Fix Her Up (Hot & Hammered #1)(86)

Kelvin crouched down next to Madison and clapped, finally giving the girl the push she needed to join in. Within seconds, the little girl was laughing, her eyes wide as Georgie picked up speed.

Christ. Travis didn’t know what to make of the fiery sensation in his chest. It didn’t take a huge leap of imagination to paint Georgie, Kelvin, and the child as a family. One that loved each other so much, they couldn’t help but break into spontaneous acts of cuteness wherever they went. The dumbstruck way the other man was looking at Georgie made Travis want to knock him on his ass, even though he fully understood. Who wouldn’t look at her like she was a fucking angel? That’s exactly what she was in that moment. Every moment. A being sent straight from the clouds.

God, he was cold. Felt like a beggar watching a family eat Thanksgiving dinner through a picture window. It was all so wholesome. Exactly what Georgie deserved. Exactly what she wanted.

Exactly what he could never give her. Someone else would, though.

Travis was so focused on the chaos in his stomach, he didn’t notice Kelvin stand and make his way over. “Georgie is magnificent. You’re a lucky man.”

“Thank you,” Travis managed, some honesty slipping free without his permission. “I don’t know what the hell she’s doing with me.”

Kelvin chuckled, but his expression was thoughtful. “I didn’t believe my team when they suggested you’d changed, but part of my success comes from being a good judge of character. I don’t think a woman like her could be wrong about someone.” He paused. “Still, I can’t make an assessment on that alone. Why do you want this job, Travis?”

The last couple weeks came back to him in a rush of color and sound. Georgie was front and center of every memory. Throwing food at his head, tossing him baseballs in the middle of a rainstorm, sitting on her kitchen counter and telling him he was more than the sport. Somewhere along the line, he’d started to believe her, hadn’t he?

“If you’d asked me that a month ago, I’m not sure what I would have told you. The truth would have been that I wanted the job so I wouldn’t be a failure. I grew up surrounded by doubt and I didn’t want to fulfill it. When the league dropped me, I thought I’d earned that doubt. Become someone who deserved it.” He locked eyes with Georgie and her presence invaded him, rocked him full of confidence. “It’s different now. I want the job because I love baseball and I would work damn hard. I would never take the opportunity for granted. But whether you see fit to make me the voice of the Bombers or not, I’m not a failure. I wouldn’t fail you, either.”

The men stood in silence for long moments before Kelvin finally spoke. “I don’t think you will.” They shook hands. “Welcome to the Bombers, Travis Ford.”





Chapter Twenty-Five


Travis wrapped his arms around her and they stumbled into the limousine, landing in a tangle of limbs on the plush leather backseat. “You got the job, Travis,” Georgie squealed, laying kisses all over his face. “You did it.”

“No,” he said, taking her mouth in a kiss that tasted like lust, wonder. “We did it.”

Georgie pulled back to study him, running her fingers through his hair, down his cheeks, completely incapable of keeping her heart out of her eyes. As thrilled as she was over Travis winning the contract, she didn’t want to think in terms of the end yet. Panic crept into her now, reality raining down on her head. In a roundabout way, she’d found the place she wanted among her family and peers. Now Travis was the new voice of the Bombers and there was nothing stopping them from disembarking this ride they’d gone on together.

An intense need to delay the inevitable stole over her. “I want you,” she whispered, scrubbing her hands down his stomach, fingers curling in his waistband. Their exhales tumbled out and collided. The hand Travis wrapped around the back of her neck was just the right amount of tight. Close as they were, she was surrounded in the scent she craved. Travis’s aftershave traveled toward her on the cool air-conditioning and landed on her tongue. “I need you.”

With a groan, Travis undid his belt and let the buckle sag, knowing without looking down that his rock-hard cock was on display, plumping the waistband of his briefs. “This what you want?”

Georgie shivered. “Yes.”

“Cold, baby girl?”

Even in the dark interior of the limousine, it was impossible to miss the concern in his eyes. Not just for her comfort, but . . . something else. Was it too much to hope that the worry on his face was over tonight being the end?

“Get the dress off. I’ll keep you warm.” He loosened his tie and discarded it on the floor. Starting on his shirt buttons, his expression turning hungry. A little wild. “I said get it off.”

Georgie remained frozen in the headlights of his intensity. His sudden urgency. And her need turned wild to match Travis’s as he pulled her to the floor, turning her to face the leather backseat on her knees. “You want to leave it on? Fine. Bend forward for me,” he rasped at the top of her head. “Now.”

Heat dropped in her belly, loosening her limbs, electricity climbing lazily up her back to cradle her skull. Georgie flattened her hands on the wide seat, gasping when Travis shoved her knees apart with a guttural sound. She felt him lean back and peruse her, making Georgie’s neck heat, moisture gathering at the juncture of her thighs. The skirt of her dress was lifted inch by slow, painstaking inch, where it remained settled around her waist. Oh my God. Oh yeah, this was . . . different. Anticipation crackled. More was coming. More than usual. Without a discussion, she knew they wanted to make this last time between them count. Don’t think about it being over.