Need You Now (Love in Unknown)

by Lunsford, Taylor M.

  “Beautiful Melody. Would you—“ He paused dramatically. “—Be my savior and please, please let me stay with you tonight?”

  With his mouth this close to hers, she found it a little hard to come up with a protest, not that she tried too hard. Sending him back to spend the night under the same roof as Portia sounded like possibly the worst idea ever. “Someone scared to go home to his mommy and her flying monkey?”

  “If I said no, I’d be lying. But the whole answer is that I’ve missed you like crazy and I don’t want to put myself through the misery of breakfast with my mother and the others when I have the chance to wake up with you in my arms.”

  Biting her lip, she hesitated. There had been a lot of things said tonight that she needed to think about. Most of it was just venom and bitterness on Olivia’s part. And then there was the whole ex-fiancée thing he’d never mentioned. On the other hand, if she wanted to make things work with Caine, she didn't need to sit and stew over the past. They were making a new start. A new start in which they were trying to forget baggage from the past. All that mattered tonight was that he picked her and he was asking to spend the night with her.

  “Come on, Mr. Mayor. I think an ordeal like that calls for a bubble bath and cuddling with a big strong man." She patted his cheek. "Since Henry Cavill isn't around, you'll have to do."

  Digging through her purse, she found her key and let them in.

  “Bubble bath? That sounds a little…girly for me. You can take one and I’ll warm the bed up for you.”

  Shaking off the dregs of the awful dinner, Mel tossed her head from side to side and smirked at him. "I could tell you all about how fabulous a long, steamy bubble bath is. The feeling of the hot, wet water sluicing over your body. Steam rising up, filling the air. All of the tension just melting away... But if you don't think you'll enjoy it..."

  With a saucy shrug, she backed away from him. Reaching behind her, she slowly tugged down the zipper of her dress. Each movement sent the thin shoulder straps sliding down her arms, but she held the bodice up just before her bra came into view.

  “Did you put on the lingerie I packed with the dress?" Caine stayed where he was, his body taut, every ligament poised to spring into action.

  Mel pretended to consider the matter, lifting the bodice away just enough so she could look down. "Let's see, would that be the strapless all black lace bra or the matching thong?"

  HIs throat moved as he swallowed. Heat blazed in his blue eyes, leaving a hot trail along every inch of her exposed skin. His jaw clenched. He was caving.

  “Nope.” He crossed his arms. “Still not enough to get me to take a bubble bath.”

  Shrugging, Mel let the dress float down in a silken puddle and walked away from him. Three...two... She barely made it to the bathroom before big hands slid onto her hips just above the top of the thong. "Why don't you let me run that bath for you, sunshine?"

  She bit back a smile as she watched him bend over the tub to start running the water. Black pants pulled tight over his butt and muscles rippled under his expensive blue shirt.

  “Gotta say, I love the view from back here." He was ridiculously handsome. With a razor sharp intellect. All of that went a long way to making her forget the whole pain-in-the-ass parents.

  “Not as much as I love the view of you from behind." Caine winked over his shoulder, pouring more bubble bath than strictly necessary into the steaming water.

  The minute he stood up, she was there waiting for him. Taking her time, she released each button of his shirt, then moved on to the one on his pants. Smooth cloth and warm skin, all stretched over hard muscle. Delicious. Lingering on the zipper, she gave him her best pout. "Are you sure you want to make me take a bath all by my lonesome?"

  “You play dirty, Dr. Carr." Deft fingers flicked open the front clasp of her bra before sliding down to the thong. "I like it."

  All remaining clothing quickly found a place on the cool tile of the bathroom floor. Mel climbed in first, leaving space behind her for Caine to slide in. The hot water did a lot to soothe her tense muscles, but the strong, wonderfully male arms wrapped around her were the best cure. Staying right here forever appealed to her a great deal, even if her annoying doctor side told her that dehydration would eventually become an issue.

  “We should find someone to bottle this power of yours," she said, head against his shoulder.

