Protecting Melody

by Susan Stoker

  Without opening his eyes, Tex ran his hand from the top of Baby’s head, to her tailbone, then he did it again. Then again. The soothing motion must have relaxed the dog because he felt her practically melt into the bed next to him.

  When Melody walked out into the bedroom not too much later, she smiled at the man and dog on the bed. Both were fast asleep and were snoring quietly.

  Melody didn’t want to wake Tex, but knew he had to get his leg off. She walked over to the other side of the bed, and carefully broke the suction on his prosthetic. It popped off and Melody heard Tex’s voice above her head.

  “Sorry I fell asleep.”

  “It’s fine. I got this. Close your eyes.” She watched as he did just that. Feeling gooey inside that this alpha ex-SEAL was trusting her to do what he needed done, she got back to work. Melody peeled off the liner and reached for the lotion. Melody worked it into his stump, making sure to not put too much pressure on the sore spots, but pressing hard enough on his overused muscles to try to ease some of his aches.

  When she finished, she wiped her hands on the sheet, figuring the staff would wash the sheets before the next guests stayed anyway. Before moving away from Tex, she leaned down and placed a soft kiss right on his stump. She sat up and looked up. Tex’s eyes were open and he was staring at her in wonder.

  Without another word, Melody walked around the bed and climbed in on the other side. She didn’t have the heart to move Baby, so she spooned her dog and faced Tex. He’d turned to watch her progress as she walked around the bed and he was now on his side facing her. They both smoothed their hands over the dog between them, and when their hands nudged each other, Tex grasped Melody’s fingers with his own.

  As if they were in church, Tex kept his voice low and reverent. “No one has taken care of me like you just did since I was a little kid.” He cleared his throat and continued, “I don’t know what you see in me, Mel, but it feels good.”

  “You’re a good man, Tex. You’re sexy as hell and if we both weren’t exhausted I might be tempted to show youjust how sexy I think you are.”

  Tex grinned sleepily at her. “I’ll be damned if I try to convince you otherwise.”

  “Good. ‘Cause you wouldn’t be able to.”

  “You always sleep with Baby?”

  Allowing him to change the subject, Melody snorted. “Not hardly. She had a nice fluffy dog bed that she used to sleep in at the side of my bed.”

  “Looks like that’s changed.”

  “Yeah.”

  They looked down at the dog’s side, which was moving up and down under their clasped hands.

  “She’s a great dog.”

  “Yeah,” Melody repeated.

  “I’ll look after her too, Mel.”

  Melody looked over at Tex in surprise. “But—”

  “No buts. She means something to you so she means something to me. I’m not going to let him kill her if I can help it.”

  Tears filled Melody’s eyes, and she pulled Tex’s hand up to her mouth, kissed the back of it, then brought their hands back to Baby’s side. “Thank you,” was all she could get out, and her voice hitched anyway.

  “As much as I love your dog, she better not get used to sleeping between us. I’m not into doggy voyeurism.”

  Melody shut her eyes and chuckled. She opened her eyes again and found Tex still watching her intently.

  “Get some sleep, Mel. One more long day on the road before we get back to Pennsylvania. We’ll have to figure out what’s going on and what our next step is. But I’ll tell you this, as soon as things calm down, and we have a minute to ourselves where we aren’t exhausted or trying to figure out what a crazy person will do next, I plan on showing you how much you’re starting to mean to me.”

  Melody bit her lip and nodded. She couldn’t wait.

  Chapter Eight

  Melody turned off the engine to the truck and gripped the steering wheel tightly. She and Tex had talked that morning and decided to push through and go all the way to Pennsylvania. About halfway through the trip, Melody had convinced Tex to let her drive. Once again, he wasn’t happy about it, but his leg was hurting more and more and he’d reached a point where it was too painful for him to drive. He’d given her a million instructions and had only shut up when she’d snapped that she wasn’t an idiot and had been driving since she was sixteen.

