CHAPTER Twenty-six
Kacey knew she shouldn’t feel nervous; it wasn’t as if they hadn’t kissed before, but now that everything was out there, she felt even more vulnerable.
What if he rejected her too?
Dang, she hadn’t realized how insecure she was until this very moment in Travis’s arms.
His lips touched hers.
It wasn’t even really a kiss.
He pulled back. His eyes hooded with desire.
“I can’t.”
“What?” Her heart froze in her chest. “You can’t kiss me?”
“No.” He shook his head and laughed. “It wouldn’t be right to kiss you in the tree house.”
Kacey stiffened. “Why?”
“I saw you and Jake have your first kiss in this tree house.”
“We were ten.”
“It still counts.”
“I cried afterwards!” Kacey pushed against his chest, but his arms held her braced against him.
“I don’t want you to cry this time,” he murmured in her hair, and then kissed her neck. His lips were warm and soft as he took her skin between them, gently sucking. “Let’s go.”
He pulled away, leaving Kacey completely shaken.
He expected her to walk in her condition? She’d just shared her innermost secrets with the man, he’d kissed her, and now she’s supposed to climb down a ladder without falling on her head?
She slowly crawled to the hole where the ladder hung and nearly fell out of the tree house completely when she lost her footing.
“Sure you aren’t drunk?” Travis laughed.
Kacey glared and continued climbing down. Once she reached the last rung, her leg slipped through the hole in the loose rope ladder, and she toppled to the ground, her leg still caught.
Embracing the moment, she laid her head against the grass and closed her eyes, lacing her hands behind her head.
“Comfortable?” Travis hovered over her.
“Immensely. I did that on purpose, by the way.”
“It was so graceful it had to have been on purpose.” He winked and held out his hand. She reached up and pulled him down on top of her, not that it took much effort.
Travis leaned over her, straddling her. “We’re out of the tree house now.”
“Yes, yes we are.” Kacey’s voice was shaking.
“So I guess I can kiss you now.”
“You guess?”
“I want to kiss you now.”
“That’s better,” she murmured as his lips descended toward hers.
It felt strange that such a simple kiss could make her entire body tremble with need. But his kisses did that to a girl. His tongue reached out and parted her lips as he opened his mouth to her. Muscled arms wrapped around her body, pulling her off the ground enough for her to arch into his embrace. Kacey pulled at his neck, wanting to bring him down to the ground. Heck, she wanted to roll around with the guy if he’d let her. Moaning, he pushed her to the ground and pulled her shirt out of her jeans, his hands just barely touching the ground.
“Damn,” he murmured.
“Huh?” Kacey said breathlessly.
“Grass, damn grass!”
“What?” Kacey wasn’t sure she was catching on. Why was he cursing the grass? And why did he stop kissing her?
Travis’s lips formed a smile as he pulled back. “I’m allergic to grass.”
Kacey lifted up onto her elbows and grinned. “Pretty sure everyone’s allergic to grass.”
Travis shook his head and looked away, a slight blush staining his cheeks. “No, not like this. We need to get some Benadryl.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I wish I was.” He showed her his forearms, and sure enough they were beginning to welt.
“You’re going to let me drug you with Benadryl?”
“Kacey, I swear if you tell anyone I willingly allowed you to drug me—”
“Your secret’s safe with me.” Kacey crossed her heart. Knowing the whole time she was lying.
“You are such a little liar.” Travis cursed and began scratching his arms. “I can’t believe the one time I get you all to myself, and I get an allergic reaction.”
“At least you didn’t stutter,” Kacey offered.
“Wow, that was so incredibly helpful. I feel like such a man.” His scratching continued until finally he yelped and pulled off his shirt.
Kacey covered her mouth with her hands to keep from laughing out loud. His entire upper body was turning puffy. Poor guy. “Let’s go get you some drugs.”
He rolled his eyes and held out his hand to pull her to her feet. “So much for being romantic.”
“Who says Benadryl isn’t romantic?” Kacey asked once they were walking back to the house.
“Who says it is?” Travis countered.
