by Box Set
Travis had listened with obvious interest, and his gaze had turned so tender as he watched her from across the table that she'd felt her face heat.
She hadn't hesitated when a high school friend who'd heard she was in town texted and invited her to meet up for a drink. Again she'd been nervous about how Travis would interact with her small-town friends, especially after how uncomfortable he'd been the night of the employee happy hour.
But he'd fit right in with the group, and when one of the girls asked how he and Hailey had met, he'd been quick to offer that they worked together without mentioning that he owned one of the biggest outdoor gear companies in the country.
"I hate to say that I'm grateful for your father's health scare," he said as they twirled, "but I'm definitely grateful to be here with you."
She tipped up her head. "Montana is good for you. You're different here."
"I'm different because of you," he said softly, and bent to brush his mouth over hers.
Her stomach dipped and flipped, like she was on a crazy roller coaster. She'd been on the ride since that first morning she'd met Travis, and despite the ups and downs, she had no desire to get off now. But she was still afraid that, as always, she was letting her heart lead without thinking of the consequences. He was different here in her hometown, but they couldn't stay in this little bubble forever. She had to keep a handle on her heart before she spun completely out of control.
"Does it bring back memories of the ranch?" she asked, needing a safer topic.
His gaze clouded for an instant before he nodded. "Yes. I've been thinking a lot about John and those rules he drove into us so hard. They were good tenets for living from one of the best men I've ever met. I shouldn't have let them slide so easily." He took a breath, blew it out slowly. "I should have been stronger."
"You're plenty strong," she told him. "Maybe it would help if you went to visit him. Saddle Creek is only a couple of hours from here."
"Maybe," he said, but she felt his walls rise to separate them once more. She hated those damn walls. "The official announcement about the change in the company's direction is scheduled for early next week. I've got to get back and--"
She placed a finger over his lips. "No more shop talk tonight. My dad gave you quite an earful, and I don't want to think about next week."
"Your dad is wonderful," he told her. "You have good people around you." He inclined his head toward her friends at the far end of the bar. "This is a great place to make a life, Hailey."
"But it's not the life I want," she answered softly. What she didn't add was "I want a life with you."
Instead she pulled him to the edge of the dance floor and reached up on tiptoe to kiss him deeply. She put all the feelings she was too afraid to voice into that kiss, and she couldn't be positive, but it felt like Travis instantly met her halfway.
When they broke apart, he looked as stunned as she felt.
"Wow," he murmured.
"Yeah," she agreed. "I'm going to grab my purse. I want to get out of here."
His thick brows drew together. "I'm taking you home?"
"You're taking me to your hotel room," she told him.
A smile curled one corner of his mouth. "Is that a request or a demand?"
She grinned in return. "You decide."
Chapter 9
Hailey's lust had turned to panic by the time they reached the door of Travis's room in the historic hotel.
He'd tucked her into the crook of his arm on the two-block walk to the restored building in the center of downtown. The night was like so many during Montana summers, the air at least fifteen degrees cooler than during the day. The stars cast a wide swath across the expanse of the sky and she picked out her favorite constellations, wondering how familiar habits suddenly felt new with Travis at her side.
As they'd ridden up in the elevator, his fingers had inched up under the hem of her cotton sweater. He'd traced small patterns against her skin, his thumb just brushing the laced edge of her panties with each pass.
That painfully light touch had made her knees grow weak, and she realized that everything with Travis would feel new.
Hailey wasn't inexperienced, but she had a feeling Travis's bedroom door revolved with a speed that would make her head spin. What if he expected...well, things she didn't even know how to give him? Where was the manual for a nice girl bedding a playboy for the first time?
He didn't bother flipping on the lights as they entered the room. Instead he backed her against the door and captured her lips for a kiss that was an obvious claiming. All her doubts rushed from her mind as he groaned softly into her mouth.
She reminded herself that he was different with her. They were different together, and maybe this felt as new to him as it did to her. He tugged at her sweater, and she automatically lifted her arms so he could pull it over her head. She took a step back as he stripped off his fleece sweater and felt her mouth go dry.
In the moonlight slanting in from the hotel window, his muscled chest seemed to practically glow. At least for tonight, this beautiful man was totally hers. Screw her nerves. She wasn't going to let anything get in the way of savoring the time she had with Travis.
He wrapped his arms around her with a hoarse chuckle when she launched herself at him. She couldn't muster a bit of embarrassment that it probably felt like she was climbing him like a spider monkey. She wrapped her legs around his lean hips and kissed him as he moved farther into the room. He moaned as her fingernails lightly grazed the muscled planes of his back, but he was smiling as he pulled back the sheets and lowered her to the bed.
"You are beautiful," he said, straightening. "I could stare at you all damned night."
"That's going to get boring for me real quick," she shot back, rising up on her elbows.
"No one has ever accused me of being boring."