  To his credit, he hadn’t resisted when Melody had insisted he allow her to drive. After his lecture, and her snarky response, he’d only nodded and when they’d stopped to let Baby take a break, he handed her his keys, kissed her, and headed for the passenger side of the truck.

  Melody had tried to push down how nervous she was to be back at her apartment complex. The last time she’d been home she’d been scared out of her mind and Melody wasn’t sure she’d ever see it again.

  On one hand, she was glad to be back at her place, but on the other, she was scared. She trusted Tex, but was still terrified to be back in her hometown where everything had started.

  “Hey, look at me.”

  Melody jumped when Tex put his hand on her shoulder, and she turned her head toward him. She could just make him out in the dim light of the parking lot.

  “It’s going to be all right, Mel. I’m going to take care of this for you.”

  Melody nodded jerkily.

  “Stay there, I’m coming around.” Tex got out of the truck and went around the front, not breaking eye contact with Melody as he walked around to her side. He opened the door and as Melody stepped out, he crowded her against the side of the truck.

  Tex put his hands on the seat behind her and leaned in. He sighed as Mel put her arms around his waist and held on to him. He could feel Baby nudging his arm, but he ignored the dog for the moment.

  He rested his chin on Melody’s shoulder and turned so he could whisper into her ear. “I know you’re scared, but I’m so proud of you for staying strong. You aren’t alone anymore. I’m here.”

  He felt her breath hitch once, before she locked it down again. He buried his nose into the space between her neck and shoulder and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his embrace.

  They stood there in the parking lot for a few minutes before Tex finally pulled back. He brought his hands up and framed her face. “I mean it.” His words were simple and heartfelt.

  “I know. I feel like I’ve dragged you into this, whatever this is.”

  “Mel, you didn’t drag me into anything. I brought myself into it. And if I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be.”

  Melody licked her lips and finally, after a moment, whispered, “Okay.”

  Tex leaned toward her and kissed her on the lips. “Now, give me your keys and you and Baby stay here for a moment while I go and check your apartment out. I’ll be right back and we can go inside and get some sleep. Tomorrow you can call Amy and we’ll start figuring out what’s going on. Hop back in and lock the doors and if you see anything that is out of the ordinary, or that scares you, lean on the horn and call me.”

  “Do you think he knows I’m here? Am I in danger? Are you in danger?”

  Tex put his forehead against Melody’s and put his hands on her waist and squeezed. “Calm, Mel. No, I don’t think you’re in danger. There’s no way in hell I’d leave you sitting out here by yourself if I did. It’s just a precaution. I have no idea if he knows you’re back in town yet, but I won’t be gone longer than a couple of minutes. You haven’t been home in months, and I just want to make sure all’s well with your place before we go sauntering in there.”

  Tex didn’t mention that he wanted to make sure the stalker hadn’t broken in and destroyed everything in her apartment. It was a possibility and he wanted to spare Mel that. He honestly didn’t think the stalker knew they were back in town yet, so she should be safe enough while he checked things out. Tex drew back and put his hands on either side of her jaw and looked her in the eyes. “I wouldn’t deliberately put you in danger, Mel. Okay?”

  Melody s
ighed and then nodded. She reached into the truck for her purse. Baby, thrilled she could reach Melody’s face, licked at her until Melody laughed and pushed her away. “Move, Baby, I gotta get my purse so we can go inside.” As if she understood, Baby sat on her haunches and watched as her mistress pawed through her bag and pulled out the key ring she hadn’t used in at least half a year. She turned and dropped it into Tex’s outstretched hand.

  “Be careful.” At Tex’s raised eyebrows Melody blushed, but refused to look away from him. “I know you were a SEAL and you could probably just look at someone and scare the hell out of them, but we don’t know what this person is capable of.”

  “I will. Promise.” Tex didn’t waste time reassuring her, he just kissed her on the forehead and said, “Climb back in and shut and lock the door. I’ll be back before you know it.”