“Watch, you’ll see.”
“Not sure I want to see, but alright.”
****
The itching was getting worse. Travis was about ready to play the part of a small child and rub himself in calamine lotion. Anything to get rid of the itching and red welts.
He’d never felt more unattractive.
Kacey made him take a quick shower, which at first he was more than excited about, but then he discovered she meant alone.
Well, as alone as a person could be when one’s skin decides to become a puffy monster. It was as if he was turning into two very swollen people.
When he was finished, he sat dejectedly on the downstairs couch and waited. Kacey came rushing in with some sort of concoction, no doubt meant to torture men.
“What is that smell?” He pulled away, but she slapped him across the shoulder.
“Sit still.”
Kacey gave him a glass of water with a pink pill, then began meticulously rubbing the gross-smelling paste onto his body.
“You’re trying to get even with me, aren’t you?” The foul-smelling paste began to burn on his arms. Good God, she would be the death of him.
“It will make everything numb,” she explained, massaging it into his arms, which felt quite nice until the word numb began to penetrate his senses.
“No!” Travis pushed at Kacey. “I don’t want to be numb! If I’m numb it means I can’t…”
Kacey arched her eyebrow. “Can’t?”
Crap, he wasn’t getting out of this one. “Um, feel. I can’t feel… things.”
“What’s so important that you need to feel?”
He slapped her hand away and reached in, running his hand behind her neck. “If you have to ask, then you don’t deserve to know.”
Kacey laughed and kissed his nose.
Like a mother would do to a small child.
Forget the numbing cream. Now he was losing his masculinity.
“Chin up.” Kacey ran her tongue along his lower lip and sighed into his mouth. “It’s not like I’m rubbing any of this stuff on your man parts.”
“Man parts?” he sputtered.
She nodded and laughed. “Now, sit still while I give you a rub down.”
That was more like it.
And then she dipped her hand into the bowl and grabbed more paste.
Ah, again with the torture.
“How long do I have to keep this on?”
“An hour.”
“An hour?” Travis mumbled a curse. “And what am I supposed to do for an entire hour. It’s not like I can move my arms or anything. I’ll get this crap everywhere.”
“You…” She put the bowl down and wiped her hands on the towel. “…you don’t have to do a thing.”
Smiling, he leaned back, feeling quite smug that he was going to get rewarded for such good behavior. Travis yawned and shook his head. Damn, he was tired.
Kacey bit her lip and began kissing across his stomach.
He yawned again and closed his eyes.
Her tongue made tiny circles on his skin, blazing a hot trail all the way up to his chest. He tried to lean down, to catch her tongue in his mouth, to pleasure her the way she was pleasuring him.
She pulled back and shook her head, her nails digging into his back as she pulled him closer, careful not to get any of the paste on her.
Her hands skimmed up his neck and dug into his hair. She tugged at his lower lip and whispered, “I’ve always wanted to have you to myself.”
“To torture me?” he said hoarsely.
“Absolutely. After all, you tortured me when I was little, so it’s only fair to have a little retaliation.” She licked his ear. He nearly fell off the couch. He was having a damn hard time keeping his hands from moving to any part of her body. He felt like he was going to explode. The only good thing was that he knew no numbing cream had gotten on the lower region of his body.
That, he knew with absolute certainty.
Though, if she kept kissing him like that, he was going to be begging for something to keep him from embarrassing himself.
“Kace.” His mouth found hers. He parted her lips and twirled his tongue in her mouth, tasting every part of her, taking his time and feeling the hot sensation of her mouth on his.
Feeling more at ease, he leaned back, allowing her to straddle him. He kept his arms firmly at his sides.
Her kisses relaxed him somehow, made him feel comfortable and…
“Crap.”
“Pardon?” Kacey’s head popped up giving him a glorious view down her shirt.
“The Benadryl.” Oh God, was he slurring? No, no, this was not happening, not when things were going so great.
“What about it?” Kacey went back to work, kissing down his stomach.
“Itsh making me shleepy.” Travis began to see double. Kacey suddenly grew two heads, and his arms felt so heavy he was sure they had detached from his body.