She toed off the sandals she'd worn for the evening and they fell to the floor. "We've already discussed your questionable taste in women. It might feel kind of new being with someone who expects you to do more than look hot and spend your money." Nerves were making her babble. From the wry smile Travis flashed in the dim light, she wasn't fooling him.
He stepped closer, running one finger along the arch of her foot. "I'll have to make it worth your while," he whispered, and this time there was no way to hide her shiver.
He ran his hands up her legs and then to the button of her jeans. Shifting so her face was in shadow, she bit down on her lip as he stripped both the denim and her panties over her hips and down her legs. When she grabbed for the sheet, he pulled it out of her hand.
"I want to see you," he whispered, and a thousand tiny sparks lit her skin.
"Goes both ways," she managed, proud her voice only trembled a little.
He took his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans and tossed a condom packet onto the nightstand. "You caught me a little off guard, honey. We've only got enough protection for two rounds, and I can guarantee that's only going to scratch the surface of what I want from you."
She would have answered, but not one coherent thought popped into her brain as he took off his boots then shucked out of his pants and boxers.
Oh, my.
She barely had time to enjoy the view when he was on top of her. "This is lovely," he said, running his fingertips over the satin edge of her bra, "but it's got to go. Now." He undid the clasp behind her back then inched the straps down her arms. His gaze seemed to devour her, and she felt her nipples pucker in response.
The room was too dark to see if those whiskey flecks were dancing in his eyes, but it didn't matter, because he drew one stiff peak into his mouth and everything except the moment fell away.
Her body hummed with need, but he didn't seem to be in any hurry. He lavished attention on her breasts with his mouth as one hand smoothed over her sensitized skin until it came to the juncture of her thighs.
"Open for me," he murmured against her skin, and then added, "Please," before she could even move.<
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The please almost sent her over the edge. Or maybe that was her need for him. Or the way he seemed to know exactly how to touch her.
He dipped his finger into her, his thumb lightly circling her center. In only a few minutes, her hips bucked and all the stars in the entire universe seemed to shimmer behind her eyelids.
She whispered his name, and he rewarded her with a deep kiss at the same time she felt him reach toward the nightstand. The final shivers of the most amazing orgasm she'd ever had were still rocking her body when he slid into her. This time it was her name on his lips, whispered with all the intensity of a benediction.
Her arms came around his neck and she traced her tongue across the seam of his lips, feeling like a sexual superhero when he groaned.
"You're going to kill me," he murmured as she shifted to take him deeper, "in the best fucking way possible."
"My goal in life"—she trailed her fingernails lightly along his back—"is for you to die a happy man."
She could feel his grin as he kissed her again, and she loved what was between them. She loved the give and take, the fact that she didn't need to be anything but who she was with Travis. She loved how he surprised her and how he needed her to soften his sharp edges, even when he was too damn stubborn to admit it.
She loved...this man.
Her eyes snapped open, and somehow, as if he were reading her mind, Travis's gaze crashed into hers at the same instant. She knew he must be able to read what was in her gaze. She was too far gone to hide it now.
He didn't look away, only shifted onto his elbows and brought his face close to hers. Their noses almost touched, and the look he gave her was enough to make the need inside her build until it was too much for her body to hold. She shattered into a million pieces, all the while looking into the dark depths of Travis's eyes. A moment later he shuddered and breathed her name, finally dropping his forehead to hers. Their breath mingled in raspy puffs and eventually returned to normal.
"No words," he said, smoothing her hair back from her face. "There are no words for that."
"Amazing, awesome, the best ever," she suggested, and he chuckled then kissed her.
"Those work," he agreed, and shifted to his side and pulled her tight into his chest, wrapping his arm around her waist.
She felt cherished and safe and knew she could happily stay with this man for a very long time.
***
The night had been the shortest of his entire life. Every piece of him protested walking away from Hailey hours after he'd taken her to his bed.
The door to her parents' house closed behind her, and he padded through the silence of the Montana night to return to his truck and make the drive back to town.
As much as he'd wanted her to stay the night, he wasn't about to have her do the "walk of shame" to her family home when dawn broke in a few hours.
He'd never before cared about actually sleeping with a woman. In fact, he'd made a point never to let anyone get that close. Hailey had snuck around his defenses, and he hadn't realized it was happening. He drove back to town, past fields and ranch houses that reminded him of his time at Saddle Creek. John Stone was the last person in his life to have breached the wall Travis had built around his heart.
But he'd been a teenager then with more anger than sense. He should know better now. He should understand that he was going to hurt her, because before everything else he was Dominic Jackson's son.
Hailey's father had asked him about the company's legacy as if it were tied to Travis's personal birthright. It had sounded strangely similar to the questions John asked Travis when he was knee deep in horse shit, working his ass off for reasons that only became clear after he'd left Montana far behind.
Now he was back, and all of those subtle lessons bounced around his head like so many pinballs in an arcade machine. He returned to the hotel and slipped into the bed that still held Hailey's flowery scent. He hoped the answers to all of his unanswered questions would be clear in the morning.