  Melody did as Tex requested and watched as he strode confidently across the parking lot and disappeared into the hallway that led to her apartment. Baby whined next to her, and Melody pulled her into her lap, both to comfort the dog and herself. Baby had always been affectionate, but now that they’d been separated for so long, she was even more so. The dog nuzzled into Melody and rested her muzzle on Melody’s shoulder. The two sat in the truck and waited for Tex to reappear.

  Tex looked around Mel’s apartment carefully. It was quiet and dark. It smelled normal, well as normal as a place that had been closed up for several months could be. It was a bit musty and stale. Flipping the light switch next to the front door, Tex tensed as if waiting for someone to pop out of the darkness. All was quiet.

  The door opened up into a small hallway which led into a living area. There was a dark brown leather sofa sitting in the middle of the room with a brown and black coffee table in front of it. A large flat screen television was mounted on the wall across from the couch. A brown and black bookshelf sat against another wall. It was filled with books and had pictures scattered amongst the shelves. There was a small dining area that had a table that could seat four people and the kitchen was off to the side.

  Tex took a step inside the room and looked into the kitchen. There was a stainless steel refrigerator and dishwasher and a four burner electric stove. The fridge held a few pictures, he assumed were drawn by Amy’s kids. The cabinets were maple in color and the counters were granite.

  Tex headed to the hallway opposite the kitchen off of the living area. There were four doors, three of which were standing open. Tex opened the door that was shut and saw that it was a linen closet. He moved down the hall and looked into a guest bedroom that held a double size bed and a dresser. The door across the hall from it was a bathroom.

  Still vigilant, Tex headed for what had to be Mel’s bedroom. He stopped in the doorway and took in her personal space. The bed was a queen size captain’s bed. There were drawers underneath and two columns of cabinets and drawers lining each side of the bed. There was a television sitting on a stand opposite the bed. Other than that, the room was empty of other furniture. A large rectangle rug was sitting on the area between the bed and the TV. He looked down and smiled for the first time. Baby’s dog bed was sitting next to the bed, just as Melody had claimed.

  He turned and peeked into the small bathroom off to the side. It was functional and clean. All looked good in her apartment. For the first time, feeling relieved he hadn’t found anything unusual or that would frighten Mel, Tex looked around her room with the eyes of a man, rather than with the eyes of a SEAL.

  The room was comfortable and womanly. He could imagine Mel sleeping there. Hell he could imagine both of them sleeping . . . and loving there. He felt himself grow hard just imagining it. It was almost ridiculous how easy he was aroused just thinking about Melody. One part of his brain told him it was crazy, that he just met her. But the other part argued that it was right, that they knew each other very well after their long online talks.

  Before he was injured, Tex was always the one to take the first step in any relationship, whether that relationship was long-term or a one night stand, but with Mel, he didn’t want to mess anything up. He’d lost his confidence after being rejected one too many times by women who didn’t want to get involved with a crippled veteran. Even his status as an ex-SEAL wasn’t enough to entice them.

  Tex halted his thoughts in their tracks. Melody was sitting unguarded in the parking lot, probably worried about him. He hadn’t lied to her saying he thought she’d be safe while he went inside, but he still needed to stop daydreaming and get her inside where it was safer. He willed his erection to subside as he headed back to the parking lot and the woman who was quickly becoming the most important thing in his life.

  Melody sat up straighter in her seat as she saw Tex coming toward her. He didn’t look worried, just focused on getting back to her. Baby lifted her head as if she knew Tex was coming, and turned in his direction. Her tail started wagging, but she didn’t climb off of Melody’s lap.

  Tex came over to the driver’s side of his truck and opened the door after she unlocked it. He didn’t make her wait or ask. “Everything looks fine. Let’s get you guys inside.”

  Melody nodded and clipped Baby’s leash on before she stepped out of the truck.

  Tex opened the back door and got out their bags. He reached for Melody’s free hand and was relieved when she grasped it tightly in hers as they walked to her apartment.

  He pushed open the door when they reached it and Baby bounced in. Melody laughed and pulled her back long enough to unclip her leash.

  “She’s happy to be home,” Tex commented unnecessarily.

