Melt by Natalie Anderson Read Free Book Online

never tying me up.” A breathless denial.
    “I’m not being tied up, either, so we’ll flag that idea,” he agreed. “Still, I’m sure we could set boundaries that we’re both comfortable with.”
    “The boundaries are here.” She made a wall with her hands, slicing through the space out from her body—as if showing a force field around her. “No getting past these walls.”
    “See?” He laughed. “You can’t help but set me a challenge.”
    “No, you can’t help but see it as a challenge. There’s a difference.”
    “I’m not convinced.”
    “It’s only because you’re being so outrageous.”
    “I’m only doing that because you’re so uptight.”
    “I’m not uptight.” She stamped her boot.
    “Please, you’re the most uptight person ever to hit this place. Too scared to look at any male in case he’s about to pounce. Making it oh so clear you’re here on earnest endeavors, and you won’t be participating in any of those hijinks.”
    She tried to go back to prim. “I am here to work hard.”
    “As is everyone else, but you can’t play, either?”
    “Nope, not interested in being anyone’s plaything. Certainly not for less than a fortnight.”
    “Why?” He sidled closer. “Got a boyfriend?”
    She glared at him. “Is it really any of your business?”
    “Thought not.”
    “Don’t even try to suggest that I’m so uptight, what I’m in need of is a good, hard screw.”
    His brows shot up. “Your words, darling.”
    She wasn’t uptight, but she knew that physical intimacy led to complications. Keeping it light and fun wasn’t in her makeup. She’d missed out on the physical comfort most people got from their parents and family for a long part of her childhood. By the time she’d gotten to Bea she was a mass of prickles. She’d worked on it, but the first time a guy had bothered to hold her and whisper words of care, she’d read too much into it. Ditto the second time. For all her street smarts, she’d been naïve. Now she knew it was safer for her to keep her distance.
    “So why are you here?” he asked, watching her closely and suddenly looking more serious.
    “Who wouldn’t want to come to Antarctica?”
    “But the people who actually get here tend to be quite driven. There’s something pulling them, so they will do whatever to get here.”
    “I wanted to experience the isolation. I wanted to see what it was like to be surviving.” She looked at him. “Why are you down here? What drove you?”
    “I’m on vacation, and I’m avoiding the holidays,” he said bluntly.
    “You came all the way to Antarctica to avoid Christmas?” She laughed.
    He nodded.
    “But there’s tinsel all over the lounge,” she argued.
    “I can handle tinsel.”
    “Is it the family you can’t handle?”
    “Bingo.” He grinned.
    “You don’t think it’s worth making the effort to get along just for a day?”
    “I think forcing people to spend time together when they’d rather not, with too much food and drinks and ancient issues on hand, is a recipe for disaster.”
    Okay, she could grant him that, but she wasn’t going to verbalize her agreement—he was confident enough already. “I love Christmas,” she said.
    “Of course you do. I bet you have one of those big happy family gatherings, don’t you?”
    Actually, no, she didn’t. There’d be just Grandma Bea and her. “It’s not the size that matters.”
    He opened his mouth, but she knew what he was about to say and clapped her gloved hand over his lips to stop him.
    “Enough,” she admonished.
    He smiled. She knew because she saw it in his eyes, but she also felt it through her gloved fingers—the soft sliding curve of his lips. She paused as the temptation to press closer whispered. She touched him for ten seconds too long, staring into his blue eyes. Then she felt movement beneath her hand…
    He nipped her glove with his teeth, and she snatched her hand back, heat bursting in her belly. “You’re