  He nipped at the curve of her neck, then soothed it with a kiss. "What power is that?"

  “You have some strange ability to make me forget all about stress." She wrapped her arms around his, linking their fingers together. "I’ve spent the last twenty-three years of my life pressuring myself to excel, and all that pressure came with a lot of anxiety and worry. When I'm with you, I can't seem to remember what I'm worried about."

  Mel laughed. "Okay, maybe not forget about stress. I still know that I should be worrying about who went after the clinic and my car. And that you didn't tell me you were engaged to a woman your mother felt the need to drag along to that awful dinner. But when you put all of this around me? Nothing else seems to matter."

  “I'm sorry I didn't mention Portia." He sighed, his cheek rubbing across her hair. "She was more Mother's choice than mine. We kept getting pushed together at different functions. Before long, we were dating. I never intended to propose, but somewhere along the way it just sort of became an accepted fact that we were engaged. Portia and Mother even dragged me to pick out the ring.

  “By the time I realized I was a part of Olivia and Joseph 2.0, we'd been officially engaged for two months. And I hated myself."

  She tilted her head back to look at his face. His harsh expression told her he was miles away. Time to step up to the plate. He’d supported her when she told him about the Andrew mess. She couldn't do any less with him and Portia. Cupping his face, she brought him back to her. "Why would you hate yourself? Have you met your mother? Any woman Olivia picked out for you had to be just as bad as she is. Stepford wife on the outside, manipulative bitch to the core."

  “I still shouldn't have let it get that far. I felt like such an asshole." He smiled, a look of self-deprecation on his face. "She threw everything in her apartment at me except the ring. Portia insisted on keeping that. Said she'd earned it."

  “Please." Mel scoffed. "While I might argue that she'd earned it if you'd been together forever and you broke her heart, she colluded with the Wicked Witch. So doesn't count as earning it."

  Caine didn't seem like he believed her. His face spoke of calm, but every muscle was tensed and alert. Like he was waiting for her to run. "Buying a ring for someone I didn't love was a really shitty thing to do. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it earlier. And I’ll continue to make amends for you having to share a meal with her and my mother for as long as you deem necessary."

  She kissed his shoulder, ignoring the sting of distrust as she turned back around. After the campaign he’d waged to get her to open up to him, mentioning something important like a fiancée would have been a good thing. Preferably before dragging her to dinner with his mother and said fiancée. But she was trying to be understanding. To look past the double standard. "You're a good man, Caine Maddox. Don't apologize for not telling me. We just started dating. Airing our dirty laundry this early in the relationship would normally be considered a bit much."

  “I know as far as time goes it hasn't been that long," Caine said, arms tightening below her breasts. "But my feelings for you never went away, sunshine. Sharing everything with you is what I want to do and I need to be better at it. It's the only way to make this work."

  Mel stood, loving the look of pure lust in his eyes as water and soap bubbles cascaded down her body. She held a hand out to him. In one swift motion he was on his feet, towering over her. Stepping out of the tub, rivulets of water sliding down and around every defined muscle, he grabbed a towel for himself, then wrapped another around her. Eyes intent on her, he lifted her out of the tub and carried her through to the bedroom.


  When he pulled back the sheets and positioned her in the middle of the bed, she shook her head. Leaving the towel behind, she got up.

  “Uh-uh. My way tonight.” She caressed the shallow valley between his pecs before giving him a little push. Knees meeting the edge of the bed, he fell back, catching himself on his elbows. The towel, low on his hips, stayed in place. Barely. All it took was a flick of her fingers for it to fall away. "Mmm. Want to know one of the best stress relievers known to man? Medically speaking, of course."

  Arousal showed on every inch of his body, even in the taut muscles of his neck. "Bet it's not something you'd tell all your patients about."

  “Nope." Mel winked at him, her own towel dropping as she knelt between his powerful thighs. "This treatment plan is for one special patient. He's the only one who gets house calls, too."