  “Yeah.” Melody looked around her apartment and sighed. “Me too.”

  “Come here.” Tex grabbed Melody’s hand and shut the door with his foot. He walked them both over to the couch and he sat down and arranged her on his lap.

  Melody had tried to be strong, but being back in her apartment, back where she’d been so scared, back where she didn’t think she’d ever live again, she finally broke down. She could feel Tex soothing his hand down her back and over her head. After a few minutes she tried to control herself. She lifted tear stained eyes to Tex. “Jeez, Sorry. I swear I never cry. I’m not normally like this.”

  “Nothing to be sorry for, Mel. I’m surprised it took this long.”

  “It’s just that, I was scared to come back here, and now I’m not as freaked since you’re here, but I didn’t think I’ve ever get to come back.”

  “We’ll get your life back.”

  “I hope so.”

  “We will.”

  “Okay, Tex.”

  “Come on, I’m exhausted. I know you are too. Let’s get some sleep. Things’ll look better in the morning.”

  Tex held Melody steady as she stood up and he kept a hand on her back as they walked down the hall to her bedroom. Tex steered Mel into the bathroom.

  “Get ready for bed, I’ll grab our bags and let Baby out one last time.”

  “But your leg—”

  Tex put a finger against her lips and cut off her words. “You’ve taken care of me enough, Mel, let me take care of you tonight.” When it looked like she was still going to protest he simply said, “Please.”

  He watched as Mel looked into his eyes for a moment, then gripped his wrist and nodded. She pursed her lips and kissed the finger he had held against her. “Okay, I’ll be here waiting for you.”

  Tex smiled down at her. She was completely transparent. She didn’t play games with him. She simply told him she wanted him to stay in her bedroom with her. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Melody nodded and turned for the bathroom. Tex looked down at her dog. “Come on, Baby, want to go outside once more before calling it a night?” Baby’s tongue was hanging out of her mouth and it looked she was grinning up at him. He chuckled as he left the room and headed for the front door.

  When he came back into her bedroom about ten minutes later, he saw that Melody had changed the sheets on the bed, the old ones sitting in a lump in the corner of th
e room. Mel was sound asleep, curled into a tight ball as if protecting herself. Something shifted inside Tex. He’d do anything to keep this woman safe, but it went beyond that. It wasn’t just that he wanted to keep her safe. He wanted to end everyday by seeing her in their bed. He wanted to wake up next to her, he wanted to listen to her laugh and talk to Baby in the cute sing-song voice she sometimes used.

  Somehow Tex knew Mel was it for him. When he’d made the decision to track her down and drive cross country to find her and bring her home, he’d known. He could’ve called Wolf and his team to go and get her. He could’ve just shrugged and decided she’d deleted her online account in that chat room because she was blowing him off. But somehow he’d known. She was special.

  Feeling emotional, Tex turned to the bathroom so he could get ready for bed. He came out minutes later and sat on the side of the bed she’d obviously left for him. Tex looked over at Baby, who was snoring at the end of the mattress. Knowing he should probably make the dog get up and get into her dog bed on the floor, he just smiled, shook his head and turned his attention to his leg. He removed his prosthetic and quickly rubbed some lotion into his stump.

  He didn’t do as good of a job as he knew Mel would’ve, but suddenly it was vital to him that he hold her in his arms. He propped his prosthetic leg up against the drawers next to the mattress and laid back. He turned to Mel, who was sleeping with her back to him, and he curled into her. He’d never spooned a woman before, but with Mel it felt right. Tex put his right arm around her and snuggled into her.

  They were both wearing T-shirts and boxers, but Tex could feel Mel’s body heat seep into his body.

  “Are you all right?” Mel murmured sleepily.

  “Shhhh, everything’s fine. Go back to sleep.”

  “Did you rub your leg down?”

  “Yes, sweetheart. I’m good. Sleep. I’ve got you.” Tex whispered the words into her ear and smiled as he felt her snuggle back against him as if settling in for the long haul.