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“But I—”
Travis smiled. “You’re still talking.” He laid his lips on hers and she struggled. They needed to understand. They needed to know that she understood. It’d been a long shot to begin with. But then his words began to sink into her panicked brain and she stopped squirming against him. His words, and Hank’s echoed in her mind, and the tight knot in her loosened in tiny, hopeful increments. She wrapped her arms around him.
Hank spoke into the stillness. “You’re so certain that we’d cast you aside for our jobs. Yes, our jobs, if we decide to pursue them, do make a difference, but Nika what you’re failing to take into account is that you make a difference in our lives. You’re scared because you think you demanded a declaration but you don’t have to demand anything. I’ll gladly give it to you. I want you to stay in Divine. I want to protect you from Brent, and from the hurt your family members and their dumbass friends have dealt to you. I want you in my bed every night and I want you in my life. My only purpose in pushing you was because I need to know where you stand. As far as you kissing Travis in the Pony, I gotta tell you that horse is already out of the barn.”
Veronica gasped and Travis pulled back, gazing at her with eyes hazy with passion. She wanted to continue that hot kiss but she needed to know. “What happened?”
Hank shrugged and smiled at her. “The gossip mill, fueled by Tabitha Lester, I’m sure. Several people in the office knew about you, me, and Trav, and they weren’t unhappy either. My secretary has been bugging me for ages to find a good woman and settle down so she can babysit. And individuals in town have made comments the last couple of days.”
“You didn’t tell me?”
“You were busy and I didn’t want to derail your work, and I didn’t mind. No, not all of them were happy about it but I think the majority were either unaffected by the news or happy for us. One lady wanted to know if she could get you to autograph one of your books for her.”
Surreal.
Travis tilted her face so she looked up at him. “I was already feeling a pull to Divine, Nika. Running into you at the wedding has only increased that pull. But I haven’t wanted to push you, either. I want you to make your own choices about staying in Divine. Yes, the opportunity in California is a good one but it isn’t the only one. They may wind up passing me over. But, I gotta say, regardless, I hope you’ll consider moving down here. Now tell me what Brent is up to.”
She explained the texts and the e-mails from Brent to him, and that she’d reminded him on several occasions that he had to move out—no ifs, ands, or buts, to no avail. She’d even had the landlord phone him but he hadn’t answered any of the calls.
Travis went into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. While he put it together, he looked at her with a twinkle in his eyes. “Guess what I did during all those delays getting home.”
“What?”
“I read your books.”
“More than one?”
“Yes. I read The Game Warden Traps a Wife and Bound at the Bonfire.”
Her original sweet romance and her first attempt at erotic romance. “That’s quite a wide range of heat levels.”
Travis gave her a warm smile that made her tension unfurl. “Yes, it was.”
“Did you like them?”
Hank walked in the kitchen with the beautiful crocheted gown draped over his shoulder. “I started a fire for us.” Without another word he started undressing her, and she went instantly wet as his eyes roved over her nudity.
“I did. Reading your first book was very…”
“Awkward?”
He scoffed. “Why do you have to expect the worst? I was about to say it was humbling. I know you have to develop characters and add conflict and all that ‘writerly’ stuff but I was humbled by how you characterized the game warden. I hope I get the chance to try to live up to some of those fantasies. And the other, erotic one…hell.”
“You liked it?”
Travis pressed his lips together and gave his head a shake. “You’ve got a handle on that erotic writing thing. You’re naughty.”
Hank helped her into the gown and chuckled. “She is at that. I started Bound at the Bonfire on my lunch break today.”
