Nicole Edwards - Travis

You were never my play thing, Kylie. Never. Nor would you be now. What I felt for you, I’ve never felt for anyone else.

If there was something more inside of Travis, was it possible that there was a chance he’d feel the same about Gage at some point? At least something more than the chemistry that he knew flickered between them like the electrical storm that was brewing outside.

“Fine,” he growled, turning to walk away before Travis had a chance to see what was written all over his face.

Travis’ strong fingers gripped his bicep. Before Gage could pull away, he found himself being pushed up against the wall, Travis all up in his face. He wasn’t intimidated easily, but the reaction his body gave to Travis’ aggressiveness wasn’t what he expected. Although Travis was a few inches taller, Gage was bigger. But it didn’t seem to matter because even at two hundred and ten pounds, Gage felt as though Travis could take him down with a breath. His entire body reacted as though he were a submissive and Travis was his master, which he knew damn sure wasn’t the case.

“When are you going to get tired of running?” Travis asked, his face incredibly close. Close enough that Gage could see the stubble on his chin and the storm clouds brewing in his impassioned blue eyes. Somewhere along the way Travis had ditched his cowboy hat, his dark hair haphazardly spiked like he’d run his hands through it one too many times.

“I didn’t run,” Gage answered, knowing it was a lie. He’d been running for months now. Ever since Travis cornered him at the Walker’s house. Ever since he made love to Kylie.

“The hell you didn’t.” Travis’ voice lowered, his head moved in closer. “You’ve run from me since the first time.”

“What do you care?” Gage asked, trying to push him away without much effort.

“I don’t want you to run.”

Gage stared deep into Travis’ eyes, wishing like hell he could see right into the man’s soul. What was he getting at? Aside from wanting to fuck? “No? You’d rather I stand here and give you what you want? Is that it?”

“And just what the hell do you think I want?”

“Me.”

“You don’t want me to want you?”

Gage didn’t know where this conversation was going, but, Lord help him, he was getting hard. Here he was, trying to piss Travis off, getting way too defensive and the look in Travis’ eyes backed up his words. Now, more than ever, Gage wanted this man.

He didn’t respond. He couldn’t say a word, so he just stood there, staring, waiting… Hell, he didn’t even know what he was waiting for.

Travis gripped his chin, and Gage’s entire body went rigid. It didn’t matter how the man touched him, but whenever their skin came in contact, his body lit up from the inside out. He sucked in a breath, anticipating what Travis would say or do next.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you wanted me to kiss you,” Travis goaded.

Reality slammed back into Gage at the tone of Travis’ voice, and he pushed him at the same time he flipped their positions so that Travis was pinned against the wall.

“Yeah? You think that’s what I want from you?”

Travis glared, not an ounce of fear in his expression. Gage could sense that he was being taunted and damn it all to hell, he didn’t give a fuck.

Slamming his mouth down on Travis’, Gage took everything Travis offered and then some. There was no hesitation when he shoved his tongue into the hot recesses of Travis’ mouth, tasting him, damn near inhaling him. And when Travis gripped the back of his head, holding him close, unwilling to let him back off, Gage found himself pressing fully against Travis’ rock hard body, a deep, rumbling growl emerging from his chest.

Fucking hell. Gage wanted to strip Travis bare right there in the kitchen and bury himself deep inside of him until neither of them could breathe from wanting that release that seemed just out of reach. The game they’d been playing was becoming more than a little tiring, and Gage wanted more. Hell, he wanted anything and everything Travis would give him.

Groaning as the kiss slowed and intensified at the same time, Gage thrust his hips forward, seeking the friction he desperately needed. That’s when Travis snaked his hand between their bodies, stroking Gage’s steel hard cock behind the zipper of his jeans. Fuck. Shit. He was surprised he didn’t come right then and there. He was unable to remember his own name when Travis slid his fingers into his hair, angling his head just slightly so he could delve deeper, his tongue thrusting, dueling… robbing him of everything that he was.

Long seconds passed before they separated, both of them struggling to suck in oxygen. As though Travis was worried he would try to get away, his hand tightened in his hair, holding him as their foreheads pressed together.

