When Ally awoke the next day, it was almost noon. How long had it been since she’d slept this late? She stretched, grimacing as her body protested the sudden movement. As usual, Travis was right: the scraped areas on her skin hurt more now than they had the day before.
Was he still here?
She got carefully out of bed, snatching up her robe to put it on over her skimpy nightshirt. Travis had sent her off to bed, telling her he’d be there if she needed anything. Had he really stayed just to make sure she was going to be okay? Really, the infuriating man was confounding her. One moment he was his same asshole self, and then a moment later he was making her shake her head in confusion. It pissed her off that he’d meddled in her life. Yet, what he had done was also one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for her, even if it was highhanded and arrogant. Strangely enough, she believed him when he said he hadn’t done it for himself. But the unselfish actions just weren’t consistent with the Travis she knew. Certainly, she’d see him do some amazing things for his family, things they probably weren’t even aware he’d done for them. However, she was hardly family, simply a valuable employee.
Curious, she wandered downstairs, passing all the bathroom and bedroom doors as she went, every room open and empty. Travis’s bag was sitting on the bed in the master bedroom, the same room that she refused to use because Rick had banged his girlfriend on that bed. The proof of Travis’s presence in that room gave her a sort of deranged sense of satisfaction, the thought of him tussled and sleeping in that bed somehow exorcising a few of the ghostly images of the past.
Ally stopped abruptly as she entered the kitchen, eyeing the piles of papers on her kitchen table, Travis sitting in one of the chairs, moving papers from one pile to the next. He grumbled, and then dumped a sheet of paper on one of the piles, moving to the next with the intense concentration she saw on his face every day at work.
“What are you doing?” she asked, perplexed, noticing her box where she filed all her papers sitting beside his elbow.
Travis looked up at her, his dark eyes roving over her body and coming to rest on her face. “Contemplating how much I’d like to put your ex in the hospital for an extended stay. He’d be there right now if I didn’t think it would just cause more problems for you.”
Ally opened her mouth and closed it again, taking in the frustrated look on Travis’s face. For once, he didn’t look immaculate. He looked dangerously disheveled, his hair mussed as though he’d been running his hand through it over and over again. “Are those my personal papers?”
Travis shrugged. “How personal are bills?”
“Why are you going through my bills? How dare you?” Her outrage and curiosity were warring with each other as she asked.
“You said you needed to clean up the mess your ex made of your life so you can move on. So I’m cleaning it up.” Travis stated the fact with utter calm, giving her a questioning look like he didn’t understand why she’d protest. “You made it quite easy to find everything, by the way. You’re very organized. Everything was alphabetized. Although I’m not quite sure ‘asshole ex’ is quite the way you’re supposed to label and file certain bills.”
Ally took a deep breath and let it out, not knowing whether to laugh or strangle Travis. “I said I need to figure everything out. I can’t believe you’re going through my bills.”
“I’m finished, actually,” Travis stated calmly, picking up the piles and replacing them into her filing box. “And if you were engaged, why is it that the asshole never bought you a ring? Or did you just not wear it?”
“He didn’t. He said we couldn’t afford it.”
“He bought one. He charged it.” Travis gave her a concerned glance. “After you split up. Why the hell didn’t you take him off your accounts?”
“He bought it for her,” Ally said flatly, nausea starting to rise from her stomach to her throat, horrified once again because she’d been so stupid. “I only looked at the balances. I couldn’t bring myself to see what he bought. He never bought me a single piece of jewelry the whole time we were together. Yet he used my cards and credit to charge thousands on things for her?” Ally paused for a second to get her emotions under control. “I was naïve. I guess it never occurred to me that a man I spent five years with would ever run up debt in my name after he’d already betrayed me.”
“Stupid fucking bastard,” Travis growled, closing the top on the box with a gigantic slam.
Ally felt her eyes well up with tears, an overwhelming sense of worthlessness leaving her stunned. “I wasn’t important enough. No matter what I did, it wasn’t enough.”
