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“You. Didn’t. Know.” Ally emphasized every word. “What else happened after that?”
Travis looked at her, surprised. “It doesn’t happen very often. And sometimes I still don’t believe it, but I act on it if I dream of someone dying or getting hurt. Precognition isn’t accepted in mainstream science. It isn’t supposed to happen. There’s no proof that it even exists.”
“And there’s no proof that it doesn’t,” Ally shot back at him.
“You believe in it?”
Ally sat slowly back down in her chair. “You told me once that I was pragmatic on the surface and a dreamer inside. I write fantasy because I believe anything is possible, that there are still so many things in this world that we can’t explain. So I try very hard not to discount anything. I don’tnotbelieve in a lot of things. Things like precognition can’t be proved or disproved.” She sighed and gave him an earnest look. “But I can tell you that I absolutely believe in you. Tell me about it, Travis. Please.”
Ally’s understanding, compassionate look broke Travis. He buried his face in his hands and spoke. “Like I said, it really doesn’t happen that often. You’re right about what happened with my parents. Looking back, it’s hard not to regret that I didn’t pay attention, but I thought it was just a nightmare. Then I started having recurring dreams about Mia. The first time, I dreamed that she was being abused. She was still in school, and I flew there just to reassure myself that she was okay. But the dreams were correct. She was with an abusive boyfriend, the same asshole who tried to hurt her once he got out of prison after I put him there for abusing her. She was married to Max when he got out of prison and came after her the second time, and I had a dream that she was running away, Max and Kade found her, and her ex killed all of them.”
“So that’s why you hid her, why you didn’t tell Kade and Max? And you saved her from the abusive boyfriend when she was in school. Your dreams actually saved her twice,” Ally said breathlessly. “That’s incredible.”
“I never knew Kade’s accident was going to happen. I wish to hell I had known. But the night I woke you up, I’d just had a dream that he was in a hospital waiting room, distraught. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know what had happened. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a warning. The dreams just happen, and sometimes not nearly soon enough to prevent anything. And I had a vague dream about Asha that her ex-husband tried to kill her. That’s why I asked Tate to stay near her while his broken leg was healing. I had the same vague dream again the night before she was attacked by her ex-husband.”
“And Tate saved her life,” Ally finished, having already heard that story from Asha.
“Yes,” Travis admitted.
“So your family knows?”
“No,” Travis replied irritably. “What am I going to tell them, Ally? They’ll think I’m as crazy as my father.”
“No, they will not,” Ally answered, her voice infuriated. “They’d never think that. Travis, you have a gift, a gift that saved both Mia’s life and Asha’s. It’s nothing to be ashamed about.”
He looked up at her dubiously. “My father was certifiable, Ally. And it isn’t a gift. I think it’s a goddamn curse. It’s not predictable. It doesn’t always help—”
“It has helped. I understand your frustration over not having control over it. But it saved your sister and your sister-in-law. “
“It makes me different. Separate from everyone else. I’ve always hated it,” Travis growled. “But yeah, since it helped Mia and Asha, I’d rather have it and be different than to see either of them harmed.”
“It makes you special. And you allow it to separate you. Especially from your family,” Ally argued. “I’m not saying you have to tell the whole world, but the people who care about you will understand. I think they’d accept it better than you think.”
Would they really? Travis thought about what he imagined Ally’s reaction would be to him, and he’d been totally wrong. Was it possible that he was so afraid that people would think he was as crazy as his father that he was overreacting? “I’ll think about it,” he grumbled.
“Thank you,” Ally said, her face lighting up in a smile.
Travis felt like he’d just gotten sucker punched in the gut. He wanted to tell Ally how much it meant to him that she could accept him as he was, but he didn’t know how. “I’m glad you didn’t leave me,” he told her in a husky voice. Not exactly what he’d wanted to say, but he meant those words too. Really, he was more than glad. His whole world had crumbled when he thought he’d never see her again, that he’d never see her sweet smile directed at him in the future. Her take-charge attitude and naughty words this morning had nearly made him come unglued, and she was actually becoming a cock teaser, which he loved. As long as the only cock she teased was his. Ally was starting to recognize her own sexuality, and he found that budding boldness erotic as hell. The fact that she hadn’t rebuffed him because of his peculiar ability of precognition, and had in fact accepted it quite easily, had sealed her fate. She was his forever. She just hadn’t entirely realized it yet.
“You’re worth fighting for, Travis, even if it did test my boundaries a little.”
He hated the vulnerability in her voice. “Baby, there are no boundaries between us. You can cross any lines with me at any time. Especially like you did this morning,” he rasped, trying not to remember watching her go down on him with such rampant enthusiasm.
“I want you to trust me,” she said, slightly forlorn.
“I do. It’s me I didn’t trust. Forgive me?”
Travis watched as she pretended to contemplate his words for a minute, a period of time when he didn’t even breathe.
“Mmmm…I suppose. But it might take a little making up on your part.” She gave him a sultry smile.
“Name it,” he agreed eagerly, finally taking a breath. There was nothing he wasn’t prepared to give Ally.
She pulled a bound manuscript from its place beside her from her chair. “Read the next book and give me your honest opinion. I had time to finish it while I was on vacation.”
Travis hadn’t even noticed that she’d brought it into the office with her, probably because he’d been too busy noticing her cock torture device of a dress. He snatched it eagerly, excited that she’d finished the next book. “That’s not a make-up, sweetheart. That would be my pleasure.”
“Then can I have one more thing?” she asked hesitantly.