by Dana Mason
“What did she want?” Erin asked when Doreen was out of earshot.
“She came over here to talk smack about me and Melissa.”
Melissa frowned. “And your dad handled it like the jerk he is.”
“Don’t worry about her.” Erin turned toward Doreen’s table. “She only pretended to be Mom’s friend. She’s a troll and a gossip who never says anything nice to anyone. Mom hated her.”
“Oh yeah,” Cody confirmed with an exaggerated head nod as he slid into his seat.
Melissa laughed at the description. “Well, now she has plenty to gossip about.”
“Come on,” Brian said. “Let’s get the hell out of here before she comes back.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Brian rang the bell and waited, just the idea of spending the next twenty-four hours alone with Melissa had him hardening in his jeans. Damn, he wanted her. He pressed the button again, and the door buzzed open with a loud click. He opened the door then pushed it closed behind him, tugging to make sure the lock engaged. Melissa was at the top of the stairs waiting for him. Her hair was swept up and her bare feet stuck out from under her long, flowing, cotton skirt. He smiled. A skirt certainly made his life easier.
He rushed up the stairs and swooped in on her before backing her against the wall. “God, I missed you.” She smelled incredible. No way could he wait to have her until after dinner.
“You’re faster than I thought you’d be. It’s not even four o’clock yet,” she mumbled through his heated kiss.
“I couldn’t wait another minute. I didn’t even stop to have a conversation with my pop when I dropped the kids off.”
“That’s rude.”
“Nah.” He licked his way up her neck to her chin. “I told him I had something important to take care of.”
Melissa shivered against him, her grip on his shoulders tightening. “Do they know you’re with me?”
“Oh, hell no. I don’t need that lecture right now.” He withdrew and met her eyes. “Besides, I like keeping you to myself. Come on.” He towed her inside the apartment. “We need to get inside before I strip you naked right here on these stairs.”
Melissa chuckled as he cornered her against the kitchen table. “We have all night, you know.”
Brian lifted her off her feet and sat her on the edge of the table. “No, we don’t. I’m still suffering from the other day. I can’t wait.”
He reached down, grabbed the bottom of her shirt, and ripped it over her head. Seconds later, he snapped the clip on her bra and let it pop open. He buried his face between her breasts and cupped them with his hands as he inhaled the soft scent of Melissa. He pressed himself against her, painfully hard in his jeans.
Melissa moaned, deep, throaty, and reached to unbuckle his belt and jerk open the button on his jeans. He kicked them off and rested his hands on her ankles, sliding up her smooth legs, bringing the skirt with him.
“I love this easy access.” He reached under and linked his fingers over the straps of her lace panties then he lifted her and tugged them off. “You should wear skirts like this every day,” he mumbled, but when his lips met hers, he lost the ability to think, too distracted with her mouth.
Brian devoured her. He could eat her alive he wanted her so bad. He sucked and tasted her, then slipped his hand between her legs until she cried out another moan. The vibration of her mouth, the mixture of her taste, and the sigh of pleasure made him smile.
“Brian . . .” she gushed out as her legs linked around his waist and locked him against her. She was stronger than she looked, and, damn it, he was taking her right here on the kitchen table.
“Melissa, I can’t wait. I need you right here and now.” He pulled her to the edge and stabbed forward as he pushed her legs apart
As Melissa cried out, relief swamped Brian, then he immediately built back up as he pounded against her. She leaned back and gripped the edges of the table. Watching her, the expression on her face, and the erotic pleasure as it flowed from her, drew him in, forcing him to push hard enough to scoot the table slightly with each thrust. When her legs wrapped around him again, she tightened and he lost it. A strangled scream broke from her lips as he poured himself into her, his body jerking in relief as it emptied.
Brian slumped forward and braced his hands on either side of her as she collapsed on the table. He inhaled, exhaled, and fought to catch his breath. When his breathing regulated, he opened his eyes to her smile.
“And here I thought we were much too mature to screw on my kitchen table.”
Brian laughed. “Sorry about that.” He leaned in to kiss her chin. “I’ll make love to you nice and slow later, but I needed that more than you will ever understand.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, I understand completely, and I’m not complaining.”
“Come here.” He nodded, inviting her to wrap herself around him.
She leaned up and laid her hands around his shoulders and held on tightly. He wrapped his hands around her hips and lifted up to carry her into the bedroom. After laying her on the bed, he stripped off her skirt and began kissing his way down her chest to her stomach and stopping to lick the sweet skin around her navel.
“Melissa Parker . . . you little rebel. Is that a tattoo? That’s new.” He looked at the small butterfly to the left of her navel while his fingers slipped inside her and continued to massage her into a frenzy.
“Not new,” she managed to squeak out. Brian took a closer look at the different shades of orange and pink. Inside the wings were blue initials intricately woven in a delicate pattern. One wing said MP the other BH.
“Is that us?” he whispered.
Melissa nodded, digging her heels into the mattress.
“That’s sweet . . .” He kissed the small tattoo then trailed kisses farther down. “I’m surprised I didn’t see that the other day.”
“Brian,” she breathed, her fingers stabbing through his hair.
