Fire & Ice

by Jerri Drennen

  Snaking his hand down further, his fingers connected with the tangle of hair between her legs. Desire worked its way through his body as he stroked her, her small sighs a sign she enjoyed what he was doing. That’s all that mattered now. That she craved his caresses.

  He leaned in and kissed her and her mouth instantly opened, her tongue searching his.

  A loud banging sound came from his living room.

  Shit! Someone was at the door. Maybe if he ignored it, they’d go away.

  He continued his exploration, his finger dipping into Melanie’s heat, her moans of pleasure vibrating against his mouth, exciting him more.

  The knocking didn’t cease, only got louder.

  Go away.

  A familiar feminine voice shouted his name, loud enough to wake the dead, and more importantly, the neighbors.

  Knox tore his mouth from Melanie’s and sucked in a breath. “Sorry,” he said and rose to reach for his jeans, tugging them on. Sandra was at his front door and from her obvious persistence, wouldn’t leave until he talked to her.

  He’d reached the front room when another round of banging started. “Okay, I’m coming,” he hollered at the door.

  Once he’d unbolted the lock, he took another deep breath, in no way looking forward to this confrontation, especially with Melanie lying naked in the next room. He prayed she’d stay there. Sandra would not be nice if she saw her.

  He eased the door open to find an irate Sandra standing before him. She brushed past him and made her way into his living room. She stopped, slamming her purse down on the coffee table. “What took you so long?” she snapped, glancing around the room, her gaze ending at the bedroom door.

  “I was sleeping, Sandra. What do you want?”

  “What do I want?” She flung her fisted hands on her hips, her amber eyes emitting sparks. “Surely you know? I gave you ample time to think about what we discussed. You need to make some decisions about our future.”

  Knox closed his eyes, his frustration building. This was the last thing he wanted Melanie to hear. She might just decide their relationship wasn’t worth the grief of dealing with an ex-girlfriend carrying his child.

  “Well,” she prompted.

  “I don’t love you, Sandra, and a child isn’t going to change that.”

  She huffed. “You haven’t given us a chance. I love you. I want to be your wife.”

  Knox prayed Melanie had fallen back to sleep. “I can’t marry you. It’d never work. I’ll live up to my responsibilities, be a part of my child’s life. That’s all I can give you, Sandra.”

  “Is there someone else?” she asked in a calm tone, yet her eyes spoke an all-together different story.

  What was he going to say? Should he tell her the truth? Or lie and tell her no? Either way, if Melanie was listening, he was in deep shit. Maybe the truth was best in this case. He nodded. “Yes, there is.”

  Sandra’s face distorted. If looks could kill, he’d be dead in a few seconds. The coming tirade would be massive. Nothing new. He was used to everything being blown out of proportion with her.

  “Who is she?” Sandra hissed. “Some bimbo you met on the job? Does she know about the baby?”

  “Yes,” Melanie said, as she stood in the entrance to his bedroom, wrapped in the blanket off the bed.

  Oh Shit. This was going to get ugly. An image of the two women wrestling on the floor, trying to tear each other’s hair out, flashed in his mind. He needed to dispel the tension before that happened.

  “Who are you?” Sandra spat, her gaze flicking over Melanie and finding her lacking by the look of disgust on her face.

  “I’m Knox’s lover.” Melanie’s gaze held a sexually satisfied glint.

  Not a hard sell considering she was wrapped in his blanket.

  If it were possible, Sandra’s expression darkened even more. “She’s hardly your type, Knox. Getting a bit hard up, are you?”

  Melanie gasped at her cutting words, and Knox’s anger flared. No one was going to talk to the woman he loved like that. “I want you to leave, Sandra. I’ll come by tonight and we’ll talk.”

  “You mean leave so you can screw this skinny bitch. I don’t think so.”

  Melanie charged at Sandra.

  Knox pulled her back before she did any damage. “Unless you want to get ripped to shreds, Sandra, you’d better get the hell out of here.”

