• • •
God save him from stubborn women. He’d just had words with Callie when she’d totally refused to accept the house as an outright gift. She and Nick would only consider his offer as long as he let them make him their partner in the bed-and-breakfast. She’d opened the negotiations insisting he retain seventy-five percent ownership in the house until they could afford to buy him out. He’d bargained her down to twenty-five percent, with them taking the seventy-five percent majority for doing all the remodeling and then managing the place.
Her look of triumph when she accepted made it clear that he’d been had. He should’ve known she was up to something when she’d conceded so quickly. At least he wouldn’t have to be involved in the day-to-day details of running the place, but it would give him a permanent tie to Nick and Callie. His heart said that was a good thing.
Now he was standing there facing off with Melanie. Until Callie had pointed out that she’d acted upset, he’d had no idea anything was wrong. It would’ve helped if Callie had been a little more specific about her suspicions before sending him after Melanie. He was in no mood to play guessing games.
For the third time, the woman in question glared up at him and said, “Move.”
No way in hell was he going to let her drive away and leave him standing there wondering when and how they’d gone off the rails. “I will after you tell me exactly what it is that I’ve done wrong.”
“Oh, brother. You can’t possibly be that dense.” She rolled her eyes, her mouth set in that tight-lipped way that was guaranteed to make any male see red.
If it had been anyone else, he would have said “fuck it” and walked away, but this was Melanie. He’d developed a real talent for ignoring emotions, so he counted to ten and tossed his anger aside. Brushing a strand of her softer-than-silk hair back from her face, he aimed for calm and said, “Come on, Mel. I get that you’re upset. Since we haven’t even spoken since yesterday morning, I’m finding it hard to figure out exactly what I’ve done wrong.”
She angled her head to look past him to where he’d been standing with Callie, but she still didn’t explain. Suddenly, it clicked. “Son of a bitch, you think I’m meeting Callie on the sly? That the two of us are sneaking around together on Nick?”
She wouldn’t look at him, but the bright flush on her cheeks was answer enough. “Seriously, Mel?” He laughed but there wasn’t much humor in it. “I’m not sure which one of us you’re insulting more by thinking Callie would cheat on Nick or that I would cheat on you like that.”
Melanie jerked as if she’d been hit. What was going on in that pretty head of hers? “I admit I was jealous, but that’s not what I was thinking. Not exactly, anyway.”
Damn, he would’ve thought she knew him better than that, but then maybe not. It wasn’t as if the two of them had been all that close back in high school, and if circumstances hadn’t thrown them together now, chances were their paths might never have crossed. But even if he cut her some slack, she still should know Callie would never jeopardize what she had with Nick. Just like Mama R. had said, if Spence and Callie had really wanted to hook up, they could’ve done it years ago.
“I need to go home.”
Melanie’s words were accompanied by a sniffle, meaning tears were imminent. They needed to take this conversation someplace more private. “Give me the keys, Mel. I’ll drive you there.”
“I can drive.”
He wasn’t going to budge and held out his hand. “Yeah, I know, but right now you’re upset. I’ll take you home where we can talk in private.”
She pushed the button that unlocked the passenger door and dropped the keys into his hand just as his cell phone rang. Melanie pushed past him to walk around to the other side of the car while he checked to see the name on the screen. He groaned as soon as he saw who it was, but he couldn’t ignore the call, not when the person calling was no doubt standing right where she could see him.
He kept his eyes aimed toward Main Street. “This isn’t a good time.”
“I was right, wasn’t I?”
“Yeah.”
“She didn’t like seeing you hug me.”
He sighed. “I’ve figured out that much. I am still working on the why.”
Callie’s laughter rang in his ear. “Here’s a hint: Say you had happened upon the same scene, only with Melanie and Nick instead of us in the lead roles. How would you have reacted, especially if she’d never made it clear how much you matter to her or that she planned on sticking around for any length of time? I’m guessing here about how things stand between the two of you, so forgive me if I’m wrong. Either way, here’s the bottom line: Would you have assumed it was all innocent or would you have come out swinging?”
The phone went dead as he closed his eyes and considered what had happened a few minutes ago from Melanie’s perspective. Callie was right. He would’ve kicked ass and asked questions afterward. He rested his arms on the roof of the car and stared down the street trying to come up with a plan before getting into the car with Melanie.
It didn’t help that from his first night back in town Melanie had known he wasn’t happy seeing Nick and Callie together. Hell, he’d hated their relationship with every breath he took. It had taken him all this time to come around to the realization that he wasn’t jealous of Nick and Callie as much as he was jealous of what they had together. He could hardly blame Melanie for thinking . . . well, exactly what she’d been thinking. Add in the fact that the two of them had been operating under the no-demands, no-promises principle, and she probably thought she had no claim on his loyalty at all.
God, he sure had a talent for leaving a trail of disasters in his wake. He’d barely made peace with his oldest friend and the two men who were as close as brothers to him. Now he’d inadvertently hurt the one person who had been there for him every minute since his surprise return to Snowberry Creek. He had to make this right somehow.
