by CF Frizzell
Shay chortled and looked down at her. “I’ve been single for a couple years, but the Exchange is the first bar I’ve been to more than once in a very long time. After Lee left, I put everything I had into my business and rarely dated. The Chronicle doesn’t let you get out much either, does it?”
“People are stuck in their old ways and they see me as a reflection of them, and the Chronicle as a reflection of me. They’d flip out.”
“If they knew you were a lesbian.” There. It’s been said out loud.
Mel nodded as she sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees.
Shay turned to face her. “What could they do?”
“Turn up the homophobic heat, turn folks against me. But mostly I fear they’d pull their advertising, and we just make ends meet as it is.”
“But you’re the only game in town. Wouldn’t they have to use the Chronicle?”
Mel shrugged. “They could cut back on us, go to the Tribune. It’s a daily and more expensive, but it’s something, even though it has only half our circulation.”
“But people devour the Chronicle religiously, Mel. They love you.”
“The Mel they think they know, maybe,” she said with a self-deprecating little smile. “It’s a step I can’t afford to take.”
“I would think the really good people would stand by you.”
“Thanks, Shay. I wish I could count on that, because I’d love to just be me. It’s difficult to editorialize about the changes in town when I don’t dare do a thing about myself. I encourage Tomson to take cautious steps forward, while I sit behind that damn desk, wrapped in my own insular world. Hiding. I’m not proud of it. Makes me feel…”
“I understand the feeling. You remember me rambling on that first time we talked, frustrated about working for Slattery.”
“It struck pretty close to home.”
“We’re more like comrades-in-arms than you realize.”
Mel angled her head and looked away. “Good point.”
Shay poured more wine. They had met at a crossroad and she wanted them to linger. She touched their glasses together.
“What are we toasting?” Mel asked.
“Courage.”
“Oh, I’ll drink to that.”
They sipped the wine, and Mel peered into the basket.
“Cheese and stuff,” Shay said, watching her, trying to ignore her insistent heart.
Mel selected a cube of cheese, but just stared at it instead of popping it into her mouth. “I don’t want to be a hypocrite either, Shay.”
The statement made Shay lower her glass. Mel dropped her hand and looked toward the water. Shay watched the delicate jaw clench, disturb the soft profile, and knew Mel wrestled with conflict as much as she did.
“Are we?”
Mel’s eyes moistened. “Oh, I think so.”
“I’ve never felt like this before, torn up inside. It makes me crazy sometimes.” Mel’s lips pressed together tightly as she nodded. “Look, Mel. It’s not like no one’s ever been able to figure out this difficult stuff. Right? It can be done.”
Mel shook her head. “My life would be turned upside down, Shay. Nana’s a tough nut to crack as it is, and the paper? God help me. I’d lose it all.”
Shay couldn’t quite see the severity of Mel’s situation, considering folks hadn’t turned her own presence in Tomson into a national crisis, but the loneliness in Mel’s tone signaled a deep fear and begged understanding. “I get it, Mel. Well, I think I do. I’m looking at becoming a part of the Slattery operation in a big way, and my head’s all screwed up about it.”
“A big way? How big?”
“Della’s asked me to be her project manager for the Fourth.”
“Really? You’d be in deep with her, then.”
“Believe me, I have mixed feelings about it.”
“It’s all just Heights propaganda, I’m sure you realize.”
“Like I need to add that baggage to what I already carry.” She touched Mel’s chin lightly, turned her to face her. “But I think I need to take the challenge. For me. I’m going to make it worth my while. I think the same applies to you. And I think you agree.”
“I’ve been seeing myself all too well lately, Shay, and I haven’t been making me proud.”
“Well, you should be proud, Mel, because it takes so much to go against the grain as much as you have. It’s not always easy to stand your ground, especially when you’re battling two highly emotional issues.” She slid her palm over Mel’s hand and squeezed. “I’m proud of you.”
Mel’s look probed Shay’s self-control, made her question whether anyone had ever acknowledged Mel’s efforts, made her want to say more reassuring things and bolster her spirit, be the one who made her smile. But Shay’s breath caught when Mel leaned closer.
