Which explains why I jump up, force a smile I'm sure looks slightly manic, and tell Arden, "I have to go. Time for me to get a hotel room. Thank you for showing me some of the city, but it's really not appropriate for me to, uh, share an apartment with you."
And I run off.
Well, I don't literally run. I walk away very, very quickly from the sensual woman on the bench who all but begged me to fuck her. I, Reese Dixon, walk away from a girl who wants sex.
Only as I'm crossing the lobby of the first hotel I find do I realize I'll have to go back to that bloody apartment to get my things. If I have any luck at all, Arden won't be there.
I'm not feeling that lucky today.
Chapter Six
Arden
When I get back to the apartment, suffering from intense sexual frustration, I grab my phone and call Elena. She's not answering her cell, so I leave a message telling her we need to talk pronto. I can't believe my best friend would tell her fiancé to order his brother not to sleep with me. I mean, it's my body. It's my choice. And if Reese is such an awful guy, why would Elena lend him her apartment? Chance must have come up with the boneheaded idea of treating me like I'm an idiot who can't make a decision for herself.
To be fair, Chance and I haven't met. He doesn't know me, but his fiancée does. What did Elena tell him? What could she say that would make him think I need protecting from his brother?
The word virgin. That makes most guys think I'm fragile.
I fume for a while, then decide to get started on the work project I don't actually need to start for a couple weeks. I'd planned on using this time before Elena and Chance's wedding to relax. She insisted I didn't need to help her with the wedding arrangements, and she wants me to take it easy since I'm freshly home from Ecuador.
New York isn't my home, but I thought I'd have more opportunities to get laid in a megacity, instead of back home in Stockbridge. My hometown in Massachusetts doesn't have a broad selection of man candy.
Work takes my mind off things for a couple hours.
Then the phone rings, and I see it's Elena calling.
"Hey, hon," I say when I pick up. "How's England today?"
"Beautiful. How are things at your end?"
"Fab. How's your British stud today? Is he plotting more ways to interfere in my life?"
Elena is silent for a few seconds. "What are you talking about?"
"Didn't Chance tell you? He ordered his brother to keep his hands off me."
"Chance did what?" Elena pauses again, but she doesn't sound confused or surprised when she speaks again. Instead, she sounds like my best friend who wants to hear all the details. "Do you want Reese's hands on you?"
"Yes, dammit, I do. And your honey is seriously messing with my plans."
"What plans do you have for Reese?"
"I want him to take my virginity. That's the plan."
Silence. For such a long time I think I've shocked my best friend so horribly that she's passed out.
Finally, Elena laughs. "Oh, those Dixon boys really do have the magic touch with the ladies, don't they? I mean, I had sex with Chance in an elevator five minutes after we met. Can't blame you for wanting to get it on with Reese. He's as hot as Chance, maybe hotter." She lowers her voice to a whisper. "Don't tell Chance I said that."
"My lips are sealed."
"You always did have a soft spot for the bad boys."
"That's because they're so much fun." I twirl a lock of my hair around my finger while I remember Reese's naughty smile when he told me he'd be the best first time I could ever have. "I like Reese. He's more fun than any guy I've met before, and I really, really want my first time to be with him. I had a sexual epiphany in Ecuador, and I don't want to wait any longer. Look, I'm not after a relationship. I know Reese isn't that kind of guy, but I'm also pretty sure sex with him will be incredible. Don't I deserve a rockin' first time?"
"Of course you do."
"Then you'll tell Chance to back off?"