He opened the back car door. “Come on, Mooch. Let’s go.”
• • •
The two of them rode in silence until they reached the last turn before her house. “If we have to talk, can we do it at your place? I really can’t face going home right now.”
He waited until another car passed and turned down the street that led to the cottage. “Sure, as long as you give me a two-minute start going in so I can do a quick sweep through the place for anything disgusting or embarrassing.”
She gave him a puzzled look. “O-kay, maybe we should go to my place.”
Obviously his attempt at a joke had fallen flat. “I was talking moldy pizza and dirty underwear, Melanie, nothing more.”
She sighed and stared out the passenger window. “I’m sorry, Spence. I don’t mean to be such a downer. Maybe you should drop me off at home.”
“Not happening, Mel. We need to talk. We can do that at Wolfe House or my place, your choice.”
When she didn’t answer, he continued straight for the cottage. No way he was going to leave her rattling around in that monstrosity of a house by herself. He’d never seen anyone who needed to be held more than she did right at that moment.
As soon as they were parked in his driveway, he got out and walked around to open her door for her. Taking Melanie’s hand, he led the way toward the porch with Mooch trailing along behind them.
He unlocked the door and stood back to let her go in first. She had just a hint of a twinkle in her eyes when she walked by him. “I thought you wanted a head start.”
Spence followed her into the small living room. “Maybe I decided you’re tough enough to handle anything you might stumble across in here.”
In truth, after all his years in the army, he normally kept the clutter to a minimum. Other than the paperback book he was reading, which was sitting by an empty glass on the coffee table, the room was pretty much just like it had been the day she’d given him the keys.
If he’d been going to stay long-term, he might have made changes. But since living in the cottage was temporary at best, he couldn’t be bothered.
Spence headed into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Want something to drink? I’ve got beer, pop, and water.”
He’d already snagged a beer for himself and was reaching for a bottle of water for her when she finally answered, “A beer sounds good.”
She mumbled something afterward that sounded suspiciously like “a six-pack would be even better.”
Pretending he hadn’t heard the addendum, he popped the caps on the two beers and poured them into glasses. He never bothered with such niceties when he was alone, but Mel had been raised with a higher standard of manners than he had.
He wasn’t surprised to find her curled up on the end of the couch with Mooch back in her lap. She sat with her face buried in the dog’s fur as she scratched his back and murmured sweet nothings about how handsome the mutt was and how much she appreciated him keeping her company. Lucky dog.
Spence got one of the weird, lacy coasters the prior tenant had left behind and set Mel’s beer on it. Rather than do the polite thing and sit in the paisley-print-upholstered chair, he dropped down on the other end of the couch.
Spence reached over to give his buddy a quick pat on the back. “Dog, I wish I had your knack for charming the ladies.”
Melanie gave him a disbelieving look as she picked up her drink. “A handsome guy like you? I’m sure you’ve charmed more than your fair share of the female population over the years.”
She thought he was handsome? That shouldn’t please him quite as much as it did. It brought him back to the reason they were there.
“About what happened at the park.”
Even if he hadn’t seen Melanie wince, the death grip she had on her glass would’ve given her sudden rise in tension away. “Do we really have to do this?”
He ignored her question and picked up right where he’d left off. “I thought some context might help. As you know, I finally went through the house yesterday.”
Her expression immediately turned sympathetic. “Was it really awful?”
Leave it to Melanie to be more concerned about him than herself. “Not as bad as I thought it would be. Seeing the changes Nick and Callie have started making helped a lot. That gave me something else to concentrate on other than all of the old memories.”
“That’s good, Spence. I was worried about you.”
And he had known she would be, which oddly had also helped him get through it. “Afterward, I texted Nick and Leif to meet me at Liam’s bar, which is why I didn’t come right back here.”
Her eyes flared wide. “And how did that go?”
He couldn’t help grinning a little. “It helped clear the air between the three of us, although I won’t claim everything is back to normal. I don’t want to punch Nick anymore, so we definitely made progress.”
“Sounds like it.” Melanie studied him for a few seconds. “You’re letting them keep the house.”
“Yeah, I am.”
He took a long drink of his beer, hoping it would ease the sudden constriction in his throat. “The minute I walked into the house, I realized that it had stopped being home to me when my parents died. Since then, it’s just been a reminder of everything I’ve lost. While we were sitting in the bar, I asked Nick to tell me about what they had planned for the old place. He grabbed a napkin and started sketching it all out for me. You should have seen him. I’ve known Sarge for a long time, but I’ve never seen him look so excited about anything.”
Spence had slipped that napkin into his pocket when he stopped to drop money on the table. After he’d gotten back to the cottage last night, he tucked it away in a zipper compartment in his duffel. Why, he didn’t know, but it had seemed important at the time.
“So, I told Nick I’d have Troy transfer the title to them.”
“You’re just giving it to them?” Melanie didn’t sound all that surprised; more like that it was something she’d been expecting all along.
“Well, I would if they’d let me. That’s part of why Callie and I met up today. Nick had warned me they’d probably be making a counteroffer.”
