“Hey, boys. One of you might want to get in here. I think she’s going to pass out. I told you not to leave her in suspense like this, Joe.”
Melissa’s voice sounded strange, Kylie thought as she tried to hold on to the counter. Like she was one of the adults on the Snoopy cartoons.
The last thing Kylie remembered was Travis’ warm arms coming around her… at the same time the world went black.
“Hey, little girl,” her father’s voice woke her from sleep and Kylie smiled up at him.
“Hi, Daddy.”
“Feeling better?” he asked, sounding concerned.
“Fine, why?” Kylie sat up, realizing she was in her bed, but she was fully dressed and…
Everything came flooding back to her in a flash, and she glared at her father. “Melissa said you already met Travis and Gage.”
“I did, honey,” Joe smiled, but he looked like he was trying to hide it. “Those men of yours are pretty protective of you, you know that?”
Yes, yes she did know that. How that translated into them meeting her father, she had no idea. Instead of asking more questions, Kylie waited for him to enlighten her. She wasn’t sure she had the energy to try and figure it out for herself.
Joe took her hand and held it between both of his while Kylie stared down where they were joined.
“Travis and Gage called to talk to me. Said that you were very important to them and before I started asking questions, they wanted to meet me face to face so they could answer any that I might have. Pretty smart guys you’ve got there.”
“So you talked to them?” Kylie peered up at her father’s face.
“I did. They took me to lunch, Travis told me how you and him met, informed me about the wedding and apologized for not coming to me back then. Then Gage filled in the blanks on the little reunion.” Joe frowned and paused.
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I know I should’ve told you the whole story. But I love them,” she said firmly. “I love them, and I didn’t want you to be upset with them or disappointed in me.”
Joe leaned in and kissed her softly on the forehead. “Little girl, I could never be disappointed with you. This is your life, and I’m proud of the decisions you’ve made. Doesn’t mean I always understand them.”
Kylie sat motionless on her bed, staring at her father. The man she adored, who loved her unconditionally. She wasn’t sure where along the way she’d altered her view of him. He’d always been her biggest supporter, yet she somehow forgot that. “So you don’t have any questions? No concerns?”
Joe tilted her chin up. “Trust me, I took care of all questions with Travis and Gage. I wanted to know their intentions. Like I said, they’re smart ones. They came prepared. Answered everything I threw at them. And like I said, they’re extremely protective of you.”
Kylie’s heart swelled. Her worst fear had been overcome. Her father was accepting the men she loved. “Well, I’m happy, Daddy. I promise you. They make me extremely happy.”
Joe’s smile widened, mischievously. “That’s good. Considering how hard headed and stubborn you are, I always wondered whether one man would be able to handle you.”
Kylie shouldered him playfully, and Joe laughed as he stood to his feet. “Seriously, Kylie, the only thing that matters to me is that you’re happy.”
“I am, Daddy.” Kylie pushed to her feet to stand beside her father. “And the only thing that matters to me… is paying those two back for putting me through this.”
Her father laughed, and she felt the vibration through her shoulders. “That’s my girl.”
Chapter Fifty Three
♂♀♂
Four months later…
“Don’t move,” Kylie said as she disappeared out of the room.
“What do you mean don’t move?” Travis hollered after her. “You tied me to the fucking bed! I don’t have much of a choice.”
Gage laughed as he moved up on the bed beside Travis. “Did you enjoy it?”
Travis turned his head to look at the man he’d spent the last few months making love to and sleeping in the same bed with and he grinned. “You’re damn right I did, but I’m not gonna tell her that.”
“I heard that!” Kylie yelled from inside the enormous master closet.
Travis didn’t wipe the smirk off of his face. He couldn’t, even if he tried.
When Gage began untying him from the bed posts, Travis relaxed into the mattress, rubbing his wrists where the restraints had bit into his arms. He looked around the room and smiled. Even months later, he still couldn’t believe the remarkable transformation Kylie had made to the house.
Not only had she revived almost every piece of building material, somehow she’d found square footage and Travis and Gage still had no idea where she got it from. He was pretty sure the master bathroom was triple its original size, and the small shower they’d crammed into originally was now big enough for ten people. It also happened to be one of the places they spent a lot of time in. A lot of time.
But Kylie hadn’t stopped with the bedrooms and bathrooms. The downstairs was bigger too. The entry was no longer separated into small rooms. The space was open, flowing right up the stairs as well as into the living room. What had originally been awkwardly laid out – not to mention paneled in that hideous wood – now looked... Well, it looked like a farmhouse built in the 1800s, if they’d, in fact, been around when it was built.
Which they hadn’t been, and Travis liked to give Kylie a hard time about it.
There weren’t any modern light fixtures or any fancy geometric shapes or any of those sinks that come on by themselves, but the house was breathtaking. The appliances were all new, the kitchen was spacious enough now to contain their entire family. And it did. Often.
Kylie had originally complained that she wouldn’t be able to entertain that many people. She only did that once, by the way. Complain that is. Every time after, which was occurring almost weekly these days, that she invited the entire Walker clan over, she was handling them all as though she’d been in the family for years.
