Rocky Mountain Freedom (9 page)

Ashley glanced between the two men as she regained her feet. “Hmm. Travis, come here.”

She tugged him forward, and Cassidy found himself standing inches away from Travis as Ashley looked them over intently.

Travis sighed. “You want to get unpacked before you start making mischief, sweetheart?”

Ashley shook her head. “Mischief first, last and always. You know that.”

Being this close to Travis made Cassidy nervous, and he shifted his feet to ease away slightly. “If you’re ready, I can show you where you’ll be staying.”

She didn’t seem to hear, she was too busy examining him and Travis. “I definitely need you two in shots together. God, you’ve got that angel/devil thing going on. Darkness and light, sinner and saint—”

“And we both know who the sinner is,” Travis drawled.

Her smile bloomed again, gaze darting between their faces. “I don’t know. Maybe Cassidy is one of the fallen-angel types. Looks like heaven and knows exactly how to get you to paradise.”

Travis laughed, the sound breaking over them like a waterfall. Encompassing them, ready to sweep them away. He’d shifted position, and now stood close enough his body heat brushed Cassidy.

Between Ashley’s provocative words and Travis being…Travis, Cassidy was walking a thin line of control. He took a couple of deliberate steps away and adjusted his hat. “I really need to get back to work.”

Travis’s cocky expression screamed an accusation. “We don’t want to keep you from anything important.”

Cassidy bit back the urge to call him an asshole.

A shadow crossed Ashley’s face as she stepped closer to Travis’s side, her intuitive gaze not missing anything. “Do you guys know each other?”

The urge to deny they had a past struck, but that would be not only insane, but hurt worse than the truth.

Travis waited for him to answer, one brow lifted as if in a dare.

Fuck him.
“We’ve met.” He ignored Travis completely and turned a smile on Ashley. “Anything else I can get for you?”

God, those expressive eyes of hers were going to kill him. Blue lasers that cut through him as if she could read into his soul.

The shrewd evaluation softened, though, as she nodded. “I’ll need a place to plug in the camper, if that’s okay. Karen thought you’d have the ability for me to set up. I have my, well, office as it were, all in there.”

She pointed back at the hippy-mobile.

Cassidy leapt at the change of focus. “I’ll find you an extension cord. You might want to tuck in behind the cookhouse.” He eyed the camper. “There’s a bright spot for your solar panels, and you won’t be interrupted as often by the trail-ride guests.”

She nodded. “Sounds great.”

“I’ll get right on it.” He pointed up the hill, speaking to Travis but not looking him in the eye. “Your cabin is the second on the left. Feel free to raid the storage shed for whatever you need to make it work for two. I can help with carrying in about an hour. The others all went into town this morning to buy supplies, but I expect they’ll be back in time for supper. I’ll introduce you then.”

“No problem.” Travis managed to put his smirk into two words.

Stick to the basics. Cassidy ignored the desire to smack Travis a good one, instead smiling at Ashley who seemed to be excited about living in the bush for a while. “The ladies’ shower house isn’t working yet, but there’s not a lot of people around. Until it’s ready, we’ll make up a warning sign to hang on the men’s door when you or the other women need to clean up.”

“Thanks.” Ashley tucked a strand of hair behind one ear a moment before Travis captured her fingers and pulled her with him up the path. “I’ll talk to you later about the pictures,” she called over her shoulder.

“Deal.”

Cassidy couldn’t help it. He watched them. Ashley glanced back once and gave him a smile that warmed him far more than he had a right, not when she was with another guy.

Not when she was with Travis.

The bastard never looked back. Cassidy felt like kicking his own ass for giving a damn.

Chapter Six

Travis opened the door then followed her into the tiny cabin. His head full of memories, he was far more focused on the shock of discovering Cassidy than the actual living space.

Ashley dropped onto the teeny single-person bed, the springs squeaking ominously. “You sure you want me in here with you? I might have more room in my van.”

Other than the bed, there was also a dresser and a small desk with a chair. A row of hooks along one wall, a towel rack under the window. “It won’t be tough to keep the place clean.”

He stared out the window, catching a glimpse of Cassidy heading in the opposite direction. What a mixed-up, fucked-up situation.

When he turned back, Ashley had ditched her sandals and wiggled onto the bed. She leaned on the wall and was observing him with an all-too-knowing look.

Fuck. “What?”

She raised a brow. “Snapping at me already. That’s interesting.”

“I didn’t snap—” Her brow went even higher, and Travis gave up. “Don’t pull that goddamn Vulcan face on me. Yes, I snapped. No, it’s nothing bad. And you’re sleeping in my bed, not your van, got it?”

A smile played about her lips as she wrapped her arms around her knees. “Cassidy’s hot.”

“For fuck’s sake.” She was merciless. Travis grabbed the chair from by the desk and hauled it around so he could collapse onto it. “Start the damn questions because I know you’re about to burst over there.”

She grinned. “All your secrets belong to
meeee
.”

Almost true.
“Cassidy and I met a couple years ago. He was working in the Rocky area, and we fell into doing stuff together. I thought he was about my best friend. Then last summer something happened and he took off, and I hadn’t heard from him since.”

“That was before we met then?”

Travis nodded.

Ashley frowned. “How come you didn’t know he was working here? I thought Karen gave you all the employee information and that kind of stuff.”

Travis could have kicked himself. “She did. Only the first page listed everyone by their initials, and I didn’t bother to go through the rest of the pages before we got here. His last name is Jones—not like that would set off any warning bells.”

“And it is a warning?” Ashley wiggled to the edge of the bed, her expression all earnest and concerned. “Before he took off, did you guys have a fight or something?”

