be happy.”

  Travis heard the words, understood them even. It didn’t mean he was interested in airing his personal business.

  “I’m not asking for details, but I’ll tell you one thing. If you care about them at all and you want this to work out, you might just have to put your heart on the line. The moment you hold back, you’re resigning yourself to a fate you might not be able to reverse. You hear me, bro?”

  Travis stared at his brother. It sounded as though Sawyer was speaking from experience. They didn’t have these heart-to-hearts often, but damn it all to hell, he had a feeling he better heed Sawyer’s advice sooner rather than later.

  Later could very well be too late.

  Chapter Forty Three

  ♀♂

  Note to self: If you want to get anything accomplished, don’t initiate phone sex. And definitely don’t do it more than once.

  Kylie stood in the kitchen of Gage’s monstrous old farmhouse in her pajamas with her hair an absolute mess, and the only thing she had on her mind was inhaling the coffee now steaming from her cup. For the last week, she’d been staying at Gage’s with both Gage and Travis.

  Each morning, she had to force herself out of bed, and the more days that passed, the more she wondered if tomorrow would be the day she burrowed in the blankets and refused to get up until she’d slept for a solid twenty hours.

  Her men were wearing her out. Literally.

  Travis spent most of the day at work, and Kylie and Gage busied themselves doing little projects while they waited for a couple of the subcontractors to come by and fix things they couldn’t. Like some electrical and plumbing issues. Between the physical labor during the day and the rigorous exercise that Gage and Travis were putting her through at night, Kylie was surprised she could still walk.

  The kitchen door swung inward, and Gage stepped into the kitchen, a warm smile on his face. “Good morning.”

>   Kylie smiled back at him and then went up on her toes when he got close enough to kiss him. It was becoming their morning routine. She would crawl out of bed, which in turn triggered Travis to get up, shower and head out to the Walker Demo office while Gage jumped in the shower shortly thereafter.

  And each morning Gage came into the kitchen, freshly shaven and wearing only a pair of ratty old jeans and a smile. Kylie would ogle him for a second, thinking he should’ve been a model, one of those that graced the magazine covers nearly naked. Corded muscle lined his arms while flat flexing planes graced the front of him. He was damn near perfect. Definitely model worthy.

  And then they’d set the plan for the day.

  “What did you have planned for today?” Gage asked as he poured a cup of coffee and then took a seat at the small table they’d been eating dinner at every night.

  Just like that. Routine. Domestic. Wonderful.

  Kylie had taken over cooking the meals, and waltzing around Gage’s house as though she lived there and had every right to be. No one questioned it or said anything at all. It was safe to say the three of them had accepted that whatever this was that was going on between them – and Kylie was careful not to label it – was more than just sex.

  There were still moments when she wondered if it was real or if perhaps she’d tripped right over the edge of reality and landed head first in Crazy Land because it seemed way too good to be true. During one of those times when confusion snuck its way into her thoughts, Kylie made a pact with herself. One that involved her keeping an open mind and letting things play out as they should.

  Her theory: when the boat wasn’t wobbling, there was no reason to get it started.

  It was out of her hands at this point, and she was ready to let things happen as they should. And because Kylie was going to live in Gage’s house for the next few weeks, devoting every spare second to getting the house back to its former glory, she had plenty of other things to keep her busy.

  Kylie had only taken a few sips of her coffee when she heard the front door open and then close. She cocked an eyebrow at Gage, silently asking whether he was expecting someone that early. She knew Travis’ brothers were coming over to help paint, but she didn’t think they’d be there already. When he shook his head and took a tentative step toward the dining room, she knew the answer was no.