“You’re so sexy,” he whispered, stroking her as he talked. His own arousal was causing him a great deal of pain.
Mel tried to lie still on the bed as he worked his magic. She was on fire. He touched her again, and she sucked her breath in sharply, afraid to give in to the wondrous sensations. She was at the edge, the breaking point, and the thought that she might lose control frightened her.
“It’s okay, baby,” Kane said, realizing he, too, was at the point of no return and about to do something he hadn’t done since he was a teenager. “Just relax and enjoy it,” he managed before the pleasure became too great.
Desire hit Mel, swift as a lightning bolt, shattering the cool reserve that had taken a lifetime to construct. She cried out as she rose to meet a moment of giddy, uncontrolled passion. She trembled and shook, clinging to Kane as though he were a lifeline and she a drowning woman. The release brought tears to her eyes, and for a moment she forgot about everything else except the man beside her.
Finally, as she coasted back to reality, she knew she would never be the same.
Chapter Ten
Very gently, Kane pulled her skirt back into place and took her in his arms, having enjoyed the touching and kissing as much as she. Although they had not actually made love, the simple act had restored some part of him. He was relieved that he was capable of giving without taking. He gazed down at her, thinking she had never looked lovelier or more desirable.
It was then he noticed her eyes were wet with tears. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, his tone regretful. “I made you cry again.”
Mel snuggled against him, feeling very foolish for the tears. “I’m not crying because I’m sorry for what we did,” she said. “I’m crying because it was so wonderful. Is it always that good?”
He smiled tenderly, at the same time wondering how she’d managed to go thirty years without experiencing sexual intercourse. He’d been fourteen the first time. “It’s good if you care about the person you’re with,” he answered at last, loving the feel of her against him. She probably didn’t have a clue how excited he got from just touching her. He could already feel himself becoming aroused again.
She was thoughtful for a moment. “Thank you for not pushing me, Kane,” she said.
“I knew you weren’t ready. Besides, I’d rather our first time be perfect.”
“Our first time?”
“You heard me right,” he said, then tightened his arm around her possessively. “After tonight, I’m going to insist I’m the one.”
She rose up and tossed him a saucy smile, which wasn’t easy for a girl who’d never flirted in her life. “Making demands already, are we?”
He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her on top of him so that she was forced to acknowledge how hard he was. Her smile faded, and he knew he’d managed to convey that fact. “Damn right.” He kissed her hungrily.
Mel was the first to pull away. She gazed into his black eyes and was made anxious by the intensity of his look. She was falling head over heels in love with him. If they did make love, how would she ever be able to let him go when the time came? “This is all happening too fast for me,” she said. “Tonight was wonderful and all, but I need more time.”
“Does this have anything to do with Harper?”
It would have been a whole lot easier to let him think her reluctance was based on her relationship with Harper instead of letting him know what a coward she was. She simply didn’t want to be hurt. Hadn’t Eunice warned her time and again of the dangers of falling in love? Hadn’t she witnessed firsthand her father’s pain when her mother had left?
“Harper and I have been friends for a long time, Kane,” she said, being deliberately vague simply because she had no answers at the moment. “I’m very fond of his little girl. You can’t expect me to turn my back on them.”
“I don’t care how many friends you’ve got. I just don’t want him to be your lover.”
“Besides,” she added, as if she hadn’t heard him, “how do I know you’re going to stay in Hardeeville? How do I know you won’t get bored to death in another week and take off?” She held her breath for his reply.
“Is that what you’re afraid of?”
“It has crossed my mind. Suppose you don’t find a job here?”
“You ask a lot of questions, Mel. I don’t have all the answers right now.”
Mel eased off the bed. Of course he had no way of knowing if he would find a decent job in Hardeeville or if he would have to move on.
“Where are you going?”
“I have work to do. Daddy and Blair will be back tomorrow. I want to get the place in order.”
He raised up and reached for her. “I’ll help you. What do you want me to do?”
