She's Got the Look

by Leslie Kelly

  Instantly recognizing Nick’s voice, Melody jerked her gaze upward, sucking in a breath and ordering her heart to stop hopping like a Mexican jumping bean in her chest. “Hi.”

  “Hi,” he said, just as softly, giving her an intimate smile. He bent down and brushed his lips across hers, giving Mel hope that he hadn’t overheard any of their conversation.

  “I hope you don’t mind that we stopped in, but we thought you might want to know how things worked out,” he added.

  Beside Nick stood Dex, who was bending down to kiss Rosemary’s cheek. He whispered something in her ear and she smiled sweetly.

  Now she was glowing. Even Tanya would have to admit that.

  “I know this is for women only,” Nick continued, “but can we join you for a couple of minutes?” He looked at Tanya. “I think I owe you a drink.”

  “Anyone who wants to buy me a drink can pull up a chair at my table, anytime, cutie,” she said, immediately scooting over to make room.

  Dex and Nick grabbed two chairs from a nearby empty table and pulled them up. Nick was close to Melody, so close his jean-clad leg brushed against her bare one. Which instantly made her remember the way his jeans had brushed against her inner thighs earlier that day, when they’d been so hot for each other they hadn’t even paused to take off all their clothes.

  He looked at her, his eyes darkening. She had no doubt he was remembering exactly the same thing.

  “So, was it her?” Tanya asked, breaking the seductive memory.

  Paige squealed. “Ooh, we’re going to find out who did it? It was a woman? I figured it was because only a woman would hit a man where it would hurt the most.” She looked around at the others. “Men are much too protective of penises to do that to another man.”

  Nick and Dex each gawked while the women at the table chuckled, well used to Paige’s jabbering. And her volume.

  “So, was it Angie?” Tanya asked, looking as certain as if she already knew the answer.

  Melody immediately placed the name. Angie was the reporter who’d been with Rhodes and Manning at Rosemary’s party.

  “Yeah,” Dex said. “She confessed.”

  An enormous weight disappeared from Melody’s shoulders with those three words. She’d been hoping Drake Manning’s murder had nothing to do with her, and Dex had just confirmed it. Because Melody had never had anything to do with the prime suspect before that night.

  “I knew it.” Tanya looked at the women at the table and elaborated, “Drake mentioned her Thursday night when we were arguing, saying something about yet another angry, spurned woman.” Her jaw clenched. “He said we should comfort each other.”

  “The creep,” Melody muttered.

  “She says she didn’t mean to kill him,” Nick said. “She was furious because he’d dumped her twice in one week. It was more than someone with her ego—and her temperament—could take. She can be one vindictive woman. Believe me, I know.”

  Reaching out to grab a handful of chips, Nick also casually picked up Melody’s glass and sipped some of her margarita. His actions were so natural, so comfortable, as if they were a long-established couple.

  She looked away, wondering why that thought hurt instead of helped. Why her mood was getting darker the longer they sat here, so close, yet already separated by the doubts that had filled her mind before he’d arrived. She desperately wanted to recapture the good feeling she’d had a little while ago—before she’d been stupid enough to start analyzing her feelings for the dark-haired man sitting beside her.

  Impossible. She couldn’t be near him—so very close to him—without feeling way too much. Nick’s arm was draped casually across the back of her chair. He was sitting so close she could smell the spicy cologne he wore, which instantly reminded her of burying her face in his neck, breathing in every bit of him that she could get when they made love.

  No way could she force herself not to respond. Not to feel.

  “What’d she mean to do, if not kill him?” Paige asked, wide-eyed. “Get him so horny he’d take her back by default?”

  “She wanted to humiliate him,” Dex said. “Completely and totally embarrass the man by making it too uncomfortable for him to sit in front of a camera and report the news.”

  Melody thought about it. Though it was possible, she wasn’t entirely convinced. “She had to have known he had a heart condition, and that giving him so much of that kind of medication could be dangerous.”