“Kacshy?” Maybe if he just closed his eyes for a minute, no longer, he would get rejuvenated and…
****
“Travis?” Kacey shook him, and he moaned and let out a snore.
Too much Benadryl.
“And this is what happens when people don’t build up a tolerance!” she said to herself. She shrugged and picked up the bowl and towel. As she walked into the kitchen she heard another snore and couldn’t help but giggle. Poor guy.
Returning to the living room, she placed a cup of coffee on the table and sat next to him on the couch. He looked so peaceful.
He looked perfect.
Kacey sighed.
Was it too good to be true? Why did the fact that there seemed to be no roadblocks in the way scare her more than when he seemed unreachable?
At least when they’d hated each other she hadn’t needed to worry about her heart. But now it seemed that he had won her over without even trying. It was the way he cheered her up and spent time with her. Even going as far as rescuing her from the reunion . In fact, she bit her lip, Travis had always been there. In the background.
She sighed and looked at the blank TV, her eyes narrowed as she took in the DVDs on the side.
Family Memories 2002.
Quietly, she tiptoed over to the DVD player and threw in the disc. She didn’t have anything else to do, so she might as well travel down memory lane. It figured that Bets would have all of the memories on DVD now. Those poor boys didn’t stand a chance.
She carefully sat back down and pressed Play.
N-Sync began playing in the background, and then Jake and Travis appeared on screen. And they were dancing.
Not just any dance. No, because that wouldn’t be even close to as funny as what she was currently watching.
Travis had on a curly blonde wig. And he was playing lead singer.
Jake was in the background shaking his butt.
But the best part? They were both old enough to know better and still deathly serious about their little music video.
As the song came to a close, Grandma Nadine made an appearance in a leopard leotard and began playing air guitar.
Kacey snorted and covered her mouth with the back of her hand.
The only thing she could think of was how she was going to get a copy of this and sneak it to the press. Jake would kill her.
And it would be totally worth it.
The movie skipped to Christmas 2007.
She remembered that Christmas. It was two years before her parents’ deaths. She shifted on the couch, tucking her feet underneath her and watched the perfect little Christmas take place.
She and Jake were sitting under the tree. Her braces were glowing in the candlelight of the room, and Jake, such a lady-killer even at the ripe old age of sixteen with his curly brown hair and megawatt smile. She giggled at the memory, transfixed by what she saw.
Travis was in the background, sulking, or what looked like sulking. His eyes were downcast, and he was playing with a brightly wrapped package in his hands. The video zoomed in. He was shaking and mumbling something to himself.
“Just give it to her,” Grandma Nadine urged from the side.
Kacey watched in horror as she read the red tag. To Kacey.
Swallowing a knot of emotion, she watched as Travis wiped his hands on his pants and slowly got up and walked toward her.
She wanted to go back in time and scream at herself, “Look at him! Look!”
Instead, sixteen-year-old Kacey flashed him a look of annoyance and then got up and made some excuse about needing more spiced cider.
Travis froze.
Jake sneered. “What? Did you actually think she’d accept a gift from you? After everything you’ve done?”
Travis shook his head and licked his lips, the package slowly dropped out of his hands onto the floor. He shoved his hands into his jeans and walked off.
Jake rolled his eyes as Grandma Nadine went after Travis.
And then Jake did the most asinine thing she’d ever seen in her life. He ripped the tag off of the package, and when Kacey walked back into the room he held it out to her as if he had gotten her a present.
“For me?” Kacey squealed with excitement. “Oh, Jakey!”
Oh gag me, she thought but couldn’t tear her eyes away.
Slowly, she watched as her sixteen-year-old self unwrapped the package and gasped with excitement, throwing her arms around Jake’s neck.
“It’s so perfect!”
And in that moment Kacey knew exactly what the present had been.
Tears flowed freely down her face as the movie played.
It was a framed picture of her and her parents on a family vacation, and underneath it was the word Love.
She clicked off the TV and began to sob into her hands.
