by Erika Wilde
A long tension-filled moment passed between them. He was more than attracted, he’d fallen in love with her—the sensible, practical woman she’d been and the sexy, daring woman she’d become. But the words remained locked in his chest, because he knew he couldn’t fulfill all the expectations that came with such a declaration.
“Never mind. Don’t answer that,” she said before he could summon a reply, the faint twist to her lips holding traces of resignation. “I don’t think I want to know and possibly shatter my own personal illusions. It was a nice fantasy, while it lasted.”
She turned and walked out of his office, leaving him cloaked in a thick silence and an awful, helpless emptiness he knew would consume him in the days, weeks, and months to come.
* * *
“What would you say if I asked you to keep an eye on Melodie for me?” Cole asked his brother as they sat at a table at Murphy’s one evening after work.
“I’d tell you to shove the request up your ass,” Noah replied, his tone laced with disgust. “I’m not about to tail her like she’s some kind of parolee. If you want to know her daily agenda, then you follow her yourself.” He shook his head. “God, you’re pathetic.”
Yeah, he was pathetic, and desperate, Cole silently admitted as he finished off his beer. He was equally chagrined with his obsessive need to keep tabs on Melodie, but couldn’t seem to help himself, despite the difficult lesson he’d learned spying on Melodie for her father. “I just want to be sure she’s doing okay.”
“Who are you kidding?” Noah asked incredulously while signaling the bar waitress for a second round of drinks. “My guess is that you’re trying to assuage your guilt for what happened between the two of you, which is ridiculous. Melodie’s doing great. Better than you, anyway. According to Jo, she’s out applying for jobs and has a few potential leads with other PI firms, while you’ve kept yourself holed up in your office. You’re always distracted and grumpy, and you look like hell warmed over.”
Natalie came by their table to deliver two more beers and a fresh bowl of peanuts, and while Noah paid for the drinks and flirted with the pretty bar waitress, Cole internalized his situation with Melodie until he felt as though he’d grown an ulcer.
Exhaling heavily, he scrubbed a hand along his taut jaw, the stubble on his face giving credence to his brother’s remark about his unkempt appearance. Noah was right—he looked and felt like hell these days, like an intrinsic part of him was missing. He was floundering, trying to grasp onto any semblance of the control that had once come so easily to him.
Ever since he’d admitted to his attraction to Melodie, there had been no control over his heart or emotions. And because he’d chosen to mix business with pleasure, he’d lost the best damn secretary he’d ever had, which accounted in part for his feelings of disorientation at the office.
Yet he also acknowledged that he’d lost more than a secretary, and now that she was gone, he realized he’d depended on Melodie in ways that went beyond handling payables and receivables and contracts. She’d been someone he could bounce ideas off of, a trusted confidante, and she’d delved into cases with enthusiasm and interest, sometimes turning up information someone else had overlooked.
Nothing was the same without Melodie, and he couldn’t bring himself to replace her. He’d lost much more than an efficient bookkeeper and assistant, he’d forfeited the warmth of friendship, the excitement and intimacy of a selfless lover. And he was certain no one could even come close to filling the void she’d left behind.
There were no more spontaneous lunches to enjoy, no smiles brightening his day, no erotic letters and no more shameless seductions. Many times he’d found himself heading out to the reception area to discuss a client with Melodie, or get an opinion on a case, only to remember that she was no longer there. No longer a part of his life. In any way.
There was no reason for him to contact her, especially since she’d left a message on his answering machine at home a few nights ago reassuring him in an unemotional tone that she wasn’t pregnant, after all. Instead of relief, he’d experienced an undefinable emotion that left him cold and empty inside.
Cole absently rubbed a spot on his chest, right where his heart beat heavily, achingly, as it had for the past week since the day Melodie had walked out of his office. He waited patiently for Natalie to move on to the next table and noticed the way Noah’s gaze followed the other woman in a slightly territorial way.
“Watch yourself with her,” Cole said, feeling the need to dole out a bit of brotherly advice. “She doesn’t seem like your love ’em and leave ’em type.”
“Don’t you worry about me,” Noah drawled with a charming grin and tipped his bottle of beer Cole’s way. “I know how to handle women, but you, on the other hand, have a whole lot to learn.”
He couldn’t bring himself to argue Noah’s too-accurate statement. Cracking open the shell of a peanut, he tossed the nut into his mouth, chewed, then asked one of the questions that had been in the back of his mind for a while now. “Do you ever think about what happened to Mom and Dad and feel as though their nasty divorce makes you more cautious about women and relationships?”
Noah shrugged, not really answering the question for himself. “I think since you were the oldest, the divorce affected you the hardest, along with Dad’s death. You’ve been so wrapped up in taking care of me and Jo for so long that you’ve never really had any time for you.”
Cole shook off how Noah’s words echoed his conversation with Melodie. “You both are grown and doing your own thing,” he said, swiping his fingers down the condensation gathering on his beer glass. “I have plenty of time for me.”
“And how do you spend that time?” Noah asked and answered his own question before Cole did. “Working, at the office, at home, and having an occasional drink with a buddy. Don’t you want more than that?”
