by Carter Ashby
He cursed himself mentally for feeling so good about her approval. He shouldn't need it. He'd never gotten it from anyone besides Dustin and never missed it. But here he'd gone and spilled his guts to her the night before and she was proud of him. Why should he care that she was proud of him? He should probably be insulted. Except that she wasn't condescending. She was sincere.
He pushed back and held her shoulders. Her expression was kind. She smiled up at him. Nothing to indicate she was anywhere near as hot for him as he was for her. "Thanks," he said. He felt stupid saying it.
"You're welcome. I'm really glad we got trapped together in this snowstorm."
His chest swelled. "Me too," he said. He still held her shoulders. Still stared into her eyes. He wanted her. But now it was different. She'd changed something. And it didn't make any sense, but he knew what he was feeling. He'd been in love before.
He moved his hands to her neck, his thumbs stroking her jaw.
She grabbed his hands and pushed them away. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to seem like I was coming on to you."
He swallowed. Blinked. Nodded. Ached with desire.
She smiled sweetly again and then walked away towards the kitchen. Travis now wondered how he was going to get this girl to fall in love with him before the snow melted. Please, God, send more snow, he prayed silently.
CHAPTER SIX
Arden knew she'd done something wrong. She'd hugged him and told him how great he was, not for any other reason than that she was overwhelmed with appreciation for him. He'd had a terrible upbringing. And sure, he was just a mechanic in a nowhere town with little ambition for anything else. But he was the most optimistic, pleasant person she'd ever met. He flirted wonderfully and he backed off when appropriate. He was open and honest. The conversation was amazing. Arden had gone to sleep wondering why she felt so deliriously happy. So when she found him standing there, a big teddy bear of a man, she'd just let go of all restraint.
That was a mistake. Now he was different. He'd quit flirting for the most part and was just plain nice. The flirtation still oozed out of him once in a while. It was, after all, firmly ingrained into his behavioral patterns. But now he'd stopped focusing on overtly trying to get her into bed and started...wooing her. That's what it felt like. He was courting her. Taking care of her.
Arden's only recourse was to put some emotional distance between them. And she felt terrible doing it. But she couldn't have him thinking he had a chance with her. Earlier in the day she'd been sitting on the couch reading when he sat down next to her with his own book and a cup of coffee. She'd deliberately scooted over, just a bit, and angled herself away from him. All without looking up from her book. She could tell it had hurt his feelings.
As they played chess, she was careful to keep the conversation away from romance novels.
"If you put that there, you'll lose your rook," she said.
Travis glanced up at her and put the piece back where it was. He reached for his knight.
"Mmmm, I don't know if that's a good idea," she said. She couldn't keep the amusement off her face.
He frowned at her and reached for one of his pawns.
She clucked her tongue.
He froze and glared up at her. "Why don't you let me do what I'm gonna do and you can win faster that way," he growled.
"You've never played before. I'm just trying to help."
"It's a stupid game."
"It just requires you thinking ahead a few moves. It's strategy."
"I don't do strategy. I'm a live-for-now kind of guy." He surveyed the board a little while longer.
"Because that's worked out so well for you?" she teased.
"Yes, smart-ass, I think it has." He reached for the other knight. She hissed softly. He threw up his hands. "I give up. Pick another game."
She laughed. "You're being a big baby. If you'd just give it a chance."
"I gave it a chance. Let's play checkers."
"I already told you I couldn't find any checkers."
"Fine. But I'm not playing this. Not with you."
She shook her head, still smiling. He caught her gaze and smiled back. Then his smile transformed to that troublesome grin of his. "We should read out loud hot scenes from romance novels."
"No, thank you," she said, giving him her best stern look.
"Aw, come on, Princess. Live a little."
"No. You can go read hot love scenes out of romance novels by yourself."
He sighed dramatically, clearly disappointed.
"Let's go explore the house," Arden said. Seemed like a safe suggestion.
He shrugged. She stood before he could offer to help her up. She turned and led the way upstairs. They made a left and found the master bedroom. They'd been in here before when they got the mattress and blankets. But Arden wanted to see what was in the closets. It would be nice if they could find some other clothes. They'd been wearing the same things for the past two days.
In the first closet were some dresses and men's shirts and slacks. She tossed a pair of khaki pants to Travis. He held them up and laughed. "Rory's a scrawny fellow. No way I can wear these. Three inches too short and I'd rather not say how many inches too skinny."
"You'd rather not say?" Arden arched a brow at him. "Let's see." She grabbed the pants and looked at the tag. "Thirty-inch waist." She held them up against Travis's waist and shook her head. "Gotta lay off the pie, Travis," she said.
"You trying to hurt my feelings?" he asked. "I've got a great body. Wanna see?" He made like he was going to take off his shirt, but she grabbed his hands to stop him.
"I'll take your word for it," she said.
He grinned at her.
She turned back to the closet. June had been a couple of sizes larger than Arden. So at least she could wear some of her clothes just to be in something more comfortable than this damn skirt and blouse. She grabbed an ugly, floral thing with lace around the collar and held it by the hanger up to her neck.
"Sexy," Travis said.
She shot him a look.