  Sandra’s jaw clenched as she stared at him. “Daddy’s going to hear about this, Knox. You’ll be lucky to have a job tomorrow.”

  “Do what you have to do.” He tried to sound unaffected by her threat.

  Tears clouded Sandra’s eyes. “I can’t believe you’d choose that,” she pointed to Melanie, “over me. She’s nobody.”

  Melanie lunged forward. Knox held her firm, gripping her tightly around the waist. He couldn’t blame Mel for wanting to attack. Sandra was a snobbish bitch. She thought the world revolved around her. Was used to getting what she wanted. In this case, him.

  Sandra snatched up her purse and stormed to the door. She turned back to glare at him. “You’ll be sorry.” The door vibrated on its hinges as she slammed it and left.

  Now it was time for him to face the music with Melanie. He just prayed she’d understand and accept that he couldn’t change the past, yet he wanted her in his future.

  * * *

  Melanie wasn’t sure what just happened. One minute Knox had her on the verge of climax, the next she’s in the middle of an argument between him and his ex-girlfriend. A woman who clearly wasn’t nice people.

  Why had Knox even dated her? If the woman had her way, he’d be without his job come Monday morning and, without Knox to champion her cause, Melanie might find herself in jail.

  She looked into Knox’s eyes and the anger and confusion she experienced vanished. There was a glow of love in his intent gaze that weakened her knees.

  “I’m sorry, Mel.”

  She swallowed a lump of emotion. What she read in those green eyes of his was genuine. He felt bad about what the woman had said, how it made her feel.

  Brushing his cheek with her fingers, she said, “It’s okay.”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s not. Sandra can be a real piece of work. Believe me. Because of her social standing, she thinks she can demand whatever she wants and get it.”

  “She wants you,” Melanie said, smiling. “I can’t really blame her for that.”

  He cleared his throat. “No, she never wanted me. She wanted what she thought she could make of me.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Something I’m not, a white-collar clone.”

  Melanie cringed at the thought. Frankly, she liked the Knox standing before her, the man she’d come to love with all her heart. A man who wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. “Is she your commanding officer’s daughter? Can she really get you fired?”

  “She is, yes, but I don’t think she can get me axed. I’d have already been gone if that were the case. Daddy Gallan can make my life pretty miserable, though.”

  “I guess I should have stayed in the bedroom.”

  He gripped her shoulders and pulled her to him. “She needed to know about us, Mel. I want you in my life.”

  “What about the baby? She might make it impossible for you to see your child. Could you live with that?”

  “Sandra wouldn’t do that. It wouldn’t play in to her plans. I know how she thinks. If she harbors any hope our child would somehow draw me back to her, she’ll hold on to that card.”

  “Are you sure it won’t?”

  “I don’t love her. I love you, Mel.”

  Melanie wished she were as sure as he about how he’d feel once the child was born.

  “What do you say we go back and finish what we started before we were so rudely interrupted?” Knox pressed feathered kisses over her shoulder.

  Melanie felt the world tilt. The idea thrilled her to the core.

  “Only if you promise to feed me later.” She lifted the botto
m of the blanket and moved backward toward the bedroom door.

  Like a cat stalking a juicy mouse, he followed her. “Okay, but you have to feed me first.”

  She giggled and raced for the bedroom, Knox hot on her heels.

  * * *

  “Do you think it’s enough to exonerate me?” Melanie asked Knox as they made their way to her car.

  He didn’t think so. It was just an earring. Evidence-wise, it wasn’t much. At least now they had a direction to go in, someone to watch in case the authorities chose to go after Melanie for the fire.

  “Let’s wait and see what happens. I’ll give the chief my findings and observations in the morning and hope he can see the bigger picture. Meanwhile, get your detective friend to keep an eye on the Graingers. Maybe Tracy will do something stupid. Give herself away.”

  “What did she say when you talked to her?”

  “She told me to look to you as a suspect.”

