Melt My Heart

by Anna Cove

  Laura dragged her back to the bed, turned her around, and made her sit. Then she straddled her. She kissed her jaw. Dylan rewarded her with a moan that made her puddle with moisture all at once. Laura picked up the pace. She pushed Dylan back, Dylan scrambled to lie fully on the bed, then Laura pinned her down.

  "I'm leading today," she said.

  "Good. I love when you're the boss of me," Dylan whispered.

  Laura took charge, pinning Dylan's wrists to the mattress, then working her body with her lips, her tongue, and her teeth. Licking at skin, nipping at nipples, sucking and worshiping all that was Dylan's body. Dylan arched toward her, but Laura wouldn't let her get what she wanted so easily. She was going to wait until Dylan begged for her.

  She didn't need to hear it in words. Laura had never remembered being so in tune with someone else, had never really understood the language of someone else's body. But with Dylan, it had never been about the words, it had been about the deep soul connection. She could see the tension building, Dylan's pulse throbbing tempestuously in her neck.

  Laura kissed a line from Dylan's sternum to the top of her pubic hair. She brushed it back and softly, as soft as she could, flicked her clitoris with her tongue. She didn't need to watch Dylan's face for a response, her response was clear in the loud moan that fell from her mouth. Her eyes were closed, her body taut. It wouldn't take much now. It wouldn't be long now.

  It had been a year since Dylan and Laura got engaged. A year where so much had happened. Too much, with Aaron and with her work, and she hadn't given enough time to Dylan, but that was going to change. Starting today.

  She moved her tongue faster, around and around Dylan's clit, and dragged her fingers along Dylan's outer lips. She waited until the moment where Dylan couldn't take it any longer and plunged her fingers inside her. Dylan came around her fingers hard and fast and strong, screaming like she had never screamed before, her body abandoned to total ecstasy and to Laura.

  Laura almost came watching Dylan's wild and uninhibited climax.

  But she wasn't here for that.

  Dylan's body relaxed, relenting into the bed. Laura crawled up to meet her. Dylan opened one eye. "That was... wow."

  Laura kissed her. "Let's get married."

  "Hm?"

  "Let's get married. Today."

  Dylan stopped breathing. Both eyes were now open wide. "We didn't make any plans."

  "We've got everyone we love right here. We can grab Colleen and Kell and Skylar and Aaron and head to the courthouse." The more she spoke, the more excited she became.

  "You're ready?"

  "Hell yes, I'm ready. Right now. Let's do it."

  Dylan looked like she had been clobbered in the face with a basketball. "Are you sure? I don't want to rush you."

  "You're not rushing me. We've been together long enough, and I love you Dylan. I love you, and I want to tell the world that. Today. Do you think they'll do a ceremony at the courthouse for us?"

  Dylan scratched her messed up hair, the daze from her orgasm still evident on her face. "I know Judge Hamilton pretty well. Helped his daughter out one time. I'm guessing he'd do me a favor."

  "Then let's do it." Laura jumped off the bed, unable to tame herself any longer. She ran to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, then ran her fingers through her snarled hair. Her cheeks were red from the lovemaking, her lips dark and plump. She wasn't going to wear a lick of makeup to this thing. She was just going to go as her. As the purest form of Laura Munro she could attain.

  When she ran back to the room, Dylan was still in bed.

  "Well? What are you waiting for? Get up. Let's go."

  ONCE, DYLAN MIGHT HAVE thought she was the unluckiest person in the world. But the saying, it's better to have loved and lost than never to love at all rang true to her on this day. As she stood in her best suit, watching Laura stroll down the aisle holding Aaron's hand as he wobbled forward, she knew she was better for what she had gone through. She wouldn't have done anything differently, not even if she could avoid all the pain.

  All that pain only made this moment much sweeter.

  Laura reached her at the front of the judge's seat. Dylan picked up Aaron and kissed him on the head. He squirmed, babbled, and she put him back down. He reached up and took her hand, then took Laura's with his other hand. Dylan's eyes filled with tears.

