Nick moaned and his eyes fluttered closed for a moment before they opened again. He sighed, staring into her with an expression that made her shiver.
“Do you know how crazy you make me?” he asked.
“I think I have some idea,” Melody said, circling her hips again, drawing a swift breath when Nick’s hands dropped to her waist and his fingers dug none-too-gently into the softness of her hips.
“What am I going to do with you?” he asked in a hoarse voice.
“I can think of a few things,” she said in a seductive tone she hardly recognized. But Nick brought out that part of her, a sensual, confident part that made her feel beautiful and powerful at the same time.
“I’m thinking you’d better take off that cover up,” Nick said.
“Oh yeah?” Melody’s heartbeat became a staccato rhythm.
“Yeah, because I’m going to throw you in the lake in about one minute,” Nick said. “Only way to cool you off.”
“I’m not the one who needs to be cooled off.” Melody kicked off her flip-flops, and reached for the bottom of her cover-up, drawing it over her head in one smooth motion, satisfaction sweeping through her when Nick eyes widened with approval. “Last one in buys drinks tomorrow night!”
She ran for the water, giggling as Nick hurried after her, shedding his shirt and hopping on one foot as he tried to unhook the strap at the back of his sandal.
“Shit!” he cried as Melody hit the water seconds before him. “You’re such a lousy little cheater.”
She laughed as she waded deeper into the pleasantly cool water. “I know. I totally had a head start. I’ll buy drinks.”
“No, I’ll buy drinks.” He waded toward her, eyes flicking up and down her body appreciatively, making Melody feel free to do a thorough inspection of Nick’s bare chest.
He was even more beautiful than she’d imagined, lean all over, but with clearly defined muscles that spoke of sweat and hard work. She suddenly felt a little soft in comparison. She took long walks almost every day and did her best to stay healthy, but she was a far cry from a gym rat.
She started to cross her arms over her stomach, but Nick was already so close she brushed the bare skin above his waist as she moved. The second they touched, the water no longer felt cool.
“This swimsuit should be illegal,” he said, pulling her in for a light kiss, banishing Melody’s moment of self-consciousness.
“There’s more of me covered in this bathing suit than a bikini. Like, three times as much.”
“Exactly,” he said. “It leaves too much to the imagination, and when it comes to you, I have a very active imagination.” He smiled as he brushed her hair back over her shoulder. “So where are we going tomorrow night?”
“I have rehearsal with the band at eight,” Melody said, letting her damp fingertips trail up and down the hollow of Nick’s spine, unable to resist the urge to keep touching him. “They practice in the old garage behind the bar so I’ll be close to your shop. I could come by after I’m done and we could grab a drink or something.”
“Sounds good. Just let me make sure John can close tomorrow night. I don’t think he has plans, so he shouldn’t mind, but Wednesday is technically my night and you know we try to stay open until midnight.”
“Well, I could always just stay there and hang out with you,” Melody said. “Organize your tattoo books alphabetically or something.”
He grinned. “You don’t have to do that. You could just keep me company. You give good company.”
“Why thank you,” Melody said, with a playful splash on his back. “Come on, let’s get all the way wet. I can’t stand doing anything halfway.”
“Me either,” Nick said. Seconds later he dove toward the center of the lake. Melody followed with a smile, shivering with delight as the cool water closed over her head.
They spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and taking breaks to eat the fruit and cheese Nick had brought. By the time the sun started to set, Melody was pleasantly exhausted and full—two of her favorite sensations. The only thing that could have made the afternoon better was more time. She couldn’t seem to get enough of Nick.
They hiked back up the trail in silence, but this time it was a more melancholy silence. It was obvious neither of them wanted the date to end.
There was nothing but the sound of their footsteps and the wind rushing through the trees for so long that when Nick’s shout came it seemed even louder than it would have if they’d been chatting.
“What the hell?” He dropped the empty basket and blanket and ran the last few steps into the clearing where they had parked his MG Midget. “What happened to my car?”
Melody hurried after him, looking in both directions, hoping they’d simply wandered off the trail in a different spot and the car would be waiting up or down the hill. But there was no sign of it.
The long gravel road was empty. Nick’s car was gone.
Chapter Nine
By the time they reached the main road, Nick could tell Melody’s feet were hurting—flip-flops weren’t ideal footwear for a five-mile hike—but she didn’t complain. She was positively upbeat, in fact, and kept assuring him that they would find his car, that it must have been towed by a ranger or something and that as soon as they could get cell service they’d call and straighten this all out.
Nick figured it was more likely that the Midget had been stolen—he’d been coming to that spot for years and never seen a sign of a ranger, but he had seen other people, some of them not the most savory types—but he didn’t share that with Melody. He didn’t want her to feel anxious walking down the deserted road in the near darkness, wondering if there were car thieves cruising through the park.
“I have bars!” Melody shouted, waving her cell phone triumphantly as they passed the entrance to the park and started down the two-lane country road toward town. “I’m going to try Aria first.”
“Wait.” Nick caught her wrist gently. “Then Nash will know we were on a date.”
