Chapter 5 #2
Reaching into the cooler again, Travis pulled out a sheet, and Liana helped him spread it out on the sand. Next, he withdrew a bottle of sunscreen and handed it to her.
“Thank you.”
“That skin of yours doesn’t look like it sees a lot of sun.”
“It doesn’t.” She lathered on the lotion. “Yours, on the other hand, looks like it sees too much.”
“I’ve never had a sunburn in my life.”
“You should still use sunscreen or you’ll have wrinkles at forty.”
He laughed. “So what?” Her look of horror made him laugh harder. “Sweetheart, I couldn’t care less if I have wrinkles. They tell the world you’ve lived a little.”
“I can’t imagine not caring about wrinkles.”
He found two bottles of beer in the cooler and opened them. Handing one to her, he leaned back on an elbow to watch Dash wrestle with her bone. Snorting with laughter, he glanced at Liana and found her staring at his bare chest. “What?”
“You’re very sexy.”
Travis hid his surprise at the unexpected compliment. “Thank you, I think,” he said with a grin before he took a long drink from his beer.
“I want to have a fling,” she said in a rush of words.
Travis choked on his beer.
Liana reached over to pound his back. “Are you all right? Travis? Can you talk?”
He coughed. “Yes,” he croaked. “You need to give me some warning before you say something like that.”
“I’m sorry. Forget I said anything.”
“No way. I won’t forget it.”
“I’m no good at this,” she said in a small voice.
Travis reached over to tip her chin up to force her to look at him. “No good at what?”
She shrugged. “All the things other women seem to find so easy: flirting, flinging, casual sex.”
He swallowed hard. “There’s nothing casual about you, Liana.”
“I know! That’s the problem. I want to be casual. I want to feel free to make love with a sexy man if I want to, but I can’t.”
“Why not, sweetheart?”
“Because.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“Nothing is ever simple for me. My every move is usually recorded in the press, every man I’ve ever been involved with has disappointed me—usually by kissing and telling—and I never have any idea who I can trust.”
Listening to her, Travis was filled with sympathy.
“Enid said I can trust you and that I needed to have sweaty sex. So I thought maybe . . .”
Travis lay back on the sheet as all the oxygen left his body in a long exhale. “I feel like I’ve just dialed a 1-900 number.”
“If you’re going to make fun of me, Travis . . .”
He rolled onto his side so he could see her. “I’m not making fun of you, believe me. Tell me about this fling you want to have.”
She pushed at the sand with a toe tipped with bright pink polish. “It was a dumb idea.”
“Liana . . .”
“What you said before about how you want to know me and be with me. No one’s ever said that to me before. They’re usually so caught up in how I look that no one ever cares if they know me or not.”
Travis sat up to cup her face. “I meant it when I said I want to know you. I really do. But I love looking at you, too. I can’t deny that, Liana.
I’m not going to tell you how breathtakingly beautiful you are because you’ve no doubt heard it a thousand times and in every possible way there is to say it.
So just because I don’t say it doesn’t mean I’m not thinking it.
I want to be honest with you about that. ”
“I guess that’s fair enough.”
“How about you define what you mean by a fling, just so we’re on the same page here.”
Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment as she cast her eyes down. “You know . . . Sex. Sweaty sex if you’re up for that.”
“Hmm, sweaty sex. That’s quite an offer, sweetheart. I’m going to have to give it some thought.”
Her eyes whipped back up. “You are?”
Amused by her surprised expression, he said, “Well, I wouldn’t want you to think I’m easy.”
Liana erupted into laughter. When she had finally caught her breath, she was still wiping at the tears in her eyes. “You’re too much. Who writes your material?”
“My own original work,” he said with a chuckle. He opened the cooler and withdrew sandwiches and chips. “Let’s eat. I can’t think on an empty stomach, and I’m sure you’re going to want an answer to this very nice offer you’ve made me.”
“You’re going to make me squirm, aren’t you?”
He raised an eyebrow. “By the time I’m done with you, I’m fairly certain you’ll be squirming—at the very least.”
Her hand trembled as she accepted the sandwich he handed her. “So does that mean you’re done thinking?”
He ate his sandwich and contemplated her question. “Let’s just say I agree to this sweaty fling you’re suggesting—hypothetically, of course.”
“Of course.”
“Are we talking strictly missionary, or would I be allowed to branch out?”
He watched as she attempted to swallow the bite she had taken from her sandwich. “Define ‘branching out.’”
“No.”
“No?” she squeaked.
“No.”
“How can I answer your question if I don’t know what you mean by branching out?”
“Either I can branch out or I can’t. It’s up to you.”
She ate in silence for a few minutes before she said, “Fine. You can branch out, but nothing kinky.”
He smiled with pride at the courage she was showing by even having this conversation. “Define kinky.”
She sighed with exasperation. “You know what I mean.”
“Do I?”
“This was a bad idea.” She shook her head. “Let’s just forget about it. Really. I’m in way over my head here.”
He reached for her hand. “I’m only having fun with you, Liana. You don’t have to define kinky, okay?”
She nodded. “I’m sorry for being so uptight. I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“I know.” He kissed her hand and gave it back to her so she could finish her lunch. “Let’s talk duration.”
“Two weeks,” she said. “I’m leaving in two weeks.”
“What if you decide you like me and don’t want it to end then?”
“Two weeks,” she said more emphatically this time. “I’m not interested in a long-distance relationship, so you can’t have any feelings for me. This is a sex-only fling.”
He wondered if she really thought she was capable of such a thing.
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” she added.
“What about you? What if you fall for me?”
“I won’t.”
“How do you know? You haven’t slept with me yet.”
“You’re pretty confident in your abilities.”
He shrugged. “I know what I’m doing between the sheets.” Baiting her was turning out to be as much fun as talking about their sweaty fling.
“You’ve had so many lovers?”
“A few.” He bagged their trash and put it back in the cooler. “What about you?”
“A few.”
He moved closer to her and nudged her ponytail aside. As he dropped hot kisses on her neck, he whispered, “Have any of them made you scream?”
Her breath hitched in her throat. “Travis . . .”
“Hmm?”
“What are you doing?”
“Kissing your neck.”
“Does this mean you’ve decided?”
“Nope. I’m just taking a sample so I know what I’d be getting if I agree to this fling of yours.”
She pushed him away. “You’ve already had a test drive,” she reminded him.
“Oh yeah,” he said with a grin.
“I guess it wasn’t very memorable.”
“It was very memorable. You know, you never answered my question.”
Her eyebrows knit with confusion. “What question?”
“Have any of them made you scream, Liana?”
“No,” she said softly. “No, they haven’t.”
He reached for her and brought her down across his chest. “I think,” he said with a lingering kiss, “that’s going to turn out to be their loss.”