“You don’t know how bad I want you. How long I’ve wanted you.” Travis’ words penetrated the fog inside of his brain, but Gage still wasn’t sure what to make of them. He was beginning to want something from this man. And the more he was around Travis, the more he wanted.

More than sex.

The sex he could handle. There wasn’t anything that Gage shied away from and having been attracted to both men and women most of his life, he didn’t think twice about what he wanted from Travis when it came down to sexual gratification. It was the other things Gage was beginning to crave. Emotional attachments, tomorrows. The happily ever after shit that everyone else seemed to find but him. He wondered whether Travis would ever be able to give anyone those things.

A sudden gasp had Gage breaking away from Travis as though they’d just been busted doing something illegal. They both turned to see Kylie standing in the doorway, her hand over her mouth as she stared back at them, her eyes wide as saucers.

Before Gage could say anything, Kylie turned and ran up the back staircase to the second floor. He couldn’t do anything except stare after her. He tried to put himself in her shoes, to see what she had seen from her perspective, but it didn’t work. Gage had no idea how she interpreted the two of them together. If the look on her face was anything to go by, she didn’t see it with the same desire she’d portrayed when Gage had kissed Travis in the truck.

Travis pushed away from the wall and turned to go upstairs, but Gage didn’t move. As Travis disappeared up the back stairs, Gage realized that the water upstairs had never come on, the old pipes weren’t rumbling and creaking.

Shit.

How long had Kylie been standing there?

♂♀♂

Taking the back stairs that led to the second floor, Kylie fled from what she’d just seen. Her mind was fast tracking through a multitude of emotions. Lust, excitement, and all of a sudden, a heart weary fear. They all flooded her as she tried to come to terms with what she just saw.

The interaction between Travis and Gage was so powerful, she had a hard time understanding how there was room for her. Well, it didn’t take much to understand how it would physically work. But, that’s not the part she feared. Surprisingly, she could contribute her excitement to that aspect of it. But the connection between the two of them was something that seemed impenetrable from someone on the outside, and she wondered whether they even realized it.

Travis wanted Gage.

Gage wanted Travis.

And if she were to rationalize the situation, she had a hard time figuring how she fit in with the passion that was so potent between them, she’d physically felt it as she stood in the doorway.

By the time she made it back to the small bedroom that she had escaped to earlier, she was out of breath, but the shock still hadn’t worn off. Not only had she wanted to be a part of that, she had been turned on by what she saw. The way Travis trapped Gage against the wall, then vice versa… the influx of heat and passion was palpable in the still, humid air.

 She slipped into the small bathroom and closed the door behind her, but there wasn’t a lock. She knew one, if not both, of them would come after her – maybe not until they were finished – and she wasn’t sure she wanted to see either of them right then.

She was just so confused. Like she was living in an alternate universe, and everything was not the way it was supposed to be. Shouldn’t she be jealous? Of at least one of them? Travis was her husband for chrissakes. And Gage… well, there for a while she’d dated him. Kind of. Now the three of them seemed to be involved in this decidedly strange triangle. And she was torn between the heat generating in her core when she watched them and understanding whether this was real or not. And if it was real, was her heart at risk once again?

For the last few hours she’d ignored that particular organ, not wanting to accept how real this could be. Nonetheless, she couldn’t turn a blind eye to what she desperately yearned for no matter how damn horny they made her.

Sliding down the wall, she sat on the floor, dropping her head in her hands and closing her eyes, but as soon as she did, the vision of Travis and Gage kissing assaulted her and heart be damned, her blood reheated. It was the hottest thing she’d ever seen.

Still, she couldn’t wrap her mind around how this situation would even play out. It didn’t matter that she ached for both men, or that she knew given half a chance, they’d give her what she wanted – in the sexual sense at least. Kylie couldn’t help but feel there was something significant going on between the two of them. Something more than sex.

It sounded like a bad case of lust, based on the words she’d heard, but watching them, and maybe they didn’t even realize it, she knew there was something else there. They were both strong, powerful men, yet when they were like that, it was as though those hard exteriors dissolved and what remained were two men who needed each other.