He told his eyes to move.
He begged his mind to stop playing images of what she would look like without that tank top covering her.
Truly, he was trying to be a gentleman, and then the inevitable happened, not because he was planning on it, rather because they were in a bed, and he was exhausted and she was… there.
Really, it didn’t have anything to do with his feelings or love for all things Kacey.
With a curse he pulled his hand away from her mouth and crushed his lips against hers. His hands gripped her shoulders and then he was on top of her, straddling her. Aggression poured out of him as he slammed her arms against her sides and continued his attack.
Kacey whimpered, and then sprang to action, thrusting her tongue into his mouth with such a fiery hot need that he was half-tempted to fall to his knees in ecstasy; then again he was already on his knees, straddling the goddess as she reached behind his head and pulled his neck closer to hers. Lying across her, he knew it was going to happen, probably because it was the next logical step.
Logic, logic, what was the meaning of that word again? And then… then someone was at the door.
“What the—?” He pulled away from Kacey, abruptly landing on the floor in a tangle of sheets. “Yes?” his agitated voice was clipped.
“Sorry, honey, it’s Mom…”
“Oh no!” Kacey shrieked, tripping on the same sheet and crashing down on top of him. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened. Travis slapped his hand across it and gave her a death glare.
“I just woke up, Mom. Did you need something?” What the hell was the time?
“Oh, no. I just thought I heard some commotion, like a person screaming, or snoring, or… I don’t know. It’s probably my imagination, but I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine, Mom,” he said, silently pleading for her to leave.
Kacey moved on top of him, and then placed a wet kiss across his lips.
He was going to strangle her.
And then she straddled him.
“…And I know how you don’t have your bunny anymore.” His mom’s muffled voice came through the door. “Funny how I hadn’t thought of that until Kacey brought it up tonight.”
“I don’t…” he said between kisses. “Need…” Oh God, her mouth was so hot. “…the damn bunny!” he all but yelled.
“I know, honey, you were just so attached after you went off to college, and I know how you named it Kacey. Hmm. Why did you name it Kacey? I forget. She didn’t give it to you. Strange.”
Kacey froze on top of him, the kissing stopped, and he wished to God she didn’t have such great hearing. Kacey gave him a panicked, almost horrified look.
Swell. He was scaring his bed partner.
“Oh well,” his mom said when he didn’t answer. “See you for breakfast. It’s in two hours, so you have some time. Bye!”
Chapter Twenty-four
Kacey struggled to keep her hands at her sides, when truthfully, all she wanted to do was strangle the man she was still straddling.
“You named your bunny after me? You hated me in high school. What gives?” She crossed her arms.
Travis looked away. “Don’t flatter yourself, Kace. I named the bunny after you because I figured it was the only name that I was convinced would evoke fear in even the scariest of monsters.”
“So it had nothing to do with me?” Kacey wondered why she was suddenly upset.
“Oh, it had everything to do with you.” Travis reached around and pulled her body tighter against him as he leaned forward and kissed her again. “After all…” His lips tortured her neck, he groaned into her hair, and Kacey hated that she was so easily seduced by the man she had been trying not to fall for the entire trip. “…I wasn’t allowed to physically torture you. I was brought up to be a gentleman. So whenever you… frustrated me…” He nipped her ear and claimed her lips again. “…I’d come home and beat my bunny.”
“You took out your sexual frustration on a bunny?” Kacey’s voice was breathless.
“Who said I was sexually frustrated?”
Crap. Now what was she going to do? Lie? Kiss him again? Knee him in the balls? “I, uh,” she stuttered. “I just assumed that was the life you led, almost like a eunuch. You know, because you didn’t date much and took that Jezebel to prom with you.”
Travis rolled his eyes. “I’ll let my cousin know you said hi.”
“She always was such a dear.” Kacey and Travis’s cousin, Lucy, had had a falling out that night, when they both showed up in the same dress. Lucy, with all her naturally endowed gifts from God, had nearly fallen out of hers, while Kacey had needed tissue stuffing in hers to fill it out. It wasn’t her fault she was a late bloomer! The entire night was ruined when Lucy, in a fit of lust — and most likely alcohol — made a move for Jake. They were, after all, only second cousins, once removed. It didn’t make it any less creepy, or wrong, or sad to watch as she tried to molest him on the dance floor. Ah, high school. Good times.
Kacey shook her head and gave Travis sweet smile, pushing at his chest so she could get up.
“Where are you going?” Travis grasped her wrist. She had to get out, had to leave him before she attacked him and lost all control.
“My room.”
“You can’t go to you room. What if someone sees you?”
“Who’s going to see me?” The birds? The tiny squirrels outside his bedroom window?
Travis blinked several times before answering. “Anyone could see you, and if you come out of my room looking like that, they’ll be suspicious.”
“Your family knows we hate each other.” Kacey grunted.
Travis, the devil, gave her such a seducing smile she wondered if her heart would stop beating. “Yes, but, my family knows of my certain reputation, that of a playboy, not a eunuch as you’ve so lovingly described me.”
“Right, well, since you’re paranoid, I’ll just shower here, and we can escape out the back. Sound good?”