Melody bit her lip. “Okay, but if I call Mom he’ll find out, too. Mom is incapable of keeping her mouth shut when it comes to boy-girl stuff.”
Nick sighed. “Well, all of my family is out because of the Nash thing, so…”
“Let’s see, Kitty is in Atlanta being forced to visit her mom and half sisters,” Melody said, ticking off options on her fingers. “And my other girlfriends all have tiny babies. Nana is probably awake because she never sleeps anymore, but having Nana drive at night to meet us would be putting the entire town’s life in jeopardy. Plus, she doesn’t approve of me going out with boys unchaperoned.”
“Unchaperoned? Is she under the impression we’re living in the 1800s?” Nick smiled, marveling that he could still be having such a good time when his car had likely been stolen.
“Might as well be,” Melody said, rolling her eyes. “Nana thinks unmarried girls should have a friend or relative with them on all dates, unless the date is in a public place, preferably one where most of Nana’s church cronies like to hang out, like the buffet with the five-dollar seniors’ night. She’s also scandalized that Mason and Lark are living together before they’re married, even though they’re engaged and have a wedding date set and everything.”
Nick grunted, his smile fading as he pulled out his phone. “She’s probably not going to like me, is she?”
Melody made a non-committal noise. “We’ll have you wear long sleeves the first time you meet Nana, make sure she falls in love with you before she sees the tattoos and decides you’ve escaped from prison.”
“Right,” Nick said, not looking forward to meeting Nana at all, but he supposed meeting the family—even the old-fashioned members of a family—was part of having a real relationship. “I’ll call John. If the shop’s not busy, he might be able to come pick us up.”
“Or we could walk.” Melody looped her arm through his as they ambled down the side of the road. “That would be an adventure.”
“An adventure t
hat would end in pain,” he said, glancing down at her feet. “Your shoes aren’t made for that kind of walk.”
She hummed thoughtfully. “You’re right, but…”
There was just enough light left for Nick to see Melody’s eyes light up. She squeezed his arm and turned to whisper in an excited voice—
“We could hitchhike! I’ve never even thought about hitchhiking before.”
“That’s good. It’s not smart for a girl to hitchhike alone,” Nick said, the anger he felt when he’d learned Melody had been attacked rising inside of him all over again. He couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to her. It made him hate living in a world where women had so many things to be afraid of even more than he had before.
“But I won’t be alone,” Melody said. “And the chances are somebody we know will drive by. Between the two of us, we’re probably on a first name basis with a third of the town.”
Nick flipped his phone over and over in his hand. If he called John to do him a favor tonight, his partner would be less inclined to do him a favor tomorrow night, and he’d much rather use his favor to have another date with Melody.
“All right,” Nick said, slipping his phone into his pocket, laughing as Melody yipped in excitement. “But you let me go up to the window if anyone stops, okay? You stay back and get ready to run if anything weird happens.”
“Do you really think something weird is going to happen?” Melody asked, sticking her thumb out and giving an experimental waggle.
“Probably not, but with our luck today…”
“I think we’ve had good luck today,” Melody said. “Except for the car, I had a wonderful time.”
“Me too,” Nick said, brushing an impulsive kiss across her cheek. “We should do it again sometime.”
“We definitely should,” she said, looking like she was going to add something else before she noticed headlights coming from over his shoulder. “A car!” she cried out, bouncing up and down on her toes. “Get ready!” She shouldered in front of him and stuck out her thumb.
“But that car’s going the wrong way, Mel,” he said, laughing at her obvious excitement.
“So?” She waggled her thumb back and forth, looking like she was doing some strange seventies disco move. “Maybe they’ll turn around if we’re really sweet.”
“I’ll leave the really sweet to you,” Nick said, marveling as the old white pick-up truck slowed, pulling over to the opposite side of the road and stopping a dozen feet away.
The window of the truck rolled down and an old man wearing farmer’s overalls and a faded blue shirt rolled up at the sleeves stuck his head out. “You kids all right?” he asked in a cautious voice.
“Our car was towed while we were swimming at Lake Wiley, and we’ve got no way back to town,” Melody said, twining her fingers together in front of her chest in a silent plea Nick knew he would have found impossible to resist. “Do you think you could give us a ride, sir? We’d really, really appreciate it.”
“We can give you money for gas,” Nick added, drawing the old man’s attention.
Nick couldn’t see the man’s eyes well in the fading light—the bushy white eyebrows growing wild across his forehead didn’t help much—but he could feel himself being sized up. He did his best to look as harmless and friendly as possible and, after only a moment, the farmer waved a hand.
“Come on, then,” he said. “I’m Dan.”
“Oh, thank you, so, so much, Dan,” Melody said with an excited grin at Nick as they crossed the road. “We’re Melody and Nick.”
“Nice to meet you. Only room for one in front, but one of you can ride in the bed,” the man said, smiling kindly at Melody before shooting Nick a stern look that made it clear who he thought should ride in the back.
“You take the front,” Nick said, taking Melody’s bag. “I’ll ride in back with our stuff.”
