Page 273

“I’ve known for a while now. He saved my life, too. Back when I was on active duty, Travis warned me not to volunteer for any missions that I wasn’t actually assigned to be on. I thought he was crazy. He knew very little about what I was doing. Nobody did, and they still don’t. It’s not something I can really talk about. All I can really say is that his warning made me hesitate when another pilot got sick and someone needed to take his place. I hesitated because of what Travis told me, because I wasn’t assigned to it. And because I took a fraction of a second to think about what Travis said, somebody else spoke up before me and took the sick guy’s place.” He hesitated for a moment before adding solemnly, “Everyone on that mission died, Ally. When he told me about his dream about Asha, I took him seriously, and was more than happy to stay close to her. I didn’t doubt that she was in some kind of danger if Travis had dreamed about it.” Tate took her trembling hand in his. “I’m sorry about your house, Ally. But I’m glad you’re here.” He stroked her fingers lightly. “Travis is looking for you. He’s worried.”
“He has another date,” Ally said painfully, her whole world still rocking from shock.
“The woman who bought him was my sister, Chloe, who happens to be engaged. She wanted to donate anyway, so she said she’d try to get here in time to bid on Travis since she wouldn’t have to spend the evening with him. She won’t stay long since she hates these kinds of functions. She hasn’t seen him in a while and he cares about her like a sister. She didn’t know about you, Ally. I didn’t mention you. I just told her that Travis was helping out a friend and wasn’t thrilled about taking his place. She said if she got here in time she’d do it. I never got a chance to tell her that you’d probably be bidding on him, too. It’s not his fault. And he’d never do that to you. I’ve known Travis since college, and he’s never cared about a woman the way he cares about you. He’s frantic right now because he can’t find you.”
Tears of relief rolled down Ally’s cheeks, and she started openly sobbing. Tate reached for her and put his arms around her shoulders, comforting her as she wept.
“You’ll get another house, Ally. Everything will be okay,” he crooned softly to her. “I know this is all a lot to take in, and you’ve lost everything, but it can all be replaced. You’re still alive, and that’s all that matters.”
“It’s just a house, and I didn’t lose everything I care about. I still have Travis.” She sniffled against his shoulder. The house was a shock, as was the fact that she could have very well been dead right now. What were the chances of a sinkhole opening underneath her house? She would have been home, probably already in bed. It was a pretty eerie feeling. But knowing Travis hadn’t betrayed her was all she cared about right now. Her tears were now tears of relief rather than sorrow.
“I don’t think you could lose Travis even if you tried,” Tate said with a chuckle. “He’s tearing the ballroom apart, looking for you.”
Ally pulled back and gave Tate a weak smile. “Go tell him you found me. I’ll be in. I just need a few minutes. I’m kind of a mess.”
Tate got up and grinned at her wickedly. “I’ll tell him we just finished a rendezvous in the dark.”
“I wouldn’t,” Ally warned Tate.
“I would. I’ve never seen Travis like this before. It’s highly entertaining,” Tate retorted mischievously, whistling softly as he walked away.
Ally shook her head, wondering if Tate was suicidal as she watched him saunter away. Just then, her cell phone rang again.
Travis was frantic, ready to turn the ballroom upside down, when Tate wandered over to him, motioning with his thumb toward the door that led outside as he approached. “She’s outside by the hot springs. She said she needed a few minutes.”
What the hell? Why had she gone outside? Travis frowned at Tate, but didn’t say a word as he started striding toward the door, but he didn’t make it very far before Tate snagged his biceps with an iron grip.
“You need to calm down, Trav. Something bad happened to her tonight. Her house was destroyed, burned to the ground. She’s upset,” Tate said solemnly.
Tate’s words hit Travis like a ton of bricks. “It really happened. Fuck!” His big body shuddered as he realized that his dream really had been precognitive, and Ally would most likely be dead had he not brought her to Colorado. Not that he would have taken any chances anyway, but it was an eerie and terrifying feeling, one that sent a cold chill down his spine. He yanked his arm out of Tate’s grip and sprinted for the door, his heart thundering in his chest.
She’s okay. She’s okay.
Rationally, he knew that she was alive. Tate had just seen her. Still, he needed to see her beautiful face with his own eyes. And she needed him. He could sense it.
He spotted her standing beside the hot springs, just holding her phone in her hand and staring at the water. Jesus! She looked so lost and alone, and so damn vulnerable, her arms wrapped around her upper body, her face streaked with dark lines. She’d obviously been crying and her makeup and mascara outlined the marks of her tears. But she’d never looked more beautiful because she was standing right there, still alive and breathing.
She’s mine. She was always supposed to be mine.
Travis had never been more certain of anything in his entire life. He wasn’t the type of man who believed in fate, always believing that everyone made their own destiny. Now, he didn’t believe that. Not when it came to Ally. There had really only ever been her, and he’d nearly lost her.
“Ally,” he said hoarsely as he walked to her slowly, opening his arms as she turned at the sound of his voice. She flung her whole body toward him, and he closed his eyes as he folded her tightly into his embrace. “Everything will be okay, sweetheart. I’ll make everything right again.” He stroked his hand over her hair, holding her head tightly against his shoulder. “All that matters is that you’re okay. Anything else, including the house, can be replaced.”
“Tate told you?” Ally asked softly.
“Yeah.”
“You knew it was going to happen, didn’t you? That’s why you wanted me to come with you? It didn’t have anything to do with avoiding the auction. You were trying to save me.”
“I had the same dream every time, but it was so fucking vague. I recognized the resort and the ballroom when I got a call that you had—” Travis had to force the word out his mouth in a guttural tone as he finished, “died. I didn’t know how or why. I didn’t know when. The only thing that made sense was that if something was going to happen, it was going to occur while I was in Colorado.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked in a confused voice.
“Christ, Ally. I wasn’t even sure anything was going to happen. And I couldn’t stand to even think about it, much less talk about it. I didn’t want to scare you for no reason. But I was going to make damn sure you were in Colorado with me, even if I had to kidnap you.”
“You wouldn’t,” she exclaimed, pulling back to look at his face. “And I might have been married.”
Travis gripped the hands on her back into tight fists. It was past time that he stopped bullshitting himself and everyone else. “You wouldn’t have married him. I would have done whatever I needed to do to make sure you didn’t get married.” He’d finally said it, admitted it to himself. It didn’t matter how much he wanted to think he’d let her be happy with another man. It simply wouldn’t have happened. He wanted her too much, needed her too much. He would have thrown her over his shoulder at the wedding if necessary and taken her away. “I couldn’t have waited much longer. I would have done everything in my power to make you mine.” His conviction that she belonged with him had been too strong, too powerful to ignore. The closer her wedding had gotten, the more desperate he had felt. There was no damn way he’d have let her say “I do” to another man without first fighting with everything he had to make her belong to him. Maybe he’d have fought with himself right up until the last moment, but he had no doubt how things would have ended, and she wouldn’t have ended up married to someone else. He would have fought dirty if he’d had to, and he was perfectly capable of doing just that. “Hell, and I thought Sutherland was crazy for the plan he’s making up with Tate’s help. I would have done something just as crazy or worse.”