Not a Chance (Sweet Nothings)

chapter FOUR



Arden woke up later that morning. She was facing Travis's pallet, but he wasn't there. She glanced up at the couch. He had pulled off the plastic cover and was lounging with his feet up and reading a romance novel.

"What are you reading?" she asked.

He turned the book and showed her the cover. A full-bosomed woman was clinging to a bare-chested man. Travis waggled his eyebrows at her. "Pretty hot stuff. June has boxes of them down in the basement." He nodded toward the door that led into the kitchen. There were two boxes sitting next to it.

"You're reading romance novels? Is this something you do often?" She took note of the fact that he was already nearly halfway through it.

"Not often. Just whenever I'm snowed in at a place where there aren't any car magazines or thriller novels...and with a chick who won't sleep with me."

Arden rolled her eyes. It had taken her a while to realize that he was hitting on her strictly because of gender and geography--she was the closest female. Once she'd figured that out, she'd managed to relax. It would be easy for her to resist a man who had no feelings for her other than a general lust for the female half of the population. Arden had never been interested in casual sex. Of course, if she had, Travis was exactly the kind of man she would have picked. And there was nothing wrong with admiring the physical beauty of another person so long as you didn't indulge in inappropriate fantasies.

"You know," Travis said, his eyes still moving back and forth over the page. "I think I'm actually going to check out some more modern romance novels. They're written by women, after all. I could probably pick up some good tips."

Arden gasped. "That's shameful, Travis."

"Is not." He looked genuinely offended. "Next time I hook up with Kristen I'm going to try page fifty-six." He tossed her the book. She caught it. "I think she'd like page fifty-six."

Arden found the page and read the scene. She felt her face turning red. Her mouth hung open. "This is completely ridiculous. Not realistic at all. No man would ever do that for a woman."

Travis chuckled. He slid down to the floor, sitting with his back against the couch and reaching for his book. She kept it, though, as she was scanning for more evidence of purely fantastical sex scenes. "It sounds to me like you might benefit from reading this with the fiancé."

"I would never," Arden said.

Travis shrugged. "You kids are young. You'll figure it all out. Might be nice to jump start things, though."

"Nick and I are just fine..."

"Or maybe he's just a selfish bastard."

"How dare you!" Really. It was none of his business and she couldn't believe she was having a conversation like this with a complete stranger and a man, no less. She also knew that talking about sex often led to having it. Perhaps that was his plan all along, the conniving bastard.

Travis reached forward and snatched his book back. He leaned against the couch and went back to reading.

Arden pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. She looked around the room. "There's a pretty hot scene on page 129," she said.

He didn't comment but skipped forward to the suggested page. She glanced up at him occasionally while he read. The corners of his lips quirked up and he slowly lifted one brow. "Nice," he said, finally. Then he looked up at her, those cool blue eyes burning hotter than hell. She looked away.

"Do you do that sort of thing with...with women?"

Travis chuckled again. "That's a bit personal, don't you think?"

Oh, now he decides to play coy, she thought. "What the hell else is there to talk about? Besides, here you've presented yourself the expert on the subject, out of the two of us anyway. The least you could do is enlighten me."

"Oh, I'll enlighten your socks off, princess," he said. And before she could take a breath he'd leaned forward on hands and knees and pressed his lips to hers. It was a quick, soft kiss, but as soon as he pulled away, she found herself trembling and her breath rattling in her chest. He was sitting back on his ankles right in front of her now, grinning like the devil. And then his grin faded as he honed in on her lips again, this time threading his fingers into her hair and pulling her toward him by the back of her head. She parted her lips involuntarily, but just as he was about to kiss her, she gasped and pressed her hands against his shoulders to stop him.

"I'm engaged," she whispered.

His lips hovered over hers. Their noses touched. "I won't tell," he whispered, and tried to kiss her.

She shoved herself back until there was several feet of distance between them. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't want to do this."

He sat back, then, his back against the couch. "Would it help if I said please?" he said in a business-like manner.

Arden pressed her lips together to keep from grinning. "No," she said, unable to disguise the laughter in her voice.

"I'm really good," he said. "I'll guarantee you two...no, three orgasms before I get mine. How 'bout it?"

She shook her head and tried not to laugh. "You're terrible."

She was sitting on the blanket she'd slept on. He reached forward, grabbed the edge and pulled her closer to him. "Come on, now. Surely we can work something out. You go through June's novels and pick you out something real nice and I'll do it to you. Huh? Sound good?"

She laughed then and he grinned at her. They were sitting close together, legs crossed, their knees touching. She forced a serious expression onto her face. "You could never satisfy me," she said. This flirting thing was a lot of fun. She'd never done it before.

"Sounds like a challenge, to me," he said, winking at her. He brushed a strand of her hair behind her ears and looked down at her lips again.

"Don't even think about it," she said. This time she scooted back.

"Sounds like all I'm allowed to do is think about it." He leaned his head back on the couch and closed his eyes. "Oh, yeah," he said. "That's good, baby, take it all off."

"Stop it!" she shrieked, slapping at his legs.

"Oh God, don't stop," he groaned before the grin spread across his face again and he laughed and tried to block the blows Arden was reining down on him.

"Bastard!" she laughed, still swatting at him.

He laughed and caught her by the wrists. He swung her 'round and pinned her to the floor beneath him, trapping her hands above her head. She was still laughing and squirming. When she opened her eyes her laughter faded. She was suddenly struck by the fact that she was playing with fire with a man she barely knew.

He stared hard into her eyes. "Things are serious, now," he said. "What do you say, Arden? Nobody has to know." And the way he undressed her with his eyes made her light up all over so that for a brief second she was genuinely tempted to say yes.

"I would know," she said, before that temptation could expand any further. "I won't cheat on my fiancé."

He kept her pinned for another moment. She didn't struggle, knowing he would back off as soon as he realized she was serious. His eyes narrowed briefly, assessing. Then they softened into a sad sort of smile.

He rose to his knees and extended his hand, pulling her to a sitting position. Then he leaned back against the couch. "You change your mind, just let me know," he said.

"I won't. But thank you for the offer."

He shrugged, picked his novel back up and started looking for the place he'd left off. And for some reason she felt a sudden emptiness.