  “Especially since she slipped it into his grapefruit juice,” Nick said. “Apparently they don’t interact well together. Another strike against Manning before he took the first sip.”

  “You think she’s lying to make herself look better?” Melody asked.

  He shrugged. “It’s possible. We may never know. From what the coroner says, the level of the drug in his bloodstream wasn’t as high as we’d first thought. But even a couple of one-hundred-milligram pills, combined with his bad heart, were enough to do him in. Whether she meant to kill him or not, that was the result. She’s been charged with murder.”

  So it was done. They’d caught the person who’d killed Drake Manning. And from what Rosemary had told her as they’d left the police station earlier, the police had come up with several other theories about Jonathan Rhodes’s death. Theories that, thankfully, didn’t include her. Or her list. Or her underwear.

  “I sure wish I knew where they were,” she muttered.

  “Where what were?” Nick asked, obviously overhearing.

  “My peacock underwear,” she said with a sigh. “I don’t suppose they’ve shown up on eBay?”

  He shook his head. “Afraid not, darlin’. We may never know…at least, not until we catch whoever killed Rhodes. It could be something as simple as the killer liked the look of them and decided to steal them for his wife or girlfriend.”

  Well, she supposed another woman wearing her underwear was slightly less gross than a man wearing them.

  “Mel, do you want to come by and get C.C. and Oscar after we leave?” Paige asked, completely changing the subject.

  It was a welcome shift. They’d talked enough about death.

  “Do you mind if I do it in the morning?” Melody asked, suddenly feeling weary. As much as she’d loved being here with her friends, she now wanted to go. Maybe being alone would help her figure out what to do about her confusing situation—a situation other women might think wasn’t confusing at all.

  It was for Mel, though. Confusing as hell, yet really a very simple problem, when it came right down to it. She was in love with an amazing, sexy man who took her breath away.

  But she didn’t know if she had the strength to try to keep him.

  IT HAD BEEN A LONG DAY, but now, knowing at least one of the homicides he’d been working had been cleared, Nick was feeling pretty good. When he looked at Melody, he felt better than good. Great might describe it. Blissful—as sappy as it sounded—might not be too far off, either.

  Because he’d fallen in love with the woman. He hadn’t quite believed it was possible, and he still didn’t know if he’d be any good with this new emotion, but he didn’t doubt that was what he felt. For the first time in his life, he really got it.

  He loved her. He wanted her. And now, after this miserable, ugly day, he was damn glad to be with her.

  There was only one problem. Melody was pulling away. Rather than being outwardly glad that a killer had been caught, that her one friend was blissfully happy and her other friend no longer under suspicion for murder, she looked anxious. Withdrawn.

  It could just be fatigue—it’d been a long couple of days, especially with the camera nightmare in her apartment. They’d gone on a cross-state trip where she’d met his entire family, not to mention the population of Joyful. And their own relationship had been like a crazy amusement-park ride, going up and down, spinning out of control when neither one of them had really expected it. They’d scaled some high peaks and plunged to some dark depths. All in such a short time.

  But
he didn’t regret one minute of it. He was willing to bet Melody didn’t, either, no matter what was weighing on her mind right now.

  Maybe it was everything else still left to deal with. Solving the Manning case hadn’t shed any light on Melody’s Peeping Tom. So he wasn’t feeling any less tense about that situation. But he was pretty convinced that either Jonathan Rhodes or Melody’s ex had planted the camera.

  Rhodes certainly wasn’t in any position to do it again.

  As for Dr. Bill Todd…well, from what Nick had learned about the man today from the Atlanta PD, he had new troubles of his own. So maybe he wouldn’t be so anxious to harass his wife anymore. If he had been the one spying on her, he definitely wouldn’t once Nick got through with him.

  “I’m sorry, everyone, but I’m really tired. I think I’m going to call it a day,” Melody said, confirming his suspicion that something was wrong.

  He immediately rose from his chair.

