Kylie knew that Jessie had a hard time interacting with their father's latest girlfriend even though they lived under the same roof. As far as Kylie was concerned, Melissa was a keeper and as long as she made Joe happy, she hoped he would eventually settle down for good with this one. But Jessie wasn't keen on the idea of sharing their father's love with anyone else, especially another girlfriend.

"You can come down." Kylie loved when her sister visited. They didn't get to spend nearly enough time together as it was.

With Jessie finishing up her last year of college, working for some big technology company in Dallas, she knew she had to jump at every available opportunity because her sister was a busy woman. Unless Jessie decided to move south, which Kylie didn't see happening anytime soon, she wasn't going to get to spend much time with her in the near future.

"Are you serious?" Jessie sounded relieved and quite sad all at the same time.

"Of course I am," Kylie replied. "When are you coming?"

"I've got a week of vacation, and I sure could use some time away. So, if it's cool with you, I'll see you the first week of June?"

"Wow, I thought you meant soon. That's a ways away."

"I know, but I've got to wrap up a couple of things before I take off. I've got the time scheduled."

"Well, you know you're welcome anytime. I can't wait to see you, Jess."

"Thanks, Ky."

"Sure thing, sweetie. Call me when you're on your way down so I know to expect you."

With that, Kylie hung up from her sister, setting her cell phone on the seat beside her and once again staring down at her toes. She grabbed the bottle of clear polish and gave each toe a once over as she replayed the conversation with her sister over again.

Why had she sounded so sad? Surely it wasn't because Joe was gone because he was an airline pilot, it's what he did. He was gone more than he was home, and this wouldn't have been the first time Jessie was home alone with Melissa. The woman had lived with Kylie's father for the better part of the last six months. Wait, no. Make that a year. Wow. They'd been living together for almost a year now. That had to be some sort of record for her dad at least since Kylie's mom left.

"You look like a country song."

The deep tenor of that particular voice got her back up as soon as she recognized it, and Kylie looked up to see the voice's owner walking up the path to her front porch. Or did they consider that swaggering? Either way, she didn't want to keep looking at the way the man rocked a pair of jeans and boots. She was supposed to be pissed off at him.

It was a true testament to how far lost she was to her own thoughts that she hadn't even heard his truck pull up. Kylie considered questioning why he was there, but then thought better of it. She had absolutely no desire to talk to him. Not today, not tomorrow. Not ever. So it didn't matter what prompted him to waltz back up to her doorstep. In a minute, he was going to get up close and personal with her front door.

Glancing down at her toes to see if they were dry enough to allow her to walk without ruining what she'd spent the last thirty minutes on, Kylie knew she was going to take a chance if she did. Damn that man.

Why did he have to show up and ruin a perfectly good pedicure?

Daring to look up at Gage, Kylie met his penetrating gaze and refused to look away although the ache in her heart throbbed anew. "Why are you here?"

"To talk?"

"I'm pretty sure your actions speak louder than your words, Mr. Matthews. I have nothing more to say to you."

One would've thought that her anger would have subsided because she'd had two and a half weeks to cool off. And that was after the solid week she'd spent taking her anger out on the cabinet she'd been restoring in her spare time. Needless to say, the cabinet wasn't being restored anymore it was now in pieces. On the floor of her garage.

But, remembering the incident and now seeing the man who was personally responsible for turning her world upside down only intensified the deep, black rage she'd been consumed with.

For a solid decade, Kylie had worked to banish all thoughts of Travis Walker from her heart and her mind, and for the last half, she had to think she'd done fairly well. In fact, even the worst of her lonely nights had been getting better. However, rather than the memories living in that tiny box collecting dust in the far recesses of her brain, Travis was now front and center in her mind. Seeing him, even briefly, caused her heart to ache all over again.

Based on his reaction to seeing her, Kylie was sure Travis hadn't been through the traumatizing hell that she had when he walked out of her life without looking back. It hadn't been as easy for her to get over him as it apparently was for him to get over her. That knowledge didn't make the ache ease.

Knowing her mental health was on the line, Kylie had given herself over to the heartache that returned full force for the first few days after the debacle in Coyote Ridge. She had screamed and cried and stomped through the house, refusing to give in to the sadness, but rather embracing the anger. Seeing Travis face to face, she felt as though not a single day had passed, and walking away from him again without so much as two words between them was just as devastating as the last time. The only difference... she was the one doing the walking this time.

Ten years ago, she might've worried that her heart was too fragile to handle that sort of trauma. However, somewhere along the way, the scar tissue had hardened, encasing all of the scattered pieces and making her whole again. Maybe not entirely, but considerably better off than before.

That didn't mean seeing him was easy. Far from it.

Travis looked the same, only a decade older, and as much as she didn't want to admit it, the years had been kind to him. The only difference she had noted was that she didn't witness the quick, easy going smile she remembered. Even without that seductive tilt of his lips and crinkle at the corner of his eyes, he was just as freakishly handsome as she remembered. Probably more so.