  What would she do if she ever lost these two? She honestly didn't know. That was not something she could think about today, on a day celebrating their official union, but she knew, better than most, it was a possibility. It made what they were doing seem even more important.

  Laura wore a cream-colored dress with a thick orange belt around her waist. Skylar, Colleen, and Kell—all the people who had supported them in their relationship—looked on with misty eyes. Her life was better than she could have ever imagined it. She had a new job she loved, friends she could confide in, a woman to call her own, and a baby. The moment was picture perfect. Dylan tried to snapshot it in her mind's eye, going over every detail so she wouldn't forget.

  The judge cleared his throat, and they started on their vows.

  Dylan remained in a state of ecstasy throughout. She barely remembered what she said, or what Laura said, and it didn't matter. What mattered was how she felt... like she was on a cloud and she would never ever be unhappy again. That she was doing the right thing, with the person she loved, surrounded by the people she loved, and now, after all these years, she would have a family who loved her. A family.

  She hadn't realized how important family was until that moment, but she would cherish it for the rest of her life. And even when she lost sight of it, she knew Laura would come back for her. She'd managed to pull her from the brink of despair and into heaven. They'd managed to pull each other away from the brink and create a life together.

  That brink would always be there, beckoning to her, but as long as she stayed in the moment—in this blissful moment and every blissful moment that followed—she would be safe from the edge.

  She would be safe in this woman's arms.

  THE END

  If you enjoyed Melt My Heart, please tell your friends, your enemies, your mother, your boss. Okay, maybe not those last two, but you get the point. Word-of-mouth is a huge help. Then, for the whipped cream on top (wink, wink), please leave a review.

  Author's Letter

  HELLO, LOVES,

  I hope you enjoyed reading Melt My Heart as much as I enjoyed writing it. It saved me, as books often do, coming at a time when I needed it most.

  I first started writing this book in the darkest of winter days after a string of starts and stops on unpublishable (in the total crap sense of the word) manuscripts. My confidence was at its lowest. I thought I'd lost my ability to write something coherent. Turns out, that was the best thing that could have happened for this book, because when I really got going on it, I wrote like I had nothing to lose. I set no deadlines and started back at the basics. Who are these women? What attracts them to one another? How can I best show them falling in love?

  Then I began writing a love letter to my newsletter subscribers every Sunday. I shared my thoughts on wellness, my progress on the book, interesting research I may have stumbled across in the writing of the book, and asked opinions. And they wrote back! It changed the whole writing process. Finally, it wasn't just me, myself, and I as the first audience for the book, it was my readers as well. If you'd like to join that group of my closest reader friends, you can find it here. They (you, perhaps) helped me choose a cover. They boosted me when I was feeling down. They gave me their opinions on my characters' looks and names.

  My writing process has fundamentally changed. It's no longer about what I can do—it's about what we can do. And I hope you'll join me in creating a love story, and the next Catskill Crew Romance, together.

  Love,

  Anna

  Find me Online

  Newsletter: Join Anna's Love Letter Crew

  Website: annacove.com.
r />   Twitter: @AnnaCoveAuthor.

  Facebook: Come hang.

  Click here for a list of other books by Anna.

  And flip the page for an excerpt of Sweet Surrender.

  SNEAK PEAK: SWEET SURRENDER

  JULIA

  "I need an appointment with Dr. Garcia now."

  "I'm sorry, Dr. Garcia is in with a patient, and she's booked solid for the rest of the day," the secretary, whose golden nameplate said Ashley, smiled like she was delivering news of the rapture. She exchanged a not-so-subtle raise of the eyebrows with the only other person in the waiting room, a heroin-thin man with earphones whose knee bounced incessantly.

  This one is crazy, isn't she? The arch of her brow said.

  He ignored her in favor of his iPhone.

  "Listen, Rapunzel," I said. "I've traveled three hours on a screeching train sitting next to a clown. A literal clown. Can you just stick your head in and tell her Julia's here?"