Travis turned to the dresser and started digging through the drawers. Arden flipped through the selection of dresses, none of which she would ever have been caught dead in in any other circumstance.
"Found a t-shirt," Travis muttered.
She turned and watched as he peeled off his flannel shirt and tossed it on the bed frame.
Nice, she thought. He really did have a great body. Well-muscled, but with a slight layer of fat, likely from all the pies. The effect being that he looked both strong and soft at the same time. Hard but gentle. What made her cringe, though, were the long scars criss-crossing his back. She wondered if that had happened when he was a child. The tattoos surprised her, too. She saw the name Tonya on his left shoulder. His ex-wife. A couple of other designs she didn't recognize.
Then he shrugged into the grey t-shirt and she turned back to the closet, not wanting to be caught looking.
Suddenly, he laughed. "Here you go," he said.
She turned in time to catch what he tossed to her. A long, flannel nightgown with ruffles on the cuffs and around the collar. It buttoned up to the neck and hung almost to the floor.
"Well," she said, "It looks warm."
"I bet when June put that on, Rory knew he wasn't getting any."
She grinned. "That's what I'll wear then. To keep you from getting ideas."
"Aw, come on. Don't be mean."
She tried not to stare at him. The t-shirt, which would have fit Rory like a sack, hugged Travis's chest and biceps nicely making him look mouth-watering yummy. Arden walked over to the dresser and found a pair of flannel pajamas that actually did look fairly comfortable. She nodded. "These will do," she said. "No sense being dressed up. Out you go."
"Out? I've seen women naked before, you know."
"Out."
"Please?" he begged as she backed him out of the room and shut the door in his face. She changed and then joined them in the hallway.
H
e looked her up and down and shook his head. "Even in flannel...," he said.
She blushed because he wasn't flirting. Avoid at all costs, she reminded herself. "Did you see the attic entrance?" she asked.
He looked up to the ceiling. "It'll be cold up there."
"It's an attic. Don't you want to see what's in it?"
He shrugged. "I kind of feel bad poking around in all their stuff. If we weren't so fucking bored, I'd never even consider it."
She stood and waited for him to finish wrestling with his morals. Finally he reached up and grabbed the chain. Arden stepped back to avoid the ladder that came sliding down. They climbed up and were immediately accosted with a foul smell. Travis was up first and put his arm over his mouth and nose. He reached down a hand to help Arden up. She mimicked his gesture, covering her own mouth and nose.
There wasn't much but dust and cobwebs up there. A few boxes of Christmas decorations. The ceiling was so low that they had to stay on their knees. A little light came in from the vent. Travis shuffled over and knocked it open to let in more light. That's when they saw them. June and Rory Raymer. Frozen to death. Clinging to each other. Travis covered his mouth and turned away. Arden did the same. She couldn't look. She thought she might vomit. She hurried down the ladder. A few seconds later, Travis joined her.
He shoved the ladder back up and closed the door. Then he leaned back against the wall and shoved his hands through his hair. Arden took hold of the banister rail at the top of the stairs. Travis rushed to her side and slid his arm around her waist. She would have protested except that the danger of fainting was probably a real one. Either that or she was going to throw up. Travis helped her sit down on the top step. He kept his arm around her.
"Why are they up there?" Arden asked in a breathy voice.
Travis just shook his head.
"Did they get trapped up there?"
Travis inhaled. "I'm pretty sure they could have gotten out. They must have fallen asleep or something and then the temperatures dropped."
Arden hugged her knees. She knew what had happened. They lost their house to the bank and then hid out here since they had no place else to go. They went to the attic when the Sheriff came to evict them. Like Travis said, they must have fallen asleep or not realized how severe the cold was. "Frozen to death because they couldn't pay their bills," Arden said. "Why didn't they ask for help?"
Travis just shook his head again. Finally they got cold and went back downstairs to the fire. There wasn't much of anything they could do until things thawed out. They both stayed fairly quiet for the rest of the evening.
CHAPTER SEVEN
"The colors are coral, ivory and mocha. The reception hall is just going to be draped in ivory chiffon with just enough of the other colors in the centerpieces and chair covers to liven it up a bit. We're going to dance to At Last. The cake is just this amazing monstrosity. Not over-the-top on decorations, just white with occasional bouquets of sugar flowers in my colors. Six tiers. You can't even imagine it. Nothing like it anywhere in Splitlog."
Travis sat with his chin resting on his knees watching Arden as animated as he'd ever seen her, narrating her dream wedding to him. He counted the number of times she mentioned Nick's name. Zero. And counting. It was little things like this that made him think it might not be so bad to try to steal her away from the bastard. Little things like the fact that she was more excited about the wedding than being married to him--made Travis think perhaps she wasn't as in love as she claimed.
"Oh, and we're bringing in caterers. It's going to be this extravagant brunch. Like, all the normal things, but fancied up a bit. Like, instead of just plain french toast, there will be amaretto french toast. And instead of pancakes, like, carmel apple crepes. Stuff like that. Shannon has this friend in St. Louis who is this award-winning culinary genius. It's this huge favor that he's coming down here for this."
