The Bet (17 page)

Travis sat on the bed and groaned into his hands. Kacey was an obsession, one he couldn’t seem to get over no matter how many years spanned between seeing one another.

One minute she seemed irritated with him; the next, he could almost swear she wanted him to kiss her.

Which probably meant his mind was playing tricks on him. The last time they kissed she admitted to being semi-drunk, which didn’t bode well for his confidence that she wanted to repeat the act.

Cursing, he went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth then peeled off his clothes and jumped into bed.

Chapter
Twenty-three

“Rat bastard!” Kacey punched the pillow with her fist. “Of course the tea wasn’t decaf, you idiot.” She cursed herself and threw her legs over the bed.

With a grunt she opened the door to the room and padded down the hall to the new wing of the house.

I will not allow myself to get creeped-out by the weird sculptures
, she chanted over and over again as she got farther into the new wing. Travis was the only one staying in this section of the house. Which, on one end of things, was good; it meant she didn’t have to see him as often, considering he had separate entrances to and from the giant estate. Not that it mattered. She had spent nearly every waking moment with the man.

On the other hand, it also meant that when she had to go searching for him at 2:00 a.m., she had to bypass an actual gallery of masks that in her opinion, could suddenly burst to life at any minute.

She finally reached the end of the hallway where two double doors resided. The master suite.

I’m going to castrate him
. “Travis!” She pounded the door. “I know you’re in there! Come out here and fight me like a man!”

No answer.

“Son of a—”

“What the hell, Kace? Do you know what times it is?” Travis opened the door just as she was about to curse him into the fiery hole he crawled out of.

Words, however, would not flow out of her slack-jawed mouth. The man was naked — well, not entirely. He was wearing short boxer briefs that did nothing to hide the strong muscles plunging into his—

Truly he was sin incarnate. Big shock there.

“You!” She pushed his chiseled chest and backed him up into the room, slamming the door behind her. “You and your trickery are not welcome, Travis Thomas Titus!”

“Whoa, easy now, don’t go dropping my full name like that. Things can’t be that bad.” He pushed his curly golden-brown hair away from his face and yawned. “Now, can you please tell me what I did so I can go back to sleep? Some of us don’t stay up all hours of the night contemplating ways to torture others.”

“The tea…” Kacey pushed him again. “…was not decaf!”

A grin broke out on Travis’s face. “Oh?”

Kacey reached for his shoulders but he was too fast, throwing her on her back on his very comfortable bed and hovering over her. Not good. Oh God above, he was warm and,
Don’t look,
Kacey.
Just don’t look
.

“Kace, why are your eyes closed? Come on, open them, and fight me like a man.” He winked and leaned in close enough to brush a kiss across her lips.

To her ultimate shame she leaned forward expectantly.

“Sorry about the tea, but I do have a reputation to protect. And you did promise never to tell anyone about the bunny I used to sleep with, as well as everything else you laid out on the table tonight.”

“It slipped!”

“We took a blood oath!” he argued, his warm breath sending chills down her neck. “And I wanted revenge.”

“Fine!” Her teeth clenched together in annoyance. “But now you will have to suffer the consequences.”

“I tremble with fear.” Travis pushed away from her and dove under the covers. “Hey, can you grab the lights when you leave?”

Maniacal laughter erupted from her lips. Yup, definitely running on no sleep. “I’m not leaving.”

“Normally when a scantily clad woman says that, and she’s this close to my bed, it means I’m about to get laid. But judging from the look on your face, I’m going to guess you’re not offering.”

“I’m going to sleep with you.”

Travis’s eyes bugged out of his head. He looked from right to left and then carefully pulled the blankets back and leaned close to her, both hands up as if she was a dangerous animal ready to snap.

“And you’re not going to get laid. You’re going to sleep too. So move over bed buddy. You’ve just acquired a roomie!”

Travis glared then nervously looked around the room. “I’m a bed hog. Trust me, you’re better off sleeping on the floor.”

“No, I think I’ll take the bed.” Kacey grinned. “Oh and I snore, and sometimes I have night terrors. So if I start screaming just shake me, but make sure it’s gentle. If you wake someone up from a night terror and freak them out… well, let’s just say that’s when they turn homicidal.”

It looked like Travis wanted to say something, but instead he marched over to the light and turned it off. Then crawled back into bed.

“If you ask me to spoon you, I’m going to smother you with my pillow,” he grumbled.

“Please, like I want your favorite appendage anywhere near my body.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Kace.”

“Night, Satan.”

“Night, sweetie.”

****

Oh God, it felt so good. So damn good. What the hell did he do in his past to deserve such punishment as to have the one girl who he’d had a crush on for practically his whole life sleeping in his bed?

He fought for control of his lust, knowing it was a losing battle. But what would she think if he suddenly attacked her? No doubt he would get stabbed.

So, after two restless hours, Travis finally fell asleep with dreams of Kacey in her nightgown dancing in his head.

What the…? Travis jolted awake as Kacey punched him in the gut. He recoiled and brought his knees to his chest in an effort to protect his manhood. “What are you doing!”

“Oh, sorry,” Kacey said groggily. “My hand slipped.”

“Your hand slipped, my ass…” he grumbled, managing to scoot away and drift back to sleep.

Within minutes he was again awakened to Kacey, this time talking in her sleep about cheese and then alphabetizing all of the different types. “G stands for gouda, and…”

He clamped his hand across her mouth in hopes of silencing the shrew but instead she continued mumbling under his hand, all the while stretching her body beneath the blankets.

Could he help that his eyes naturally went to the curve of her breasts? Or that his blood heated just at the sight of her creamy skin clad in her tank top and short shorts?

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.