Travis (47 page)

A
unanimous “No condoms,” came from the bed and Travis dropped the box, but took
the lube.

He
was anxious to be inside of Gage, having spent the last few days sleeping in
the same bed, but never making love to him. Travis had needed to sleep, never
wanting to get out of bed or open his eyes because at least in his dreams his world
hadn’t been crumbling around him.

Now
that the sun was shining in his chest again, he was ready to make up for lost
time.

“Holy
shit,” Gage said on a breath. He was blanketing Kylie completely, his cock
sliding in between her legs. “Baby, fuck. You’re so damn hot.”

Travis
lubed up his cock, stroking slowly as he watched Gage begin to thrust gently.
Long, deep strokes. Travis slid two slippery fingers inside Gage’s ass when he
was buried deep inside of Kylie, and Gage’s answering groan urged him on.

Every
time Gage retreated from Kylie’s pussy, Travis slid his fingers in deep,
twisting them in that perfect angle, pressing insistently against Gage’s
prostate until the man was begging for more. He continued to massage Gage’s
prostate as he fucked Kylie until she clamped her legs around Gage’s hips,
holding him close to her body.

When
she began saying their names over and over, Travis relented. As slow as he
could manage, Travis slid his cock deep in Gage’s ass, the heat of his body
magnified without latex, and he held his breath, unable to go farther for fear
he would come before he was ready.

With
sweat beading on his brow, Travis breathed deep, got himself under control and
started to rock his hips, finding a rhythm that worked as Gage continued to
push into Kylie harder.

Oh,
yeah. He could get used to this.

“Fuck.”
Dropping over Gage, Travis pressed his chest against his hard muscled back and
pressed his lips to his shoulder. “As much as I want to be easy, I need to fuck
you,” he whispered in Gage’s ear as he met Kylie’s glazed stare. She was
hovering on the edge as it was.

“God,
yes. Fuck me, Travis. Fuck me hard.”

Travis
kissed Gage’s back once more and then pushed up onto his knees, gripping his
narrow hips and driving his cock in deep, retreating slowly. Over and over he
fucked him hard and slow, reveling in the feel of Gage’s heat as he gripped him
tighter.

“Faster.”
This time Kylie was the one to change the tempo and Gage began pumping his
hips, which forced Travis to find another rhythm.

The
sound of their heavy breathing was the only sound until Kylie cried out. “I’m
gonna come, Gage. Oh, God. Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”

“Never,
baby. Come for me, Kylie.”

Travis
let their words wrap around him, clenching his teeth together as he fought the
urge to come. He wanted to wait. Needed Kylie to get there first.

“Fuck,
yes!” Kylie’s garbled curse had the same effect as a stun gun. She didn’t
usually curse like that and Travis had been so lost in her passion, he nearly
came when she did.

Travis
continued to thrust, resuming his original pace as Gage slowed his. As soon as
Gage stopped moving his hips, Travis dug his fingertips into his hips, shifted
him slightly and pounded into him. Harder, faster. Over and over until their
moans were so mingled, Travis didn’t know whose was whose.

“Fuck,”
Travis bit out. “So. Fucking. Tight.” He punctuated each word with a punishing
thrust. “You ready to come for me, Gage?”

Gage
began to rock forward, letting Travis’ momentum drive him into Kylie. “Fuck yes.
Make me come. Fuck. It feels so damn good.”

Travis
couldn’t hold back, he slammed into Gage over and over, his thigh muscles
straining from the movement, but he didn’t stop.

“Fuuuuucccck!”
Gage groaned the word as his muscles clamped down on Travis’ cock until he too
was coming with a strangled curse.

It
didn’t take long before Travis dropped to the bed and rolled to his back, his
chest heaving from exertion as Gage fell to Kylie’s side.

“We’re…
doing that… again,” Travis said between breaths. Turning his head to the side,
Travis waited until they both looked at him. “How many times do you think we
can do that?”

“Are
you talking about in one night?” Gage asked with a laugh.

Travis smiled. “No, I’m thinking more
like forever.”

♂♀

End
of June…

Curtis
wasn’t sure he’d even stopped smiling since he got off the phone with Travis
several hours ago. The boy had asked if he could stop by, said he wanted to talk.
Of course, Curtis gave him a rash of shit, telling him he’d never had to call
and ask before. Travis had merely told him this wasn’t like any of those other
times. Then when Travis asked to talk to Lorrie, he’d known today was finally
going to be the day.