He lifted and sucked a nipple into his mouth. She was losing it again, but he wasn’t worried. They had all night, and he could listen to her breathe like that for hours. God, her smile and those eyes—he could get lost looking in her eyes. The gold flecks became brighter as the heat rose in her body. That was his plan, making those gold flecks in her golden brown eyes glow all night.
Melissa made fists in his hair and tried to pull him back up.
He grinned at her. “Not yet, gorgeous. Just relax and enjoy.”
“You’re killing me, Bri . . . Brian,” she nearly screamed as he brought her to the height.
“Give it to me,” he said, as she writhed underneath him.
Melissa’s hands fell to his waist and slid around, forcing his heart rate to jump as her fingers slowly outline the curves of his body. Not fair, he thought as her hands moved lower and circled around to his front. Not fair. He grabbed her hands and tried to hold them steady, but she jerked out of his grip and went back to touching him.
“I can’t yet. I’m gonna need . . .” He lingered on the word ‘need’ when she wrapped her hand around his length and started massaging. “No, I . . . oh. Melissa, wait . . . baby.” He started moving with her, losing the battle for control. Okay, maybe he didn’t need a minute. He grabbed her hand and pulled it away, holding tighter this time, making her groan in protest until he sank into her. Her hips came up to meet his, and he swayed slowly as her eyes fluttered closed.
“Lissa, you feel incredible. I love you.”
She tightened around him and arched herself off the bed, but he wouldn’t give. He’d promised her slow and easy. He’d promised her sweet, and he would give her that.
Her skin glowed with a sheen of sweat as she grew closer to climax. He wanted her to know it was him inside her, to understand he would be her last, and she his—just like they’d been each other’s first. He’d never need to touch another woman now that he had her back in his life. He brushed her mouth with a tender kiss, pulling a moan from her again when he caressed her face with his lips.
She threaded her hands through his hair then dropped down to cup his cheeks. Brian stared at her beautiful face, and a surge of love so strong, it took his breath away, swept through him.
This woman, the girl he’d fallen for all those years ago, had stolen his heart and held it close for so long. Never again would he live without her. Never again would anything get in his way of having her, keeping her, and holding her next to him for the rest of his life.
He wanted to see her eyes, wanted to look into her soul when he came. As if reading his thoughts, her eyes opened, bright and dancing with light, laced with gold.
“Tell me you love me. Tell me now.”
“Brian.” She gripped his shoulders. “I love you,” she cried as he pushed against her, releasing the last of his energy. He surged one more time, and Melissa cried out, too, lifting completely off the bed, plastering herself to him.
When she collapsed onto the mattress, he lay beside her, and struggled to relax his trembling body. He grabbed her and pulled her closer. Her heart pounded in sequence with his as he held her, their sweaty bodies stuck together. He never wanted to move. Being with her made him whole and complete. He couldn’t stand not going to sleep with her or not waking up with her every day. He leaned over and nipped her shoulder then kissed it.
“I don’t think I can do this . . .” he whispered.
“Do what?”
“Not have you in my bed every night.” He sighed and slid his hand down her body to cup her hip. “It hurts my heart when I’m away from you now.”
She chuckled. “You’re such a girl.”
“Shut up, Parker,” he said, pushing her hip playfully.
She laughed and turned into him. “I missed you, too.”
“So . . . you have a tattoo.”
“I got it after I left for college . . . right before you married Julie.”
“Why didn’t you have it removed or covered up?”
“Just because you married Julie doesn’t mean I didn’t still love you.”
“I bet Collins loved that,” Brian smiled wide.
“Oh, yes, he hates any kind of tattoos, but I don’t think he ever noticed the initials. They’re kind of small and hard to read.”
“Not that hard, cupcake,” he said, pressing his lips together.
“Really?” She leaned in to get a closer look. “Huh. Maybe that’s how he figured out you were the ex-boyfriend?”
Brian pulled the sheet up when she shivered, and gently rubbed her chilled skin to warm her as she tucked under his arm. “I meant what I said, Lis. I don’t think I can do this much longer.”
“We don’t have a choice. We have to do what’s right for Erin and Cody.”
“Today, Erin was super high-strung. I’m not sure what’s going on with her.”
“High-strung? What do you mean?”
“She was nervous about something—guilty. I just couldn’t get her to talk to me about anything. I asked my mom to keep an eye on her.”
“I think you’re going through cop-withdrawal. You need to go back to work. Maybe you should go help out over at Summors Security while you’re suspended, keep yourself busy.”
“Nah, there’s something up with her. I’m sure about that. Maybe having another girl in the house is what she needs.” Brian leaned down and kissed the top of her head
“You’re pulling out everything on this, aren’t you?”
“I don’t want to wait.”
“Have you thought about what your parents are going to think?”
“I don’t care. I’m sick of listening to the bullshit.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh, you know, where they lecture me on the rights and wrongs and the appropriate way to move on from a death. Truth is, I’m sick to death with it.”
“They want to help you and the kids. Maybe they suspect we’re already together.”