“Don’t cry,” Travis told her ominously. “He isn’t worth it. It’s over. Everything is paid and you can move on again, Ally. He was a leach, a bloodsucker who doesn’t care about anyone except himself. It had nothing to do with you. Most men would kill to have a woman like you. It’s him, not you.”
Travis’s voice was so matter-of-fact, so sincere that it made Ally want to cry even more. “I have to pay you back. I’m not your family, Travis. You can’t just move in and take over my life.” She wanted to tell him off, be angry that he’d butted into her business. But really, what he was doing was one of the sweetest things anyone had ever done for her, so she was having a hard time getting pissed off at him. Travis was bullheaded, and he was used to managing everything. But when had a man actually listened or cared about what she wanted, offering—or actually demanding—that she let him help make her dreams come true?
“I thought you wanted everything in the past.” Travis sounded confused. “And no, I’m not family, which is really a pretty disgusting thought when you take into consideration how desperately I want to fuck you. That would be awkward.”
Ally sighed. She had no doubt that Travis did want to screw her, but she had no idea why. “Is that why you’re doing this?” Men just didn’t run around paying their employees’ bills and organizing their lives for them to make things better for no reason.
“No,” Travis answered huskily. “I guess I just wanted to make you smile at me.”
That answered floored her. She searched Travis’s face, the scrapes he’d gotten from saving her life the day before still evident. With his hair mussed, his face littered with red marks, his clothes consisting of casual black jeans and a dark pullover, he looked almost…vulnerable.
Her lips trembled for a moment as she caught her breath, astounded. And then, she just couldn’t help herself; she smiled like a madwoman. Yes, she was pissed that he’d pawed through her personal files, but his desire to please her was there on his face, and that made her heart sing. Travis Harrison, billionaire extraordinaire, had actually taken the morning to help her, wanting nothing more than to see her happy. “Is this good enough?” she asked him, still smiling broadly as she made her way over to the coffee pot. “And we are going to have to talk about how I’ll pay you back and about how wrong it is to rifle through personal papers.”
Travis squirmed. “That smile was good enough for an all-day boner.”
Ally giggled as she poured herself a cup of coffee. She couldn’t help it. “But you wanted it,” she reminded him.
“I still do. But it will be damn uncomfortable. I guess I’ll just have to spend another night in your bed jacking off to fantasies about fucking you,” he said bluntly. “But I can guarantee just my fantasies about you were better than his sex with his bimbo could ever be.”
Ally nearly choked on her coffee. Her body heated at thoughts of Travis’s ripped, naked body, and him stroking himself in her bed while he thought about doing wicked things to her. “You didn’t,” she denied.
“Oh, I did,” Travis replied evilly. “And it was immensely satisfying to know that I was probably getting more pleasure in that bed with my fantasies about you than he ever did with his girlfriend.”
Okay…maybe he actually did. And that made Ally even hotter. If the ghosts of her ex screwing another woman in that room hadn’t already been exorcised, they certainly were now. Changing the subject, she sat down next to him at the table. “Can we talk about my new job title and repayment terms?” She certainly couldn’t spend one more moment thinking about Travis touching himself.
“No,” he answered simply, picking up his own coffee and taking a slug. “Consider it a bonus. Although I wouldn’t argue if you let me be the first person to read the second book in your fantasy series. You left me hanging.”
“You actually read the first one?” she asked, amazed. He had to have read the manuscript almost immediately to have already finished it.
“I said I wanted to read it. It’s good, Ally. Really good. You need to finish it. Does the young hero eventually get his princess?”
He’d said he wanted to read her book, but people said those things all the time. They didn’t necessarily mean it. Obviously, he had read the story if he knew about the hero and the princess. “My hero is a little young for that right now.” She took a small sip of her coffee. “You don’t strike me as the type of guy to read young adult fantasy.”
“I grew up reading fantasy,” Travis answered thoughtfully. “The Chronicles of Narnia series was one of my favorites. I remember looking in every closet we had, trying to find a secret door so I could take Kade and Mia away somewhere else after reading the first book.”
