No Reservations by Lilly Cain

Ed?”
    “Uh…social networking?”
    “Right. You gossip worse than an old woman. Got to go. See you tonight.”
    “Okay, bye—”
    Travis shut off the phone. Absently he rotated it in his fingers, staring at the small blank screen. He worked his jaw, felt the tension in the muscles of his face. An image of Alicia, asleep in her bed, haunted him. “I am a complete idiot.”

Chapter Five
    Alicia slowed her run down to a jog. As she cooled down from her morning exercise, she checked her watch and rounded the corner to her street. Glancing up, she recognized the figure sitting on her stoop and came to an abrupt stop.
    “Hey, Travis. Miss your flight again?” Sweat trickled down her back and along her brow. Not her best look, but she wasn’t concerned with impressing him. Not anymore. It had been three days and she hadn’t heard from him, not even a thank you for the first-class tickets. She wasn’t interested in another one-night stand with him. She was ready for stability, to focus on her career and not her sex life. And if you keep telling yourself that, you might believe it.
    “Nah. The flight was great. The guys are great. I had almost two days with them, catching up and shooting shit.” He shrugged. “I just realized I’d rather be here.”
    “Really.” Her heart pounded, but she’d play it as light as he did. It was a game of course, and that was fine. Her only problem was that she wasn’t sure of the stakes. Not even what she would be willing to wager. Did she want to sleep with him again? Because that was exactly where this was heading.
    “Yeah. I was going to ask you to go for a walk with me, but that’s not going to work. I guess nothing is until I say I’m sorry for leaving the other day.”
    She pulled out her water bottle. This was different. There was an openness to him she hadn’t seen since their first year in college, before their competition began in earnest. She took a gulp of the now-warm water and watched him from the corner of her eye. “Why did you leave?”
    “I thought you might actually be married.”
    “What?” Alicia felt her cheeks flush in anger. If this was some sort of trick… “Look I don’t have time for this. I don’t know what kind of new game this is, but I’ve been legally divorced for a year.” She shoved past him to stomp up the stairs into the apartment. The jerk could sit on the porch forever if this was the mind game he had planned.
    He stood and caught her arm. “It’s not a game, Alicia. I saw a picture of you on your wall. You were with a man and had a wedding ring on. And there was this whole thing with Bruce, when I never saw so much as a cat’s whisker. I thought you were married and I was the one being played.”
    Alicia shook him off and shoved the key into the apartment lock. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m divorced. I must have missed that picture in the purge. And Bruce is named after Bruce Lee—he’s my little ninja cat. He was at the vet, being fixed. You might consider having the same little snip.”
    Travis caught the door. “Honestly, I’m sorry. Please, let me come in. You’re a woman I want to get to know.”
    She brushed by him but didn’t slam the door. She walked into the entranceway, kicked off her sneakers. Let him talk. She’d already slept with the man. She was no fool, so what harm could he do? And if there was some chance he wasn’t playing… She’d enjoyed what they’d shared so far. He was intelligent, charming, funny. He was sexy. And he’d made her feel so good. Dangerous.
    He followed her into the kitchen, where she poured herself a fresh cold drink of water. Bruce sauntered in, stared balefully at Travis and promptly turned his back on them both, his tail in the air as he sauntered back out. For a moment there was nothing but silence as they both stared after the tabby.
    “I’ve never been married. But I had a fiancée once. Or at least, I thought she was my fiancée. But as it turned