“Nick, I’m your brother,” Nash said. “But I swear I—”
“Save it, big bro,” Nick interrupted. “Nothing’s going on with Melody and me. She’s a sweet girl, and I happened to be around when she needed help. That’s it. We’re friends.” Nick clenched his jaw, and told himself he was fine with lying to his brother. Better to lie than to have his chance with Melody ruined before they’d even gone on a real first date.
Nash was quiet for a moment. “Okay. Good.”
“But thanks for the vote of confidence,” Nick sneered, unable to resist getting a dig in.
Nash sighed. “You haven’t really given anyone much reason to have confidence in you when it comes to girls, Nick. When’s the last time you dated a girl for more than a month?”
Nick bit his lip. He hadn’t told Nash about Sarah Beth. He hadn’t told anyone about Sarah Beth. A part of him had been so certain it was going to end badly that he hadn’t wanted anyone to know that he and his ex were getting serious.
Was he already doing the same thing with Melody?
Nick banished the ugly thought with a shake of his head. Melody was different, he was different when he was with her, and soon Nash would figure that out.
“The bus is pulling up. I’ve got to go.” Nick sighed, grateful for the roar of the approaching engine. It gave him a good excuse to call out, “Getting loud, call you tomorrow,” and hang up without waiting for Nash to get around to all the other reasons Nick wasn’t good for a girl like Melody.
Chapter Eight
Monday seemed to drag on forever.
Waiting for word on Seth’s whereabouts—he’d apparently skipped town after the attack, but Nash had a police car circling by Seth’s house every few hours and said his officers would spot the drummer as soon as he got back—was hard. Waiting for her Tuesday afternoon date with Nick was even harder.
Nick.
Every time Melody thought his name she got a dreamy smile on her face and a fizzing sensation inside, like champagne bubbles floating from her toes to her head and back again. She couldn’t stop thinking about the way he called her baby, or the way they talked like old friends at the diner, or the way his soft, warm lips teased down her neck, making her blood run lava hot.
By the time he pulled up in front of her apartment building on Tuesday afternoon, Melody was so eager to see him that she was waiting by the window, hiding behind the curtains, and let out a whoop of excitement as he stepped out of his car.
Nick was wearing black and silver swim trunks that were edgier than any swim wear she’d ever seen and a white t-shirt with an owl sketched on the front. His spiky hair was even spikier than usual and the smile on his face when he looked up as she rushed out the front door of her building made her run the last few yards to meet him, grinning so hard her cheeks started to hurt.
“Hey, hot mama,” Nick said, scooping her up and spinning her around with a laugh. “You look amazing.”
He set her down on her feet and pulled away to take in her lake outfit—a nearly transparent black cover-up with her nineteen-forties, Ethel Merman style one-piece underneath—of which he obviously approved.
“Thanks, you look pretty good yourself,” Melody said, reaching out to pinch his stomach through his shirt, needing to touch him after almost forty-eight, torturous hours apart. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” Nick’s grin stretched wide. “I’m glad you said it first.”
“Why?” Melody asked, following him around to the passenger’s side and waiting while he opened the door.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I was wondering if it was weird to miss you so much after only a day apart.”
“I don’t care if it’s weird,” Melody said, leaning in to brush a kiss to his lips. The second they touched, her already light head felt airy enough to float right off her body.
“I missed this, too,” Nick mumbled against her mouth, his arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her closer.
He deepened the kiss, his tongue slipping into her mouth, swirling in hungry circles that made Melody’s pulse pound and her body ache to get closer to him, until there wasn’t an inch of space between them and nothing but skin separating her from Nick Geary.
“We’d better get going,” he said, his voice as rough as the hint of stubble on his cheeks. “Nash has a car coming by your place every few hours, too. With my luck, he’ll be tagging along for patrol and catch me making a liar of myself.”
“Gotcha.” Melody pulled away with a sigh and slid into the passenger’s seat, her knees trembling as she moved. She’d never understood the phrase “weak in the knees” before she’d kissed Nick. Now she wasn’t sure she ever wanted sturdy knees again.
Sturdy knees were highly overrated.
“I don’t know why Nash is being weird,” Melody said as Nick started the car and aimed them toward the lake.
Nick had called her late Sunday night and asked her not to say anything to her family about their decision to start dating, at least not until Nick could convince Nash not to flip out about it. She’d agreed, though a tiny voice inside of her wondered why Nash would flip out, and why Nick was so eager to keep their new relationship a secret.
“You know why.” Nick glanced over at her, his green eyes bright in the light reflecting off the dashboard. “I’m usually an asshole.”
Melody laughed.
“And he doesn’t know about Sarah Beth,” Nick added in a more serious voice. “He doesn’t know a lot about me. He’s been so busy the past few years, making Captain and helping build Mom and Dad a new house and generally being the golden child of the family. It’s like two full-time jobs.”
“I’m sure it’s not always easy for him.” Melody put her hand on Nick’s thigh as he drove, needing to touch him in a way that was foreign to her. Foreign, but nice, and not an impulse she was inclined to resist. “Being golden child isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I can tell you that from experience.”