Ally’s heart began to bleed for him, thinking about a young Travis trying to escape his horrible childhood. “I loved that series.” It had been one of her favorites too, liking it for much the same reasons as Travis: to escape her miserable childhood.
“You need to write, Ally. Finish the books. You’re talented. I have no idea why the book was rejected, but books like yours brighten the lives of a lot of young people. They can escape into a dream when everything else in their life isn’t so great.” Travis eyed her with a pensive expression before digging into his pocket and pulling out a velvet box. “I missed your birthday, but this made me think of you. I meant to give it to you yesterday.”
Ally stared at the fancy box Travis was holding for a moment before reaching out a trembling hand to take it. She wasn’t used to getting gifts, and especially not from men. “Why?” she asked nervously.
“It’s a reminder to follow your dreams. And a belated birthday present. It’s nothing really,” Travis told her tensely, as though he felt a little awkward.
Ally popped the lid, gasping as she saw the contents. There, nestled in a bed of red velvet, was the most exquisite necklace she’d ever seen. But it wasn’t the diamonds or the sapphires that immediately caught her eye, but the design. It was a small unicorn, the entire body sparkling with white diamonds, the horn and eyes made of small blue sapphires. “My unicorn,” she said breathlessly, taking in what was almost an exact tiny replica of the unicorn from her books.
“It doesn’t talk like yours does, but I’m hoping that you’ll remember to write every time you wear it,” Travis told her huskily.
Tears rolled down Ally’s cheeks as she fingered the delicate, beautiful beast on the gold chain. “I don’t know what to say.” And she didn’t. No one had ever given her such a thoughtful gift. “The first piece of jewelry I’ve ever gotten as a gift,” she mumbled tearfully. “It’s beautiful.” She also knew it was expensive. “Travis, it’s too expensive of a gift for me to accept.”
“Bullshit. I said it was nothing,” he rumbled. “I’m not taking it back unless you don’t like it. Then I’ll get you something else.”
“I love it,” she cried anxiously. “But I don’t get gifts like this. It’s too much. But it’s incredible.”
“It’s nothing compared to what I want to give you, Ally. And I still want to be the first to read the next book,” he demanded.
Ally looked up from the sparkling unicorn to look into his eyes, eyes that were turbulent and uncomfortable, as though he wasn’t quite sure how to express himself. “You believe in my writing that much?”
“Not just your writing. I believe in you,” he admitted, his tone sincere.
Her heart ready to pound out of her chest, Ally rose and went to Travis, putting her arms around him gently and kissing him lightly on the cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered, unable to express how much his faith meant to her. She wanted to tell him, wanted to let him know how much his support meant to her after what she’d gone through with her ex, but the lump in her throat wouldn’t let her say anything else. So she just hugged him, tears still rolling down her cheeks. “I love this, and I’m keeping it. It will always remind me that one person actually liked my book,” she told him lightheartedly, knowing emotion wasn’t something Travis dealt with easily. “And we will talk about repayment for the bills.” She let him go reluctantly and sat back in her chair.
“No, we won’t,” Travis answered in a graveled voice. “And that hug was good for an all-week boner.”
She laughed, amused by the disgruntled look on his face. She highly doubted Travis got excited over a simple hug, but he was good for her battered ego. Travis Harrison could get any woman he wanted, any time he wanted one. But she let the compliments wash over her, let the fact that he found her attractive warm her soul. “I can’t believe you didn’t go into the office today. Are we working tomorrow?” she asked, knowing Travis never missed a day of work.
“Hell, no. And I’ll need to bandage those wounds again later. You aren’t going to feel like working for a while. You’re starting vacation early.” Travis shot her an obstinate look.
Ally rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. You don’t need to take care of me.”
“I’m going to,” he replied irritably. “So get used to it.”
Ally crossed her arms in front of her, secretly loving his protectiveness, but confused by it at the same time. “Why? I’m just an employee. It’s not like I’m Mia or Kade. I can understand that you meddle in their life. But why me?”
“I don’t meddle in their lives,” Travis answered grumpily.