“I don’t care. I care about you . . . and I care about the kids. I care about building a family around our relationship. But, no, I don’t care to have the world’s permission to do it. If they don’t like it, they can all suck it up. Including your mother—and sister.” He stared at her for a moment, remembering Ali’s fit after he’d asked her to talk to Melissa about Collins. “Can you tell me something?”
She nodded, letting her eyes drift closed.
“When you went away to school . . . you got a tattoo. What else happened?”
Her eyes popped back open. “Nothing happened.”
“Yeah, some things happened and . . .” he stammered at her hurtful expression. “I want you to tell me about it.” He needed to know what he did to her, and he would listen to every word, even if it killed him.
“Brian . . . no.”
He cupped her face. “Tell me.”
She shook her head and tried to turn away, but he held her steady.
“Nothing. I failed out of Columbia and transferred to the University of Washington. I graduated and stayed there until I met Chase. A year after meeting Chase, I moved to Berkeley. That was three years ago. When Micah was taken, I moved back to Santa Rosa.”
“You’re leaving something out.”
“What do you want to know?” Melissa sat up and pushed his hands away.
She turned her back on him, and he thought maybe it was easier for her to say these things if she wasn’t looking at him.
“It was a bad time. I’m not proud of the pathetic person I became after losing you.”
His chest ached at the tone in her voice. It was bad enough he’d broken her heart, but he didn’t want to destroy her self-respect and dignity by making her relive it if she didn’t want to talk about it.
“I’m sorry, Melissa.” He reached for her, needing to feel her against him, but she resisted.
“It took everything I had to finish school and get on with my life. It took Chase to help me see there is more to life than working and sleeping. Remember that the next time you’re nasty to him.”
“I will,” he whispered.
“Why do you think I’m so afraid to get involved with you again?”
“Lis . . .” He breathed in and out, feeling a little nauseous. “I want to understand the extent of what I put you through.”
She turned her face, taking away the partial view he had of her profile. He lifted up on his knees and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “I am sorry. You were an unintentional victim of my bad behavior.”
She turned into his arms. The contact relaxed him a little, and he hoped it helped her feel better, too.
“God, Brian, when I left for school . . . I was so sure of us, absolutely sure of you. I had no doubt. It never occurred to me that we wouldn’t be together. When I found out you were married to someone else—married—there’s no turning back from marriage—I couldn’t come here and win you back. I never had the chance to fight for us. You took everything away. You took you away from me.”
“I just fucked everything up.” He ran his hands down her arms then back up to her shoulders. “I apologized to Collins.”
“I know. He called to tell me. Thank you.”
He closed his eyes, embarrassed at what he’d done. “I’m sorry about what I did. I shouldn’t . . . That was a real bonehead move on my part.”
“I feel really bad for hurting him. I understand what that kind of hurt feels like, and I’d never wish that on another person.”
“Before him . . . did you see other guys?”
“A couple, nothing serious. I worked a lot. Went to graduate school. I was writing freelance and didn’t have time for men.”
“When did you start taking pictures?”
“I took some classes while in grad school It’s a release for me, a really great creative outlet.”
“They’re excellent. Don’t you sell them?”
“I take on clients when I have time. Do some photo shoots and headshots for people. I started to put together a book. Twins—just pictures of twins—but it’s not going to work out. Nobody wants
a book like that.”
“How do you know?” he asked, but she shrugged her shoulders within his embrace.
When she lifted her hand to rest it on his chest, the light bounced off the thin gold band on her ring finger. He grabbed her hand and brought it up to get a better look. “I can’t believe you still have this?” He jiggled the small promise ring he’d given her when they were seventeen.
“I put it on the other night. I can’t believe it still fits.”
Brian leaned over the edge of the bed and grabbed his jeans. He came back up holding an identical thin gold band. “Mine doesn’t.”
Melissa gasped. “I can’t believe you still have it.”
“Of course.” He slid it on her finger with her ring. “It fits you now. I guess I’ve grown too much. I was a little weenie in high school.” Melissa looked down at the matching rings and smiled. “I won’t hurt you again, Lissa. I’ll always be here for you now.”
She nodded. “Brian Hammel’s famous last words.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Erin had never run that fast in her life. She rounded the corner and slumped down in the bushes, gasping for air. Oh God, oh God, I’m sorry. What have I done?
She peeked out from behind the hedge and started running again, thankful for the darkness. Another three blocks and she’d be at Gran’s house. She heard a car and thought about ducking behind another hedge, but she just wanted to get home. Oh my God, is that a cop car? She turned her head slightly and high-beams blinded her. Relief stabbed through her. They were too high for cruiser lights. She slowed a little, afraid of looking suspicious, but she nearly collapsed when someone called her name.
“Erin!”
She slowed to a trot, her control completely gone. She bent over, gasping for air when she finally stopped moving forward. Her entire body shook with tremors so forceful, she couldn’t hold herself up any longer. Her knees buckled, and she hit the ground, hard.
“Erin, what the hell?” Matt raced over and knelt in front of her.
She covered her face, afraid to look at him. Afraid of everything she’d seen and done. Afraid he’d recognize the truth in her eyes. How would she ever look at herself in the mirror again? She was scum—the worst of criminals. Coach was right; she was worse than her mother.