“Sweatshirt,” I said, as I picked it up, put it on and then immediately wished I hadn’t. It smelled like outdoors and pine trees, maybe a little sweat and something sweeter, the faint smell of cologne or something. I wanted to breathe that air forever.
“Oh, this smells good.”
His eyes lit up and I realized my error. I had said those words out loud. I couldn’t help it; my senses had been completely clouded over with amazing man smells.
He grinned, the hunter zeroing in on the stunned deer in his headlights. “That’s just the imitation. You should try the real thing sometime.”
I didn’t appreciate the lurch in my stomach, or the way the goosebumps flushed all along my arms. I had to get out of there. He was much too attractive for his own good, and for my own good.
“For now, I’ll be good with just this,” I said, wrapping my arms around my body.
“For now.”
I looked at him in surprise. He just smiled. I’m not sure what scared me more, the thought that trying the real thing sounded intriguing, or the fact that there was no teasing gleam in his eye when he said it.
Chapter 6
The next day I hid in my room for most of the morning.
I had things to do; important things. Things that had been put off because of a certain someone demanding all my time fishing, playing poker, watching old John Wayne movies in the evening, giving me clothes, and giving me food. Not to mention, giving me looks that Chase Riley should definitely not be giving me. Looks that made my hands feel awkward and my arms feel ten feet long.
The quiet was good, because at the rate I was currently writing, I’d have my book published in about five years. I spent the morning touching up on a few scenes, all the while plotting a new romance book. Cue palm to the face. Something about two strangers who found themselves trapped in a cabin for a week. Not related to my present predicament at ALL. It had been done before, plenty of times, but not by me. Now, with insider information, I felt I could do a story like that some romantic justice. Of course, I’d really have to rouse my imagination for the romance part.
Except that was a lie.
I was learning how extremelynot difficultit was to imagine romance with someone when you were literally bathed in their magnificent boy scent, by way of a pair of extremely comfortable sweat pants and shirt. It all felt so… intimate, in the most innocent way possible. I was wearing his unwashed clothes that were basically ripped straight from his rock-hard body and given to me, (after a knock-down, drag-out poker game) and I found myself liking it.
Hence, the hiding.
I made it until exactly 10:30am before I emerged from my hideout. Hey, a girls got to eat. Chase seemed almost relieved when he saw me enter the kitchen. He was sprawled on the couch, reading an old Louis L’Amour western, but at my approach, he flung it behind him and stood up with a flourish. My mouth dropped open as the book crashed to the floor.
“Thatis a book,” I spat, horrified.
At my death glare, he slowly raised his hands in surrender, as he bent to pick up the discarded book off the floor and placed it on the coffee table.
“Thank you.” I turned my attention to the cupboard and began rummaging through it, even though I knew there would be no surprises. A girl could dream, right?
“The power’s out. I saved you a couple pieces of bacon in the fridge.”
His voice came from behind me, though not as far away as he had been before. I closed the cupboard and turned back to look at him. He leaned casually against the countertop in the kitchen, with his hands in the pockets of his basketball shorts. His rumpled brown hair stuck out from beneath a stocking cap. He looked effortlessly cool and dangerously… hot. Did I mention he just told me he saved me some bacon? I swallowed and licked my lips, then I realized what I just did and looked away, tucking a piece of stray hair behind my ear.
“Thanks,” I said as I edged in a daze toward the fridge. I needed to keep moving to get away from his gaze, but his eyes followed me. How did I know that when I wouldn’t look at him directly? Goosebumps broke out across my body, across my arms, my neck, my legs, everywhere his brown eyes touched. That was the only explanation. I opened the fridge to find an entire plate full of food waiting for me—two fried eggs, diced homemade hash browns, and three large pieces of bacon.
“When the power comes back on, you can heat the whole plate up but for now, cold bacon isn’t anything to sneeze at.”
The voice came right behind my ear, causing me to jump and step back in surprise, right into a very warm body. I froze. He chuckled lightly as he placed his hands on my shoulder, moving me gently to the side. He reached into the fridge, grabbed the bacon pieces off the plate and handed them to me.
“You’re a little jumpy this morning. Having a man cook you some bacon must really do it for you.”
It did. Itreallydid, but I needed to get control of myself before I did something I would regret—like kiss the annoyingly adorable smirk off Chase’s face. I took the bacon he offered and tried to gather up my pride that was spilled all over the floor.
“It does. Let me know when a man shows up.”
His eyes narrowed, even as the corners of his mouth lifted. “You wanna play?”
My smirk disappeared. What now?
He looked as if he wanted to laugh at my reaction, but instead motioned to the table in the corner. A torn and well-loved red and black checkers game, probably older than both of us combined, sat innocently on top.