Stacked Up: Worth the Fight Series by Sidney Halston Read Free Book Online Page A

know. I’m sorry.”
    “I’m not.” He kissed her forehead first, and then the tip of her nose. “It needed to be you. I’ve been doin’ all the work for the last year. Even though you started the kiss the other night, you pushed me away at the end. You needed to come to me. And now you have, and I want to take you back to my place. You ready for that?”
    “You talk too much,” she said with a smile. “Take me to your place before I change my mind, cowboy.”
    “Well, hell, darlin’, don’t want you to feel obligated. There’s no pressure. We can just stay and play pool.” He said it without even a hint of disappointment.
    “Sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I want it. I want you to take me home and make love to me,” she confessed bravely.
    “I think I like the idea of that.” He tipped his glass and finished up his drink, then took out some money and left it on the table, all with one arm still wrapped around Penny’s waist, as if she’d escape if he let her go even for a moment. “But I need to say something first.”
    “Didn’t I already say you talk too much?”
    “I know, but before we do this, I want to tell you that I want to spend time with you, but I can’t promise you forever. I don’t want you regretting anything in the morning. You need to know that before I take you home.”
    “You’re really a good guy, Travis. Most men probably would take advantage and worry about the repercussions later. I have a lot going on right now.”
And you don’t like kids,
she almost added. “I can’t do forever either. Not right now. So no, I won’t regret it in the morning,” she said confidently.
    “I like you, but don’t take that to mean that I’m a nice guy. I’m not. Fair warning.”
    “Why would you say that?”
    “I don’t have the best past and I probably should stay the hell away from someone as sweet and innocent as you, but I’m not.” He took her hand. “Let’s get the hell outta here, sugar.”
    While Travis said his goodbyes, Penny sent a quick text to JL to make sure Belle was okay. JL replied almost immediately that Belle was already asleep and that everything was fine.
    —
    Travis couldn’t believe he had Penny in his car and that they were on the way to his house. And he also couldn’t believe how excited he was about it. He chuckled out loud.
    “What’s so funny?”
    He reached for her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist. “Nothing. Just didn’t see this evening playing out this way, is all.”
    “You didn’t? I kind of thought this was a normal kind of thing.”
    “What?”
    “Two people drinking at a bar, then making love,” she said, just as he was arriving at his house.
    He turned around and looked at her, really looked at her. Was she fucking with him?
    “Okay, darlin’, you need to tell me at least a little something about yourself so that I don’t feel like I’m completely taking advantage of you, because I don’t even know how to begin to address that crazy-ass sentence. Where’d you grow up, in a convent or something?” he laughed.
    She gave him a grimace.
    “No shit? You grew up in a convent?”
    “No! It wasn’t a convent,” she corrected him. “But my stepfather’s a preacher and I grew up very sheltered. Very!”
    “Guess that makes more sense. So, you’re like, what, religious?” That’s probably why he always felt judged by her, he thought.
    “Well, I believe in God. I have a lot of faith, and it’s what gets me through the bad times. But I wouldn’t say I’m a fanatic or anything. Before moving to Tarpon Springs I thought I had a clear understanding of what’s right and wrong, but over the past year I’ve learned that I didn’t really know anything about the real world. I haven’t gone to church in over a year, but I pray every day, and it does make me feel that if I put my trust in God I can conquer anything. How about you?”
    “Wow. That’s pretty serious stuff. Do I believe in God?” He shifted his hat