“And why’s that?” Nick asked in a way that sounded genuinely curious, like he was trying to understand what it might be like to be something other than the black sheep.
She liked that about Nick. That he was curious, and willing to listen, even if he didn’t always agree with what she said.
“Well, people always expect you to be the peacemaker,” she said with a sigh. “To not make waves and go along with what the rest of the family wants for the good of the group. And people really don’t like you to veer off your approved course, or, heaven forbid, change your mind. Changing your mind is not allowed.”
He laughed beneath his breath. “What did you change your mind about that got the Marches all worked up?”
“Well, Mom and Dad weren’t happy when I decided to go to culinary school.”
“Lark went to culinary school before you though, didn’t she?”
“Yes, but…” Melody paused, trying to think of a diplomatic way to put her next statement. “Lark was always really smart, but not in a school kind of way. She didn’t have the best grades in high school and had trouble managing community college.”
“But that wasn’t the case with Melody the magnificent, I’m guessing?”
Melody shot him a narrow look out of the corner of her eye to find him smirking, but not in a mean way. “I wouldn’t say I’m magnificent.”
“I would,” he said, making her laugh.
“Whatever. But I did get good grades. Really good grades. I had a full ride to any four-year school in Georgia. Daddy wanted me to go into business, and Mama wanted me to be an architect.”
“But you didn’t want to be a college girl.”
Melody smiled a little sadly, wondering what life would have been like if she’d gone down that road, though she knew she’d made the right choice. “No, I didn’t. I didn’t want to do the school thing anymore. It felt too abstract. I wanted to learn how to really do something, instead of memorizing facts and writing ten page papers for years before I got around to what I was rea
lly interested in doing for a career. I wanted to get my hands dirty, you know?”
Nick grunted. “Oh, I know. But as the black sheep, no one really cared that I went into the tattoo business instead of heading for community college like the rest of the kids. Dad was just glad I had a job, and Mom was glad I wasn’t in prison.”
Melody’s eyebrows lifted. “Was that ever a possibility?”
“No,” Nick said, with a snort that Melody found unreasonably sexy. “I used to get in trouble in high school, but it was harmless stuff. I smoked pot and stole my parents’ beer every time they turned their back, but that was mostly because I was bored to death in this town.”
Melody sighed. “Yeah, I wasn’t bored in high school, or when Lark and I first started the business, but there have been times lately when I’ve felt…stuck.”
“It’s easy to get stuck in a town like Summerville,” Nick said, a hard note in his voice that made Melody feel compelled to stand up for her sweet little town.
“Well, I think it’s easy to get stuck anywhere, especially once you’re officially an adult,” she said, shifting in her seat as he pulled into the entrance to the state park. She watched the green trees fly past Nick’s window, accentuating the strong lines of his profile, not bothering to hide her admiration.
He nodded, considering what she’d said. “True. It’s like, when you’re a kid, you’re in such a hurry to grow up, and then you get to be nineteen or twenty and everything slows down. It gets too easy to start repeating yourself over and over, making all the same mistakes.”
On impulse, Melody leaned in to press a kiss to his cheek.
Nick glanced over, surprise and pleasure mixing in his eyes. “What was that for?”
“I just like that you understand,” she said. “I don’t want to feel stuck anymore. I want to keep growing up. I don’t think you ever have to stop, do you?”
Nick smiled that new, gentle smile she’d only seen once or twice, the one that seemed to mean he’d dropped the last of his guard. “I’ve never really thought about it that way before,” he said softly. “But no. I don’t think you have to stop.”
Melody didn’t ever want to stop looking into those clear green eyes, the ones that suddenly seemed so willing to share his secrets, but he was driving. “You should watch the road,” she said with a grin.
“I can watch you and the road,” he said with a wink before turning his attention back to the winding ribbon of asphalt that led up to Wiley Lake.
“So where do you like to go swimming?” Melody asked. “My family takes a boat out to the jumping rocks when we go together, but my friends and I usually just hit the beach by the ranger station.”
“I have a secret swimming hole,” Nick said, wiggling his eyebrows. “But I’m willing to share its top secret location with you, because I like you that much.”
“I’m honored,” Melody said, grinning like a fool, but not caring. “This is so much nicer,” she added with a happy sigh.
“What is?” Nick asked, turning down a gravel road Melody had always assumed was an access road for the rangers who worked in the park.
“Liking each other,” she said. “It’s so much easier than not liking each other, don’t you think?”
Nick grunted, but his lips curved. “Makes you wonder why we ever bothered with the not liking part.”
“I didn’t bother. That was all you, my friend.”
Nick laughed. “I’m not the brightest light on the Christmas tree. Ask anyone in my family.”
“Your family loves you,” Melody said, hoping it was true. Aria hadn’t had the best first experience with Nash’s mom, but they seemed okay now, and Aria said the rest of the Gearys were fun, genuine people.
“They do,” Nick admitted. “But they don’t always trust me. I want that to be different, you know?”
The hint of vulnerability in his voice made Melody reach out to rest her hand on his thigh again. “Then you’ll make it different.”
Nick’s hand covered hers, and a spark of something more than lust jumped between them. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Melody said, warm, soft feelings curling around her heart and giving a gentle squeeze.