“You know, Shay? I’m proud of you, too.” She touched her lips to Shay’s and sat back.
“I, um…” Helplessly stunned, Shay chuckled at herself. “I think my brain just short-circuited.”
“Obviously, mine is going in a million directions. I can’t believe I just did that.”
“I like that you did.”
“Jesus, Shay, there’s no way to…to be myself without losing everything I’ve got. You make me want to throw caution to the wind, when I know I can’t.”
“The first time I saw you, I knew you were special. You were drinking alone, wearing a USC shirt and your cap.”
“I remember that night, too. Casanova Shay Maguire waltzed out with a dancing babe.”
“What did I know?” She clinked her glass to Mel’s. “We’re all entitled to the occasional lapse in judgment.” She hoped Mel saw it that way. She never wanted Mel to see her as a player again, and ignored the reason why.
It was a pleasure to see Mel’s face brighten, for any reason. She wanted that glow to last, and despite the cautionary whispers in the back of her mind, she wanted those eyes to sparkle for her. And, as she knew it would, her self-control succumbed.
“You are special, Melissa Baker. So very special.” She stroked Mel’s hair and lightly cupped her head. She brushed her lips across Mel’s and nestled their mouths together carefully. Mel’s drew on hers so willingly Shay’s heart pounded in her ears. Shay angled her head, intensified their kiss, and Mel draped her arm around Shay’s neck, still holding her glass.
Slightly breathless, Shay drew back and rested her forehead against Mel’s.
“Wow.”
“Your kiss is a killer.”
Shay whispered onto her lips. “Let’s try it again.”
“This is too dangerous, Shay.”
“I know.” Shay kissed Mel’s upper lip. “We shouldn’t.”
Mel tightened her arm around Shay’s neck, her mouth a breath away. “No, we shouldn’t.”
“Such a bad idea.”
Shay kissed her slowly, fully, wrapped her arm around Mel’s waist, and drew her against her chest. Mel moaned into her mouth, and Shay moaned in agreement and kissed her way carefully, luxuriously along the satin of Mel’s jaw and throat, to the edge of her collar. Mel’s free hand traveled up her back, into her hair, torching her scalp. She held Shay’s lips in place on her neck.
“God, Shay.”
“I know.” Shay kissed her way upward. “Such a breathtaking…bad idea.” She covered Mel’s mouth in a long, deep kiss, squeezing her closer. She set her wine glass aside blindly and lay back, taking Mel with her.
Mel broke their kiss, gasped lightly as they went to the ground, and tossed her glass onto the grass.
Shay filtered her fingers through the airy silk of Mel’s hair, let splayed hands wander across Mel’s shoulders and back, and hugged her tighter. Her eyes closing, she watched her boundaries, her conscientious intentions melt away, and with Mel’s urgent kiss, her head spun. Her entire body warmed beneath Mel’s excited breaths, at the touch of plush, wet lips to her cheek, her ear. Shay squeezed Mel’s ass with both hands and pressed their hips together with a groan. Mel breathed h
eavily in her ear, and Shay turned and took her lips hungrily.
Mel lifted her head to see her. “This is where I ruin things.”
“No.” Shay chased Mel’s kiss. “Nothing can ruin this moment.”
Mel took Shay’s head in both hands and kissed her back onto the grass. “Something this sudden feels so good?”
Shay couldn’t have agreed more. How easily we could take each other right here, right now.
“Don’t ask.” Shay rolled them over, off the blanket, her thigh landing between Mel’s legs and causing Mel to arch against her. She reveled in the clutch of Mel’s fingers kneading into her back, the grind of Mel’s abdomen against hers, and sighed longingly beneath her chin. Unconscious desire drew Shay’s hands upward, her palms onto Mel’s full breasts, and Mel groaned with arousal when Shay squeezed.
Another such moment could be forever away. Will there be another? Or is this as close as we ever get? It’s meant so much, these first kisses, but our first time would mean the world…
Shay raised her head and Mel’s look was glazed, lids half lowered as if in surrender. She overwhelms all my common sense yet brings me to my senses in a heartbeat? Yes, so soon to be anything but special. She rose over Mel on outstretched arms and studied the swollen lips, the high rosy cheekbones, the faint, finely arched brows. But the welcoming eyes allowing her the freedom to gaze gradually moistened.
