When she finally found him in the barn, she was ready. “I’ve got something to show you,” was all she said, before turning around and heading back to the house.
***Dalton***
Dalton watched Melody walk away, his heart pounding in his chest, not only because watching her walk was a turn on, but because she’d finally talked to him. Feeling like a silly schoolboy with a crush on his teacher, he followed her to the house and back to the computer room.
When he saw the chart finished, he was surprised, although he knew that he shouldn’t have been. “You did all this?” he asked, studying it.
“It took a lot of work and a little bit of breaking the law, but it’s done. Do you see the pattern?” she asked, walking around behind the desk.
Dalton studied the chart for a second. “What are the blue circles?” he finally asked.
“Those are the places where there’s a connection to Deacon; either he was the primary lender on a loan, or an investor, stuff like that,” Melody said, then pointed to a black circle at the bottom of the chart. “And that’s how we take the whole thing down.”
Dalton looked at her, then back at the chart. “The construction company? How?”
“Look at the chart; the illegitimate businesses all rest on the construction company. Bankrupt it, and the whole thing crashes,” she said, unable to hide the pride in her voice.
Dalton studied the chart again, then turned to her; a huge smile on his face. “You did it; you figured out the one thing that’ll have him doing whatever we ask.”
“And I’ve got a little sample planned for him just to show him we’re not messing around,” Melody said, rubbing her hands together.
Dalton laughed and walked around behind the desk, unable to stop himself. “I think you’re enjoying this a little too much,” he said, then pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
It was only a second before she pushed him away, “Dalton, that’s over, it has to be.”
He pulled her back into his arms, “It doesn’t have to be. I still feel the same way I did three days ago; nothing has changed.”
Melody pulled away from him and quickly left the room, knowing that if she didn’t get away from him, she’d give in. “Everything’s changed, Dalton,” she said, over her shoulder.
Dalton knew that she was running away from him, she seemed good at that, but he followed her. When he caught her in the kitchen, he grabbed her arm and made her face him, “What’s changed? Last thing I remember is leaving you in bed to make you breakfast,” he said, getting angry, tired of having to drag things out of her.
“I guess you don’t remember the phone call you got that morning then?” she asked, a sneer in her voice.
“Phone call?” he asked, then he remembered his phone call with Marilynn that morning. Thinking back, he realized what that call would have sounded like if only his side had been heard. “Were you eavesdropping on my conversation?” he asked, a little smile on his face.
***Melody***
Melody couldn’t believe that he was smiling. “You think this is funny?” she asked, then unable to bear being so close to him, walked across the kitchen and looked out the window over the sink.
Dalton burst out laughing, then said, “You’re jealous.”
Melody spun around, unable to believe he was finding this all funny. “Jealous? No, I’m not jealous; I’m disgusted. Disgusted that I let myself be fooled by you, disgusted that you don’t see anything wrong with what you’ve done. I feel sorry for that woman, whoever she is,” she spat at him.
Dalton closed the space between them and grabbed Melody by the arms and looked down at her and waited until she looked up at him. “That was my assistant; she’s an eighteen-year-old kid who barely knows how to tie her shoes but she’s the only one who wanted the job. The only thing in her favor is that she loves the books as much as I do,” he said, his eyes locked on hers.
“You’re sleeping with your assistant?” Melody asked, still not able to believe what she’d overheard was innocent.
“No, Melody, I’m not sleeping with my assistant,” he said, very slowly. “The only woman I want is you.”
Melody didn’t want to give in, felt too off-kilter to make a smart decision, so she turned away and walked over to the window again. “I don’t know what to do,” she said quietly.
Dalton came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “Melody, I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: I want you, all of you, even the stubborn part that’s kept us apart for the last three days.”
She relaxed in his arms, the truth finally beginning to sink in. “It just feels too good to be true,” she said. “I keep thinking it’s not real.”
“Oh, it’s real, Melody, and I’m not going anywhere, so you’d better get used to having me around,” he said, then began to nibble on her neck.
She sighed as waves of pleasure washed over her, goosebumps popping up every place his lips touched. “I’ve missed you, Melody,” he whispered in her ear, raising his palms to her breasts and rubbing them across her taut nipples.
When he cupped them in his hands, he whispered in her ear again, “You have beautiful breasts; they fit perfectly in my hands.”
Melody laid her head back against his chest, her body humming with pleasure, but eager for more. “I’ve been thinking about your beautiful body for days, remembering what it felt like pressed against mine, what it felt like to be buried deep inside you,” Dalton said, his hand dipping down between her legs.
When he began to rub her through her jeans, she turned in his arms and pulled his head down and kissed him until they were both breathless. Then he lifted her into his arms and carried her upstairs to her bedroom, nibbling on her neck as he walked, slamming the door closed with his foot before setting her on her feet.
He turned her to face the mirror, then began unbuttoning the loose shirt that she wore. “You know that you’re only enticing us when you cover yourself up this way,” he said as one button after another came free under his nimble fingers. “You may think that the women who put it all out there are the ones we want, but the ones we dream about are the women who keep us guessing.”