Travis groaned into his hands. “Too good, Kace. Too good.”
Not wanting to hang around, or even allow his double meaning to penetrate her already jumbled thoughts, she skittered away toward the bathroom.
“Right then.” What was I going to say? Something snappy. Something funny. Damn his abs! They had no right to be so ripped!
Kacey pushed through the door and slammed it hard behind her. Lock, lock where was the lock?
“There’s no lock, Kace,” Travis’s deep timbre explained the situation. “They haven’t gotten around to actually fixing up the bathroom yet, so it’s kinda still in shambles, but the water’s hot, and the towels are clean. Just don’t go making it smell all girly in there.”
How the heck was she going to do that? Just naturally give off her womanly musk by bathing in the steam of his bathroom? Idiot.
“Fine!” She went to the shower and turned it on. Steaming water came pouring out. Perfection. Within two seconds she was stripped and in the shower, dreaming of bacon and scalding coffee.
Which was why she didn’t hear the door open. Or Travis’s voice when he asked if she was okay.
Or the shriek that came from him when he slipped on her thong and grabbed the shower curtain on the way to the floor.
Naked. Gloriously naked. No doubt, he was going to be a little upset over the fact that she’d left more than her musk behind.
Travis cursed, for a great while, and then finally set his eyes on her. All of her.
Following his lead, she cursed like a sailor. His eyes scanned her boldly without shame. They sat in silence, neither of them wanting to make the first move, or even to breathe, it seemed.
“What the hell!” A male voice roared.
Horrified, Kacey looked up into murderous green eyes and gulped. “ Hi, Jake.”
Chapter Twenty-five
“This isn’t what you think!” Kacey managed to grab a nearby towel and cover her nakedness, though it was hard to see the point of it all, conside
ring both men had both openly gaped at her. There had to be something ethically, or at least religiously, wrong with two brothers ogling one woman’s goodies in the bathroom.
“Oh?” Jake crossed his arms. “Because you don’t want to know what I think right now. How could you!” He shoved Travis against the wall.
“How could I?” Travis roared. “What the hell kind of question is that? When you’ve been running around this weekend screwing everything with a skirt?”
“One time!” Jake shouted.
“You’re supposed to be pretending to be engaged!”
“It doesn’t even matter anymore!” Jake pushed him against the wall again, his arm coming up beneath his chin. Obviously Travis was letting him, considering Jake was younger and clearly not as strong as Travis.
“Why the hell not?” Travis voice was strained.
“Grandma didn’t say! She just wanted Kacey back! Besides, she knows we aren’t engaged, alright? I did it for my reputation. Apparently dating strippers is bad for the company. It was the board’s idea anyway. It’s a win-win! I needed to save my reputation, so we pretended to be engaged. Do you think I want to be married?”
Kacey stood there stunned. She knew the marriage wasn’t real, but for some reason his words still stung, as if he was breaking up with her all over again. And what was worse was that she was watching the entire exchange almost naked.
“What was the point of bringing her down here if it wasn’t real anyway? And why was Grandma faking a stroke!” Travis shoved Jake, causing him to fall onto the floor with a thud.
“How should I know? I was being the dutiful grandson!” Jake pointed at himself and sneered.
“Um, guys?” Kacey raised her hand.
“Not now!” they yelled in unison.
“Guys.”
They ignored her and continued to fight over whether or not Grandma was sick, Jake was lying, and why it was so important to bribe Kacey to come down to Portland. All in all, it was the worst five minutes of her life.
And then…
Bets, Wescott, and Grandma burst into the room.
Lovely.
Kacey prayed for lightning to strike.
No such luck.
“What is the meaning of this?” Wescott roared then turned a bright purple when he glanced at Kacey in the towel.
“She was naked!” Jake pointed to Kacey.
Travis rolled his eyes. “In the shower, where people usually are naked.”
Jake sneered. “And you were staring at her because you find human anatomy fascinating?”
Travis lunged for Jake’s throat, but Wescott pushed between the two. “Stop! Now I don’t know what has you boys so upset, but you’re adults. Sit down and discuss it. Don’t start throwing punches, especially when Kacey’s standing there in nothing but a towel.”
Both Travis’s and Jake’s eyes flashed to her. She wanted to die of embarrassment.
“I’ll just, um… I’ll be in my, or his…” She pointed to Travis and shook her head. “…The guest room.”
****
Travis was shaking with rage. It didn’t help that every time he closed his eyes to try to calm himself down all he saw were mental images of Kacey without any clothes, standing in his bathroom.
Jake was grumbling next to him.
“Both of you,” Wescott said, pointing. “Speak. Now.”
“At the same time?” Jake sneered.
“Smart ass,” Travis muttered.
Grandma stood behind their father, her arms folded. A tiny smile formed across her lips.
“I’ll take it from here, Wescott,” she instructed.
Their father lifted his hands in the air and walked out, pulling their mother with him.
“Listen here!” Grandma snapped, making both men jump. “I needed Kacey to come down here and that’s my business and mine alone. I told Jake to bribe her if necessary. Obviously he used my stroke as an excuse as well as money, which was fine by me, as I plan on leaving that girl an inheritance anyway. Though I’m honestly disappointed that Jake used a fake engagement to save face in front of the board. Grow a pair, son.”
