Compromise Me (Book Two of the Kirkland Family)

Compromise Me: Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Hannah was the first to compose herself, pasting on a smile and walking over to Travis with a kiss on his cheek and, "Nice to see you again, Travis," and a hug for Josie, whispering in her ear, "Liar, liar, pants on fire," and then pulling the giggling, gawking twins into the apartment behind her.

Next came Jak with a palm slap for Travis -- "Hey, dude." -- and a quick hug for Josie -- "Hey, sis...got anything to eat?" -- and followed his sisters and mother, heading straight for Josie's kitchen.

Josie turned to her dad next. The elevator kept trying to close, but Justin Kirkland was frozen, furious, right there in the threshold, his boots beaten by the repeating sliding doors. Josie said, "Hi, daddy," and Travis removed his hand from Josie's waist and said, "Mr. Kirkland," and her dad started toward him, long strides eating the distance quickly.

Travis rolled back his shoulders, preparing for it, but Hannah reached out right then, grabbing her husband -- "No, you don't, Jack." -- and yanked him into the apartment with her. She said to Josie, "Take your time, Honey," and closed the door.

Josie swallowed and turned to Travis. "Um...."

He let out a long, slow breath. "Okay...yeah...."

She laughed shortly and fell back against the door. “Sorry about that,” she said. "I forgot they were coming in today because they're leaving for Hawaii tomorrow, and..."

Travis brought his hand up to her cheek, and then he let out another long breath and dropped his hand to his side. "Damn, Josie. What happens now?"

"I go in and face my family."

"What happens now between us?"

She bit down on her lower lip. “What do you want to happen?”

“Jesus, I don’t even know,” he said. “Now that I’ve kissed you, I can’t even tell you why I did that. What do you want, Josie?”

She pushed away from the door, upset and sad because he did kiss her, and he still couldn't own up to the fact that there was something driving them together. She had love on her side. What did he have?

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head, answering his question and her own silent one. "Nothing has changed. We can’t even be terrible friends. You shouldn’t have come back, Travis. You shouldn’t have kissed me."

He frowned. "You enjoyed it--"

"Yes," she said, stopping him. "Yes, I did, immensely. I’ve been dreaming about such a kiss forever, but I have think about your son. I know he's the reason you're still single. I know you're worried about how Arielle's marriage to Sam might affect him, even though they live together now and Tristan loves Sam. You don't want him to feel like his daddy doesn't want him."

He stepped back and stared at her. "Arielle tell you that?"