She pulled away. “Kane—” She took a deep breath. “We need to back off a little. Let’s not rush into anything right now.”
That was not the answer he’d expected after what they’d just shared. All the light went out of his eyes, and when he spoke, his voice was flat and emotionless. “Why? Are you ashamed to have folks think you’re involved with an ex-con?”
Her face flamed, “Not at all.” She was too embarrassed to tell him the truth that she was afraid he’d leave and she’d end up looking like a fool. Poor old Melanie Abercrombie, she’s so afraid of being an old maid that she jumped on the first man who ever looked at her. Then, in her desperation, she chased him right out of town.
Kane saw the doubt in her eyes and released her. She was already chastising herself for what she’d done. “Don’t worry, I won’t say anything,” he said. He got off the bed and left the room without another word.
# # #
Kane was awakened the next morning by someone knocking at the front door. He peaked out of the window and saw a sheriff’s car parked out front. He froze, then grabbed his jeans and stepped into them. He hurried into the hall and found Mel coming out of her room in her bathrobe.
“It’s the Sheriff’s Department,” he said in a low voice. “What do you think they want?”
“I haven’t the foggiest idea,” she said, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes as she started for the stairs. “That’s what I’m about to find out.”
“Wait!” Kane grabbed her by the arm and almost shoved her against the wall. “What if they’re here for me?”
“For you? Why would they be here for you?”
He tried to think. Cops made him nervous, always had. He’d been dodging them all his life. “Maybe they’ve discovered they didn’t have enough evidence to let me go. Maybe they’ve changed their minds.” The thought of going to prison made his blood run cold, made him want to run.
Mel shrugged free. “Kane, would you settle down, for heaven’s sake! Has it not occurred to you they may have another reason for being here?” Panic filled her eyes. “Oh, no! What if something’s happened to Blair or Daddy? What if it’s bad news?”
She raced down the stairs, unlocked the front door, and threw it open. The heavyset uniformed man on the other side took off his hat.
“Oh, Sheriff Clancy, what brings you here this morning?” she said breathlessly.
The sheriff opened his mouth to speak, then paused when he saw Kane come up behind Mel. He stared for about thirty seconds before Mel realized what he was looking at. “Oh, this is Mr. Stoddard, Sheriff. He’s staying with us for a while.”
The man nodded. “Is Wilton here?”
“No, Daddy’s out of town. He should be back this afternoon. Is anything wrong?”
“Did you know his hog has done broke out of the fence again?”
“Pork Chop is loose?”
“Yeah. The Widow Barker called and said her sow was in heat. That hog o’ yours is tryin’ to tear down the pen.”
“I’ll go right away, Sheriff.” Mel turned to Kane. “Would you mind coming with me?”
“Sure, let me grab a shirt.”
# # #
“I’m sorry I had to rouse you outta bed, Mel,” Sheriff Clancy said, as soo
n as she managed to get the hog away from Mrs. Barker’s house. “Old lady Barker was madder than a hornet when she called me this morning. Told me she was going to shoot him.”
“It’s okay, Sheriff. Daddy should have fixed that pen once and for all, but you know how he puts things off.”
The sheriff nodded, and then turned to Kane, who followed behind the hog and nudged him every so often to keep him moving. “So how do you like our town, Mr. Stoddard?” he asked.
Kane met the man’s gaze. His look was one of distrust, as though he expected the sheriff to put handcuffs on him and toss him in the back of the car any minute. “I like it okay,” he said at last. “Just want to find a job and a place to live.”
“Kane is staying at our place while he remodels the store. He’s an excellent carpenter, if you know of anybody who’s looking.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Sheriff Clancy said. He checked his wristwatch. “Well, I’d best get back to the office. Y’all let me know if you need any help fixin’ that pen.”
“Thanks, Sheriff.” Mel smiled and watched him drive off.
Mel tugged on the rope, and the hog merely looked at her as though she’d lost her mind. “Don’t go getting stubborn on me,” she warned.
