Maggie tisked under her breath as she rinsed a clean washcloth out. “You stoked that fire! Obviously, stacking on the wood and lighting the match, giving the wrong answers to my dad like that.” She came over to the table. “Turn that beat up face to me.”
Trav immediately turned in his seat. “I like it when you get bossy.” He grinned.
Maggie huffed and grabbed his chin, wiping the blood away from it. “I am soo glad you are enjoying all this.”
He stared at her face while she wiped his cheeks and nose. “Besides, I gave the right answers, for your information.”
Maggie swung her eyes down to his. “Oh, really?”
“Yep.”
Maggie sighed. “Tell me what he asked.”
Trav looked uncomfortable. “It’s…between men and it should stay that way.”
Maggie stomped her foot in frustration. “I think you have gone stark raving mad. Maybe you’ve been thrown off a bull one too many times.”
Reaching up, he grabbed her hand, halting the wiping. “I have never been saner in my life.” His voice had gone deep.
Maggie sucked in her breath and stared into those dark blue eyes of his. “How can that be? You are going to be the guest of honor at a shotgun wedding by our nutcase relatives! Forced to marry a girl who…” Her voice faded away.
Sitting forward at attention, Trav asked, “Who…? A girl who what?”
Shaking her head, she tried to diffuse the subject. She meant she wasn’t the girl for a hot guy like him. She sure as hell wasn’t the Texas Barbie doll of the ball! Being short, a little plump and big chested. “Can’t you see this is crazy? You are gonna lose your chicken hawk status, you will be tied down and shut the hell down, no more parties, beautiful women and—”
Trav stood from the chair and it toppled over, hitting the floor. His eyes looked intense as he tugged her forward by the wrist he held.
Maggie let out a startled breath as she was pulled right up against a hard chest.
“I’m gonna say this one more time, Maggie…I want this and I know my own mind. I don’t see it as an end of anything, but a beginning.”
Stunned, she blinked her eyes rapidly. She had no pithy reply or any words at all. The intense look in his eyes froze her in place.
Trav placed his lips close to hers.
Her body started to tremble, as she could smell the grass from the lawn on him combined with the scent she knew she was fast becoming addicted to—HIS scent.
“This isn’t a joke, lark or a mistake.” He leaned in and gave her a closed mouth, smacking kiss.
Maggie wanted to push her tongue into that hot mouth, but she already felt confused and scared by all of this. No sense in her stoking any fires either.
Pulling his lips away, he suddenly smiled. “So…you got any more violent lunatic brothers, cousins or uncles? Maybe a crazed, batty aunt who carries a loaded derringer or something?”
Not answering, she was still caught in the web he just wove. Shaking her head and the Travis web away, she forced a calm smile. “Well…”
His smile dropped while he waited for her to finish.
“…I do have an uncle that adores me and they call him…Hercules. He won the strongest man title 5 years in a row. His hobbies involve pulling trucks with a rope around his waist as a towline.”
Travis stepped back a little.
“Then, there’s a cousin and well…he sort of had a crush on me, but he was always busy wrestling alligators of all things.
Trav’s jaw dropped as she listed her family members.
“OH! And I forgot about Haymaker! He boxes in the heavyweight class. He used to hang out with me all the time. We would go to Sydney and have a day of it once a week. Well, actually they call him Mount Monroe back home, but he’s a gentle giant really—expect for...”
Travis closed his mouth and stared. “For…?”
“…That time he broke a guy’s jaw for groping me while we were standing in line at the zoo.”
Mister Cowboy Sundae stood very still, looking like he was really frozen over by her familial recollections.
Maggie smirked, hoping he would finally back off this marriage craziness, as she planted her hands on her hips. “Wade and Dad are actually smaller men compared to the rest of the family. So, if you are serious like you keep claiming…You’d better invest in some body armor or something. ‘Cause people may be rowdy here in Texas but in Australia, they are flatout bush whack.”
Tilting his head at her, he grinned as his shoulders relaxed. “You’re teasing me again, right?” He chuckled, as he looked relieved. “Very funny college girl, very funny.”
She shrugged and kept her expression neutral. All the sudden it was Smart Girl up against Hot Cowboy again, and she felt like she was finally standing on even ground.
His amused smile dropped away.
“I’m just saying…you may have to face more chin music before this insane, badly directed episode of Dallas is over.”
He shook his head in amusement. “Well, so be it then. Consider me, standing in the ring then.” He raised his bruised chin at her. “I will be standing there, till the credits roll.”
Her hands dropped from her curvy hips. “What?”
Trav walked over to the fridge, opened it and grabbed a beer, as though everything was hunky dory.
“God dammit Trav!” He just got beat the hell up by three to six cowboys in a pile that would have suffocated him and pounded on by an Aussie tank, then almost got his clock cleaned by big Wade. Is he what the southerners call tetched in the head?
He turned his so-called tetched head to glance at her as he brought the cold beer up to his jaw. “What?”
“This isn’t funny anymore. I mean you know that nothing happened between us last night!”