The words
or something
stuck in his throat.

Sudden exhaustion hit like a two-by-four, carrying with it the recollection of pain. Travis stared into space and fought the rush of memories, and the confusion and the longings he had no right to have.

A soft stroke across his cheek made him glance into her dreamy eyes. “You’re drifting, Travis Coleman. You gonna tell me what’s got you all tangled into a knot? I won’t tease if you don’t want to share.”

Travis laughed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you let up on a secret? Bullshit. You’re like a dog worrying at a bone.”

“I can restrain myself if needed,” she insisted. She tugged him onto the bed and crawled over him, cuddling in tight and draping her arms around his shoulders until she was a human blanket. “I’m a good listener if you need one.”

Travis slid his hands onto her hips, stoking his thumbs over the soft stretch of bare skin at the waistline where her shirt had ridden up. He touched their lips together lightly, kissing her because he could. Ashley softened in his arms like always, leaning against him as if offering reassurance.

He pulled back far enough to watch her face as he spoke. He hated to confess, but maybe it was about time to give a little. There was no way he’d survive the summer without her support. “I hit on him.”

Her eyes widened. Not shock—more like delight. Then amazingly, a flush stole across her cheeks.

Ashley blushing? Well, there was a miracle.

“You going to say anything?” he asked.

Ashley swallowed. “Well, first off, I’m trying not to be distracted by the mental images of my angel and devil getting naked together, because holy
shit
, would that be hot.”

Travis’s body tightened involuntarily.

Her smile twisted up into self-mockery. “I’m a little embarrassed I flirted with him when he’s gay. No wonder he looked so uncomfortable.”

“Sweetheart, he totally looked uncomfortable because he wanted in your pants,” Travis reassured her. “Trust me, the guy likes women just fine.”

Her clever fingers were tangled in the hair at the back of his neck. “But you hit on him, which tells me you’ve got some explaining to do.”

“Fuck.” Travis took a deep breath. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“You wish,” Ashley teased.

“God, you have such a smart mouth.” Travis accepted her caresses and the knowing expression in her eyes. Might as well leap all the way in. “I don’t get turned on by a lot of guys, but he does it for me. And when you mix it up with fighting, I kind of lost my head.”

She nodded slowly. “Fighting… So he knows?”

Travis gave in and gave up. “He knows I fight. He wasn’t sure why.”

“Do
you
know why?” The question whispered out. She was damn near holding her breath as if unwilling to interrupt him and break the spell.

He’d never come straight out and admitted it. Faced his needs, and the twist it gave him. But something called right now, and he had to admit that Ashley could probably understand part of his desire better than anyone.

He spoke softly, stroking her body as if drawing courage from the contact. “I like the pain. I crave it at times. It’s not only a physical need, but mental. Somewhere in the mist that crawls over me when I’m getting beat on, peace comes. It’s…more than pleasure, it’s like the most focused mental clarity in the middle of what should be killing me.”

“I knew about the pain part,” she admitted, “but the rest is new. You like it when control is out of your hands?”

Travis shook his head. “That’s the strange thing. I don’t think so. It’s not like how it turns you on when I order you around or tie you up. I still want to be in charge, which is why fighting works so well.”

She kissed his cheek. His jaw. Nuzzled her face against his and gave him comfort. “You are such a high-maintenance boyfriend,” she teased. “Can’t just get off on tying me up and fucking me blind. No, you need to be bossy and pick exactly how hard you get beat.”

Her words made him smile. “Variety makes the world go round.”

Ashley caught him in an enormous hug. “Damn right, and don’t you forget it.” She pulled back and stared at him intently. “You’re one hot number, Travis Coleman. Don’t you go thinking there’s anything wrong with looking for what you need.”

Confusion washed over him again as she threw him for a loop. “I thought you hated my fighting.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be an idiot. I hated that you were getting into situations where you could get seriously hurt. If this is something you get off on, find a safe way to meet the need. Like with someone who will stop when you’ve had enough, especially if you aren’t able to tell them when you’ve reached that point.”

He’d done too much looking into it to have much hope. “If you’re thinking about some fancy sex club you’ve read about, should I remind you I live in a small town in the backwoods of nowhere? Maybe down in California there’s a place on every corner where they hand out every kink in the book, but I’ve got what I got—a fight club or a bar. There’s no masters or slaves, or whatever the fuck they call themselves.”

Ashley stepped off him, straightening her skirt and blouse as she slipped her sandals back on. “You’re pretty tied up in labels for a redneck country boy, you know that? Use a little imagination. If you like pain I can use a crop on your ass, and I won’t expect you to call me sir or anything.”

He caught her hand and kissed her knuckles, fighting his laughter. “The idea of you whipping me doesn’t do it for me. I could tie you up with one hand and stop you at any time.”

“So it is about control?”

Travis paused to really consider the question.

Then the minx continued, her eyes bright with mischief again. “What about Cassidy whipping you? That idea sound any better?”

“
Fuck
.” Instant hard-on.

Her grin mocked him. “Well then, there’s part of your answer. And if you’re wondering? There’s another area I don’t give a damn about labeling. If it’s pleasure, I’m all for it. I have no issue watching you get it on with Cassidy, or helping you get it on with Cassidy. Or getting it on with you while Cassidy whips your ass. Or…”

He caught her against him and kissed her silent before he got overwhelmed with ideas triggered by her words.

She dug her fingers into his hair and gave back as good as she got. Only the fact they had to settle in stopped him from taking her right there on the skinny single mattress.

Sharing had been amazingly freeing even as he wondered where all this honesty was going to take them—and just how fucked he was that the idea of Cassidy standing over him with a crop made him shiver.