“Here, let me take the rope,” Kane offered. “I’ll help you get him home, then come back for the truck.” He tugged the rope several times, and the hog started moving. “See, you have to be firm and let him know who’s in charge,” he told her. He noted her shapely legs in a pair of cotton shorts that she wouldn’t have thought of wearing to town. In her haste to dress, she hadn’t bothered with a bra. Her nipples were erect beneath the flimsy T-shirt she wore. His gut clenched with desire as he remembered taking each one between his lips the night before. He grinned suddenly. “But you’re just a girl, I don’t expect you to be able to do it.”
A humorous smile touched her lips. “Oh, is that right? Are you calling me a sissy?”
“Yep, that’s what you are, a bona fide sissy.”
“Kane, I could get this hog back without a rope, if I wanted to. I could talk him into following me home. Women don’t need a bunch of muscles when they’ve got brains. Men, on the other hand—”
“Since when do you have anything against muscles?” he interrupted. “Seems to me you’ve been looking at mine a lot lately.”
Mel blushed. “I have not been looking at your muscles.”
“Oh, yes you have. Last night when I came into the kitchen to get the shirt you’d ironed for me, I thought your eyeballs would pop right out of your head.”
The blush spread clear to the tips of her ears. So he had noticed her staring.
Kane laughed out loud at her red face. “You’re beautiful when you do that, you know it? Even prettier than last night when you—” He let the sentence drop, but he was certain Mel knew he was referring to what had happened in her bedroom. Kane stopped walking, and the hog stopped and looked up as though to tell him to make up his mind. “I’m sorry we argued.”
Mel came to a halt as well. She met his gaze. “I’m sorry, too,” she said.
They stared at each other for a moment. Finally, Kane reached up and cupped her cheek “I shouldn’t have tried to rush you into something. We both know I’ve got to get my life together before I can make any promises. I lost my head.”
“So did I,” she said, thinking of how they’d spent a portion of the evening. She’d gotten very little sleep worrying about it.
“Then we can go back to being best friends?” he asked.
It occurred to her at that moment that that’s exactly what they were. Best friends. She trusted him with her life. She’d already trusted him more than she had any other man.
“Best friends,” she said.
Kane leaned forward slightly and brushed his lips across hers. When he pulled away, he was smiling. “I guess we’d better get this slab of bacon home.”
They started down the street once more with the hog behind them. Mel realized she had never felt happier.
# # #
Mel spent the day cleaning and restocking the shelves Kane had built, while he worked in the meat area, building cabinets for storage. The place was really beginning to take shape, she decided. Once she was finished with the shelves, she grabbed a ladder and began cleaning the paneling. Years of dust and grime and tobacco smoke were wiped away, leaving the wood shiny and smelling of lemon oil.
“Look how dirty we are,” Mel said when they climbed into the truck and headed home.
Kane reached over and wiped a smudge from her nose. “It feels good to put in an honest day’s work, though, doesn’t it?”
“Have you always been a hard worker?” she asked, amazed that he could go for hours without a break. She’d also discovered he was somewhat of a perfectionist. He didn’t walk away from a task until it was completed just so.
“I pulled a lot of overtime at the print shop in prison,” he said. “Just to keep from having to go back to my cell. Then I studied. It helped pass the hours. Otherwise, I’d have spent all my time staring at four walls and feeling sorry for myself.”
Her car was parked in the driveway when they pulled in front of the house at six o’clock. Wilton had called after lunch to let them know he and Blair had arrived home safely. They found him sitting in the living room with the newspaper.
“How’s Blair?” Mel asked.
“Tired and sore. The doctor told her to stay off her feet for a couple of days. She’s sleeping right now.” He paused and chuckled. “What trash bin did you two crawl out of?”
Mel laughed as well. “I’ll admit we look pretty bad. Kane, you want the shower first?”
“No, you go ahead. I’ll have a cold drink with your dad while you clean up.”