Pushing up on the bed and reclining against the headboard, Travis waited patiently for Kylie to return. He knew there wasn’t any rushing her. Ever.
He remembered the week she had decided she wanted to remodel the master bedroom. Thankfully, she’d allowed the subcontracted crews to come in and tear out the bathroom and replace everything with more modern renditions of the old stuff she was so captivated by. But once that was done, and they had built the custom walk-in closet, she’d insisted that Gage and Travis stay out of the room until she was finished with it.
Considering they had another king size bed in one of the guest rooms to sleep in, they hadn’t complained. Too much. They had, however, made sure to inform Kylie every night when they crawled into bed, exactly what she had to do to make up for kicking them out of their bedroom. Travis was pretty sure Kylie had enjoyed that as much as they had.
But he was glad they’d been able to move back into the master suite, especially after she got through with it. The walls had been painted a dark gray, and heavy, black drapes hung over the windows so they could eliminate all light when necessary – which was never necessary, but Travis didn’t point that out either. They still had the same furniture that Travis’ parents had purchased for them specifically – although, at the time, they’d thought it was just for Gage. There was also a freestanding fireplace in the corner that they never got to use either because it didn’t get cold enough in Texas, but Travis learned right-quick that telling Kylie that was not in his best interest.
But aside from the relaxing colors and the unnecessary accessories (again he’d keep that part to himself) what Travis loved the most was the huge, flat panel television that she had put on the wall at the end of the bed. Ok, that was kind of a lie. What he really loved was the vast collection of porn that Kylie had somehow acquired over the last few months.
Yes, the woman was insatiable.
Did he mention she was absolutely pe
rfect? Well, he meant to.
“What are you doing in there?” Gage called to Kylie, rerouting Travis’ thoughts to the present.
“You don’t worry about that,” she called out, and they both laughed.
“Remember that spanking you got last week?” Gage asked as he rearranged his naked body close to Travis.
“I certainly do,” she said, her voice muffled as she moved around in the closet.
Travis glanced over at Gage. “It’s not gonna help to threaten her with another. She enjoyed that.”
“She did, didn’t she?” Gage grinned, leaning over and pressing a kiss against Travis’ mouth.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“Because I can.”
“Think so, huh?” Travis asked. “Well, I dare you to do it again, then.”
When Gage moved in closer, Travis met him half way and managed to ease them down onto the bed until he was practically on top of Gage. They might’ve just had mind blowing orgasms, but Travis loved this part of it just as much. He found he could get lost for hours in Gage’s and Kylie’s kisses. Not that they had an exorbitant amount of free time these days to just fool around, but they carved out as much time as they could.
Like today. All three of them were playing hooky from work. Just because they could. Since the resort was in the final stage and Gage had officially accepted the job as head of security for AI, they could manage to sneak a little time off from time to time. And if they couldn’t, well, they sometimes did anyway.
Travis palmed Gage’s face as he pulled back, staring down at him. “Damn, you manage to take my breath away. You know that?”
“It’s my goal in life,” Gage answered, his voice just as weak as Travis’.
“Well, I can effectively say that you both steal my breath,” Kylie said as she moved up on the bed beside them.
Travis and Gage turned to look at her at the same time. “What the hell were you doing in there?” She still didn’t have a stitch of clothing on – thank you God – but she didn’t seem to have anything else either.
“Nothing,” she said with a mischievous smile.
Travis shifted, rolling off of Gage and then trapping Kylie beneath his body. He got her flat on her back and stared down at her as she smiled so sweetly up at him.
“You’re a sneaky woman, you know that?” he asked as he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her mouth. “But just remember, we’ll always be sneakier.”
“I wouldn’t count on that,” she argued, her smile getting brighter.
Travis glanced over at Gage, and a knowing look passed between them.
“I’ll get her tied up, you get the other thing,” Travis told Gage, and the man was off the bed and down the hall in an instant.
“Don’t tie me up,” Kylie said.
What Travis heard was, “Please tie me up.”
Did he mention the woman was insatiable? The beautiful, beaming grin on her face was not that of a woman who didn’t want to give herself over to the two men she declared her love for each and every day.
But little did she know, Travis had no intention of tying her up. At least not yet.
A minute later, Gage returned and joined them on the bed.
“I thought you were going to tie me up?” Kylie asked, and she sounded disappointed, which made Travis laugh.
“You told me not to,” he pointed out.
“You’ve never listened to me before,” she laughed, her eyes darting back and forth between him and Gage. “What’s going on?”
Travis moved over to one side of Kylie, allowing Gage to ease up on her other side. Resting his head on one hand, Travis stared down at her and then back at Gage.
“We sort of wanted to ask you something,” Gage said, sounding incredibly nervous.
Damn cop. He could stare down an armed maniac, but he couldn’t muster the courage to ask the woman that he loved…
“Will you marry us?” Gage popped the question and Kylie’s head jerked toward him.
“What?”
“You heard him,” Travis added.
“I know what I heard, but I don’t know what it means.”
Travis raised an eyebrow. “No? Ok, well, let me explain how this works.”