  Melanie snorted. “Right. I should have figured that.”

  “I’ll get her, Mel. Just give me a little more time. Mrs. Grainger will regret setting that fire to frame you. I promise you that.”

  When they reached her car, she fumbled to find the keys in her purse. Knox took the opportunity to pull her into his arms and kiss her. “What are you doing tomorrow around six?” he asked.

  “Nothing that I know of. Why?”

  “I thought if you weren’t busy, I’d pick you up and we’d go to my mother’s. I’d like you to meet my family.”

  “Family?”

  Why did she look as if he’d just given her a death sentence? Was she that averse to meeting his mother?

  He frowned as he released her. “You don’t want to meet them?”

  “It’s not that,” she said, shifting her footing. “What if they don’t like me?”

  He grinned. “What’s not to like?”

  “Do they know I’m an arson suspect?”

  Now Knox understood her reluctance. She was worried about the way she’d be perceived. Somehow he needed to reassure her they’d have no preconceived notions about her, even when he knew differently. No need to make her more uncomfortable about the meeting.

  Directly after he talked to Sandra, he’d call his mother and make sure she knew he was bringing Melanie by. He wanted his mom to know that Melanie was no longer a suspect in his eyes. He hoped that would be enough for her. Their meeting was paramount now that he knew Melanie was his future wife, would be a part of the Manning family. She had to be assured she’d be accepted as such.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The last thing Knox wanted to deal with was Sandra Gallan, but there was no way out of it. If nothing else, he had a responsibility to the child she was carrying.

  He knocked lightly and waited.

  When she opened the door, her gaze narrowed and darkened at once, not boding well for the conversation ahead.

  “Can I come in?”

  “I don't know why I should let you.”

  “You want me to leave?” His tone was sharper than he’d intended. “I wouldn’t be here if there weren’t some pretty damned important things for us to discuss.”

  She leaned on the doorframe and crossed her arms over her chest. “I guess you've got other places to go, right? Like off to screw some skinny-assed bitch with no tits. I wished I’d have known you were into the boyish look.”

  “Can we air this shit in your apartment. Do you want the whole damned place to hear how cheap and petty you are?”

  For a moment, she hesitated. She moved aside to let him in, closing the door behind them.

  “What are you going to do, Knox? After this morning, I never expected to see you again. Have you come by to do the right thing?”

  Knox found it hard to believe she actually expected him to forget they had nothing in common and marry her. “What is the right thing exactly?”

  “I don’t understand you,” she snapped. “Why did you get involved with this woman, knowing I was having your child?”

  Knox shook his head. “A child can’t solve relationship problems, Sandra. You of all people should know that.”

  She turned and headed for the kitchen. “Leave my parents out of this, Knox. Just because it didn’t work for them doesn’t mean it wouldn’t for us.”

  “At least your parents started out loving each other.”

  She stopped and whirled around to glare at him. “You didn’t seem at all adverse to sleeping with me a few months ago. If you didn’t care about me, why pretend to?”

  “I never once told you I loved you. I assumed I was your way of getting even with mommy. You knew she’d never approve of us, and that’s why you went after me. Not to mention the fact that I worked for the man she’s still holding a candle for. You knew it’d stir up her hackles.”

  “Nonsense! I didn’t date you because of my mother. I was attracted to you the moment I met you. Two weeks into our relationship, I knew you were the man I wanted to spend my life with. I really don’t care how my mother feels about it.”

  Knox heaved a sigh. Anything he said now was going to hurt her deeply. “I don’t feel the same way, Sandy. I never have.”

  She walked to the table where grocery bags sat. He’d clearly caught her just getting back from the store.

  With tears clouding her amber eyes, she opened a bag and began to put the items away. “You’re selfish,” she said in a ragged voice.

  “How?”

  Sandra kept her hands busy, going through the grocery bags. “Choosing that woman. You’re making a mistake. I could give you anything and everything, Knox. “

  “What I want isn’t for sale.”