Travis opened his mouth to speak.
“Don’t,” she snapped. “I’ll deal with you later, Travis, but right now my scorn is for your little brother.” He tried not to look pleased when Grandma’s eyes blazed in Jake’s direction.
“How could you! I asked one simple task of you, and you’re running around lifting skirts!”
Travis cleared his throat. “In his defense, some of the girls were wearing pants.”
Jake glared.
Grandma continued to lecture. “Now, Jake, I think it’s safe to say you’ve made a mess of things, especially in front of Kacey. I want you to pack up your things and stay the night in the condo downtown. You don’t fly out until Monday, and that will give me adequate time to do damage control with your parents. Besides, from the looks of it, the newspapers have enough photographs of you two running about that they’ll be satisfied you’re settling down.”
Travis was only half-listening. He still didn’t understand why they needed the pretense of a fake engagement. If Grandma wasn’t dying, the only people who were getting duped were his parents and Kacey. Well, them and the rest of the Twitterverse who followed Jake’s updates religiously.
Grandma said some more choice words to Jake and told him to leave.
He did, much like a dog with his tail between his legs.
“And you!” Grandma poked him in the chest. “I was counting on you!”
“Counting on me?”
“Yes, you fool! I gave you every opportunity, and you were doing so well the other night!” Grandma plopped onto the bed next to him. “Do you know how difficult it is to fake a stroke when you’re in your prime? If I have to lie down one more time…”
“Pardon?” Was she insane?
“You’ve loved her a long time, my boy.” His hands began to shake in his lap as his Grandma patted his back. “I know it was hard for you growing up, and no girl has piqued your interest since. I just thought, well… I thought having her here with your brother would make you jealous enough to finally do something about it.”
“Well, you got the jealous part right. You’re lucky I didn’t kill him the other night when I punched him.”
Grandma shook her head, and suddenly Travis felt like she was very frail. “What aren’t you telling me, Grandma?”
A little tear ran down her cheek, but she pushed it away with her wrinkled hand. “I haven’t given up on Jake, so don’t for a second think that, but you, you’re different.” She looked up, her eyes glassy. “You remind me of your grandfather so much, Travis. You need a good strong woman, a good woman by your side. I think Kacey is that woman. I’ve always thought so and now I know it. Do yourself a favor and talk to her.”
Travis laughed bitterly. “And say what exactly? That I’m in love with her and have been for as long as I can remember? Beg her to not love my brother, but love me, be with me?”
“That’s a start,” his grandma said. “Besides, there is something neither of you boys know.”
“Oh?”
“Kacey was like a granddaughter to me. I’ve kept in touch with her as much as possible over the years, though I admit I’ve been lazy in my writing. These old hands don’t work as well as they used to.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “When her parents died… Oh Travis, it was the worst tragedy. She became a shell of the girl I once knew. I figured if I let her heal and deal with it on her own, she’d find her way back. I knew her well enough to know that if I coddled her, she’d push away. It didn’t help matters that Jake lied to all of us about how close they truly were these past four years.”
Travis’s blood ran cold. “I figured. I mean, she hinted as much earlier.”
“Oh honey, Jake and Kacey haven’t spoken in years. He kept tabs on her, but they never got together. Ever since her parents’ death she’s been nothing but a childhood friend, an acquaintance. I used to s
end her newspaper clippings from her parents’ business, but I don’t know if she ever truly read them or looked. It was as if she died right along with them.”
“That explains a lot.” He was suddenly sick with worry. What the hell had really happened between those two? It couldn’t have been just her parents’ death. No. There was something else, some underlying tension.
“In their will they named me her guardian.”
“I’m sorry, what?” Travis was sure he wasn’t hearing his grandmother correctly.
Grandma chuckled. “I’m her legal guardian. Naturally she’s an adult now, so it hardly matters. They drew up the papers when she was still quite small. But Kacey is just as much mine as she was theirs. I’ve always watched out for her, always wanted what was best for her, and in my mind the best was for her to be part of our family.”
“Just not by way of Jake?” Travis nudged his grandmother.
“Heavens, no.” She chuckled. “Kacey knew there was something going on, knew I wasn’t really sick. I told her to use this time to find herself, and I think she was beginning to.”
“Until I kept screwing it up?” Travis asked.
“I wouldn’t say you screwed it up, but you did make a mess of things. You’re so hot and cold around her. But I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you exactly twenty-four hours alone with the girl to figure things out.”
Travis laughed and reached behind his neck to rub a sore spot. “Yeah, and how are you going to do that?”
She rose to her full height and pulled at her tight jacket. “I’m Grandma. I can do anything I want.”
The woman had a point.
“Be happy, Travis.” She kissed his nose and walked toward the door. “Your parents and I will be gone within the hour. I hear the cottage at Seaside is lovely this time of year. I may even take pity on your brother and let him tag along rather than rot in that dratted condo downtown.”
Travis lay back against the bed and stared at the ceiling.
Manipulative little thing, his grandma. To think she went to such extremes just because she wanted him to be happy, well, him and Kacey.