  His sharp intake of breath as she licked along the dorsal vein of his penis sent a shot of arousal straight to her core. She'd never done this before, not even for him. In college, she hadn't been brave enough or confident enough. With Daniel, it never felt right. Andrew had always wanted her to, but she held back. Her one method of exerting control in that relationship, she supposed. Kissing her way from tip to root, she reached up to caress Caine’s sac, loving the feel of it tightening under the silken flesh. Eyes on him, she pulled back to wet her lips before fastening them around the head.

  Slowly, she took him in, relaxing her jaw and her throat, wanting to taste as much of him as she could. Wrapping her hand at his base, she began to suck and lick, mimicking the lavish attention he always gave her breasts. If his rumbling groans were any indication, her stress relief technique was working perfectly. Thick fingers buried in her hair, urging her on. His hips bucked up to meet her mouth. She felt her thighs grow slick, aroused by her own power and the beauty of the man at her mercy.

  Mel knew he had to be close. Caine’s tight features said all she needed to know. He was hold back. She pulled away. “Let go.”

  “No.” His hand shifted from her head to her shoulders. “Not without you.”

  He hauled her up, her body sliding up his length until her hips aligned with his. Blindly, she dug into her bedside table drawer for the small emergency supply of condoms she'd bought after their first date. She lifted her hips away from his only enough to slide the latex sheath over him, loving that he was so primed he twitched in her grip

  Growling, he flipped her over. Caine gripped the back of her knees. "Wrap those gorgeous legs around me."

  The moment her ankles locked at the base of his spine, he entered her. "My idea was good. Yours is better," she said.

  “Two are better than one," he quipped, his voice a little raspy with restraint. Flexing his hips, he set them on a steady rhythm that rapidly increased, driving them both on and on. This time Mel didn't hold back the moans of frustration and pleasure that tore at her throat. Then Caine shifted his angle ever so slightly, grinding against her clit with each stroke.

  She almost sobbed with pleasure when she finally started to climax. He kept going, thrusting in as deep as he could until he yelled through his release. Someone must have removed ever bone from his body, because he collapsed on top of her, his body melting around hers. Normally, she hated when a guy did that, but with Caine, she didn't want to let him move.

  “I always knew you were a genius, Doc, but damn." Obviously too tired to move yet, he kissed her at the tender spot where her pulse still pounded. "I'll let you prescribe my medicine any time."

  “I'd have to hurt you if you went to anyone else." She kept her arms around him until he finally moved off her to clean up. Sliding to her pillow, she waited for him to crawl in beside her. The second his body heat left her, she felt her mind begin to kick back into gear, fighting its way through the haze of pleasure. Even when he curled around her, spooning her body with his, she couldn't stop it.

  Soon, Caine snored softly behind her. Any other night, she would have drifted off to sleep too, glad to have him with her. Tonight, the doubts and worries she'd had before they started dating came back. She'd emerged from her last relationship with scars, sure. Scars that reminded her she needed to be strong and independent. Depending on a man, especially Caine, was dangerous.

  She’d been burned by Caine’s lifestyle before. As an adult, he wasn’t involved in drinking and carousing with over-privileged trust fund babies. No, he was involved with something worse. Secrets. He’d given her the full court press for weeks, but never mentioned that he’d been engaged to a woman who was exactly like his mother. On some level, she’d always pictured him with a cool, sophisticated society wife, especially in the first few years after their break up. Still, finding out that he’d gotten as far as ring shopping with a woman like Portia was a big hit to the ego. It was entirely possible that he could wake up in a few months or even years and realize that he needed a wife like Portia, instead of one like her.

  The years she’d spent building up a defense against Caine were all shot to hell. Whether she liked it or not, Mel was starting to develop deeper feelings for the man holding her in his arms. Feelings she couldn't fight. She just had to decide if she even wanted to fight them.

