CHAPTER Twelve
Travis knew his brother was lying. What kind of fool falls for that type of crap? But sure enough his father, upon Jake’s exit, sighed and said, “I just wish I wouldn’t have retired. He seems so stressed.”
“Must be the strippers,” Kacey mumbled under her breath so only Travis could hear. He choked on his chicken for the second time that night.
“Travis, honey, be careful to chew your food before you swallow!” his mother scolded. Kacey took his mother’s scolding as a hint that he needed help cutting his chicken. Smiling sweetly, she reached across his plate, her arm brushing his, and cut his chicken into tiny manageable pieces, then poked the fork into one of the pieces and lifted it to his lips.
“Here comes the choo-choo train!”
Obviously, Kacey wasn’t frightened by Travis’s murderous glare. The rest of his family looked on as if it was completely normal for her to be feeding him like a small child.
Then again, he had played the dog when they were little.
And he did have headgear when he was fourteen.
It was also possible that his mother knew he’d named his bunny after Kacey.
She looked up, her eyes shining with humor.
Damn. Travis opened his mouth, and a small bite of chicken swooped in. Kacey giggled. “You’re welcome.”
He shook his head but ended up grinning like a fool when she picked up a second piece. It was still hot, and she blew on it to cool it off. He found himself so damn distracted by the way her lips pouted over his chicken that it took every ounce of willpower he possessed not to take her on his family’s dinner table.
Ah, lust by chicken. How humiliating.
Travis looked longingly at the table again. Maybe if he just pushed all the dishes to the ground. Too bad she wasn’t wearing a skirt. What was wrong with him? Was he really weighing his options here on where best to screw his brother’s fiancée?
His parents would be livid.
Grandma, however, would probably applaud then take pictures for the scrapbook. Though he wasn’t so sure that scrapbook would be legal, considering its pornographic nature.
Grandmothers made grandsons so proud at times.
Travis sighed and quickly grabbed the fork from Kacey’s hand. He couldn’t take much more.
“So, Kacey…” His mother shoveled more food into her mouth, chewed, swallowed, and winked. He groaned. She didn’t know how to converse over dinner and eat at the same time. It made for very long dinner conversation and even more torture for everyone around them.
“…I was just wondering…” She took another sip of wine.
He eyed his dad, trying to give him a private message of stealing his mother’s plate and wine so she would spit it out faster.
“…Are you guys going to move into Jake’s place once the wedding is over, or buy something new?”
His dad elbowed his mom.
What were they getting at?
Kacey looked to Travis for help. He gave a slow shake of his head.
“Uh,” Kacey said as she pushed food around her plate. “The thing is, I have a really small apartment, so Jake’s would be best, but I kinda don’t want to live downtown.”
“Perfect!” His mother clapped her hands and nudged his father. He jumped out of his seat, grabbed an envelope, then brought it over to Kacey.
“Just consider it an early wedding present.”
It was like Leave it to Beaver threw up at the table. His father stood behind his mother, holding her shoulders, and both their heads were tilted with frozen smiles on their faces.
Travis glanced at Grandma. At least she was acting normal, drinking her fourth glass of wine, bless her heart.
Kacey’s hands were shaking. No doubt they were giving her something ridiculously expensive. Travis leaned over and nearly choked. He really shouldn’t eat in front of these people ever again.
A house.
They’d bought a house.
And it wasn’t just any house. It was nestled quite nicely on Lake Washington, in prime real estate.
“We thought you might want something close to downtown but not too close that you can’t enjoy everything Seattle has to offer.” His mother squeezed his dad’s hand, and they sighed simultaneously.
Wescott patted Kacey’s hand. “It’s been in the family for years. Lots of homes, lots of investments, but it’s yours if you want it.”
Kacey still hadn’t looked up from the deed.
Travis didn’t know what to do, so he changed the subject. “Hey, is it cool if Kacey and I go start cutting the pie for dessert?”
His mom and dad nodded in unison.
He practically had to drag Kacey out of her chair. Once they were in the kitchen he very gently pulled the deed from her hands and made her sit in a chair.
She promptly burst into tears.
****
Kacey felt like such an idiot for crying. But since her parents had died a few years back, she’d always wanted to have a home. A real home.
A home like the one Jake’s parents had just given them.
And it was all a lie. She felt violently ill in that moment and placed her head between her knees, trying to take large gasps of air.
“Hey, hey, it’s fine, it’s okay.” Travis rubbed her back. “Just breathe. You’re just having a panic attack. You’ll be fine. There’s my girl. Just breathe.” He rubbed slow circles around her neck until she finally calmed down and laid her head on his lap.
“Wanna talk about it, Kace?”
She shrugged. She didn’t really want to talk about it to anyone, least of all Travis. She still wasn’t sure what alien species had taken over his body to make him both gorgeous and nice, but part of her felt like she couldn’t completely trust him.
After all, he did throw rocks when he was little.