Lorrie
had spent the better part of the afternoon in the kitchen, cooking a meal large
enough to feed an army. He hadn’t even had it in him to tease her because he
didn’t want to distract from the sparkle in her eyes.

Yes,
it was safe to say they’d been waiting for this day for a long time. Living in
a small town had its benefits, and one of them was that Curtis could keep an
eye on his kids without even having to try. When the boys were young, they
hated that their parents knew everything they did before they even did it. Now
that they were older, well, they still didn’t like it all that much. But they
had gotten used to it. As for Travis, well, he’d mentioned on the phone that he
had wanted to talk to him first, so Curtis was going to pretend he didn’t know
what was going on.

It
meant more that his oldest boy was willing to come directly to him anyway.

There
was a light knock on the back screen door and then Travis stepped inside,
holding it open for the two people with him. The beautiful young woman who had
yet to be introduced to Travis’ mother looked both excited and scared at the
same time. And Gage, who was pulling up the rear, looked like he didn’t have a
care in the world.

Curtis
knew better. The boy was nervous.

“It’s
about time, boy,” Curtis called out as he made his way to the kitchen.

Lorrie
was already greeting the three of them, kisses on cheeks and hugs that
squeezed, even for the woman she hadn’t officially met yet.

“Oh,
honey,” Lorrie said as she held onto Kylie’s arms and looked at her. “You’re so
beautiful.”

The
sweet girl blushed.

“Mom,
this is Kylie. Kylie, this is my mom, Lorrie. Dad, you remember Kylie? And
y’all know Gage.”

“Come
in.” Lorrie was all smiles as she kept Kylie close, pulling her farther into
the kitchen with her. The only time she released her was when Lorrie leaned up
and placed a gentle kiss on Gage’s cheek before whispering, “Happy Birthday. I
made you a cake for later.”

Aaannnnddd…
cue that boy’s turn to blush.

“Can
I help with anything?” Kylie asked as she followed like she’d been there a hundred
times.

“Of
course you can, honey. I’m almost finished, but you can set the table if you’d
like.”

Curtis
planted his hand on the back of Travis’ neck and squeezed gently. “You wanted
to talk, boy?”

Travis
looked over at Gage and then back to Curtis. “Come on, son. You might as well
join us. I’ve got a feeling this has something to do with you too.”

Gage’s
eyes flared wide as he looked back at Travis, probably hoping he’d be able to
get out of it, but Curtis simply grabbed him by the back of the neck too and
led them both to the living room.

“Sit,”
he ordered as he urged them toward the couch and then dropped into his
recliner.

To
his surprise, Travis looked nervous. Curtis fought the urge to smile.

“Dad,
there’s something you need to know about me,” Travis finally said after several
minutes. The sound of the women in the kitchen slowly becoming background
noise.

“What’s
that?”

“I…”
Travis stopped, glanced over at Gage then back. “There’re actually several
things.”

“What
is it, boy?” Curtis said gruffly, wanting Travis to get on with it because he
knew his son would feel better once he got it out in the open.

“Kylie
and I are married. We’ve been married for about ten years now, although we were
only together for a couple of weeks after the wedding.”

“Hmmphh.
Go on.” Curtis already knew this part.

He’d
initially been saddened that his son hadn’t told his mother or him when it
happened, but they figured Travis had a good reason. Since they trusted their
boys to come to them when they needed to, neither of them had confronted Travis
about it. Curtis couldn’t deny that the relief that he finally had was
enormous.

“I
made the mistake of leaving her because I thought she wouldn’t understand me.
I’d fallen in love with her and married her because I wanted to be normal. I
had second thoughts, and I didn’t want her to be dragged into my world, so I
left. When I did,” Travis paused, glancing down at the floor between his legs.
“When I did, I left most of myself behind.”

Curtis
knew that too. Granted, until recently they hadn’t known where Travis had left
himself or why, but for the last decade, Travis had indeed been different. He’d
been broken, and it killed Curtis to watch, but he’d done it for years.

“She
came back into my life unexpectedly,” Travis once again glanced at Gage before
he continued, “but she wasn’t the only one who made a huge impact on my life
recently.”