Travis's lips quirked up at the corners. He wondered what it would take to keep her this vibrant and excited. She seemed to work so hard to suppress emotions most of the time. Now she was on her knees gesturing with her hands and occasionally reaching out to touch him.
"And my dress." She paused and reached for her iPhone. "Oh crap. Battery's dead. I've got pictures. I look absolutely amazing in this dress. It's halter and the back dips really low. The only thing that would just make it, though, is that I'd really like to get a small, sexy tattoo on my shoulder blade. Nick just laughed at me."
One, Travis counted.
"But I'm not terribly concerned with his opinion. I just need to decide what to get. Then I'm going to do it."
She looked off to the side and settled back onto her ankles, pondering.
"Where are you going to get it done?"
"I'm not sure. I guess the mall over in Bixy."
"There's a real good place in Bixy down in the old part of town. Close to the river. It's real clean and the artwork is amazing."
She smiled. "Is that where you got yours done?"
"Yeah." He pulled up his left sleeve and showed her Tonya's name. And then the cross on his other shoulder. There were a few other abstract designs. Arden crawled over next to him and looked at each of them.
"There are some Chinese characters on your shoulder blade," Arden said. "What do they mean?"
Travis laughed. "Uh, I don't actually remember getting that one. I'm kind of afraid to find out what they mean. Could have been an angry girlfriend or something. I didn't have too many blackout moments, but that was one of them."
"You got a whole tattoo that you don't remember?"
"I don't even know when it happened. How often do you look back at your shoulder? Could have been months before I discovered it."
Arden laughed and shook her head.
"You know," Travis said. "If the back on that dress goes really low, maybe you should get ink on your lower back so it kind of peeks out of the edge of the dress. That would be very sexy."
Her eyes widened. "Maybe I'll do both."
"Why not?" He smiled at her and touched her cheek with his fingertip. She immediately withdrew to the pallet where she'd been sitting, a little pinker in the cheeks, but otherwise unaffected. "What about the honeymoon?"
She went back to excited again. "Hawaii. I know, not very original. But I've never been. I want to do all the touristy stuff. See some volcanoes. Try surfing. But the second half of the honeymoon I want to stay in a less touristy spot. One of the less popular ones. Maybe on Molokai. Everyone I know goes to Oahu or Honolulu. I'd like to have some different experiences. And some time to just relax and enjoy the beach."
No mention of Nick made it possible for Travis to imagine himself in such exotic climes with this gorgeous woman. He sighed. It'll never happen, he told himself. "You planning on bringing your husband on this trip?" he asked.
She looked at him funny. "Of course."
Travis shrugged. "You don't mention him much. What's his name again?"
"Nick. You know it's Nick."
"Yeah, well...you don't mention him so I forget."
Her excitement was gone replaced by annoyance and distrust. Travis regretted it, but he also hated the fact that he was going to lose this girl to that undeserving prick, Nick Wheeler.
"I was going to add you to the guest list, Travis, but if you don't stop being a jerk, I'm going to uninvite you."
"I'm not being a jerk. It just seems like if you love this guy so much, you'd be talking about him a little more."
"You asked about my wedding. You didn't ask about my fiancé. If you want me to tell you about Nick, then I will."
"No thanks," Travis said. He scooted back to lean against the couch and stretch his legs out in front of him. "I already know him better than I ever wanted to."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means he's a scumbag investor who preys on little old ladies to fund his schemes. He's a bad guy. You shouldn't marry him."
Arden narrowed her eyes. A venomous chill permeated the room,
emanating directly from her stare. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You've got some stupid little crush on me and you think slandering my fiancé is going to endear you to me?"
"I don't get crushes. I like you and I think you deserve better than him."
"Like you?"
Travis laughed. "Don't worry. I'm way out of your league."
Arden continued glaring at him. He tried to stare her down, but she won. After a few moments he relaxed.
"Look," he said. "I was at Mrs. Ferguson's one day working on her car for her when he showed up. I didn't know what he was after until she asked me inside. Poor thing had her checkbook out and everything. You know Mrs. Ferguson, right?"
Arden nodded.
"She's the sweetest thing and makes the best blackberry cobbler in the county. Anyway, he was hitting her up to invest in some environmental...fuel efficiency...project of some sort. She asked my help to read the contract just because I was the only other person there. I asked her didn't she think it might be better to look something like that over with a lawyer. And she sort of wavered back and forth a minute before deciding to send Prince Charming on his way. And I gladly walked him out the door and told him to fuck off. Next time I catch him trying to scam little old ladies out of their life savings, I'll wring his scrawny neck."
Arden's expression was full of doubt, covered by a thin, very weak mask of false confidence. "I'm sure you misinterpreted the situation."
Travis shrugged. "Is there any motivation that would make it okay for him to be asking her to invest her meager retirement?"
Arden drew herself up, almost imperceptibly. She clearly didn't like playing defense. "Maybe it's a sure thing. Maybe he's certain he'll be able to give her a good return on her investment."
"Or maybe nobody reputable will give him any money, so he's going collecting from people who are vulnerable to his charms."
"Naturally you're inclined to think the worst of him."
"Naturally."