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Anger tensed his jaw for a moment. “I’m so sorry, Jordan.” He strode toward her, stopping a few inches away, and threaded his fingers in her hair at her neck. “Your mother?”
“She died of cancer when I was twelve. It was just Dad and me for the past fourteen years. I’ve lived in this house all of my life.”Stop! He doesn’t need to know.
Sadness registered in his eyes for an instant. Then he scooped her up, retraced his steps, and sat on the bed with her on his lap.
“What are you doing?” Jordan tried to slip out of his arms, but his strong hands circled her waist and held her in place. She stopped struggling, but not before the heel of her boot collided with his shin.
“Damn it! Would you trust me for once?” With a growl, he pulled her chin toward him, claimed her mouth, and didn’t let her go until she was thoroughly kissed and breathless—not to mention confused.
He was breathing harder too. “I have a huge-ass family, and I want you to meet them. When I said earlier that we needed to talk, I meant I wanted to get some things straight between us. Okay?”
Jordan narrowed her gaze. “What kinds of things?”
“About us—you know—where we’re headed.”
A smile tugged at her lips. “Oh, well, I can hardly wait to hear this.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
His sexy grin appeared. “I thought maybe I could stick around for a while. Maybe you’d still go on that date you promised me if I asked really nice.” He kissed a line from the corner of her lips to just below her ear. “And maybe that would lead to other things.”
Jordan must be exhausted because she had trouble changing gears quickly enough to keep up with him. She’d thought he would tell her they wouldn’t work out and weren’t right for each other. Instead, she was pretty sure he’d just said he wanted to stay, spend more time with her, and see where this would go. A smile worked its way through a blur of happy tears.
Between kisses, his smile grew. “If things work as well as I think they will, I want to take you home with me, introduce you to my family, and let you get to know my partners and their girlfriends and wives. They’re going to love you as much as I do.”
Jordan’s expression must have conveyed her shock. Instantly, Travis realized what he’d said, and he shook his head with a God-I’m-an-idiot laugh. “Oh shit!I didn’t mean to say that. Iamfalling in love with you, but I don’t want to scare you away by putting that kind of pressure on you.”
She looped her arms around his neck and pressed against his hard chest. “After the past few days, you’ll have to try harder if you want to scare me away. I’m falling in love with you, too.” Jordan kissed him with all the joy in her heart as tears ran down her face, and she didn’t even care.
Travis pulled away first. “Nice talk. We’ll have to do it more often.”
She laughed. “I agree. You’re not half bad.”
“Are we still talking abouttalking?”
“Mostly.”
“Ready for that bath now?” Travis’s eyes darkened with desire.
“Want to join me?”
“Hell yeah!”
Epilogue
It was a warm summernight, but a breeze off the ocean cooled the air and kept Blake’s twinkle lights swaying above the people laughing and talking in his yard. With a beer in hand, Travis threw a couple more burgers on the grill and turned to watch the family he’d chosen—the friends he needed as much or more than he required his next breath. Not the least of which was the center of his world—Jordan.