“Shay.” Mel palmed her cheek, beseeching. “We—I can’t. I don’t know what I was…” Shay drew back as Mel sat up. “I guess I stopped thinking. I shouldn’t have let us get this far. I’m sorry.”
Even though she’d been ready to halt this herself, Shay couldn’t hide her disappointment. “I started this and got carried away. I’m the one who—”
“But I’m being…I need to apologize.” Mel entwined their hands. “It can’t matter how you make me feel or how I feel about you. I have to see beyond that.” She shook her head. “I’m so, so sorry. God, this was such a mist—”
Shay pressed a finger to Mel’s lips. “Don’t. Just don’t.” She closed Mel’s hands together and kissed them. “I’m sorry I pushed.”
“There was no pushing involved, Shay. Quite the opposite.” She cupped Shay’s face in her hand and ran a thumb across her lips. “My life is a mess, yet I still let this happen. I think you’re wonderful. God knows, I don’t want to hurt you, mislead you. I just…can’t.”
Shay lowered her forehead to Mel’s, feeling helpless to stop truth from pouring out. “I’ll help you in any way I can. If you let me. Will you remember that?” She brought her lips to within a breath of a kiss and heard herself say things her heart believed were inevitable. “I’m not going away.” She touched her lips to Mel’s. “You feel so right. We are so right.”
Chapter Thirteen
Buried in paperwork at her desk Monday morning, Mel jumped when Mike burst into the office.
“Hey, Mel. Come on. Big to-do at the lumber yard.” He was almost out the door when Mel yelled.
“Wait! What? Moriarty’s?” She grabbed a small notepad off her desk and hurried after him. “Did you give him the check for our window?”
“’Course I did.” He swung open his car door. “This is about Sorvini with Bob and his boys. A guy at the diner just left them. Says there’s going to be a fight.”
She found it hard to imagine that Bob Moriarty could be set off, period, even by someone like Sorvini. Bob and his two sons were among the most likeable, hardest-working families in Tomson.
Two pickups from the Five Star, one of them Sorvini’s signature red dually, sat at the loading dock on the side of the massive building. Mel could hear the shouting as they arrived.
“Told you we don’t have all the inventory yet,” Bob snarled up at Sorvini. “You think I’m moving heaven and earth for you now? Forget it!”
“All the business we give you? Listen, asshole. We oughta just march in there and take what we need!”
“You step foot inside and I’ll take you on myself!”
Sorvini checked over his shoulder, apparently reassured the three Five Star workers still provided backup. To Mel, they just seemed amused. Sorvini loomed over him, and Bob’s sons closed ranks around their father. She elbowed Mike and nodded discreetly, the signal to shoot.
“You don’t intimidate me, you son of a bitch.” Moriarty stabbed a finger into Sorvini’s barrel chest. “I deal with Tom Rogers for a reason. He comes here, we’ll talk, but you—you get off my property.”
“Rogers, that idiot, should’ve been dealing with Home Depot all along. He’s off today, so I’m here and you’ll damn well deal with me. You’ve held up the work long enough.” He summoned the Five Star men forward. “We’ll take what we can now.”
“The hell you will!”
“I’ll call Sheriff Davis, Dad.”
“Good!” Sorvini spat. “I want the cops to know you’re holding out when we’ve paid good bucks already—and I won’t push my schedule back any further because of you.”
“Actually, it’s my schedule,” Shay interrupted, suddenly emerging between the Five Star workers. She strode up to Sorvini. “I’m coordinating work for the Fourth for Ms. Slattery as of today.”
Mel’s pen froze on the paper. Shay was the last person she expected to see. Sorvini obviously thought the same, except she doubted he felt that pleasurable heat rush through his system.
Sorvini stepped back, wide-eyed. “What the fuck are you talking about? Get lost.”
Shay extended a hand to Bob. “Shay Maguire, Mr. Moriarty. Can we speak in your office, please?”
Sorvini looked ready to swing at her.
