Breaking Travis (The West Series Book 5) Read Online Free Page A

“I know I would have.”
    When he didn’t say anything, she turned and looked at him. He was staring at her with a frown on his face. Without saying a word, he grabbed up the cover and tossed it over the car. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”
    She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “Are you always this sour?” He continued to frown at her until she threw up her hands in frustration and turned to go.
    “You throw a pretty good punch for a girl,” he said at her back, causing her to spin around and nod at him. “Where’d you learn to do that?” he asked, leaning back against the covered car, crossing his arms over his chest like she’d just done. On him, the effect was quite different. His muscles stretched his white T-shirt taut, showing the ripples on his arms and chest rather nicely. She blinked a few times and tried to focus on his face, but when she looked at him, he had a smile on his lips, telling her that he knew exactly what the sight of him was doing to her.
    “My father,” she finally got out.
    His eyebrows shot up. “I thought your old man died a long time ago.”
    She nodded. “When I was ten. But before he…” She looked down at her hands. “Before he died, he taught me how to fight. How to protect myself.”
    “So it’s true? About him?”
    She looked back into his dark brown eyes and saw something there she hadn’t before. He looked tired. Tired and curious.
    “What?”
    “That your old man was Samson,” he said, leaning closer to her. “The stuff boxing legends were made of.”
    She laughed. “That’s old news. Haven’t you read my book?”
    “Your book?” He tilted his head with a frown.
    She nodded. “It came out earlier this year. Serving Life . It’s all about my father. His experience in the Navy and how he became Samson, the unbeatable boxer.” She smiled. “It goes on to tell about his struggles and why he chose to come back home to Fairplay and settle down, marrying my mother and having me.”
    He leaned up. “You seriously wrote a book?” She nodded. “I guess I’ll have to check it out then.”
    She looked at him as he stood in the dark garage. “If you tell me what it is you’re looking for, I can help find it.”
    He glanced over at the large pile of boxes. “My guitar.”
    She laughed harder than she had in days.
    “What?” He smiled and took a step closer to her.
    “You were looking for a guitar in a box?” She held her sides and smiled at him. His smile dropped a little.
    “I guess I wasn’t really thinking.” He started to frown and glanced at the box.
    “What about that?” She pointed to the guitar case sitting above their head on a shelf.
    He smiled and then chuckled. “You throw me off, I guess.” He pulled a box over, stood up on it, and grabbed the guitar from the shelf.
    “I didn’t know you played.”
    “I used to do a lot of things.” He shrugged his shoulders and set the case on the covered hood of the car and opened it. He pulled the guitar out and looked at it. It was an older model, but the wood still shined like new.
    “It’s beautiful.”
    He nodded and looked at her. “It was my grandfather’s.”
    “Oh? Are you going to play again?”
    He shook his head. “No, I’m going to sell it.” He set the guitar back in the case and shut it.
    “Oh.” She frowned. How many times in the past had she thought about selling her father’s items? Times when she didn’t know if she would be able to pay rent, or times when she had a large unexpected bill. But she had stuck to her guns and held onto all of his things and eventually everything had worked out.
    “If you’re hurting for money, I can…”
    He turned on her and the look on his face said it all. Butt out. She stopped talking and took a step back.
    “Sorry, I was just trying—”
    “I know what you were doing. I don’t need your help.” He grabbed the case and walked out without another word.
    He walked back into the house, and Holly