“Thanks again, sir,” he added before swinging up into the back, finding a mostly clear place between a tool box that looked too heavy for the old man to lift and several pairs of muddy work boots. He settled into a spot with a clear view of Melody through the truck’s back glass, just in case this sweet old farmer wasn’t as sweet as he seemed, and they were off.
Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at Melody’s apartment and Nick—covered in squashed bugs, with his hair standing out in even more directions than usual—hopped down on the passenger’s side and opened Melody’s door. She laughed at him, clearly amused by his disheveled state, before they both thanked Dan, and the farmer headed back the way he came.
“Well, that was an adventure,” Melody said, turning back to him with another giggle. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But you look like you were attacked by wild dogs.”
“Wild dogs would have been less gross,” Nick said, swiping at his cheek, feeling like he’d never get all the bug guts off. “I’m going to catch the bus and run home and grab a shower before I start making phone calls about the car. I would kiss you good night, but…”
“Let me drive you,” Melody said. “That’s why I asked Dan to drop us here. I figured we could grab my car and I could drive you home.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t have to. I want to,” she said, punching him lightly in the stomach. “Let me be your warrior princess in shining armor.”
Nick smiled. “I’ve never been with a warrior princess before.”
“I think you’re going to like it,” Melody said with an arched brow. “All the perks of a normal princess, but with saving included when you need it.”
“I do need saving every once in a while.”
“Everyone does,” she said, as she dug her keys from the bottom of her swim bag. “It’s a known fact. Come on, my car’s parked around back.”
While Melody drove across town, Nick made a few phone calls and discovered that his car had, in fact, been towed. The towing company said they had left a card behind with the ticket Nick hadn’t found, but he wasn’t sure if they were telling the truth. Either way, at least the car was safe, if impounded.
“At least it wasn’t stolen,” Melody said, echoing his thoughts as he hung up.
“Probably better if it had been,” Nick said. “I can’t afford the ticket right now, let alone the cost to get the Midge out of the impound lot.”
Melody hummed thoughtfully. “Well, I can give you a ride to any catering events, so don’t worry about that. And your apartment is close enough to walk to the shop.”
“Yeah,” Nick said, strangely unfazed by the frustrating turn of events. Usually he would be livid that his car had been towed when there had certainly been no signs stating that it was illegal to park on the access road. But Melody had a calming effect on his temper, even as she had the opposite effect on his sex drive.
They reached his apartment and she pulled to the curb. “Want me to come up and make you some tea while you shower?” she asked. “Tea soothes the wounded soul.”
“Thanks, but I’m going to have to take a rain check,” he said, reaching out to smooth a stray hair from her face, letting his fingers linger on her neck. “If you come up to my apartment, I might never let you leave.”
“That might not be such a bad thing,” she said, the look in her eyes pure temptation.
“Five dates,” he reminded her, then added in a softer voice. “I don’t want to rush things with you.”
“Why not?” she asked, leaning across the car.
“I don’t want to mess this up,” Nick said, breath catching as her lips moved closer to his. “I don’t want to scare you away.”
“I’m not scared,” she said. “I’m not scared at all.” And then she kissed him. Even though he was a wreck and probably smelled like gasoline and grease and dirt and everything else that had been shifting around in the back of Dan’s truck.
It was a hell of a kiss—sweet and sexy at the same time, with a warmth that soaked through his skin and went deeper than his bones to penetrate something deep
inside of him. It was a brief kiss, lasting a minute at the very most, but when it was over Nick felt different: calmer, richer, and less alone than he’d felt in a long time.
“See you tomorrow,” Melody whispered against his lips.
“Tomorrow,” Nick echoed before he slid out of the car. He stood on the sidewalk and waved as she turned the car around and headed back to her place, his head spinning and his heart beating faster.
He didn’t know what to call the feeling that had filled him when she’d kissed him that way, but he knew he wanted more of it. He wanted to wrap both of them in that feeling and hide away from the world for a few months, or years, or maybe an entire lifetime…
“I knew you had your own code,” came a low, familiar voice from underneath the awning of the convenience store beneath Nick and John’s apartment. “But I didn’t think you were a liar.”
Nash. Shit.
So much for hiding from the world.
Nick cursed beneath his breath as he turned to find his big brother standing in the shadows, a very angry, very disapproving look on his face.
***
Melody was up early the next morning, going through her finances, figuring out if she could afford to surprise Nick. After a little creative budgeting, she felt comfortable setting her plan in motion.
She called Nick’s landline a little after nine a.m. and was lucky enough to get a sleepy-sounding John on the phone. He promised not to give away her surprise and agreed to drop a spare key to the Midget by her place. The impound lot was only a mile from her apartment, so she could swing by before her rehearsal.
She couldn’t help with his ticket, but at least she could make sure he had his car back.
At four-thirty she pulled up in front of the tattoo shop, grinning as she spotted Nick through the front window. He was talking to a man at the counter, but as soon as he saw the Midge, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He said something to his customer and then hopped over the counter in one fluid motion that sent a zing of awareness sizzling down Melody’s spine.
Wild For You (Always a Bridesmaid 3) Page 9