Not a Chance (Sweet Nothings)

chapter TWO



Travis and Arden leaned against opposite walls, both breathing heavily. "That was some pretty fancy driving," Travis said. "You should run in the demolition derby over in Rogersville."

"F*ck you!" she said, with less force than she probably wanted being as she was exhausted.

Travis raised his brows in surprise. "Nice language, Princess."

"Listen, a*shole, you couldn't have gotten us any farther than I did, so why don't you just back off." She sat up straighter and reached for her feet, wincing as she slid first one shoe off and then the other.

It was dark in the house, so Travis flipped on his cell phone. It was hard to tell in the bluish light, but her feet appeared to be uninjured. He leaned forward to look at them.

"They hurt really bad," she said.

He refrained from commenting on her shoes because she couldn't have known she would have been hiking in them. But still, why did women do that to themselves?

"It's like this dull throb that keeps getting worse and worse."

He looked up at her, annoyed. All this fussing over cold feet.

She met his gaze. "I saw this survival show and this guy was walking through some frozen tundra and he got frost-bite on his feet and his toes, like, fell off." Her look of desperation was so amusing, Travis had to stop himself from grinning.

He reached for one of her feet, but she jerked it back. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Trying to shut you up." He snatched the foot back and wrapped his hands around it, completely covering it. He held it for a long time, gently massaging with his thumbs until most of the chill had left. Then he took the other foot and did the same with it. Arden leaned her head back on the wall and closed her eyes.

"That feels so good," she said. And he imagined doing this to her in bed, expanding that look of pleasure on her face, hearing her moan with desire and beg him for more. Before he realized it, he had moved from massaging her foot to stroking her calf and she hadn't stopped him. Maybe this night would turn out better than he'd originally thought.

Still, he didn't want to overplay his hand. So he slid back down to her foot and then set it back down gently. He took off his coat and laid it over her legs. "Wait here," he said. He used the light of his cell phone to explore the house. If he was going to rescue this princess and collect his reward, he needed to make her comfortable, fast. He stumbled into the living room. All the furniture was still there, but it was covered with plastic. There was a fireplace. Perfect.

He found another door leading off into the kitchen and out to the back porch. He followed this and loaded his arms with some firewood that was piled out back. He made his way back to the living room, dropping the logs on the floor. He knelt to place them in the fireplace. Arden walked in, then, hugging his coat to her. Travis glanced up at her and then back to the fireplace. He found a stack of old newspapers and rolled one up. Fortunately he had his lighter with him and soon he had a good blaze going.

Arden sat down in front of it, and rubbed her arms. Travis sat close to her. Now would be a good time for some sort of line about body heat being the best way to keep warm. But he couldn't bring himself to stoop quite that low. He should wait for her to move. She was engaged, after all. He didn't want to be a total sleaze about it.

Of course he also wanted to get laid and she didn't seem to be paying him any more attention now that he'd warmed her up. "How are your feet, now?" he asked.

"Better," she said. Then she turned to him. "We'll be able to go home, tomorrow, right?"

Travis sighed inwardly. He berated himself for temporarily forgetting that she was ice on the inside. "I don't know. It's snowing harder than ever."

She looked thoroughly disappointed.

"Don't worry. I will do my utmost to see to it you don't have to spend any longer than necessary in my company."

"Good," she said, staring into the fire.

He shook his head and then stood, headed for the stairs in the foyer. Arden jumped up. "Where are you going? You can't leave me here alone!" she shrieked.

Travis's eyes went wide. "What the..."

"If you leave, I'll die. I don't know how to start a fire. I don't have big boots to hike home in. They'll find me here weeks later curled up by this fireplace dead." She looked terrified.

Travis tried not to laugh. "I was just going upstairs to find some blankets and pillows."

Suddenly Arden's eyes narrowed and she drew herself up taller. "I am not sleeping with you, you presumptuous bastard."

"Obviously. I gave up on that dream thirty seconds ago. Will you stop acting insane please?"

"Insane? I'm trapped in an abandoned house with some strange man..."

"That's just it, Arden. I'm not a strange man. You and me have lived in this tiny hick town all our lives. We go to the same church, for Christ's sake. We're even friends with some of the same people...although certainly not at the same time. All I'm saying is, drop the kidnapped princess act and let's be like normal people for tonight. Okay?"

Arden's face was red and hate beamed from her eyes. Travis felt kind of afraid. But then her expression changed and she seemed to back down. "You're right," she said. "I'm sorry. I'll try to behave more graciously."

Travis stood stunned.

Arden seemed to pick up on his doubt. "I'm serious. I know you're right and I'm sorry. It's just, I don't socialize outside my tiny circle of friends very often and I'm clearly not good at it. I'll try to keep quiet. Okay?"

Travis swallowed and glanced away. "You don't have to be quiet. Just...stop being mean."

Arden smiled warmly and nodded.

"So...is sleeping with me back on the table now?"

She grew wary and lifted her chin. "No, Mr. Lanier. It was never on the table."

Travis drew himself up tall in mock indignation. "Well, Miss Butler, I think you'll change your mind." Then he gave her a grin and a wink and went upstairs to find blankets and pillows to sleep on.