Mel started down the hall, then paused long enough to look in on her sister. Sure enough, Blair was sleeping soundly. She closed the door softly and made for the bathroom.
Blair appeared in her nightgown while they were finishing up dinner. Kane jumped up and offered her his chair. “I’m not eating,” she said. “I just came in for something cold to drink.”
Mel got up quickly. “You could have called me to get it for you,” she said, going straight to the refrigerator for the tea pitcher. She pulled an ice tray from the freezer. “How do you feel?”
“Tired?”
“You really should eat something, you know. You’re not going to get your strength back unless you do.”
“I can’t afford to gain even an ounce right now,” Blair replied as she took a sip of the iced tea. “I have to leave for Biloxi tomorrow evening.”
“You can’t be serious,” Mel said. “You just got out of the hospital.”
Blair’s eyes took on a hard look. “I’m dead serious. This could be my big chance.”
“How can you even think of doing a commercial at a time like this?” Mel asked, forgetting for the moment they had an audience. “You just lost your baby.”
“What am I supposed to do, Mel? Wear sackcloth and rub ashes on my face? It’s over. And a good thing too. Can you imagine me with a baby?”
Mel gasped out loud. “How can you say that?!”
“That’s enough, girls,” Wilton said.
Blair ignored him and slammed her glass on the counter. “Stop trying to act like my mother, Mel. That’s all you’ve done my entire life. You’re nothing like her. My mother was pretty and alive. Your only ambition in life is to marry and have a dozen brats. Really, Mel, why don’t you just slit your throat and be done with it?”
Wilton shoved his chair from the table and stood. “I said, that’s enough.” He glared at Blair. “I don’t ever want to hear you talk to your sister like that. She all but raised you, you know.”
Blair’s eyes teared. “So I’ve been told over and over again,” she said, wiping them away. “She cooks, she cleans, she works sixteen hours a day. The poor Widow Barker doesn’t stand a chance with you. And neither does Mama.”
“What’s that supposed to m
ean?” Wilton demanded.
“Excuse me, I think I’ll leave the three of you alone to work this out,” Kane said, feeling uncomfortable with the family argument. Nobody seemed to notice when he let himself out the back door.
“I asked you a question, young lady,” Wilton said.
“Daddy, you know Mrs. Barker is hot on your path,” Blair said. “Don’t be so naive.”
“What’s that got to do with your mother?”
“Mama’s been writing to us for months now, but Mel hides the letters before we can see them.”
Wilton looked stricken. He glanced at Mel, who had remained quiet throughout the conversation. She glanced away. She couldn’t bear to look at him. He turned his attention back to Blair. “How do you know this?”
Blair shifted nervously. “I found the letters hidden in her lingerie drawer.”
He arched two bushy brows. “I don’t suppose you want to tell me why you were going through your sister’s belongings in the first place.”
“I was looking to borrow a pair of panties, that’s all.”
Wilton sank onto a chair and wiped his forehead with a napkin. He looked weary. “Why do you have to make trouble every time you come?” he asked Blair. “You blow through town once a year, and all you do is stir things up.”
“Maybe I’m checking to see if you and Mel are alive and kicking under all that dust.”
“Our lot in life ain’t so bad. I haven’t heard any complaints from Mel.” He glanced at his oldest, who offered him a slight smile.
“It’s not in her to complain. She’ll stay in this house and take care of you till you both rot.”
“She’s going to marry Harper.”
Blair gave a snort and regarded her sister. “She’s not in love with Harper.” Fresh tears filled her eyes. “She’s in love with Kane.”
“That’s enough, Blair!” Mel said sharply. “You have no right to say such things.”
Wilton stood once more. “You’d best go back to bed,” he told his youngest. “You just got out of the hospital. You don’t need to tire yourself.” Blair picked up her iced tea and started for the door. Mel followed.
Miss Goody Two-Shoes: Contemporary Romance Page 11