There had been a guardian angel present that day though. His name was Beau Bennett.

Gage was the one to drop her in the middle of hell, but Beau a close friend of Travis' brother from what he told her had insisted on getting her out of there. He seemed just as angry on her behalf, and that had helped ease some of the pain for the interminably long drive back to her house in Killeen.

Beau was cute and surprisingly funny, and she got the impression he was trying to make her smile. Refusing to let anyone else see her fall apart, Kylie had pasted on a smile, laughed when appropriate and tried to enjoy herself because she had known even then that it was only a matter of time.

It was after he dropped her at the house, insisting on walking her to her door, that all of the memories from so long ago came flooding back in a rush. Wave upon wave of anger and pain had battered her, knocking her down and dragging her under until she wasn't sure she could breathe anymore.

Still, nearly three weeks later, the lingering effects of the stunt Gage had pulled still irked her. Sort of like a month long hangover and no amount of aspirin was going to help it either.

But now, seeing him standing on the bottom step of her front porch, she was reminded of exactly who had brought the long buried misery to her doorstep all these years later. So if he was here to talk, she was pretty sure she couldn't emotionally handle any more conversations with him.

"I'm sorry," Gage said, his tone reflecting what sounded like remorse.

Sorry? His timing sucked.

"I bet," Kylie retorted snidely. It was a little late to apologize in her opinion.

"Kylie, I really am sorry "

Kylie was pretty sure he could stand there all day and say the words, and she still wouldn't feel a thing for this man. The outer layer of ice that had formed around her heart and her soul was ten inches thick at this point. As far as she was concerned, he could go to Wait. Actually, she did have one question...

"Why'd you do it?"

The question had burned on the tip of her tongue ever since she climbed into Beau Bennett's kickass truck and listened to Florida Georgia Line stomp out a cool country beat on the way home.

"Do what?"

Lord, please grant me patience. Please don't let me lose it right here on this man.

"Seriously, Gage? You show up at my house, telling me you want to talk and you ask me that?" Kylie stared up at him, anger and frustration flowing like a raging river threatening to spill over its banks.

She wasn't sure she'd felt this much resentment for one person in all of her life. Not even Travis after he walked out with the flimsiest of breakup excuses she'd ever had the pleasure of receiving. At least he hadn't been dishonest about it. She might not have liked that he did walk away, but he had the decency to tell her, rather than blindsiding her the way Gage had.

Propping himself on the railing that outlined her porch, Gage sat at an angle, his hands resting on one leg as he stared out at the yard, or maybe something beyond that only he could see, Kylie wasn't sure.

She wasn't going to prompt him to talk. If he had something to say, she was sure he would say it. Glancing down at her toes she figured he had about three minutes tops and then she was going back in the house and calling it a night. She didn't care if it was Kylie thumbed her phone to remove the screen saver three o'clock in the afternoon.

"I like you," he said, his voice almost too low to hear.

Wow. Was he kidding?

"You've got a funny way of showing it." Kylie didn't know what else to say to that. She wasn't even sure how to interpret that statement.

They'd known each other for two months before he brought her peaceful little world crashing in on her, and honestly, she had thought they were getting along nicely. They'd gone to dinner a few times, shared some laughs, and even a few kisses that had turned her knees into Play-Doh. But none of that mattered much when the person you trusted throws a curveball at you... And aims straight for your face.

When the silence got to be too much, Kylie picked up her iced tea and her nail polish and stood to go inside. She didn't have the restraint to sit out here and wait for him to talk. As far as she was concerned, Gage couldn't say anything to right the wrong as it was. There was no reason to listen to him try.

"Well, I've got things to do, so you're welcome to go try to sell sorry somewhere else," Kylie said through clenched teeth as she moved to the door.

Just before she reached the knob on the screen door, Gage's strong fingers wrapped around her arm and damn it all to hell, the heat in his touch was like an electric current plugged directly into her vein. On instinct, she jerked away from him and whirled around until they were face to face, spilling tea down the front of her shirt in the process, but she ignored it.

With as much of a glare as she could muster, Kylie met Gage's knowing brown eyes.

"I shouldn't have done it, Kylie. I know that now. I wish I had known it then."

"You can honestly stand there and tell me that you had no idea that what you were doing was wrong on so many levels? I'm not even sure you are who you say you are. Hell, maybe your name isn't really Gage Matthews."

"It's actually Jason."

Kylie jerked, her attention focused directly on his face. "You lied to me about your name?"

"My full name is Jason Gage Matthews. I go by Gage."

"Is your birthday June twenty fourth?" Kylie had no idea why she asked that, but she knew she'd eventually catch him in another lie.

"Yes. Born in nineteen eighty."

Kylie stared up at him, letting the memories of their conversations flood her. Based on the stories he told, he was a police officer and had gone to the academy fresh out of high school. His parents died when he was a teenager.

