The Bet (The Bet #1)(58)

Adrenaline-mixed with lust slammed through him as she wrapped tighter and tighter around him. It was hard to think straight, let alone do anything but strategically plan for ways to remove her clothing in the fastest way possible.

“I knew.” He shuddered as she licked his ear.

“I think I l—”

“What the hell kind of place is this?” a man’s voice shouted outside the window.

Alarmed, Travis turned, then relaxed and grinned. Old man Casbon was smiling from ear to ear and already pulling open the truck door. So much for privacy.

“Mr. Casbon,” Kacey sputtered. “Didn’t know you’d, um, be here.”

“Yeah, well, the woman always sends me out for dessert. Got a phone call a bit ago saying she needed me to bring her some chocolate to her cottage. Hearty appetite that one. Besides, I know the owner.” He nudged Travis and continued. “She had an itch for some sort of chocolate soufflé, so I drove on out to grab her whatever her heart desires.”

“Sounds like love.” Sadly, Kacey hopped off Travis’s lap and leaned against the truck.

“Oh, girlie, it is. Though sometimes I wonder if I rate above that chocolate she likes. Say, Travis…” He turned to face him. “Got any more of that stuff left?”

“Sure thing, follow me.” Travis turned off the truck and led them into the restaurant. It was nearly closing time, meaning there were only a few people scattered about.

He hoped that Kacey wouldn’t be too alarmed with the changes he’d made. When her parents owned the place it’d had a sort of Italian café look. Nowadays, it looked more like an old world café. It boasted original wood floors, thick rugs, modernized furniture, old clocks and pictures, as well as a few hanging lanterns.

Kacey tightened her grip on his arm. “I really like it.”

Her eyes lit up as she broke away from him and began walking the perimeter. His favorite part of the restaurant had to be the outside. The balcony overlooking the water was beautiful. It was decorated as a plantation-style deck complete with ceiling fans. His personal favorite.

Kacey walked outside, so Travis turned to Mr. Casbon. “Soufflé? Right. I’m on it.” He ran to the back and nodded to the manager as he grabbed a to-go box and stuffed in a few treats for Grandma.

Mr. Casbon pulled out a fifty.

Travis shook his head. “Nah, you’ll need it for next time. It’s on the house. I know the owner.”

With a wink and a pat on the shoulder, Mr. Casbon shuffled out, and Travis went in search of Kacey.

When he reached the deck he noticed her sitting in a chair closest to the water.

“This was my dad’s favorite spot. He’d say he could see all the way to China from this spot right here.”

“Hmm.” Travis kneeled down next to her. “Not China, but maybe, just maybe Vancouver though.”

Kacey sighed heavily. “I don’t even know where to start. Do I say thank you for doing something I didn’t have the guts to do? Do I say I’m sorry for treating you so horribly? Do I apologize to my dead parents for being less than what they brought me up to be—”

“Whoa! Wait right there.” Travis jerked her to her feet. “Don’t you ever say that. I will throw you over my shoulder and jump into the river next time you say such stupid things.”

Kacey’s eyes began to tear.

“Oh baby, you can cry. Cry all you want, but you need to hear this, hear it from me, okay? This wasn’t your dream. I know that. And you probably should have gone away for a bit to try to heal. I did this for you, for me, for your parents. I loved them too, you know. And it worked out in the end, didn’t it? Your parents…” He swallowed so he wouldn’t begin to get choked up. When he felt he had control over his emotions again he continued, “I count myself lucky every day I get to see you breathe, let alone walk and talk at the same time. Because each day you do those things is one more day that your parents didn’t. To me that’s living. You are living, and that is what your parents would want, Kace. They wanted you to live, to love, to hurt, to laugh, to cry. They wanted it all because they lived it all. Here look at this…”

Travis lifted the chair Kacey had been sitting in and flipped it over, reading, “X marks the spot. Here lies my treasure.”

He turned to look at her. “My treasure is right next to me.” A red arrow pointed directly to the other chair, and then, as if there was ever any doubt of who the message was talking about, a tiny picture of Kacey as a baby was taped to the bottom.

“Did you put this here?” Kacey choked.

“No.” Travis grinned. “Your parents did, or at least I’m assuming they did, considering it was like that when we bought the place. I’ve just kept it in pristine condition, which would have been easier if they had taken precaution to laminate the picture. No worries though. I’ve got stalker in my genes. I just swapped the photo out with another one from your baby album.”

“Which you got from…”

“Mom…”

“How does she even have those?”

Travis shrugged. She didn’t need to know his family had an entire shed full of the stuff Kacey refused to look through after her parents’ death. “We had it around.”

“This is…” Kacey lifted her hands in the air and huffed.