So now they were to the hard part. “I told Nick that I wanted to talk to Callie without him around. I know the way I handled, or actually mishandled, everything when I came home hurt her. It was important to me to make amends if I could. Try to talk things out, this time in person, so maybe we could get back to the way it used to be between the two of us. Having Nick underfoot would only have complicated things.”
“How did the talk go?”
“Pretty well, all things considered. They won’t take the house unless I remain part owner of the bed-and-breakfast they’re going to open. They offered a seventy-five/twenty-five split in my favor. I got them to flip the percentages around, though. I wouldn’t even have taken that much if they weren’t so damn stubborn.”
“You’re a nice man, Spencer Lang.”
Melanie shoved Mooch off onto the floor and scooted closer to Spence’s end of the couch. “As long as we’re all making apologies, I should do that, too. When I saw the two of you together, I overreacted. I admit I’m jealous of how things are between you two, but then I guess I’ve always felt that way. It’s obvious that you had planned to build a life with Callie yourself and that you still have some pretty strong feelings for her. In fact, I’m pretty sure you even called me by her name when we kissed on my back steps the first time.”
Oh God, had he really done that? Evidently so, considering how hurt Melanie looked right now. “If I did something that unbelievably stupid, Melanie, I am so sorry. Yeah, maybe I did have some vague idea of a future with Callie in it, but that’s all it was. She and I are friends, but I swear that’s all we ever were or ever will be.”
He met Melanie in the middle of the couch, moving close enough that he could brush his fingers across her cheek. “To be honest, I don’t have all that much knowledge about how relationships are supposed to work. I’ve moved around a lot since enlisting in the army, not to mention being deployed three times. There was never a chance for anything long-term. Hell, there weren’t even all that many short-term things, either.”
To lighten the moment, he added, “Which I will deny with my last breath if you repeat any of this to Nick or Leif. They must continue to believe all of the lies I’ve told them on the subject.”
Melanie held up her fist with only her little finger poking up, her expression solemn. “I hereby pinkie-swear that all of this will remain confidential.”
He reciprocated, tangling his pinky with hers even though it was hard not to laugh. “I seem to remember my folks laughing about an old sitcom that had something called the ‘cone of silence.’ We’ll consider the cottage to be ours.”
“Fair enough.” Melanie held out her glass to clink against his. “Here’s to shared secrets and good friends.”
Relieved to see her looking happier, he took a deep breath and continued. “Anyway, what I’ve taken a long time to get around to say is that whenever I was with a woman, I was with only her. I might not be able to promise forever, but I could promise to be faithful for the duration.”
He leaned in close enough to brush his lips across Melanie’s. Hoping he wasn’t about to screw up the one good thing he’d found in a long time, he forced himself to be completely honest with her. “I told you up front that I don’t know how long I can stand to stay in Snowberry Creek, and that hasn’t changed. But as long as you and I are sleeping together, there won’t be anyone else for me. You have my word on that.”
She stared up at him with those pretty gray eyes, which always seemed to see right to the center of his soul. “I believe you even if I wish things could be different for us.”
Melanie reached up to trace the line of his jaw. “If circumstances were different, if neither of us ha
d all this stuff hanging over our heads, do you think there might have been a chance for us? You know, long-term? Because I’ve got to tell you, Spence, that I’ve never had a relationship that feels quite so . . . right somehow.”
What could he say to that? That sometimes those same vague ideas of how his future might look someday now featured a beautiful redhead and a spotted dog? He also didn’t know what to make of the huge wave of relief that washed through him that she had reaffirmed her trust in him. “I would like to think so, Mel. For sure I’ve never felt so comfortable in so many ways with anybody else, not even Callie. The two of us have shared so much over the past few weeks.”
Melanie’s smile brightened a little. “Like ice cream in bed naked?”
Okay, that made him laugh. “Yeah, like that.”
He leaned in closer to brush a kiss across her lips again. “So we’re good? Even if long-term isn’t in the picture right now?”
Melanie carefully set her beer back down on the table, moving slowly as if she were struggling to find the words for what it was she wanted to say. He’d almost decided that she was about to tell him she wasn’t interested in continuing their relationship when she finally turned back to face him. The heat in her smile had a certain part of him on full alert, ready to leap into action. Then, wicked woman that she was, Melanie abandoned her end of the couch to straddle his lap. His brain quit working the second she rocked against his erection and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Then quiet, shy Melanie whispered right next to his ear, her warm breath sending a shiver straight through him, “So, what do you say to proving we can be so much better than just good?”
Chapter 22
After two long hours in his attorney’s office signing papers, Spence was ready for a break. He stopped to stare up at the clear blue sky above and breathed deeply of the cool morning air. The slight chill was one sign that summer was winding down. Another was the number of spiderwebs starting to pop up all over the place. Was it only the Pacific Northwest that marked the transition from summer to fall by the amount of arachnid artwork decorating fence railings and bushes? Heck, he’d even had a web spanning the rearview mirror on his Harley that morning.
A Reason to Love Page 22