Chapter 10
Travis's phone pulled him out of sleep before the alarm. He accepted the call without even looking at the screen, assuming it was Hailey, since she'd invited him to meet her and her father for an early breakfast before another visit to Big Sky Outfitters.
"Hi, honey," he said, his voice sleep-rough.
"Cut the crap, Travis."
He sat up straight at the sound of his father's baritone, fisting the cool sheet between his fingers. "What do you want, Dad?"
"I want to know why you're screwing around in Montana when we're about to announce the biggest change in the company's history.
"There's no 'we,'" Travis answered coolly. "You've been retired for over two years. I'm the--"
"Don't be naive," his father snapped. "Mel's is my company and it always will be. I'm the one who gave you that fancy office and the corporate account that means so much to you."
"I don't--"
"I built Mel's from the crappy tackle shop my dad envisioned to what it is today. This next step is my vision." His dad's voice rose as he gained steam in his argument. There was little Dominic Jackson enjoyed more than hearing himself speak. "Everything you have is because of me."
"And everything you have is because of Grandpa," Travis said when his dad paused to take a breath. "Mel's is his legacy, and I'm coming to see that the relationships he had with the retailers around the country were important to him not just because of the revenue they brought to the company."
"Bullshit," his father spat. "My father was a sappy, soft-hearted, small thinker. I thought I'd trained that out of you. Your brother Chase wouldn't give a rat's ass about the little guy."
"What Chase doesn't give a rat's ass about is anything to do with you."
He heard his father suck in a breath. Chase continued to be the one chink in his armor. "It doesn't matter," Dominic said after a moment. "All you have to do is finish what I started. It's a done deal. Get your ass back to Minneapolis by Tuesday when the board meets to vote."
Before Travis could respond, his dad ended the call. He threw back the sheets and stood, stalking to the window. He opened the curtains to be greeted by the bright Montana sun.
His father was right. The decision was almost a given, and Travis had been too busy following in his dad's footsteps to realize that wasn't the path he wanted to take. He'd sent his sister to lay the groundwork for not renewing the contracts. He could now imagine how difficult it was for his sweet, caring sister to have spent the past week traveling the western states delivering his cold-hearted corporate message to local retailers like Big Sky.
He was as big of a jackass as his father, and there was nothing he could do to change it.
Or was there?
***
"He's gone."
Hailey bit down on the inside of her cheek so she wouldn't cry. She was not going to cry over another man whom she'd given her heart to with no promise of anything in return.
"What do you mean gone?"
Her father shifted his gaze to her then back to the two-lane highway in front of them. They were close to town, so the cell phone service was more consistent.
Hailey had called Travis when she woke, but the message she'd gotten in response had just appeared in her voicemail box a few seconds ago. "I don't know exactly," she told her father, forcing her voice to remain steady. "His words were garbled, but it sounded like an emergency came up in Minneapolis."
"Will he be back?"
She swallowed. "I don't know. The message cut off."
"He'll be back," her father said gently. "It was obvious that boy is crazy for you, princess."
She'd thought so, but now it felt like David all over again. As soon as she'd given herself to Travis, he'd taken off. Maybe what happened between them last night had been too much for him.
Or maybe he'd gotten what he wanted and she was longer a challenge. She was not enough. It was hard to take a full breath around the tightness in her chest.
Stupid cow an
d its stupid free milk.
"It's probably better this way, Daddy." She concentrated on drawing air into her lungs when they threatened to seize. "I'm not sure Travis and I were ever going to be a long-term thing." Those words felt like spikes on her tongue, turning her whole mouth into a gaping wound as she spoke them.
Her father only arched a brow.
"I mean it," she continued through the tears that managed to spill despite the fact that she was forcing her breath to be regular. As if that made her normal and in control. "Travis is not his father, but I'm not sure he realizes it. I don't think he'll ever see that he's a better man than Dominic Jackson. I'm afraid it will pull him under in the end." She let out a tiny sob. "But I'm not going down with him."
"You could bring him back up," her father suggested.
She didn't answer, because what was there to say? She'd tried but failed. She wasn't enough. She wasn't worth it.
She pressed her fingertips to the warm glass of the passenger-side window, but she wasn't sure anything could penetrate the ice around her heart.
***
"Do you have to go back?"
Hailey gave her mother another hug then glanced at her watch. "I do, and I'm going to be lucky to get to the airport on time at this point. Where's Dad?"
They were standing in the stockroom of Big Sky Outfitters the following day. Hailey's mother had driven her from the farmhouse into town, but her dad wanted to take her to the airport to catch the return flight to Minneapolis. Kiwi was sleeping peacefully in the small carrier Hailey had purchased at the local pet store. Instead of a purse, she'd be carrying the tiny canine onto the airplane this afternoon.
With or without Travis in her life, Hailey's future was in Minnesota. She wasn't sure if she'd continue with her job at Mel's, even though she loved working for Clara. It might truly break her heart to be so close to Travis every day if they weren't together.