Curtis
didn’t say a word.

“Look,
Dad. This is fucking hard,” Travis sighed. Gage moved closer to Travis and
placed a hand on his back.

The
gesture alone spoke every single word Travis was having a hard time finding,
but Curtis didn’t mention it. These boys had found something with one another
that doesn’t come around but once in a lifetime. Sure, Curtis had a hard time
understanding how things might work for three people in a relationship, but it
wasn’t his place to question it. No one questioned him when he fell in love
with Lorrie. No one told him that it wouldn’t work despite some of the odds.
Not that Curtis would’ve stood for it if they had.

It
wasn’t his place to determine what would or would not make his boys happy. It
was his job to support their decisions and to love them unconditionally. And
quite frankly, as long as they were happy, Curtis could pretty well come to
terms with anything.

“I
love them both, Dad,” Travis blurted finally, his head slowly coming up until
their eyes met.

“That
right?”

“Yeah.”

Curtis
didn’t say anything more, wondering if Travis had any more revelations he
wanted to lay on him.

“Don’t
you have any questions, Dad?” Travis finally asked, his chest puffing out as
though he were preparing for an argument.

“I
do have one. Wait, two actually,” Curtis replied, sitting up in his chair and
mirroring Travis’ posture. With his forearms resting on his spread thighs, he
stared over at his boy.

“What’s
that?”

Curtis
paused, looked into the kitchen, then back at Travis.

“How’d
the bed work out for ya? Your mother and I bought the biggest one we could find.
Figured you’d need it if the three of you were gonna be sleepin’ there.”

Travis’
eyes went wide, but he managed to keep his jaw from hitting the floor. Without
answering the first question, Travis said, “And I’m sure I don’t even want to
know, but what’s the second question?”

“Oh,
that’s an easy one. When are your mother and I getting grandbabies out of you
three?”

Travis
paled, all of his color draining from his face even as the small smile tipped
the corner of his mouth.

Gage
took things a little better. He fell over on the couch.

Laughing.

♀♂

Two
weeks later…

“Daddy.
Melissa,” Kylie greeted her father and his fiancé as they walked in through her
front door. She’d spent the last hour pacing back and forth in front of the
door, so the moment they arrived, she was already waiting.

At
one point, Travis laughed as he sent her outside to wear down the wood on the porch.
She tried that for all of ten minutes, but resumed her pacing inside for fear
her father would pull up, and she wouldn’t have a chance to prepare herself.
Now that he was standing in her entryway, she wasn’t sure whether her pep talk
mattered. She forced a smile and clenched her hands into fists to keep them
from shaking.

“Little
girl,” he said as he leaned over and let her kiss him on the cheek.

“Wow,
Kylie, this is beautiful,” Melissa said as she turned in a wide circle, looking
at the house. The look of awe on Melissa’s face made Kylie beam with pride.
“You’re actually going to sell this place?”

“That’s
the plan,” Kylie answered quickly. “Are y’all hungry? I need to check on the
casserole in the oven. Want to help? You could follow me if you’d like.” Kylie
wasn’t sure exactly what words were coming out of her mouth, she just knew they
continued to flow. Considering how nervous she was, she could’ve been speaking
gibberish, and it would’ve made sense to her. Maybe not anyone else, but her
mind was such a jumbled mess, she couldn’t find it in herself to care.

Just
as she was leading Joe and Melissa toward the kitchen, Travis and Gage came
through the living room toward them, both of them looking so handsome she
wondered if she would start crying. Ok, maybe that was just an excuse. She just
felt like crying. She didn’t care why she did it.

Her
father was there. He was there to meet Gage and Travis, and Kylie was doing a miserable
job of handling the situation. After everything went so perfectly with Travis’
parents, she’d built this moment up in her mind, and this certainly wasn’t how
she envisioned it working out.

Travis
leaned down and placed a quick kiss on her mouth. “It’s going to be fine, baby.
I promise you,” he whispered in her ear as he stood to his full height, his confidence
helping put some of the starch back in her spine.

Wait.
No. No, it didn’t help at all. As soon as she looked at her father, all of the starch
disappeared again.

Kylie
needed to turn the air up, the room was suddenly way too hot.

