Billionaire Undone ~ Travis (Billionaire’s Obsession #5)(49)
Author: J.S. Scott

Ally shook her head, wondering if Tate was suicidal as she watched him saunter away. Just then, her cell phone rang again.

Chapter 17

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 f**king 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.”

“You never said what they were planning. You just said Jason was going after the woman he loved,” Ally murmured.

“Believe me, you don’t want to know,” Travis told her emphatically, immediately changing the subject. “Tell me what happened with the house.”

Ally explained what had happened, that she’d spoken to the police twice, and the house was a total loss. “I don’t think it will really sink in until I see it,” she finished sadly. “And I’ll need to find a place to live. I can’t believe I’m currently homeless.”

“You’re going to be living with me,” Travis growled, his protective instincts sharp and nearly painful.

“I appreciate you giving me a place to stay for a while, but I’ll find something as quickly as I can,” she assured him gratefully.

Fuck! The woman was going to drive him insane. “Permanently, Ally. No finding another place.”

Travis watched as she worried her lower lip, the dark smudges from her mascara still under her eyes. She was silent for a moment, the longest damn minute that Travis had ever endured before she replied, “I’m not sure I can do that, Travis.”

He exploded. “The hell you can’t. Why not?”

“Because I’m in love with you,” she replied breathlessly. “I didn’t mean for it to happen, but I love you. When I realized just a short time ago that if not for your warning, I would have been dead, all I could think about was that I would have regretted not telling you that. So I have to say it. But I also know how I felt when that beautiful brunette won the auction, and I knew you wanted her to when you hugged her. Just seeing you with another woman like that destroyed me. I know who she is now because Tate explained, but I realized that with you it has to be all or nothing for me. I love you so much it hurts,” she ended on a sob.