  "I can only interrupt for emergencies," Ashley said primly.

  "This is an emergency."

  Ashley's eyes traveled over me. For a moment, I saw me from her point of view. Fitted black jacket over a T-shirt, just-so tousled chin-length hair, oversized glasses matching my jet bracelets.

  Finally, she said, "I watched your little stunt on YouTube. You can't help acting out, can you?"

  I leaned forward, splaying my hands on the table. "I bet you didn't even tell her I called, you conniving..."

  A door clicked open behind me. I swung around, shoving my hands behind my back to flip off the Rapunzel receptionist. A woman in her fifties wearing a perfectly pressed Armani suit exited, her hair flipped up at the ends and her chin lifted, her makeup unsullied as if she was leaving a beauty parlor rather than a shrink's office. She was the type of person who drew a gaze, and she didn't look back as she left. I found myself following the shifting of her hips until the door closed behind her.

  Jada hadn't seen me yet. She, too, was watching her patient leave. How she did this job—so many hot women walking in and out of her office—I didn't know. Perhaps it was because she was, well, I don't know. Straight? That would help.

  I hadn't seen her in person for over a year—but she wore thirty well. She was one of those people that would look beautiful in sweatpants after just waking up. Though she dressed conservatively that day, wearing slacks and a turtleneck, and had pulled back her thick hair in a ponytail, her beauty and grace and raw sex appeal oozed from her.

  Good thing she was straight, or I might have jumped her right then.

  "Well, well, well," I said, folding my arms. "You've made it to the big time, Jades."

  Jada's face lit with recognition and surprise. She squealed and ran to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. Her hair smelled of jasmine and I could feel the excitement rolling off of her as she tried to contain it. She twisted me around so I was facing Ashley and I couldn't resist sticking my tongue out between my teeth.

  I win.

  Jada pulled away. "What are you doing here? You look great!"

  "I was in town and I was hoping to chat. Can you do lunch?"

  Jada's face fell, and it was as if all the joy was sucked from the room. She had that kind of face. "I wish you had called before you'd come. I'm sorry, girl, I'm booked solid through the day. Are you in the city for long?"

  "No, actually. Only a couple of hours." I twisted toward the man in the room.

  Jada's next appointment looked like he needed a sandwich. I strode over to him. "How much would it take for you to give me your appointment slot?"

  "Huh?" he said.

  "Julia!" Jada said.

  "Dollahs, bro. How much? Twenty-five? Thirty?"

  He caught on awful fast after that. "Two hundred."

  "This is totally unethical, Julia. Stop it," said Jada.

  "One hundred," I said, pulling out my checkbook.

  "One-fifty and you've got a deal."

  "Done," I said. I scribbled out a check and ripped it out of the book, offering it to him.

  "I'd prefer cash."

  "And I'd prefer not to pay for my best friend's time, but we can't all get what we want. Take it."

  The man moved in slow motion, lifting his arm and pinching the check between his fingers. He cocked his head in slow motion, too. "Aren't you...?"

  "Nope," I said. "I get mistaken for her all the time."

  The man blinked, peering at the check. "But her... your... your name is Julia Knowles, too."

  "Common name. Common mistake. See you later, dude."

  The man blinked and turned away, practically rubbing his hands together as he slipped out the door. He could buy so many sandwiches with that. When I turned back around, both Jada and Ashley skewered me with the same disapproving look.

  "Let's go, Doc. I ain't got much time and neither do you, by the sound of it." I walked through the door and into Jada's office. It was a sea of white—expensive and classy and perfectly curated. Just how I imagined Jada's life to be. I plopped onto a couch and bent my skinny jean-clad legs over the arm, pillowing my head and staring up at the ceiling.

  I sensed Jada's approach, though she made no sound as she came closer. "That was totally inappropriate. I could have my license suspended for something like that."

  "If you want to chastise me, get in line, Jades. I'm everybody's favorite fuck-up these days."

  Jada's heels brushed against the carpet as she walked to the chair across from me and sat down. "Do you need to talk?"