“Oh, so you didn’t really make Mia disappear for two years so her ex couldn’t harm her, and didn’t tell a single soul except your security? And you just happened to be in Colorado when that same ex had a fatal car accident?” Did Travis think she was completely blind and deaf? She was his assistant. She saw and heard everything that happened in his office for the most part.
“What the hell do you know about that?” Travis shot her a laser-sharp glance.
“I know that Mia called looking for you the day before she disappeared and she sounded upset. Then she disappeared the next day. Every single day after that, you had an early morning security meeting, something you’d never done before. You’ve never given a crap about your own security. And I know you distanced yourself from Kade and Max. Most of all, I know you didn’t grieve like I know you would if you thought something had really happened to your sister.”
“All that time, you knew?” Travis answered incredulously. “And you never told a soul.”
“Why would I? I realized you were somehow trying to protect her,” Ally asked, baffled. “Why would I jeopardize her safety? I’m your assistant. I’d never betray you.”
“How could you know for sure I was protecting her? What if I’d done something to her to try to get rid of her? I could have wanted her share of the stocks and the business.”
Ally snorted. Obviously Travis had never seen himself when he looked at Mia, his love for her showing in the depth of his eyes. Maybe he didn’t express himself well, but his love for his sister was evident. “Not possible,” Ally answered adamantly. “I didn’t understand everything that was going on, but I know how much you care about Mia, and that was all I needed to know.”
“He assaulted her, beat her, and blackmailed her,” Travis admitted hoarsely. “When I finally caught up with him, he bolted. I followed. He conveniently ran his car off a cliff. But I made it happen. I killed him. And I’ve never had one pang of remorse. I was just glad the bastard was dead so he couldn’t kill my sister.”
“I’m glad, too,” Ally affirmed.
“It doesn’t scare you that I’m a killer?” Travis asked, his gaze dark and unfathomable.
“No. You did what you needed to do to protect Mia. I’m just sorry you had to bear that burden alone.”
“I had to. I couldn’t risk Max and Kade giving away her location,” Travis said, his voice tinged with remorse.
Ally wondered if Kade and Max really knew the price Travis had paid to not tell them, taking on the burden of knowledge completely alone. “You love your siblings, Travis. I’ve always known that. I don’t think you ever missed one of Kade’s football games. Did he even know you were always there?” Ally had always been the one to make the arrangements for Travis’s jet to fly him to wherever Kade was playing, and fly him back the same day.
Travis shrugged. “I didn’t want to make him nervous. I just wanted to be there.”
I just wanted to be there. Ally suddenly realized that his statement really summed up just who Travis was: a man who wanted to support his siblings and didn’t care whether he ever got credit for being an incredible brother to them. More than likely, neither Mia nor Kade ever realized just how often Travis had been there for them without them ever really knowing about it. Did Mia know how much heat Travis had taken in order to keep her hidden and safe, how much he’d had to isolate himself from his own brother and brother-in-law? Did she know how much Max and Kade had resented him for what he did? Did Kade realize that Travis had made every one of his games, and how devastated Travis had been about Kade’s accident? He’d spent almost every waking moment at the hospital after his brother’s accident. “You’re an incredible brother, Travis Harrison,” Ally told him quietly. “I would have given anything to have someone like you.”
“Still don’t want to be your brother,” Travis answered belligerently. “I want to fuck you too much.” He got up and went to the kitchen counter, shaking her out some ibuprofen and handing it to her. “Take these. We’ll need to change those bandages.”
Ally took the pills from his hand and swallowed them with a sip of coffee. “They’re really just scratches, Travis.”
He scowled at her as he answered, “You don’t need to get them infected.” He winced as he sat back down.
“You’re hurting,” Ally commented suspiciously. “Did you injure yourself? I thought you were covered.”
“Just bruises from hitting the concrete,” Travis answered, blowing off her concern. “Not a big deal.”
“You’re in pain. Let me see,” she told him in a no-nonsense voice.
Travis obediently turned in his chair and lifted his shirt. Ally gasped as she saw a contusion the size of her hand on his lower back. She reached her hand out and touched it lightly with a fingertip. “Oh my God, Travis. I’m so sorry.”