Realizing
she was supposed to be the hostess, she looked at the four people now staring
at her. “Daddy. Melissa. I’d like you to meet Travis Walker and Gage Matthews.
Travis, Gage, this is my father, Joe, and his fiancé, Melissa.”

Kylie
watched as her father looked over the two men who had become her very lifeline.
In fact, the only reason she was standing here with her father in the same room
as the two men she loved was because of them. They insisted she introduce them.
In person. After she procrastinated, – for two weeks – Travis had asked for her
father’s phone number.

Yes.
Chicken that she was, she’d given it to him. And, solid rock that he was,
Travis had called Joe and asked if they could come to Dallas to meet him. To
everyone’s shock, Joe had insisted that he come to Killeen and meet them at
Kylie’s. She still wasn’t sure the reason for that, but she hadn’t questioned
any of them.

“Dinner
is almost ready,” Kylie said, her voice quivering, but she could do nothing to
stop it. “Melissa, would you mind helping me?”

“Sure,
honey.”

Without
waiting to see whether her father was going to talk to Travis and Gage or just
stare them down, she led Melissa into the kitchen. Being that the space was fairly
open, she could see them as they continued to stand in the middle of the living
room.

“Ky,”
Melissa said, placing her warm, gentle hand on Kylie’s arm. “You know it’s
going to be perfectly fine, don’t you?”

Kylie
turned to face her future stepmother, staring at her like she was an alien from
another planet and had just bestowed the key to the universe. “How do you know
that?” she whispered. She had to clear her throat in order to find her voice.

“Because
your father wants you to be happy,” she said, taking Kylie’s hand. “He’s not here
to interrogate them. You need to remember, he loves you. Very much.”

“But…”
Kylie wanted to ask Melissa if she thought it was normal that she was
introducing two men to her father.
Two.
Not just one. She wanted to ask
if they even realized exactly what was going on here. The way the woman was
acting, Kylie was beginning to think maybe she hadn’t been clear about the
situation.

Two.
Both men. For her. Not just one.

Ok,
she really was going to have to fix that air conditioner.

“See,
look,” Melissa said, gripping Kylie’s shoulders and turning her to face the
three men who… were now sitting on the sofas in the living room. Laughing.

Ok.
What was going on?

Didn’t
they know that this was not normal? That a girl didn’t bring
two
men home
to meet her father? Or in this case, bring her father to her home to meet two
men.

Two
men that she loved.

She
did love them. A lot.

“Take
a deep breath, Kylie.” Melissa’s tone was steady as she wrapped a warm arm
around her shoulder and pulled her close. “Ok, now look at me.”

Kylie
tilted her head and glanced at Melissa, unsure exactly what she was supposed to
do next. This was the most awkward situation she’d ever been in before. Even
worse than the birds and bees talk that her father had insisted on having with
her when she was sixteen. Considering she’d been in high school by then and had
learned more in sex education class than she ever wanted to know, she’d told
him he could spare them both the embarrassment.

He
had thanked her for that.

“Do
you love them?” Melissa asked, interrupting the random trail her thoughts were
heading down.

“Of
course I do. I love them very much,” Kylie mumbled as she stared at Gage and
Travis who were sitting in the living room. Sitting. With her father. “Are you
hot?” Kylie asked Melissa and then pulled away. She shook her head and tried to
clear the fog from her brain.

“Actually,
it’s quite comfortable. Now back to you,” she said with a sincere smile. “You
love them. You said so. Which means you have nothing to worry about.”

 “What
are you talking about?” They hadn’t even had dinner yet. How would her father
interact with them? Was he going to be mean? Would he interrogate them? Would
he talk about her when she was a kid? Did he know about the resort?

So
hot she was beginning to sweat.

The
timer on the oven chose that moment to go off. Kylie was tempted to reach out
to see if she found her alarm clock’s snooze button beside her. Surely this
wasn’t happening. She’d spent the better part of the morning panicking,
cleaning, cooking and then panicking some more. And for what? So Melissa could tell
her that…

Maybe
if she stuck her head in the freezer…

A
booming laugh erupted in the living room, and Kylie turned around. That was her
father. He was laughing. There weren’t any disapproving looks, no fingers being
pointed, no warnings being declared. He was
laughing
.