She knew this feeling. It was the way she’d felt when she’d held Felicity for the first time. She had looked down into her niece’s tiny, red face and known instantly that they were going to be special to each other, and that Melody was going to love Felicity more and more from that day forward.
With a niece, that wasn’t a scary or strange thing to feel, but with a boy you’d known a couple of months? Well, it probably wasn’t very smart.
“Who cares about smart?” she mumbled beneath her breath, threading her fingers through Nick’s, her heart thumping a little harder when he gave her hand an affectionate squeeze.
“What’s that?” Nick asked.
“Nothing,” Melody said, sitting up taller to see the road ahead. “Are we close to the bluffs?”
“Yeah,” Nick said. “We’ll park just up there and hike down. There’s a trail down the right side of the bluffs that leads to a hidden beach. The only other way to get there is by boat. There’s hardly ever anyone there.”
“So we should be alone,” Melody observed, nodding thoughtfully as Nick parked the car. “Guess I could have left my bathing suit at home, then.”
The look Nick shot her was too shocked for Melody to keep a straight face.
“I’m kidding,” she said, giggling. “I’m not into skinny dipping in the day time. Or any time, really. The closest I’ve come to skinny dipping is swimming in my Underoos in the baby pool in our back yard when I was five.”
“You’ve never been skinny dipping,” Nick said, as he hit the trunk release button and jumped out.
Melody slid out of her side of the car and grabbed her swim bag from the back seat, straightening in time to see Nick pulling out a gigantic beach blanket and a picnic basket.
“You brought a picnic?” she said, clapping her hands. “Oh, I’m so happy with you right now. Food makes every good thing better.”
Nick looked shy, but pleased. “It’s not anything like your cooking, but I did my best. I got the good cheese, at least.”
“Good cheese is one of my favorite things in the entire universe,” Melody said, reaching for the blanket. “Here, let me carry that.”
“No, I’ve got it.” Nick slammed the trunk with one elbow. “Let’s return to the previous topic.”
“What previous topic?”
“Skinny dipping.” His eyes sparked with trouble, and Melody suddenly felt warmer all over. “You’re telling me that you’re twenty-two and have lived within twenty miles of three lakes all your life and you’ve never gone skinny dipping?”
Melody shrugged and fell in beside him as he started towards a trailhead that hadn’t been noticeable until they got out of the car. This beach really was going to be private…or so she hoped. She was already having fantasies about stretching out next to Nick on that blanket and getting another taste of his lips.
“Well?” Nick urged. “What’s your excuse?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m sure there are lots of twenty-two year old girls in Summerville who’ve never been skinny dipping.”
“But you’re not other girls,” he said.
Melody shot him an appreciative look beneath her lashes. “Thank you for noticing.”
“I don’t know how any man could not notice,” Nick said. “I’m considering it a small miracle that I caught you between boyfriends.”
Melody looped her arm through his. “I will take that as a compliment.”
“You should,” Nick said, smiling down at her.
They hiked the rest of the way down the trail in companionable silence, separating when the trail grew too narrow and coming back together near the bottom. By the time the beach came into view, they were holding hands and Melody was wishing it was a little further to their destination. It was nice walking through the woods with
Nick.
“Here we are. What do you think?” Nick asked in a loaded tone Melody didn’t understand until he added, “Look like a good place for your first skinny dip?”
Melody’s eyes went wide. “No way.”
Nick laughed as he set down the basket and spread the blanket on the grass a few feet from where the rocky beach began. “Why not?”
“What if someone I know boats by?”
“There’s hardly anyone here,” Nick said in a logical voice that seemed out of place in a conversation like this one. “The summer rush is over, and most people are at work at this time of day on a Tuesday.”
“Most, but not all. Some of my dad’s best friends are retired.” Melody shuddered at the thought of being caught in the buff by one of her dad’s old fishing buddies. “Besides, my mom would die of humiliation if anyone she knows saw me skinny-dipping. She almost had a nervous breakdown when my dad got arrested for streaking down Main Street during that reunion prank. She would skin me alive.”
“I doubt it.” Nick moved closer, prowling in that almost feline way he had sometimes, the way that made Melody’s heart beat faster even before he took her in his arms and let his fingers skim down her spine.
“But if you’re not up for it today, I’ll take a rain check,” he said, touching his forehead lightly to hers. “We could always sneak down here at night. Skinny dipping is way less scary at night and it’s beautiful here in the spring when the trees are all blooming.”
“I can probably work my courage up by then,” she said, but what she was really thinking was—
Spring! That’s almost a year away. Nick is already thinking that you two will be together almost a year from now. That is totally and completely crazy!
But for some reason, it didn’t seem crazy. It seemed crazier to think of walking away from this man. All she wanted to do was get closer—physically, mentally, and spiritually.
At the moment, physically most of all…
She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him closer, sighing as her curves pressed tight to his lean, muscled body. She could feel him starting to get harder against her hip, but it didn’t make her nervous the way encountering the evidence of man’s desire had in the past. She loved knowing she affected him that way, loved it so much that she couldn’t keep from circling her hips, nudging closer to his erection.
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