The Architect (Nashville Neighborhood Book 3) by Nikki Sloane (top e book reader .TXT) 📗

Clay: I’m looping Travis in on this, hope that’s okay. Lilith has something she wants to ask you.

I sat straighter in my chair, surprised and excited enough that Cassidy shot me a look.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” I said. If Clay had an issue with me going out with Travis, I doubted the first thing he would have done was give me Travis’s number.

Me: Hey, Travis. It’s last minute, but are you free tonight? I’m going out for my friend’s birthday, but I don’t know most of the people going. Do you want to join me?

I didn’t have to wait long for his response.

Travis: Hi. Sure, but I’m still at work. What time?

Me: The party bus is picking us up at 8. My friend’s house is just down the street from Clay’s.

Travis: Party bus?

Me: It’s my friend’s 21st birthday. Her boyfriend rented a bus so we can go bar hopping. So...everyone will be kinda young.

Clay: OMG. It’s not too late to back out, Travis.

I laughed and pictured Clay as he read the conversation, probably glad for the first time he was down in Florida, because this evening surely sounded like hell to him.

Travis: LOL. It’s fine, send me the address.

Travis stood with one hand on the railing and a bottle of beer in the other, and watched Cassidy as she plodded barefoot across the red inflatable mat. “So, the goal is to make her throw up?”

It was loud in the bar, but I heard him and laughed, making my phone shake as I was trying to shoot video. “She won’t stay on long enough,” I said. “I give her about four seconds.”

The male employee at the center of the ring helped her climb up on top of the mechanical bull, and after a quick conversation, he walked to the control panel. People hooted and hollered words of encouragement for her all around the ring. Cassidy’s cheeks were pink and her smile enormous as she lifted a hand into the air. It was meant to help keep her balance, but the bull wasn’t even moving yet, and she already looked unsteady.

The tequila shots we’d done twenty minutes ago were hitting her. My friend was buzzing hard.

“Four seconds might be generous,” Greg said, who stood on my other side against the railing.

To his credit, the guy operating the machine started nice and slow. The bull turned in a leisurely circle and undulated gently, allowing her to get used to the motion. She pumped her fist and beamed to the crowd watching her, acting like this was easy.

But then the bull abruptly changed directions and picked up speed. Cassidy’s smile froze as she began to list to one side, and her free hand for balance joined her other one already clinging to the horn of the saddle.

She was rapidly losing the battle to stay up.

The machine swerved and changed directions again, slinging her off into a heap on the red cushion of air. Within seconds she was up on her feet, laughing uncontrollably while trying to fix the gaudy ‘Birthday Girl’ sash one of her other friends had presented to her at the first bar.

I’d tried to pretend this wasn’t a date, but when Travis had parked his fancy SUV in my driveway, climbed out, and flashed a smile, I got the same weird butterflies in my stomach I’d had my first night with Clay.

So, yeah. This was totally a date, which meant it was our first date.

Travis looked great too. His fitted, short sleeve button-down shirt was white with navy dots on it, and he’d paired it with dark jeans. His clothes flaunted what great shape he was in, and after we’d walked down the road to Greg’s house and boarded the bus, one of the girls in the back had whisper-shouted appreciatively to a friend, “Who’s that guy?”

While Cassidy walked toward the exit of the ring, Colin materialized out of nowhere, filling the empty spot at the rail beside Travis. “So,” he said to the man that was quite a bit older than he was, “you must be one of Lilith’s boyfriends.”

He’d said it teasingly, but Travis’s expression went blank and my brain stopped working. “Uh . . .” I started.

Colin laughed, not knowing his joke wasn’t actually a joke. “She told me she had two boyfriends earlier when we were talking, so no room for me.” He continued his teasing tone. “Hope the other guy’s not news to you.”

Travis tilted his head as if saying huh, interesting.

Perhaps he thought since I’d volunteered this info so freely, he was willing to do the same, and his matter-of-fact tone reflected it. “No, he’s not.”

Colin’s smile hung with the realization the man might not be kidding, and what that meant began to dawn in him. Genuine interest filled his expression. “Really?”

Greg had one ear in our conversation, and when he sensed the turn coming, he must have wanted to get ahead of it. “Hey, Colin. Who should we get to go for a ride next? Let’s ask the birthday girl.”

He practically dragged the kid away, thankfully leaving Travis and me alone to talk.

“It just came out when I was talking to him,” I said. “I hope that’s okay.”

“Calling me your boyfriend?” Travis lifted his beer to his lips, somewhat concealing his smile before taking a sip. “It’s okay with me.” He leaned his forearms on the rail and turned over his shoulder to give me a good look at his handsome face. “I’m not interested in seeing other people. You—and Clay too, I guess—are plenty.”

My breath caught. “Is it weird for you? Being with me while I’m also with him?”

“I didn’t think I’d like it. I mean, I’m not supposed to, right? Guys aren’t really known for sharing.” The sound of the loud bar faded as I focused on him. “But I don’t mind it, Lilith, especially now that the rules are gone. It’s like you said. I really like what we have.”

“Why?” I had my reasons, but I was desperate to