And then Travis would have to feel guilty every time Grandma woke up with a smile on her face. Oh, he’d love for Grandma to live another day, but it meant another day that Kacey and Jake would spend in holy matrimony. Her lips pressed against his. Jake’s hands running along Kacey’s hips…
“Travis? Travis? Hello, anyone home? We gonna drink margaritas in the tree house or are you going to stand there with your mouth open all day?”
“Tree house,” he grumbled and walked out of the kitchen to the backyard. The tree house sat on the edge of the property, far enough away that his parents wouldn’t be able to see them through the tiny windows.
He pulled the ladder down and balanced the tequila and mix in his left arm as he hauled himself up. Travis set the drink stuff inside the door of the tree house, and still grasping the top rung, turned around to grab the glasses from Kacey below.
Her eyes were glued to his ass.
He would have been flattered had she gasped or sighed or done anything except scream.
“Crap! Crap! Crap!”
“Kace, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“G-g-giant spider! On your ass!”
“GET IT OFF!” he shouted in a not-so-masculine voice.
Kacey moved away from him, slowly dropping down the ladder to the bottom rung. “I can’t! You know I’m afraid of spiders! What if it lunges at me!”
“Better it lunge at you than take a chunk out of my ass! Now, scare it!”
“If I scare it, it’s going to eat you, and I can’t have that on my conscience.” Kacey’s eyes widened again. “Oh gosh, it’s moving! It’s so gross! Can’t you just like, flex your butt or something?”
“Why, yes.” Travis clenched his teeth. “Why don’t I just clench my butt muscles in hopes that it will shock the spider enough to crawl back into the hell hole it came out of.”
“You don’t have to be mean!” Kacey argued. “Okay, um. I’m going to grab a stick. Do you think that will work?”
Did he think a stick in his ass would work? Well, so much for impressing her. “Just, kill it!” His muscles tightened as he kept himself positioned on the ladder.
“Found one!” Kacey announced. “Okay, now don’t move. I’m just going to smack it against your jeans.”
Travis laughed. He couldn’t help it. It was one of those moments that he wished he would have caught on camera, so that others could enjoy the ridiculousness. And then… searing pain.
He cursed, loud, dropping in a few inappropriate words that would cause his mom to smack him. What the hell kind of stick had she grabbed?
“I did it! I did it!” Kacey squealed.
Travis turned and glared.
“I killed the spider!”
“You almost killed the man too! What did you use? A baseball bat?”
Kacey blushed. “It was all I could find.” She lifted a wooden bat in her hands as if sacrificing it on the altar before him.
After a few more curses, Travis wordlessly reached for the tequila, opened the bottle, and took two gulps. “I’m going to have a giant mark on my ass for months.”
“But I killed my first spider in a year, so that should at least make it worth it, right?” Kacey’s grin was beautiful. White teeth peeked out from her pink lips.
“Fine. Good job, Kacey. We’ll do a toast to your victory. You’re such a hunter.”
“Thank you, good sir.” Kacey did a little curtsy and followed him up into the tree house.
It was absolute torture watching her lips close around the tequila bottle. Thankfully, they brought actual glasses to make the drinks on ice. If she was going to drink out of the bottle each time, he would lose his sanity, not that he wasn’t already dangerously close, what with being beaten senseless all within an hour of bringing her into the house.
“So…” He needed to change the subject or he was going to make a complete ass of himself “Jake? Married here? Think he’s going to flip?”