Melodie had asked him the same thing. Until recently, he would have said no, that he was happy being a bachelor and was content with the way he lived his life. But his time with Melodie had changed his way of thinking and made him look at his life in a different way, made him wonder what he was missing out on because of his narrow-minded views on relationships.
Noah took a long swallow of his beer and eyed Cole candidly, brother to brother. “So, when are you going to face the fact that Melodie is the one for you?”
Cole raised a brow. “Excuse me?”
“I can see it and so can Jo,” Noah went on ruthlessly. “Did you tell Melodie that you love her before she quit?”
Cole shifted under his brother’s scrutiny. “What makes you think I love her?”
“Because I’ve never seen any woman tie you up in knots the way Mel has,” Noah replied simply. “You’re so in love with her you can’t think straight.” He held up a quick hand to stall Cole’s automatic objection. “Don’t bother denying it, because the only person you’ll be fooling is yourself.”
And fooling himself had gotten him nowhere, he realized.
Noah stood and picked up his bottle of beer. “Think about this mess you’ve made of things between you and Melodie, then do something about it before Jo and I slap the shit out of you.”
Cole watched his brother head to the bar and take a seat at the end where Murphy put drinks for Natalie to deliver. Alone, Cole nursed his own beer and contemplated the situation until his head hurt. But no matter how many ways he viewed things, the conclusion was the same.
He loved Melodie and she was his life. He could choose to let her walk away or he could choose to win her back—for himself and for the agency.
The decision was his. A shiver rippled through him as everything clicked into place. Raising his siblings might not have been a choice for him, but a life with Melodie was.
Cole knew what he had to do. No more denying his feelings. No more excuses for keeping his distance. As for Richard, the older man would just have to accept that Cole was in love with his daughter.
He was going after Melodie—con
sequences be damned.
* * *
Melodie was curled up in bed reading a romantic suspense novel, unable to sleep, when a loud knock sounded at her front door. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand and frowned. It was nearly eleven o’clock at night, and she’d never had anyone stop by her apartment so late. Her first thought was that the visitor was her father, but he wasn’t the kind to drop by without calling first.
Feeling uneasy, yet curious to find out who was at her door, she set her book down, grabbed her old, favorite chenille robe and slipped into it as she headed down the hall. She looked out the peephole and saw no one, but was startled by the crinkle of paper beneath her bare toes.
Stepping back, she bent and cautiously picked up the cream-colored stationery that someone had shoved beneath the door. She instantly recognized Cole’s handwriting. A tingling awareness pervaded her entire body, and her heart beat triple-time in her chest, echoing in her ears.
Swallowing hard, afraid to hope or assume anything, she read the words he’d written.
I never knew life could be so exciting until I fell for you, and there’s no denying the pleasure we shared. Now nothing will ever be the same. Take another chance on me.
There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with you. You’re always in my thoughts, my dreams, and every fantasy I have revolves around this longing I have for you. I want to kiss you, hold you and love you. Take another chance on me.
I’m absolutely crazy about you. You’re the only one for me, and I pledge on my honor to be forever true. If you’re willing to take another chance on me, open the door and let me back into your life.
Giddy with indescribable emotions, Melodie hugged the fantasy close to her chest as Cole’s words sank in, warm and wonderful and full of the kind of promises she’d ached to hear. She’d resolved herself to the fact that those sentiments would never come from the man who’d walked away from her, yet here he was, putting his own heart on the line, asking her to take another chance on him. On them.
Her answer came as naturally as breathing.
She opened the door, the gesture huge and significant for both of them. But welcoming Cole back into her life was so incredibly easy, because she not only loved him, she believed in him and his vow to her. In this case, his honor and integrity was a very good thing—it was that credible quality that made him a man she could trust with her heart.
He stood just beyond her threshold, his thick tousled hair and the stubble on his jaw darkening his eyes to a deeper shade of blue. A lopsided grin canted the corner of his mouth, but there was no mistaking the uncertainty etching his lean features.
“I’m not much of a poet,” he said, looking like a young boy searching for her approval.
She resisted the urge to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him senseless, to reassure him with her touch that to her the words, written from his heart, were as eloquent as anything Shakespeare could have penned. “Your letter said all I needed to hear.”
“Not quite,” he said, his tone gruff. The invitation to enter her house had been issued the moment she’d opened the door, and he stepped inside, then turned to face her once again. “There’s more I need to tell you.”
She closed and locked the front door after him, then led the way into her living room. “Do I need to sit down for this?”
He smiled at her teasing tone and shook his head. “No, I think you can take it standing up. But you’ll have to bear with me, because this relationship thing is all new to me and I’m sure I’m going to make a few mistakes along the way.”
“I’ll be here to help keep you on the straight and narrow,” she said, and set his letter on the end table by the couch.
“I knew you would.” He closed the distance between them and brushed the tips of his fingers along her cheek in a whisper of a caress that made her ache for more. “First of all, I’m not here out of obligation or a sense of duty. I’m here because I want to be.”
She shivered as his finger absently trailed along her neck and followed the collar of her robe. “I never doubted that.”