  "Nope. 'Course not. What would I have to talk about?"

  "Well, for one," Jada said, ignoring my sarcasm, "that was quite a stunt you pulled last week."

  "It wasn't a stunt," I said, through gritted teeth.

  "Did you know someone was filming you?"

  "I didn't know where my ass was that night, Jada. You should have seen what that guy did to me that wasn't caught on tape. I swear it was entrapment."

  Jada paused for so long that I looked at her.

  "He hit on me. He deserved what he got."

  "A broken nose, shoulder, and a black eye? For hitting on you?"

  If I'd wanted to talk to an impartial judge, I'd come to the wrong place. I crossed my arms. "Some people think I'm a hero."

  "And what do you think?" Jada asked.

  It wasn't important what I thought. What was important was that my life was falling apart piece by piece. As soon as the video went viral, the CEO of Guzzler called me into his office to tell me that I would no longer be writing the syndicated advice column I had been pouring my heart into for four years. Funny how loyalty only went one way.

  Screw him. He wasn't the one I was worried about.

  "I nearly lost my book deal," I said.

  "Nearly?"

  I sat up and scrubbed my face, trying to wash away the memory of my editor's tomato red coloring. "Will screamed at me for hours, Jada, hours. Called me a hateful bitch. Then told me my proposal was due to him in two weeks."

  "So he gave you a break?"

  "Did you miss the bitch part?"

  Jada sighed, leaning back in her chair, suddenly looking about as tired as I felt. "I don't have much time here. Is this all you wanted to talk about?"

  I squirmed. I sat up, swung my legs around, and propped my elbows on my knees. "What's going on with you," I asked. "How's Tony?"

  "He left."

  "What?"

  "Let's talk about something else."

  "No, I want to hear about this. Why did he leave?"

  "You paid off a patient so you can talk to me, Julia, so let's talk about you."

  "Fine. We'll get to that later." I shrugged, letting out a puff of air. "Plus, I didn't give him anything. That check'll bounce."

  "What?" Jada said, her eyes widening.

  "You said yourself it was unethical. No problem now, right?"

  "Yes, there is a problem. What happens if he comes back?"

  "Blame it on me."

  "You are out of control."

  "Perhaps, but
what I'm really out of is money."

  Jada somehow managed to keep her calm though I could see the corner of her mouth pulling up in a twitch. "How is that possible? What happened to the proceeds from your first book? Or from your column? It must be syndicated all over the country by now."

  "Yeah. I spent it."

  "You what?!" All attempts at remaining impartial dropped from Jada as she stood and started pacing the room.

  "You're acting like I just told you I murdered someone and buried him in your backyard."

  "Did you?"

  "Of course not!"

  Jada sucked in a long breath through her nose. "You're right," she said, circling her chair and lowering herself into it again. "I'm sorry. Tell me. How can I help? Do you need money? Do you need a place to stay?"

  I had endured three hours next to a clown to talk to Jada, but now I could see the pity in her eyes. Usually, this would send me into a rage, but I was too tired. I had come so far. It would be a waste to ruin that now.

  "I can't write," I said, on a long breath. "My book proposal is due in three weeks and I have nothing to write about."

  "And...?"

  "My editor suggested I see somebody to get unblocked. So I'm here. To see you. Somebody."

  Jada leaned forward, propped her elbows on her knees, and steepled her fingers. "You should probably see someone impartial."

  "Don't make me beg, Jades."

  "Fine." Jada leaned back against her chair.

  My gaze strayed to her buxom figure before returning to her sweet eyes. Tony was crazy for leaving her. I'd never liked him, anyway.

  "The creatives I've worked with... it's usually some mindset that keeps them blocked."

  "Something they can solve in a few hours?"

  "Sometimes. Julia... I think I know the answer to this, but did you ever see someone about your Mom's death?"

  Hearing those words together, Mom and death, would once have sent me into a cold sweat, but now it was only a dull ache beneath all the whiskey and the women and the fame. "This is not about that."