Kylie slapped his chest playfully at the same time she told him to hush.
Travis smiled at her, letting her see every ounce of the love he had for her and this man.
“We want to marry you,” Gage said again, sounding a little choked up which caused Travis to look up at him.
“True,” he agreed. “However,” glancing down at Kylie, a knowing look passed between them and they looked at Gage. “We want to marry you too.”
“You wanna… Wait, what?” Gage’s mouth hung open as he stared back at them.
It was true, Travis managed to get them both good.
Kylie grinned again, and she looked so beautiful staring up at Gage, enjoying the fact that they’d managed to make him speechless. Travis leaned over the edge of the bed and opened the drawer on his nightstand, retrieving a piece of paper that he’d had his lawyers draw up. Thanks to Luke’s unsolicited advice, Travis used a similar contract to one Luke, Cole and Sierra had had drawn up to substantiate their relationship.
He passed the piece of paper to Kylie, and she, in turn, handed it to Gage.
“What’s this?” he asked, his eyes darting back and forth between them.
“Read it,” Travis told him as he leaned down and kissed Kylie on the mouth.
Gage spent a few minutes skimming the paper as they watched him. When he was finished, his eyes were curiously glassy, but he was smiling and that smile pierced Travis’ heart in a big way. “So?”
“So what?” Gage asked with a smirk.
Travis knew the routine. They didn’t let Kylie off the hook by beating around the bush, and he obviously wasn’t going to get special treatment either.
“Will you marry us?” Travis asked, all humor disappearing because the question was the most important one of his life.
“Absolutely.” The fact that there was no hesitation in Gage’s answer made his heart beat harder.
“But I never got an answer,” Gage said peering down at Kylie.
“What was the question again?” she laughed, but it quickly died on her lips as she stared up at them. “Of course I will marry you both. It would make me the happiest woman in the world.”
Gage took her hand in his and Travis watched the exchange, but it took Kylie a second to realize what was going on. When Gage pulled his hand back, Kylie was staring down at her finger, her eyes wide and full of unshed tears.
“Oh, my goodness. It’s… Wow. It’s so beautiful.”
Travis had to agree. And the fact that the ring had sentimental meaning made it even more so.
Travis and Gage had been talking about getting Kylie a ring, but they wanted something that would signify their love for each other – all three of them. They’d been keeping an eye out, but they didn’t come up with anything until the day he and Gage went to the bank and retrieved Gage’s personal items that he’d stashed in a safe deposit box. They were the only physical possessions he had left after the fire, besides what he’d been carrying with him in his truck while he travelled.
As Gage was going through the contents, to sign off that he retrieved them, Travis noticed a ruby ring, and when he asked about it, Gage had given him the story. The ring belonged to his grandmother, a gift from his grandfather on their fiftieth wedding anniversary. The gold was thin from wear over the years, but the stone was beautiful. After a little discussion, Gage suggested that they have the stone cut down into smaller stones and put into a ring for Kylie.
And now that the ring was on her finger, the tiny rubies and diamonds that wrapped around the band shining as brightly as the tears in her eyes.
Travis had never cried a day in his life – at least not since he was a teenager. But suddenly his throat was clogging up tight, and he was overwhelmed with so much love, he wondered if it w
as finally going to pull him under.
♀♂♂
As Kylie stared up at Travis and Gage, she was sure that both men were choked by as much emotion as she was. She glanced back at the ring now on her left hand, and she still couldn’t believe how beautiful it was.
“Where did this come from?” she asked, glancing over at Gage and giving Travis a minute to try and rein himself in. She knew how much he hated this much emotion.
“The ruby came from my grandmother’s ring,” he explained. “We had it cut down and placed in the center band. It represents that you are our heart. The outer rings of diamonds represent us, protecting you forever. We knew you didn’t want big stones because they would get in the way when you were working, so we opted for something smaller.” His smile grew bigger. “Only because we’re not going to allow you to take it off. Ever.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that,” she told him as she brushed her fingers over the three bands of stones inset in the ring that wrapped around her finger. Three bands of stones, the inside ring of rubies were for her and the outer rings of diamonds protecting the precious stones on the inside were for Travis and Gage. The ring was absolutely perfect.
She peered up at Travis and then over to Gage. She gave him a grin that only he would know why. And on cue, Gage leaned over and pulled open the drawer in his nightstand, retrieving the small black box that she knew was in there.
Although he had managed to keep her ring a complete secret from her, she had been involved in the design and purchase of another ring. Or rather set of rings. He moved back onto the bed with the box in hand and the gentle click of the velvet top snapping open, Travis looked over at him.
“I know you think you’ll always be the one to get the last word in,” Gage said to Travis, both of them focused intently on him. “But we have a question for you too.”
Travis didn’t speak, but his eyebrow cocked in question.
“Will you marry us?” Kylie asked, effectively throwing him off course.
“Are you…”
“Before you finish that question, yes, we’re serious,” Gage said, pulling one of the two rings from the box and handing it to Kylie as he resumed his place on the bed beside her, laying on his side and pressing up along her side.
Travis - An Alluring Indulgence Novel Page 45