Switching the cold bottle to the other side of his jaw, he asked, “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah!”
“I told your dad it did happen and I had wanted it to happen.”
“Oooh!” she shouted in frustration. “I was drunk, drugged or something and you were sober for Pete’s sake!”
Popping the cap off the beer bottle, he took a huge gulp and then glanced over at her. “And your point is?”
Maggie sighed. “Dammit Trav. Now, I want to take a swing at you myself! Hand me that bottle, so I can give you a whack!”
Chuckling, he took another swig, then swiped his mouth. “I might as well be wearing a sign, Hi, I’m Trav, take your best shot.”
“I swear there’s just no talking to you about this!”
His expression turned serious as he set the beer down and strode over to her.
Maggie took a step back.
He swooped her up and carried her to the couch in the living room. “I just get all worked up, when you get worked up like this, Mags.”
“Now, Trav…We need to get this whole mess cleaned up! You can’t just—”
Halting his steps, he smothered her words with his warm lips.
Maggie sucked in a breath as this time, his velvety tongue pressed right into her mouth. Her body became like a lit candle as he tightened his hold and kissed her deeply. He tasted of beer and a heady flavor she couldn’t pinpoint. Oh, man…she lost track of what they were talking about and everything else in the world.
He removed his lips. “It hurts to kiss you,” he whispered as he placed his forehead gently against hers.
Maggie gulped. “A doctor would advise staying off those lips for a couple of days.”
His eyes twinkled. “I didn’t mean my lips hurt.” He grinned.
Getting the gist, she gasped.
“I couldn’t promise to stop the lip action around you, sweet Mags in any case. I meant that I hurt in other areas.” He swung around and sat down on the couch with her on his lap.
Again, she had no response. What could she say? She wanted him? She did, but she wasn’t about to fall for all of this. A man like this suddenly taking on a new leaf? A whole new attitude overnight? Willing to get hitc
hed and settle down all the sudden? Then, he says it’s her that he wants to be tied to forever? It had to be something else and she needed to put a stop to all this nonsense—
His hot lips fell onto her neck.
She sucked in a breath as her body tingled while he kissed her tender skin there. He was caressing her bottom while his mouth explored her neck.
Maggie let out a sigh, it just felt too delicious and he had this way of fogging up her thinking. Like he exuded scented smoke tinged with some kind of cowboy opium, clogging up her ability to think straight.
For several minutes, they sat together remaining silent, as he gently caressed her body through her clothes, her hip, thigh and then back up to her shoulder while he would gently squeeze her butt cheek with his other hand and sort of rock her body on his lap. She felt so giddy and sexy too, while she just drifted along on this soothing Texas Travis River of sensations.
“Two words,” he whispered hotly to her ear.
Shivering at the hotness in her ear, she replied, “Um—help me?” she whimpered the guess.
He chuckled softly as he eased her from his lap.
Breathless, she slid down onto her back to stare up at him.
Wincing, Trav suddenly looked uncomfortable.
“What? Did I hurt your stomach?” Maggie was thinking about that down under, gut punch her dad was famous for.
Biting his already split lip, he shook his head. “Your head is—well…”
Maggie’s eyes rounded as she felt the hard bulge beneath her head. He really is turned on! The devil that lived in her ever since she was little reared up. She rolled her head from side to side on his jean covered lap. “Seems like this might be a head on collision,” she joked.
Unexpectedly in a swift motion, he grabbed her waist and hefted her up to sit directly with her ass meeting his hardness through his jeans. “Now, this is the collision I want.”
Gulping, Maggie was fast learning her lesson not to be that little devil created chick teasing the big ole chicken hawk.
His hands came around and cupped her large breasts.
Holding her breath, she felt her panties getting wet as he nudged his nose to her ear. His hot breath caused chilly goose bumps to rise on her skin.
“Tempting me, will lead to something that may mess up my plans.”
“P-plans?”
Trav let out a sigh and swirled his tongue around the outside of her ear. “Yep.”
Shaking now, she was trying to keep her breathing even. “What—plans?’
“Doing it right by you from here on.”
Maggie didn’t feel like that was any kind of answer, but once again, her brain was stuck in neutral when this cowboy was too near. Brain in neutral, engine going a hundred. The combination was dangerous to say the least.
He slid his finger down to the crease of her jeans and stroked her there.
“Ohhh,” Maggie let out with a weak moan. The phrase, gone in sixty seconds came to mind, as she knew she could only stand another minute of this.
“I wanna strip you down and start at your feet, lick all the way up along that lush frame of yours,” he breathed the words into her ear as he massaged her clit through her jeans. “Then I wanna, fill every part of you…with me.”
With his sensual litany of words that were actually hardcore promises, her throat closed right up. The cold, hard truth then hit her like a brick through a window. And I would let him! God help me…I would lay myself out like an offering at the Smokehouse Buffet!
Trav’s breath was heaving in his chest behind her, as his breathing grew heavy in her ear. He abruptly sat her up and jumped off the couch. “Dammit!” he seethed.
Mags dropped back down fully onto her back and gaped up at the hard-bodied cowboy.