His gaze met hers, intent and determined. “And, secondly, I never did answer the question you asked me in my office—if I was ever attracted to the real you, or just the woman you’d created for the Russell case. I want you to know that I’m attracted to both the woman you were before you decided to make changes, and the woman you are now. Your intelligence and sweetness drew me in from the beginning and made me want you, and your new daring, confident attitude excites me. Despite the clothes, hair, and outward changes, you’ve always been sexy to me.”
Her breath caught and bubbles of exhilaration tickled her belly. But before she could respond, he continued on.
“There is absolutely nothing fake or pretentious about you. You’re real and sincere, and you have the most uncanny ability to touch my emotions and make me feel. And, amazingly, you give of yourself and ask nothing of me in return, and that’s something no one has ever done for me. You’re truly more than I deserve, and while I’m scared of what you make me feel because it’s so intense, I can’t let you go, either.”
She bit her trembling bottom lip as renewed hope funneled through her. “I’ll take whatever I can get from you, Cole. No pressure, no demands. Just take your time and we’ll see where all this leads.”
“For my sake, I’d appreciate it if we took things slow and easy, but I don’t need any more time to know and admit that I love you. All the time in the world won’t change that fact.”
Her eyes widened, her pulse sped up a few notches, and her knees went weak with disbelief. “You love me?”
“Oh, yeah, I do.” His gaze devoured her, and in the twin depths she witnessed the truth of his heart-felt declaration. “I adore the way you laugh and smile and that sassy, seductive mouth of yours.” Dipping his head, he nuzzled her neck and inhaled her scent. “I love the way you smell, the way you taste and how uninhibited you are with me.” He settled a soft, lingering kiss on her lips and smiled down at her. “I pretty much love every single thing about you.”
Tears stung the backs of her eyes, and she valiantly tried blinking them back. “I love you, too.”
“I’m a damn lucky man.” He framed her face in his big hands, the stroke of his thumbs along her cheeks infinitely gentle. “Take another chance on me, Mel.”
“Oh, yes.” He was worth every risk. “I meant what I said when I told you that I’d never get enough of you.”
He chuckled, a devilish gleam entering his gaze as he tugged on the belt of her robe, unraveling the ties. “I’m holding you to that promise.”
“Right here, right now?” she dared.
“Oh, yeah.” Accepting her challenge, he pushed the chenille off her shoulders and slid the thin straps of her gown down her arms, baring her to his hot gaze.
He palmed her full breasts, skimmed his fingers down to her belly. Having his hands on her again was pure heaven. Her hunger and need for him overwhelmed her, and she helped him to quickly undress, too, their urgency mounting with every scrap of clothing they removed.
They only made it as far as the couch, and he came down on top of her, naked and heavy, flesh to flesh, heartbeat to heartbeat. He branded her with his body and possessed her in a single driving thrust that made them both shudder and gasp in pleasure. His arms went around her back, smoothed along her spine, wrapping her safe and secure in his strong embrace. She clung to the heat, the strength, the masculine scent that were uniquely his, and all hers.
He buried his face in her hair, his hold tightening as he let them both savor the thrill of their joining just a moment longer. “Damn, I missed you,” he groaned.
She threaded her fingers through his silky hair, her heart content with the knowledge that she’d been on his mind, in his dreams, a part of his fantasies. “Did you really miss me?” she asked coyly.
“As much as it pains me to admit it, yeah, I did.” He lifted his head from her neck, which caused his lower body to arch into her, e
mbedding him deeper. His eyes sparkled mischievously. “I need my secretary back.”
Her jaw dropped open, and he chuckled, the deep, jovial tremors vibrating against her belly. “I missed you,” he said before she could issue an indignant response. “But I most definitely need you back in the office. And I was thinking that I sure could use a partner every now and then on various cases.”
“What’s in it for me?” she asked impudently.
His hips moved and he slid into her, deep and slow, then out again. She moaned and wrapped her legs around the back of his thighs. “I give great bonuses.”
She narrowed her gaze, remembering the last bonus he’d given her and how she’d felt about it. “I don’t need money for something I want to do.”
“Then I’m sure we can come up with a fair exchange. Your services for mine.” He waggled his eyebrows rakishly and surged deep again. “What do you think?”
She’d never seen him so playful, so lighthearted, and she loved it. “I think you have yourself a deal.” Before he could totally distract her, there was one other issue they needed to resolve. “Cole…what about my father?”
He winced. “I don’t think now’s the time to bring him into the conversation, do you? Unless you’re looking to kill the mood.”
She laughed lightly. “You’re right, but talking to my father is something you’re eventually going to have to deal with. He knows where I stand, but he deserves to know about us, and I think he ought to hear it from you.”
“I know.” He pressed his forehead to hers, their breaths mingling. “I have every intention of talking to him, but, right now, the only thing I want to think about is you and how great it feels to be back where I belong.”
She sighed her agreement, and then all thought was lost as he kissed her long and slow and deep, shamelessly tempting and teasing her mind, her body, and senses…just as she’d seduced him from the very beginning.