Melody sucked in a deep breath, his deep voice and his words stirring something inside her. “I don’t know if I believe that,” she said, her voice husky.
“Oh, but it’s true, because when we do get to see what’s underneath, it makes it all that much more wonderful,” he said, letting her shirt fall to the floor at her feet.
He unhooked her bra and let it fall to the floor on top of her shirt, then reached around and cupped her breasts with his hands. When he gently pinched her nipples between his thumb and finger, pleasure radiated through her body, making her tingle all over, but especially between her legs.
She tried to turn in his arms, but he held her where she was. “You have a beautiful body, Melody, a body made for this,” he said, then unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them down, nipping the back of her legs with his teeth to get her to step out of them.
Still kneeling on the floor, he slid his hands up the back of her legs, over her buttocks and slowly slid her panties to the floor. When he stood up, he wrapped his arms around her from behind again, then slid one down across her belly and between her legs. He dipped his finger between her folds, groaning when he felt her wet and hot for him.
He began to tease her swollen nib with his finger, his mouth pressed up against her ear. “I can’t wait to bury myself inside you, but first I’m going to drive you crazy,” he said.
Melody’s body was throbbing and tingling, the waves of pleasure washing over her, building until she was desperate for release. When the crest finally hit her, it took her breath away: the pleasure so intense she would have fallen to the floor, but Dalton held her against his hard chest until her body calmed.
Then he scooped her up into his arms and carried her across the room and gently set her on the bed, stripped off his pants and walked around to the end of the bed. When
he crawled between her legs, she spread them for him, her heart pounding, her body throbbing. “I’m going to taste you, Melody,” he said, then dipped his head between her legs.
When his tongue brushed across her most sensitive area, her hips came up off the bed, and she grabbed his head as she was assaulted by the most intense pleasure he’d given her yet. It only took a few seconds before she felt the tight knot of pleasure inside her begin to loosen and flow over her, building until with a strangled cry, she tumbled over the edge again.
Chapter 15
***Dalton***
Dalton knew that he was at the end of his endurance, Melody’s response to his tender ministrations driving him closer. She was hot and wet, practically dripping, and he couldn’t wait another second to feel that heat wrapped around him. But what nearly did him in was her whispered plea as her body began to still.
“Please, Dalton, I need you.”
Crawling up between her spread legs, he thrust himself into her, loving the way her body closed around his. She felt as good as he’d imagined, and when she wrapped her legs around him and thrust her hips up, he couldn’t stop his body from responding. Trying to take things slowly, he kept the pace slow, pulling out and then slowly filling her again.
But she began to thrash under him, clearly demanding more so he increased his pace, each thrust of his hips driving them both closer to fulfillment. When Melody cried out and dug her nails into his back, he knew the end was near and tried to hold on, not willing to end what was so powerful.
Her body clenched around him as she again succumbed to the passion between them, and he couldn’t resist any longer, and let the pleasure take him. With one final hard thrust, he emptied himself inside her, everything but Melody draining from his consciousness at that moment.
As they lay still joined, his body draped across hers, he realized that no woman had ever been capable of taking him where Melody just had. It was more than just sex with her; it was like finding the other half of him, and then it hit him why he felt that way: he was in love with her.
He was so shocked by the thought that he sucked in a deep breath as if he was in pain. “What’s wrong,” Melody asked when she heard him, suspicion in her voice.
“Nothing, just trying to get my breath,” he managed to say, then rolled off her and gathered her into his arms. “And I just realized that I’ve never felt this way before.”
Melody leaned up on one elbow to look at him, her yellow eyes glowing a little bit. “Is that a good thing or a bad one?” she asked, fear in her voice.
Dalton laughed, “It’s a good thing, silly.”
She settled back into his arms. “I’m sorry, I guess I’m still worried,” she admitted.
Dalton moved so that he could look into her eyes. “Melody, you have to stop worrying and just enjoy what we have. I know it might take a while to convince you of that, but I’m willing to keep trying.”
Melody smiled up at him, “I have to admit that I like the way you’re trying to convince me; don’t stop.”
“I have no intention of doing that,” he said, hugging her closer to him. “But you should get some sleep now; I know you stayed up all night again last night.”
Melody looked guilty, “Well, it was worth it wasn’t it?” she asked, a twinkle in her eye.
“Hmm, we’ll talk about it when you wake up,” Dalton said, giving her a stern glance, then smiled. “Go to sleep.”
It was mid-afternoon before Melody woke, but when she did, Dalton was right there next to her, leaning up against the headboard, spell book in hand. “You’re still here,” she said, smiling up at him.
“No way I was risking leaving you again,” he said, leaning down to kiss her.
“Hmm, that’s probably a good idea,” she said, then threw one leg over his and straddled him. “Because I woke up thinking about this,” she said, shifting her hips back and forth.