“I landed on a parking block when I hit the ground. It will heal,” he replied gruffly.
“You might need x-rays. What if you broke something?”
“I didn’t. I’ve had enough injuries to know.”
“Are there more? Where do they stop?” Ally was appalled and sick over the fact that she hadn’t known that Travis had been injured.
Travis turned his head slowly and shot her the wickedest grin she’d ever seen. “Sweetheart, to show you all of them I’d have to drop my pants. But I’d be more than happy to show you if you’ll touch them all.”
Ally gulped, torn between wanting to see the bruises and knowing she really shouldn’t watch her billionaire boss drop his pants. “Are they bad?” she croaked.
“The one on my back is probably the worst. It’s where I hit the parking block. But I’ll be happy to show you.” He started to get up.
“No, no,” she said hastily. “I’ll take your word for it. But if the pain gets bad, we’re taking you for x-rays. I can’t believe you’re worried about a few little scrapes on me when you’re all bruised up. Are you hurting anywhere else?”
Travis slowly sat back down. “My cock is hurting. Do you want to touch it?” he asked coarsely, but the look in his eyes was teasing and devilish.
Ally’s whole face turned red, Travis’s blunt words leaving her speechless for a moment. “You have a dirty mind,” she chastised him lightly. “And I’m truly worried about you hurting.”
“I am hurting. And that’s the worse ache I have,” Travis told her bluntly as he eyed her hungrily.
His predatory gaze made her even redder. Hell, she hadn’t blushed like this since she was in high school. Travis had shown her another side of himself, and she liked it, liked him right now. But his feral gaze unnerved her in ways that had her almost panting to touch him. “You’re bruised up and you can still think about that?”
“Alison, I’d have to be dead to not want you to touch me,” Travis answered gravely.
Ally shivered, her core flooding with heat, her nipples going as hard as pebbles from the intensity of his stare. Problem was, she felt exactly the same way. She looked away from him, unable to bear the heat in his eyes. One second longer, and she’d be begging him to let her touch him. “No touching,” she told him much more adamantly than she felt right at that moment. “You need to heal.” Ally got up and put her empty mug in the sink, cradling her precious gift from Travis in her hand.
“I was afraid you’d say that,” Travis answered unhappily, rising to put his own cup in the sink.
“Thank you for this,” Ally whispered, gesturing toward the necklace. “It’s the most incredible gift I’ve ever received. It means a lot to me.” It wasn’t the monetary value, but the significance of the actual symbol, a sign of Travis’s belief in her writing.
Ally wandered toward the entry to the kitchen, heading off to the shower.
“Ally?” Travis’s voice sounded hesitantly from where she’d left him by the sink.
“Yeah?” She turned her head.
“Thanks for not betraying me,” he said hoarsely.
“You don’t need to thank me for that, Travis. You’ve always had my loyalty.” And he had. He might infuriate her, but there was never a time she had doubted Travis’s integrity or his love for his family.
He nodded abruptly and turned away, leaving Ally wondering what had just happened between them. Their relationship had shifted, leaving her wondering if it were actually possible for her and Travis to become…friends.
Travis melted her with just one glance, set her on fire with his sultry voice and his naughty comments. But she had to ignore both, wait until he found another love interest. Being anything else to Travis except his employee and friend was dangerous. She’d already been devastated when she’d thought he’d betrayed her trust by getting her fired from Sully’s, almost running in front of a moving truck because she was so distraught. Ally could only imagine how bad things would be if she actually allowed herself to become more intimate than she’d already been with him. Travis left her raw and vulnerable, elated but terrified. Getting too close to him would be a mistake, and there would be no turning back once she allowed him in. His intensity would overwhelm her, and she’d be left to pick up the pieces of the devastation after the affair was over.
“Don’t fall for him, Ally. Keep him at a distance,” she told herself forcefully as she went up the stairs.
Her sense of self-preservation back in place, she went to take a shower, hoping she could manage to keep her resolve.