  She waved a hand. “Don’t worry, I can get home just fine. I have my car. Why don’t you stay here and eat? I know you’ve got to be starving.”

  Staring at her, shocked she’d even suggest it, he sensed the others around the table growing quiet and watchful. Melody’s friends looked a bit nervous, as if they knew what was going on in her mind. Judging by Tanya’s deep frown and the way Rosemary was nibbling her lip, they weren’t too happy about it, either.

  “I’m fine,” he said slowly. “I wasn’t planning on staying, anyway, especially if you’re not going to.” As if he would. As if she really wanted him to. “Besides,” he added, meaning only to tease her, “I’m not letting you out of my sight after everything that’s happened.”

  Okay, maybe that wasn’t the right tactic. She looked away, her expression even darker, her shoulders slightly slumped. “I don’t need you protecting me,” she muttered. “I am capable of looking out for myself.”

  Definitely not the right tactic. “I know you are,” he replied. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t worry about you. Since I have to come to your place to get Fredo, anyway, I might as well just follow you now.”

  She frowned, as if she’d forgotten about the dog. But she stopped arguing.

  Saying goodbye to everyone else, Nick escorted her outside. Funny how Savannah had been so bloody hot lately, because the expression Melody was wearing was downright chilly. She didn’t say a word as he held her car door open for her.

  As he followed her back to her place, Nick began to figure out what was wrong. He mentally kicked himself, recalling the way she’d insisted earlier today that she didn’t need to be protected. That had been right before they’d had some of the most incredible, mind-blowing sex he’d ever experienced, so maybe he should get a break for not remembering it right away.

  She’d repeated the words at the restaurant. Looking out for herself was obviously important to her. But Nick couldn’t change who he was. He took care of people he loved.

  Loved. There was that word again, all bright and shiny, just waiting to be said out loud.

  He wondered when he’d have the courage to say it. If she’d someday have the courage to say it back. He certainly didn’t expect miracles; Melody could very well have a “once burned, twice shy” attitude like Nick had for the past decade. That he could get past his mental obstacles a bit sooner was understandable. She might need a while before she reached the same conclusion he had: that they were perfect together.

  Realizing Melody had gotten ahead of him at a stoplight, he pressed the gas harder. By the time he got to her street, he saw her car was already parked. She wasn’t in it. Pulling up behind her hatchback, Nick got out and walked to the door of her building. Before he could even try the knob, the door opened from the inside.

  “Hi. Here’s Fredo,” she said, sounding out of breath. As if she’d raced up the stairs to grab the dog, then flown back down here so he wouldn’t have to come up.

  She handed him the leash and Fredo jumped up to give Nick an enthusiastic greeting. Scratching the happy mutt behind the ears, he murmured, “What’s going on?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean,” he said, a wary kind of tension building in his head, “I know something’s wrong. Are you all right?”

  She nodded, stepping outside to join him on the front stoop. “I’m fine. Maybe a little tired.”

  He couldn’t contain a wolfish smile. It was instinctive when this woman was around. “So let’s go to bed.”

  Wrapping her arms tightly around herself, Melody shook her head. “I need to be by myself for a while.”

  The tension in his temple turned into a pounding. “How long’s a while?”

  Melody finally looked up at him, meeting his even stare. There was no disguising the confusion in her eyes, or the tight pull of her mouth.

  The woman was unhappy. Unsure. Not the Melody he’d been falling in love with over the past several weeks. He was looking at the one he’d met that very first day, out on the sidewalk where she’d taken a nosedive onto her mattress.

  “What happened?” he asked, his body growing taut with anxiety, like it did when he sensed something bad was going down on the street. Right now he sensed something very bad was going down on his life.

  “Nothing happened,” she said. Her voice shook a tiny bit. “I just realized I need to take some time, Nick. Things are going too fast. I’m afraid I’ve let myself get off track lately. I’m not achieving what I set out to achieve when I came here.”

