Page 140 of Kylie

Travis

Sitting at my desk, staring at my computer screen, I was startled by the buzz of the phone on my desk.

“What?” I barked after pressing the button for the intercom.

“Mr. Walker, there’s a woman here to see you. She was trying to go to the offices, but we stopped her. She’s being held up here at the front.”

A woman? “Who is it?”

“Her name is … Kylie. She says she’s your wife.”

“Jesus Christ. She is my wife.” Fucking new hires. “Send her back and don’t ever detain her again, am I clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

I closed my laptop, wanting to give Kylie my full attention. This was the first time she’d come to the resort since she came home. I figured she was either going stir crazy or she needed to talk. Either way, I was thrilled that she was here. Not so much that she was given a less-than-auspicious welcome.

Fidgeting with the few things on my desk, I tidied them up before shifting my attention to my appearance. Smoothing down my hair and then my shirt, I felt like a teenager about to go on his first date. It was strange, but that was happening to me a lot lately. Although Kylie was my wife—in my heart, if not in the eyes of the law—and still the same woman I’d fallen in love with so long ago, this thing between us felt new.

Making my way around the desk, I perched on the edge. After a few seconds, I repositioned, though at this point, I was just wasting time until Kylie appeared.

The smile on my face was genuine. My wife was here.

A soft knock sounded on the door, surprising me. Kylie had never been the sort to knock.

“Come in,” I called out, standing up and waiting for her.

The door opened slowly and there she was. My heart kicked a little harder than normal just as it did every time I looked at her. From the day I saw her standing by the river, after nearly two painful years of mourning her death, I found I no longer took for granted simply being able to look at her.

“Hey,” I greeted, remaining where I was when I noticed the downturn of her eyebrows. “What’s goin’ on?”

“Quite the security you’ve got out there. They all but tackled me when I walked in.”

Oh, Jesus. “I’m sorry about that. It won’t happen again.”

Kylie closed the door before peering around. “It looks the same in here.”

She sounded surprised by that.

“I figured for sure you would’ve redecorated by now.”

“I happen to be quite fond of the decor.” After all, Kylie was the one who designed the space back when the resort first opened. I saw no reason to change it.

The crease in her forehead smoothed out a little, her attention on me.

I wanted to pull her into my arms and crush my mouth to hers, but I refrained. Although the other night had been a revelation of sorts, it had been nearly a week since the three of us were intimate. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been any replays. And despite how desperate I was to rekindle that magic, I didn’t want to make any assumptions when it came to what Kylie wanted from us at this point.

Pretending it was just any ol’ Tuesday, I perched on the edge of the desk again. “What brings you by?”

“I thought we could talk.”

“About?”

She peered around the space again. “I want to go back to work.”

I wished I could say I was surprised by that admission or that she was getting right to the point, but I’d been expecting it. Kylie had always been a hands-on mother, making the kids a priority regardless of what was going on, but she had still needed something for herself. Her work had given her great pleasure. Enough that she had limited the projects she would work on and eventually moved her office to the house, rather than the space we had rented for her. However, she had enjoyed that independence and the feeling of having something that belonged solely to her.

We were alike in that sense.