***Melody***
Melody let Dalton talk her into taking the rest of the day off; it didn’t take much, only the suggestion of a ride and she was out of bed and headed for the shower. She hadn’t ridden since last summer and was more than ready to get out on one of the trails she loved so well.
They rode all afternoon, then had dinner with the rest of the crew, enduring their knowing glances when they held hands under the table. Melody had never been so happy but couldn’t shake the feeling that things were going too well, that something was going to disrupt her happiness like it always did.
After a night spent in Dalton’s cabin, they went to the computer room together to plan their next move. “You started to tell me your plan yesterday morning, but I don’t think I heard the whole thing,” Dalton said, grinning at her.
Melody felt herself blushing, but smiled back at him, her heart fluttering in her chest. “Well, I’ve hacked into the bank accounts for the construction company, all it will take is a couple of key presses, and I can wipe out one of the accounts. It’ll look like the bank made a mistake, but by the time it’s caught and fixed, the damage will have been done. Missed payments and late fees, stuff like that,” she said, keeping her eyes on the computer so she could concentrate.
“Then we let Demetri know that it was us, that we could do even more damage unless he returns the talisman,” Dalton said.
“Exactly, and I can do it if I have to,” Melody said, a big grin on her face.
“Can he catch us?” Dalton asked, skeptically. “I don’t exactly want to go to jail.”
“No, I’ve got that covered; we’re behind so many screens; it would take a genius to find us. Remember, it’s going to look like a bank mistake; no one is going to question it,” Melody said. “Plus, I don’t think it’ll get past that first little hack. I think he’ll give in; he won’t have any choice.”
“I don’t know if Deacon will give in that easy, and he has ways of finding us that Demetri doesn’t.”
“Do we know that Deacon knows what’s going on? And if he does, he has just as much invested in this as Demetri does; he’ll lose billions if this all falls apart,” Melody argued. “This is the only way to get to them, or at least to Demetri.”
Dalton nodded his head, but she could see that he wasn’t convinced. “How about this? We’ll contact him first.”
“As long as it doesn’t give us away. I don’t want him showing up here before we have reinforcements. I’d better call Annabelle and let her know what’s going on. You and I can’t face this alone, especially if Deacon becomes involved. We’re pretty sure he’s been using black magic, and that’s some dangerous stuff.”
Melody nodded, remembering the stories she’d been told. “Then we’d better round up the troops and get them here. It’s time to make a move.”
***Dalton***
Dalton knew that it was time to call his sister; he hadn’t talked to her for a few days, not since Melody had locked herself in the computer room. He was sure she’d want to know what they’d discovered thanks to Melody’s hacking skills, especially the connection they’d made between Deacon and Demetri.
When she picked up the phone, he said, “Hey, sis, I’ve got you on speaker phone. Melody and I have some interesting information for you.”
“Well, it’s about time,” Annabelle said, but there was warmth in her voice. “What’s been taking you two so long?”
Dalton laughed and said, “Breaking the law takes a long time, but it was worth it. We’ve established a long-standing partnership between Deacon and Demetri.”
“I’m not surprised; we’ve done some more research and Charlie is definitely his daughter. I’m not sure how or why Demetri got stuck with her, but he’s the reason she ended up with the shifters, who, by the way, were not Justin’s sister and brother,” Annabelle said.
Dalton had met Charlie and sensed great magic in her, the kind of magic her father would have loved to possess. “How’s Charlie doing?”
“She’s adjusting to the fact that she’s a witch and dealing with all her memories of living with the sh
ifters. Her powers are strong, Dalton, as strong as ours and it hasn’t been easy teaching her to use them; she’s learning to control them, but she’s not ready for the real world,” Annabelle said.
“Well, if anyone can help her, it’s you and Joslin,” Dalton said, then asked, “Any word from Penny and Quinten? They’ve been gone for what, three weeks?”
“They’ve tracked Deacon to a little castle in the south of Germany. I can’t remember its name, but according to the locals, he’s been there since last summer,” Annabelle said. “But they picked up some gossip in the local pub that he’s been packing up the castle, getting it ready for a long absence while he’s gone to America.”
“So he’s coming back home?” Dalton asked. “Do you think he’s coming after the amulet? Demetri told Charlie he needed it to give back to the owner.”
“That’s exactly what I think, but what I don’t know is how much he knows about what’s happened here. Demetri may not have told him that it’s a talisman now and that it’s locked itself to anyone but Charlie and Steven,” Annabelle said.
“Then he’s in for a surprise when he gets it back,” Dalton said.
“That’s exactly what I want to prevent; the amulet or talisman belongs to our family. It was stolen years ago, and it belongs to us; if Deacon gets his hands on it, we’ll never get it back.”
“I know all that, Annabelle, that’s why we need to get it back before he does but are you sure he’s after that? He could be coming home for another reason.” Dalton wanted to make sure all the facts were straight before they risked their lives.
“He’s desperate; the witch’s council wants him found and questioned about the use of black magic; the amulet would have given him enough power to stand up to them, to tell them to go to hell. Without it and his black magic, he’s nothing,” Annabelle said.
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