  That made zero sense. “A new life? A new start? Some happiness? Tell me you haven’t achieved all of that…and more.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t deny that. But I don’t know that I can handle this right now. I don’t know that I can handle you. I’m afraid I’ve been fooling myself, fooling both of us about how I feel, what I’m capable of feeling.”

  He stiffened even more. Because he’d heard that refrain before. He’d certainly been played the fool before, starting way back ten years ago when he’d been a duped eighteen-year-old husband. “Fooling me?”

  “I don’t want to be hurt again,” she said, running a hand through her auburn hair and rubbing at her temple. “I don’t want to need you. I don’t want you taking care of me.”

  She fell silent. But the next logical sentence rang in his ears, anyway. I don’t want you. He heard it. She had to have heard it, too. It was almost tangible, hanging there in the few inches of night air separating them.

  “You want me to leave you alone?” he asked, his body rigid.

  There were tears in her big blue eyes. And there was agony on that beautiful face.

  But she said it anyway.

  “Yes, Nick. I do want you to leave me alone.”

  MELODY’S HEART BROKE when Nick turned without a word, walked down the front steps, got into his car and drove away.

  He hadn’t said anything. Not one thing. He’d simply held himself in that stiff military way and left.

  This wasn’t like the night she’d asked him to leave but hadn’t really wanted him to. Because, in her mind, she knew asking him to leave was the right thing to do. At least until she sorted things out for herself.

  Somehow, though, she’d expected a few words, a brief conversation. At least an assurance that he understood she simply needed more time. Maybe even that he’d wait.

  She didn’t expect him to wait for long. She wasn’t that selfish a person. Still, she’d expected he’d understand at least a little bit.

  But no. Nothing. Not a word. Just that rigid, inflexible posture and a march to his car. And out of her life.

  “Oh, my God, please not forever,” she whispered as she shut the door and went upstairs to her apartment. As she walked into her living room, she acknowledged she might have lost the best thing she’d ever had. Being strong, confident and independent was one thing. But being in love…being loved in return…well, she didn’t know if there was anything better than that in life.

  “It can’t be too late,” she murmured, already wondering what
to do. Wondering if the anguish she felt now, figuring she’d lost him, was indication enough that she should never have let him get away. Especially not without telling him how she felt.

  She thought about calling him and asking him to come back so she could better verbalize her concerns. Or, hell, maybe just jump on the man and take him to bed, since that had been one place she and Nick never had any problems communicating.

  Melody nearly reached for the phone, but before she could, it rang. She jerked in surprise at the shrill sound. Sending up a quick prayer that it was Nick calling from his cell phone a couple of blocks away, she answered. “Hello?”

  She held her breath, hoping Nick was trying to find the right words. But there was only silence.

  Not wanting to think her sick, heavy-breathing stalker might have caught her at a moment when she was already so frigging depressed, she snapped, “Hello? Who is this?” When she got no response, her jaw tightened with anger. “Go to hell.”

  “Melody? It’s me. Bill.”

  “Ahh, it speaks,” she said, not trying to hide her sarcasm. “What’s the matter, you afraid you’re going to hyperventilate with all that heavy breathing so you decided to talk this time?”

  “I’m in trouble.”

  “You’re going to be if you don’t leave me alone. Call me one more time and I’m shoving your phone right down your heavy-breathing throat.” Wow, that felt good.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” he said, his voice holding a hint of a whine. “I haven’t called you in months.”

  She didn’t want to hear that, didn’t want to think her ex hadn’t been the person harassing her. Because that would leave her wondering who had. Suddenly feeling weary, she rubbed her eyes and shook her head. “What do you want, Bill?”

  Her ex-husband said nothing for a second. In the background, Melody heard yelling, and the clang of metal. “I’m in trouble.”

  Like she was supposed to care? “What, did you pick up another case of the clap?”

  “You’re so sarcastic,” he said, sounding hurt.

  Ha. It took emotions to feel hurt. Bill didn’t experience them. “And you’re wasting my time. Goodbye, Bill.”