"How did your parents die?" she questioned him and the instant the faint sadness clouded his eyes, she regretted the question.

"They died in a car crash," he said, his voice low and full of pain. "I was fourteen years old. They were coming back from one of my dad's business trips in Houston. He fell asleep behind the wheel."

Kylie felt like a complete and total jerk. That's the same story he'd told her the first time, and just like then, her heart broke for the little boy who lost his parents so tragically.

"My grandparents took me in, raised me until I graduated from high school. I went to the police academy as soon as they'd let me in. I've been undercover for the last few years, working on various task forces. Would you like me to give you a phone number so you can verify that?" Gage grabbed the back of his neck with both hands and turned away from her, pacing several feet away and then back.

Kylie forced herself to keep her composure. She had every right to question him. He'd obviously had ulterior motives when he showed up at her doorstep. She didn't trust him. She had no reason to.

"You lied about who you were and why you were here, Gage."

"Not true."

When he took a step closer, she took one step back. Her butt hit the screen door, and she realized she had nowhere to go. This wasn't going to go well, she could feel it. Even as angry as she was, the pained look in his eyes still managed to steal an ounce of her resistance. "No?" It was the only word she could come up with.

"No. I hired you to renovate my house."

"Is that right? So you're telling me that it was just a coincidence that we both happen to know Travis Walker?" The cold chill of the tea against her skin wasn't doing a damn thing to lessen the sweltering heat of anger forming on her insides. Heat infused her face as the anger bubbled hotter, threatening to overflow and cause a scorching stain on the wood at her feet.

"How do you know Travis anyway? It's obvious the two of you are friends. Or were anyway," she said, forcing the angry tears to stay locked up behind her eyes. She could not afford for this man to see her cry. He wouldn't understand that they weren't sad tears.

"We're not friends," Gage answered quickly.

"Not friends. So what? Family?"

"No," Gage said sadly, thrusting his hands through his hair as he turned away from her. "I've known him most of my life."

"But you're not friends? Jeezus, Gage, could you just answer the damn question?" Kylie was hovering on the edge of murderous rage, the thoughts from that day flooding back as Gage seemingly tried to explain in as few words as possible how this had all come about.

"His brother is one of my friends," Gage answered, turning back toward her and locking her in place with his dark brown eyes. "What about you, Kylie? What happened between you and Travis?" he asked, resuming his place in front of her so that she was once again trapped between his towering frame and the screen door. His nearness caused Kylie to lose her train of thought.

"What?" He was not the one who should be asking questions here. As far as she was concerned, Gage Matthews should be groveling at her feet after what he did.

"What happened? The two of you are still married. Why is that?"

"It's none of your damn business," she argued, seriously tempted to launch what was left of the iced tea right in his face. Twisting out from between him and the door, Kylie managed to escape inside. She didn't have time to shut the door before Gage was right behind her.

"Damn it, Kylie. Talk to me." Gage's tone was sharp, and it only pissed her off more.

Kylie snapped.

Turning to face him, she gave in to the urge and threw the rest of the tea right in his too handsome face, small chips of ice and amber liquid raining down on him while her body vibrated with the strength of her rage. If she had expected satisfaction from such a juvenile act, well, she got it. The stunned look on Gage's face made her heart flutter wildly, but she wasn't even close to being able to smile.

She felt her face heat further, knew she was about to scream. "Fuck you, Gage. I don't owe you a damn thing. If you want the story, why don't you talk to Travis? You obviously know him much better than I do. And I have nothing left to say to either one of you."

Doing her best not to throw the glass at him as well, Kylie turned abruptly, heading to the kitchen before slamming her glass and the bottle of nail polish on the granite countertop before taking a deep breath. She was lucky neither shattered beneath the jarring impact. Her hands were shaking, her breaths were ragged and uneven and those damn tears she had fought to hold in had spilled free, running down her face.

The next thing Kylie knew, she was being pulled around, her body coming up flush against Gage's hard chest seconds before he crushed his mouth to hers. Her brain told her to fight him off, to push him away because she didn't want this, but her traitorous body ached in violent need of what he was offering.

Wet shirt met wet shirt, hot skin melded together as the desperation won out, both of them eagerly seeking what the other was suddenly giving. Kylie thrust her fingers in Gage's soft hair, knocking his Stetson off in the process as she held him close, their tongues licking and tasting.

So good. Jeezus, the man could kiss. Hot, sensual. There was a thesaurus full of adjectives that came to mind describing how incredible Gage's mouth felt against hers, but she pushed all thought from her brain. For nearly three weeks she'd been ruled by emotion and right now, Kylie was going to be led by sensation.

Nothing more, nothing less.

When all was said and done, she was still kicking him to the curb.

Chapter Six.

It was a damn good thing Gage had waited until the massive hangover from three days earlier had subsided. He wasn't sure he could've faced this angry side of Kylie without firing on all cylinders.