“See,
I told you it’ll be perfectly fine,” Melissa reassured her. “Now where are the pot
holders? We’ve got to get this out of the oven.”

Kylie
retrieved a pot holder from the drawer beside the oven and handed it to Melissa
blindly as she continued to stare into the living room. Travis and Gage were
sitting side by side on one of the sofas, her father sitting on the other
across from them. They were all reclining back, all three of them holding a
beer in their hand as they talked.

“That’s
it?” Kylie asked, turning to face Melissa. “I spent all week being sick to my
stomach, and they aren’t even going to talk about me?”

Melissa
turned to face her, placing the pan on the stovetop as she grinned. “Oh, honey,
if that’s what you’re worried about, well, that happened a week ago. Trust me,
your dad loves you, but he’s no dummy. He took care of that chat when Gage and
Travis came to visit us in Dallas. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“They
what
?”

Travis
said that her father wanted to come to her house and meet them. Was Melissa
confused? Travis and Gage never mentioned going to see her father.
Whoa! Ok,
the room was starting to spin. Pretty fast too
.

“Hey,
boys. One of you might want to get in here. I think she’s going to pass out. I
told you not to leave her in suspense like this, Joe.”

Melissa’s
voice sounded strange, Kylie thought as she tried to hold on to the counter.
Like she was one of the adults on the Snoopy cartoons.

The
last thing Kylie remembered was Travis’ warm arms coming around her… at the
same time the world went black.

“Hey,
little girl,” her father’s voice woke her from sleep and Kylie smiled up at
him.

“Hi,
Daddy.”

“Feeling
better?” he asked, sounding concerned.

“Fine,
why?” Kylie sat up, realizing she was in her bed, but she was fully dressed
and…

Everything
came flooding back to her in a flash, and she glared at her father. “Melissa
said you already met Travis and Gage.”

“I
did, honey,” Joe smiled, but he looked like he was trying to hide it. “Those
men of yours are pretty protective of you, you know that?”

Yes,
yes she did know that. How that translated into them meeting her father, she
had no idea. Instead of asking more questions, Kylie waited for him to enlighten
her. She wasn’t sure she had the energy to try and figure it out for herself.

Joe
took her hand and held it between both of his while Kylie stared down where
they were joined.

“Travis
and Gage called to talk to me. Said that you were very important to them and
before I started asking questions, they wanted to meet me face to face so they
could answer any that I might have. Pretty smart guys you’ve got there.”

“So
you talked to them?” Kylie peered up at her father’s face.

“I
did. They took me to lunch, Travis told me how you and him met, informed me
about the wedding and apologized for not coming to me back then. Then Gage
filled in the blanks on the little reunion.” Joe frowned and paused.

“I’m
sorry, Daddy. I know I should’ve told you the whole story. But I love them,”
she said firmly. “I love them, and I didn’t want you to be upset with them or
disappointed in me.”

Joe
leaned in and kissed her softly on the forehead. “Little girl, I could never be
disappointed with you. This is your life, and I’m proud of the decisions you’ve
made. Doesn’t mean I always understand them.”

Kylie
sat motionless on her bed, staring at her father. The man she adored, who loved
her unconditionally. She wasn’t sure where along the way she’d altered her view
of him. He’d always been her biggest supporter, yet she somehow forgot that.
“So you don’t have any questions? No concerns?”

Joe
tilted her chin up. “Trust me, I took care of all questions with Travis and
Gage. I wanted to know their intentions. Like I said, they’re smart ones. They
came prepared. Answered everything I threw at them. And like I said, they’re
extremely protective of you.”

Kylie’s
heart swelled. Her worst fear had been overcome. Her father was accepting the
men she loved. “Well, I’m happy, Daddy. I promise you. They make me extremely
happy.”

Joe’s
smile widened, mischievously. “That’s good. Considering how hard headed and stubborn
you are, I always wondered whether one man would be able to handle you.”

Kylie
shouldered him playfully, and Joe laughed as he stood to his feet. “Seriously,
Kylie, the only thing that matters to me is that you’re happy.”

“I
am, Daddy.” Kylie pushed to her feet to stand beside her father. “And the only
thing that matters to me… is paying those two back for putting me through
this.”

Her
father laughed, and she felt the vibration through her shoulders. “That’s my
girl.”