It was the very same picture that still sat next to her bed at night. The same picture she’d wept into when her parents died, the same picture she’d talked to when she’d had a bad day. And it had never been from Jake.
But Travis.
She looked over at him now. His eyes were completely open, but she was unable to decipher if he was upset or just cautious as to how to proceed.
“You…” She swallowed down the tears. “You gave me the best present I’ve ever had. When my parents died…” She couldn’t even finish, her body racked with sobs.
Travis cursed and immediately pulled her down to him, spooning her and kissing her hair. “Shh, baby, it’s okay. It’s going to be fine.”
It had always been Travis. Always. She flipped around to face him as he brushed the tears away from her eyes.
Then his mouth was hot on hers, possessive, fierce. It melted every part of her, and made her knees weak even though she was lying down. He kissed her tears away, his kisses burning a trail down her cheek until he found her mouth again, searching and pulling.
****
Embarrassment had washed over Travis when he’d opened his eyes. It was as if he was reliving the moment all over again. Reliving the pain of being rejected and then made fun of left a bitter taste in his mouth.
All he had wanted back then was to say he was sorry, to give Kacey something she could treasure before she left for college.
Jake had ruined everything, but in the end Travis hadn’t cared that Jake took credit. It had sucked, and he’d been pissed, but when he’d seen the look on Kacey’s face, he’d known it was worth it. Regardless of who’d given her the picture, at least she had it, and for that he’d been thankful.
He’d just wanted her to be happy.
His only desire had been to see her smile.
Mission accomplished. He left it alone, walked away, and hadn’t spoken to her since that fateful day.
“Travis.” Kacey kissed him roughly across his lips. He should have cared that he had gross numbing cream on his arms, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that she was now in his arms, exactly where she belonged.
“Travis,” she said again, this time pulling away.
“What?”
“I can’t feel my lips.”
“Huh?” He looked down. Sure enough, some of the cream had gotten onto her lips, and they were swelling at an alarming rate. “Um, Kace, maybe you should take some Benadryl.”
“Why?” her eyes widened.
“Um, just take my word for it, ‘kay?”
He lightly pushed her away, reached for the pill bottle, and tossed her a pink pill. The very same one that had sent him into dreamland for at least a half-hour.
She took the pill and grimaced as the water touched her lips.
“Shower.” He looked at his arms then at her lips.
She blushed.
“What? Suddenly turning into a prude on me?”
“No.” Kacey bit her lip and forced a piece of hair behind her ear. “It’s just that, well, the stuff I used, it has clove and some other things in it, and water just makes it worse. You have to use oil to get it off of your skin.
“Oil.” He repeated, mouth slightly ajar. “What type of oil?”
“Coconut oil.”
“Right.” He gulped and turned away, lifting his arm above his head to scratch his neck. “So we have to rub down with oil.”
She nodded.
“But I can’t actually…” He nodded in her direction, and she gave him a blank stare. He looked up at the ceiling. “I can’t actually touch you because then the oil and the numbing cream will get on you.”
She bit her lip and winked.
“So I can look but I can’t touch?” Why did he need to keep torturing himself? No matter how many ways he said it. No still meant no. He would have to watch her lather herself with oil while he stood there like an idiot, keeping his hands to himself.
“Maybe it would be best if we did this separately. You know… you go into one room and I go into the other.” His body jerked in opposition.
“Travis.” Kacey put her hands on her hips. “Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“I lost it along with my manhood the minute I fell asleep and began drooling.”
“C’mon, you can do it.”
“Oh, I know very well I can do it, thank you very much. I’m just unable to perform at this given moment in time. Believe me, my body has no problem understanding what I can and cannot do.”
Kacey’s eyes scanned him from head to toe, her eyes stopping exactly where a lady’s eyes should never linger. “I see.”
Yeah, anyone could see. She’d have to be blind not to see.
Blood began to pulse through his system into all the wrong places. Could a man die with want?
“We’ll go fast.” She placed her hand in his.
“Yes, because every man dreams of going fast when he’s in the presence of a beautiful woman as she slathers oil across her naked breasts and moans and…”
“Travis?”