“Get the fuck out of here, Maguire. You don’t know shit about what’s going on.”
“Excuse us, Mr. Sorvini. You’re needed back at the office right away.”
Bob, meanwhile, looked from Shay to Sorvini, back at his sons, and shrugged before cocking his head at Shay. “Maguire, you said?”
“Shay. Yes, sir. I think we can discuss our situation civilly inside, don’t you?”
Sorvini yanked Shay around by the shoulder to face him. “What the hell are you doing? Goddamn dy—”
“Ms. Slattery asked to see you immediately.”
Sorvini glowered, nostrils flaring. “You and I will have us a talk later. Count on it.” He glared at Bob and spun away, waving the Five Star workers to follow.
With the trucks gone, Mel and Mike stood exposed in the lot.
“Hell of a start to the morning,” she said. “Hi, guys. Shay.”
Bob ran a weary hand across his face. “Morning, Mel. Wish you wouldn’t print any of that. Business is slow enough.” He looked fearfully at Mike.
“With his reputation, Bob, it might be good for business. You have nothing to worry about. Trust me.”
Shay took several steps toward her. “I need to speak with Mr. Moriarty, Mel, if you’re done.” She took an extra second to assess the darkening bruise at Mel’s eye. And here I thought all this makeup would hide the shiner. Damn. “Mel?”
“Just, ah…” Mel forced her attention to her notes. Looking at Shay was risky. The mussed hair, the authoritative stance, those soft mind-numbing lips…Strong, ready, sexy. A powerful visceral memory of that hard body yearning beneath her forced Mel to shuffle awkwardly.
“I, ah…” Her composure was slipping. The stall tactic didn’t help and she looked up, smiling. Shay’s frown lifted and she winked. A tremor weakened Mel’s knees, and she fought to ignore it. Damn that dark, windblown look. Jesus. “Well, maybe you could just, ah, well, is there a chance the festivities won’t go off as planned? Eh, are you really dangerously behind schedule?” Relief washed through her at having mustered a legitimate question.
“Well,” Shay glanced at Bob, “we need to go over some things first, but I have a feeling we’re in good shape.”
Bob appeared to appreciate Shay’s positive endorsement. He nodded eagerly.
“We always stand ready to help,” he said and waved Shay insid
e. “Let’s talk.”
Shay backed away from Mel. “See? Sorvini will be the death of me, I swear.”
Mel shook her head. “Don’t let that happen, Shay.”
“See you around, Ms. Baker.”
Mel purposely avoided watching her go. She looked back at her notes as she returned to Mike’s car, thankful for a getaway vehicle. Mike chuckled under his breath as he drove.
“What’s so funny?”
“You didn’t see Bob’s son, Rick, checking you out?”
“Stop. You’re sounding more like my grandmother every day.”
“Shay knocks you off your feet.”
Mel stared at him. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it? She really is good-looking, just in case you haven’t noticed.”
“Shut up.”
“Kind of, hmm, I don’t know, devilishly handsome.”
“I know what she looks like.”
“Well, I’ve met some butch lesbians before, but she’s—”
“Will you stop already? I know she’s hot.”
Still grinning, Mike parked in front of the office, and Mel promptly went inside. He followed on her heels.
“You’re not going to be able to avoid it forever, Mel. There’s something between you that’s electric.”
Mel ignored him, tucking herself up to her desk. As if she needed to actually hear such words out loud.
“She makes you stutter, forget yourself. I noticed.”
“That scene was awful.” Cripes. Everyone probably noticed. The thought chilled her.
“I know you, how self-assured you are on the job. A few minutes ago, you couldn’t have told me your name, for God’s sake.”
Mel leaned back in her chair and stared out the window. This is hopeless. “I like her.”
Mike set his bag on the floor and sat in the guest chair. “It’s more than that, isn’t it? And Shay likes you. A lot.”
Mel simply nodded. “She’s special.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing. I just enjoy her company.”
“Mel.” He chortled. “That’s pathetic, ‘I just enjoy her company.’ I saw you two dancing a while back, remember? You guys looked very content, cheek-to-cheek. There was some serious, full-body contact going on.”