Kacey shook her head as another sob escaped her mouth. This house was full of so many memories. How many family dinners had they shared together? The food was always catered by her parents’ restaurant. Her mom and dad would drink wine with Jake’s parents, and then all the kids would watch Disney movies in the living room. And now that she was back, it was as if a huge chunk was missing. She sat in the same chair, talked with the same family she adored, but a giant piece was missing. She wasn’t sure it would ever be okay. Not after repressing the pain for so long.
She shrugged. “I feel horrible. Your poor parents think it’s real and then to make everything worse, they give us this.” She hit the packet on the table next to her. “And it’s tempting, so tempting that I hate myself for it.” It was partially the truth. She did want it, but more than that, she wanted her parents to be alive.
Travis sighed next to her. “You don’t need a man like Jake to give you what you want. Believe me, when you have the perfect house and tons of money, you still won’t be complete if the man you share it with is out paying whores to do things you would never do.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Kacey joked.
“Kace! Jake isn’t worth it!”
“No.” She laughed. “I meant things that strippers do. Pretty sure I know how to please my man. I could drive circles around those girls. I just need the right guy.”
Travis tensed next to her. He cleared his throat and pushed away from the chair. He walked over to the counter and began cutting the pie.
What was his deal lately?
“Let me guess.” Kacey leaned over the counter. “Raspberry pie?”
“How’d you know?” He smirked, his voice was hoarse.
“It was the only pie your grandma taught you how to make, and if I remember correctly, you made it for your senior prom date.”
“Ugh.” Travis carefully cut it into eighths. “If I remember correctly she spilled it on her dress and blamed me for making raspberries red.”
“She always was such a charmer. What was her name again?”
Travis chuckled. “Oh no you don’t. That’s just what I need. You digging up my past girlfriends and making fun of them. Besides, I don’t date girls anymore. I date women.” He eyed her up and down before slowly licking the fork.
Kacey averted her eyes, mainly because the picture of him licking that fork was so erotic she nearly jumped across the table and assaulted him. Apparently this is what happens when you don’t have boyfriends, and the closest relationship you’ve had in the past year has been with your e-reader and a fictional duke named Henry.
“So…” Kacey nudged him a bit with her arm. “Women, hmm? What women are you dating? I don’t see any of them here for family dinner night.”
“There are no women.”
Kacey’s heart hammered in her chest.
“If you must know, there is one woman. One being the keyword.”
She clenched her fist and cursed herself for bringing the subject up. “What’s her name?”
“Oh no you don’t!” Travis placed the knife on the plate and grabbed Kacey by the shoulders. “That’s just what I need, you stalking the one woman I’m interested in.”
Did he say he was only interested in one? Damn the man. Be unattractive! She wanted to yell. “C’mon Trav, you know me. What harm could I possibly cause?”
“Junior year—” he began.
“Forget I asked.”
“—Junior year.” He held his finger into the air as he was making his point. “Somehow you discovered I had a crush on Ashley Willis. I still don’t know how, considering I’m a guy and I don’t keep a diary.”
“No.” Kacey dipped a fork into the pie and licked the tangy berries off of it. “But you did moan her name one time in your sleep. But carry on.”
He glared. “You told her.”
“Okay, Trav, come on. I did nothing of the sort. I merely hinted that you had a tiny bit of a crush on her.”
“Kace, making a poster with my face on it and heart stickers is a hell of a lot more than hinting. God, I don’t even think you know the meaning of the word discreet.”
“Do to!” she argued.
He walked around the table and pulled her into a tight headlock. “Do not!” She fought against him but was helpless. “Do you give?” he whispered into her hair.
His hard-muscled chest was heaving behind her. Did she give? Oh God, what she wouldn’t give for something, anything.
Ah! Red alert! What was she thinking? It’s Travis, Travis!
“Travis!” she screamed, totally unintentionally. He released her and winked.
“Come on, let’s take the pie in before they think you stabbed me or something.”
“Close,” Kacey grumbled, though stabbing wasn’t necessarily what she had in mind. Rubbing his body down with berries and licking it off? Yes. Violence? Only that of a sexual nature.
She needed to trip and hit her head or something to shake Travis’s smile and scent out of it before she lost her mind.
“There you two are!” Grandma winked as they rejoined the family and began to enjoy the pie. “I thought maybe Travis was having a little encounter in there with you, little girl.” Grandma winked again. Unfortunately, at that exact moment, Kacey had taken a ginormous bite of pie, enough to begin to choke.
It worsened when Travis lifted his hands in the air and said, “I was trying to be discreet.”
Kacey glared.
His entire family laughed, and she kicked at him again under the table. He moved his foot in time and then stuck out his tongue like a two-year-old.
And really, maybe it was the sexual frustration, but she lunged for him, his chair tipped backwards and she straddled him, shoving pie into his beautiful face all the while screaming, “I’ll get you!”
In her mind the family was cheering, when really everyone was completely silent.
Except Travis who was yelling and cursing and spitting pie back out at her. Luckily they had hardwood floors instead of carpeting.
Finally, when the pie was done, she wiped a berry off his face and licked her fingers. His eyes darkened, and for a minute it looked like he was going to kiss her.
He leaned forward and reached up behind her. And suddenly she had hot pie all over her face.
“I win, Kace,” he whispered huskily into her ear.
Yes, yes you do.