Standing tall, his jeans molded to his long powerful legs, with his shirt ripped in several place, all stained with grass and spots of red. He could wear anything though and still look good enough to eat. Or nothing at all would suit her. OH! She just realized the direction her thoughts went to as her panting became very evident.
Trav stared down at her for a full minute as he clenched his fists. He then sighed and combed his fingers through his hair, his expression turning form hard to soft. “Look, I…” he halted. “I want…” he halted again. “If I stay any longer, I’m gonna burst and the bursting will happen inside of you!” He turned around, strode to the door and opened it.
Batting her eyes and feeling like someone who just got done over, turned over and rolled over, she stared open mouthed at his receding form.
Grasping the knob, he sighed again, facing the door as his shoulders actually slumped. “I will do right by you, because this is too important not to and I won’t be that man ever again. Come on up to the big house and I will help you with…Oh, hell! Housekeeping?” He went out and shut the door.
Maggie bolted upright as she stared at the closed door. What in all holy crap was all that? She swung her shaky legs over the side of the couch. Her head rose up, as her mind was finally getting clear again. Do right by me? Well, didn’t he claim to have already done me wrong? For the first time in Maggie’s logic filled easy to manage life, she couldn’t figure someone out. Up was down and down was ass up!
Could someone take a joke this far for revenge? She did humiliate him big time at the Stud ranch and in front of both their families too. She stilled and remembered the expression on his face back then.
He had stood on the second stair landing at Daisy’s house, looking like a lipstick truck just overturned on top of him—covered in pinks, reds and rose colored glosses. His hair had stuck up straight in the air, like someone just gelled it into a kinky looking emo swoop on top of his head. His shirt had been ripped clean off his most excellent muscled torso. Those eyes of his, which were just bored-looking or half-lidded before, like he didn’t really care about anything at all, had glared right at her.
Then she remembered the rest of it. It came to her like someone just doused her with a bucket of ice water…
He had this look in his eyes. She saw interest there all right and something else new, she couldn’t put her finger on at the time.
Then, he slowly shook his head at her. You will lose, he had mouthed at her.
Her eyes widened at the challenge and she had squared her shoulders. Blank slates can’t win, she had mouthed back.
His eyes then flared with anger.
“Besides, I think you smell too purty and you wear way too much lipstick to be very dangerous,” the hushed insult slipped out before her brain could stop it.
The overconfident lipstick covered cowboy looked shocked.
At his expression, Maggie had felt smug once again, as she peeked around to make sure no one saw them staring and talking to each other.
Travis hadn’t been looking anywhere else though, so when she gazed back up, he caught her eye. He wore a huge grin, as if he’d already won this game of Smart Girl against Hot Cowboy.
Maggie bit at her lip and she remembered thinking at the time that she had gotten herself into, ‘nonsense and trouble’. And that was where she found herself right this minute too. Only this time, it was somewhere in between a rock and a hard place while Travis Playboy Kincade just became both things.
So, Smart Girl knew better than to just believe everything Mr. Hot Cowboy said today. When just 2 days ago, he had vowed to best her. Yeah, he really seemed turned on by her just now and if he were the Travis, everyone thought he was? The one who had smugly come onto her in the first place and deserved that lipstick prank, he would have tried going all the way with her by now. I mean I was laying myself right on the tracks of his steaming train earlier today and again, just now.
One thing she did know was if this all didn’t change soon—she was going to actually be married to this sexy man, who she hated just 24 hours ago. Or? Was he going to go so far as to leave her at the altar? She shook her head, would someone actually be that bent? Also, his life wouldn’t be worth squat if he really did tha
t. Her relatives would hunt him down and put him in the hospital. Then she felt sure his family would cut him off like a bad habit.
How did I get here to this unexpected trap? She’d sworn at that time when he stood there at the Stud ranch glaring at her while wearing that smirking grin? She was gonna teach him what for and show him he wasn’t this walking cowboy god that he appeared to be. Then instead of doing that, she woke up right here on this couch and it all went south. Now, he’s picking out wedding patterns?
I refuse to be made a fool of. If I could only figure out what he was really up to!
Wicked Leanore Elliott lives books, so much so, her obsession has led to helping other authors to get their books published. So far, in the last 9 years, she has edited over 570 books, made 400 Kindle books, about 225 ePUBs, done 93covers and 35 book trailers. She’s made 275 books into prints.
She’s been called: The Book Goddess, The Book Fairy, The Goddess of Editing, A Knightess in Shimmering Armor, and often, just plain ole ‘Wicked’.
Then, of course, there is the Velvet Series, Double Plush, Hot Blue, Crushed, Hammered, a modern day Texas, western BBW Series with this fifth book…Triple Velvet . Coming up next…Laced Velvet.!
Let’s just say, I have more fun writing all these hot stories than watching a Mardi Gras parade while hanging necked from the balcony over Bourbon street!
I Love you all dearly for reading just a line, let alone the whole danged story!
Leanore Elliott
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Triple: A Western Romance (Red Velvet Series Book 5) Page 8