“Yeah?” he said hoarsely.
“We aren’t making a porno, so there won’t be any moaning.”
“Hey, it’s my torture, and I’m imagining moaning. Let me dream.”
She lifted her hands up into the air as if giving up and marched ahead of him up the stairs.
He counted each stair as his foot hit, hoping and praying that somehow he would get through this without exploding or doing anything remotely embarrassing. His track record proved that the odds were not in his favor. Damn Hunger Games’ reference. He cursed and stomped up the last two stairs to the master suite shower. It was the biggest one in the house and had two shower heads and the rain effect that made you feel like you were, well, getting rained on.
He stepped into the bathroom and watched as Kacey grabbed a tub of coconut oil and rubbed it between her hands.
His fantasy was immediately crushed. “It’s all hard.”
“That’s what coconut oil is,” she said and winked. “It warms up when you rub it in your hands and turns into liquid.” She quickly demonstrated and then gave him a chunk of it. “I only have the numbing cream on part of my face, thanks to you, and on my arms — again thanks to you.”
“No problem,” he said through gritted teeth as he watched her apply the oil to her hands.
“Strip,” she commanded when he stood immobile, gawking like a teenager.
“Sorry, what?”
“Strip.” She nodded to his shirt. “Now.”
“But, it’s only on my arms and—”
“Travis, don’t be a baby. Just take off your clothes like a man so this woman can rub you down.”
Sweating. He was actually beginning to sweat at the thought of Kacey’s hands anywhere near his body. Nothing could be more embarrassing than being painfully aroused and unable to do anything about it, with the woman of his dreams patting him down with oil. Especially when knowing that she was the reason he was so turned on.
Cursing, he lifted his shirt and threw it to the ground. His pants quickly followed, and then he reached for his boxers…
“I-I…” Kacey’s mouth dropped open and she covered her eyes. “I just meant your shirt.”
Hell.
What was he supposed to say? Sorry, I was too distracted by your lush mouth to understand what you were saying? Sorry, other parts of my anatomy are clouding my decision-making skills?
So he said nothing; instead he grinned and held out his arms, knowing full well she had to get extremely close to put the oil on.
Her face flamed red as she stepped into his space and began very slowly rubbing oil up and down his arms. He closed his eyes as her hands took on a seductive rhythm. He had to fight to keep from leaning forward and taking her on his parents’ bathroom floor.
“Umm,” Kacey’s voice wavered. “Your forearms are fine. You can rinse them and your hands.”
He opened his eyes, and she was a breath away from his lips. “Okay,” he stepped into the shower and rinsed off the lower part of his arms and his hands. The welts were gone, and they were no longer numb. He wrapped a towel around himself and walked back out.
“Now what?”
“You still have some here.” She touched his shoulders with the oil and began to rub. It felt so damn good, he wasn’t sure he could keep on standing. And then he realized she hadn’t ever put any numbing cream on his shoulders.
She hadn’t reached that far because he’d had on a t-shirt.
His eyes flew open.
She was grinning.
“Tease.”
“Absolutely.” She kissed him hard on the mouth. He laughed and pulled her directly into the shower, clothes and all.
“Oh sorry, you’re gonna have to take those off now.” He shrugged as she swatted him on the arm. The little tease lifted her hands above her head. Slowly, he pulled at her shirt until it was off. His heart hammered in his chest as he viewed her lacey black bra.
“These too.” He pulled at her jeans, jerking her against him. She giggled and tugged at his towel. It fell to the ground. Grinning, he unbuttoned the first button of her pants and unzipped them. She wiggled out, and soon she was standing in front of him, a beautiful, sensual goddess. Damn! He didn’t deserve her. But he wanted her so much that in that moment he didn’t really care.
He pulled her under the shower. The water teased down her body, little droplets dripping off her lips and running down her neck, only to stop in her lacey bra and slide down her sleek stomach.
He bent down and held a droplet captive between his lips as he kissed her chin and closed his eyes.
She tasted like home.
Like forever.