  She balled an empty bag in her hands. “Oh and what’s that? A good fuck?”

  “What I feel for her has nothing to do with sex, Sandy.”

  She opened another bag, and glanced at him. “Okay, what do you feel? What does she have that I don’t?”

  “A heart” came to mind. He bit his tongue. She’d just fly off the handle again if he said it. “I don’t want to discuss my personal feelings for her with you. I’m here to come to some understanding about the child we’re having.”

  She worked her way through another bag, and placed a carton of milk in the refrigerator. “I don’t think we have anything to talk about now.”

  The casual way she dismissed Knox infuriated him. He stormed to the table and slammed his fists down on the wooden top. “Listen, this kid is mine, too. You’re not going to shut me out of his or her life.”

  Knox was tired of her attitude, everything having to be her way. He’d hated that about her from the beginning. This time it was going to be different. Things were going to go his way for once.

  When she didn’t respond to his tirade, he hung his head in frustration, catching a glimpse of something in a grocery bag in front of him. Something that didn’t register. A box of tampons? Why would she need tampons when she was pregnant?

  Reaching inside the sack, he grasped the box and pulled it out. “What are you using these for?” He wanted to strangle her for a second or two.

  Her face paled and Knox’s stomach dropped. What the hell was going on? Why would she be worried? Unless…

  “You’re not pregnant are you?”

  Her face bleached of all its color.

  “You don’t have to answer. I can see that you’re not.” Why would she do such a thing to him? The more he thought about her betrayal, the madder he got.

  Best to leave before he blew sky high. He’d never in his life been so disillusioned. Lying about being pregnant had to be the worst thing any woman could do to a man.

  Knox turned and stalked out of her apartment, the sound of her screaming his name the last thing he heard before slamming the door.

  First thing he’d do was call Melanie and tell her the news.

  * * *

  “Let’s go in here.” Kay dragged Melanie to the door of a fancy boutique.

  Melanie dug in her heels, never having entered a place as ri
tzy as the one Kay was trying to talk her into. “I can’t afford anything in there.”

  “Sure you can. You just sold all your paintings, or have you forgotten.”

  Strangely, she had. With the arson hovering over her head, she hadn’t thought much about her successful art showing.

  “Come on. We’ll find you something wonderful to wear to the Manning’s.” Kay tugged on her arm again.

  “I don’t want to think about that. I wish Knox hadn’t suggested it.”

  “Nonsense. It’s not every day a man asks you to meet his mother. He clearly has strong feelings for you.”

  Melanie’s stomach did a backward flip. “I’m nervous. What if Mrs. Manning doesn’t like me? ”

  “Get serious.” Kay opened the door and shoved her inside. “What’s not to like? Let’s find something conservative, yet sexy.”

  Melanie turned to face Kay. “Nothing can make me look sexy.”

  “Knox apparently doesn’t think that. That reminds me, I want to hear about your night. What happened?” Her best friend’s eyes sparkled. She expected to hear all the juicy details. “Don’t leave anything out.”

  “I’m not going to tell you about my sex life, Kay.”

  “Come on.” Kay placed her hands on her curvy hips. “I tell you about mine.”

  “I don’t ask you to. You just love reliving the tales.”

  “True. Can’t you at least tell me something?”

  “Sure.”

  Her friend’s face lit up.

  Melanie hated to disappoint her, but she wasn’t planning to tell her anything private. “We were in bed. Story over.”

  Kay frowned. “That’s it? Nothing in depth about how large his fire hose is or anything? Come on.”

  Kay’s sad, disappointed look made Melanie feel bad. Almost. Okay, so she’d give her a teaser. “It’s really none of your business, but let’s just say he comes well-equipped.”

  “I knew it,” she bubbled.

  “Can I help you?” a nicely dressed blonde asked as she made her way toward the front of the store.

  “I’ll bet she works on commission,” Kay whispered to Melanie. “We’re just browsing,” she said openly to the salesclerk with a sugary smile.