  Chapter 15

  Caine walked into the Fortune Saloon with a definite bounce in his step. Olivia and Joe had swooped out of town on their private jet, taking Portia with them. Two nights with Mel in his arms and he was having problems keeping his feet on the ground. He’d almost cancelled on Gage and Micah tonight. They'd made these plans last week, before Caine's attention had become totally wrapped up in his girlfriend. His girlfriend. God, that still grabbed him by the balls. After years apart and three months trying to woo her, Mel was finally his girlfriend.

  The local saloon had stood in this exact spot for over a hundred years. The original building had burned down in the sixties, but the rebuilt structure was an exact replica of its predecessor. Rough wood walls and floors and a bar to match. Pictures of all of the town's sports teams lined the walls, interspersed with antique advertisements for alcohol. The bar dominated the center of the large main room, a square island in the dimly lit expanse. Highboy tables flanked two pool tables on either side of the room, and booths lined the walls.

  Gage and Micah were already waiting for him at their usual spot by the pool table. Since Micah had moved back, they’d tried to make it a weekly event to meet up here. It didn't always work out with their schedules, but Caine enjoyed it. He nodded to Lou Carroll, the bartender and owner, to bring him his usual. He could stay for a drink or two, then head over to Mel's apartment before it got too late.

  “Evenin', fellas." Caine slapped his brother on the back as he took the empty chair.

  Micah saluted him with his beer. "Took ya long enough. We thought you might bail on us."

  “I fully expected you to still be groveling to Mel after that dinner with Olivia and the Barbie," Gage added. Caine winced. He’d known that bringing Mel to "meet" his parents would be painful, but he’d thought his mother would have at least attempted to be civil.

  “Never in a million years did I think Mother would bring Portia." Caine accepted his beer from the waitress and took a long draw on it.

  Micah's brow furrowed. "Who's Portia?

  Shit. The double-edged sword of dating your best friend's little sister. Some things you could talk about and some things might end up getting you punched.

  Gage piped up before he could respond. "Caine's bitchy ex-fiancée. An Olivia protégé."

  “You were engaged?" Micah sounded guarded. Caine hated talking about Portia. He'd told Mel about her because she deserved to know, but he really didn't want to get into it with her brother right now.

  “Briefly. One of those really stupid things you do when you're lonely." He still didn't know how he'd ended up with Portia. Sure, she'd been hot. Okay, so he’d liked being the center of her attention, but he'd never felt anything for her, at least not what he should have felt for the woman he was engaged to. The years after he graduated from
law school had passed in a blur of work and women. Breaking up with Portia put everything back in focus.

  Gage leaned over to start racking up the pool balls. "Stupid is right. Portia was awful. Still don't see how you ever proposed to her."

  “Not sure I ever actually did. She and Olivia just assumed we were getting married." Caine looked around the bar. Guys he'd gone to high school with were now local business owners. The same group of old men who'd sat at that bar when his grandpa would come in still sat at the same corner, eyes glued on the baseball game. Country music alternated with classic rock on the speakers, the volume just loud enough to be heard without overpowering conversation. "Soon as I realized just how close she and Olivia were, I ended things."

  Micah still looked concerned. Understandable. If positions were reversed, Caine knew he'd worry that his sister was with a guy who’d become engaged to someone he didn't love. Certainly wasn't the best recommendation. "Well, if she's anything like my ex, I guess you're lucky to be rid of her."

  “Jax's mom? Yeah, Portia could probably hold her own against her," Gage said, leaning three pool cues against the table. Caine felt the small jab. Yet another reminder of how far he and Micah had to go in rebuilding their friendship. No one had told him about Jax's mother, other than she was an addict. He'd missed a lot, but being reminded of that fact still sucked.

  Time to change the subject. This was supposed to be guys’ night out. "So, Micah, we gonna see Jax on the six and under team next year?"

  His friend chuckled and shook his head. "I hope so. I love being a dad and I love getting to have him with me full time, but I just don't understand that kid half the time. If it weren't for baseball, I think he might have found some way to physically attach that Gameboy to his hands."

  “Maybe he'll get better once school starts. Still pretty new in town. Friends can make all the difference," Caine said. "Look at us. We'd have been bored to tears without each other."