Melody stared up at him, enraptured and mesmerized. The truth in his words made her heart shiver. And the way he looked at her…it set her body aflame and cocooned her in compassion all at the same time. It was a heady, drugging sensation and she wanted more of him. More of his touch, more of his words, more of his wisdom and his care.
She shook her head, and he frowned.
“What?” he questioned with a skeptical look.
“Your ex-wife really was a psycho hose beast.”
He blinked in bewilderment. “A what?”
“Psycho hose beast. You know, from Wayne’s World?”
“Wayne’s what?”
She rolled her eyes and waved her hand. “It’s a movie. Never mind. She was a jerk. And I think maybe I hate her.”
He chuckled and his arms around her tightened, causing his hips to press against hers in an intimate way that made her brain spin around in her skull. “I don’t. Her stolen music score brought me you.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I keep meaning it.”
She smiled and rested her cheek against his chest for a moment, listening to his heart as it matched the pounding of the ocean waves. His arms were the most tranquil place she had been since her parents had died. Every time he held her, she felt like she could finally rest.
“Psycho hose beast,” he muttered. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
She laughed and grinned up at him. “Sure it does. She sucked the life out of you. Like a vacuum. A hose. You know?”
His eyebrows drew together in a kind of pained expression. “Maybe I will keep you here. The popular culture and urban slang of your world is….”
She nodded while he searched for the words. “I know. It makes your IQ drop a couple points.” He smirked and she toyed with the buttons of his shirt. “Show me your world, Liron. Show me everything.”
“That might take awhile,” he said with a soft laugh.
She ran her palms up his chest and knew she’d never meant anything so much as what she was about to say, regardless of how irrational it was. Her pain was less when she was with Liron. It was less because he understood in a way no one at home possibly could. He didn’t make her feel stupid, or like she needed to get a grip. He didn’t give her that concerned for her sanity look like Nikki did. He just listened, and held her, and calmed her with music when things became too overwhelming.
Music. The only language she had ever really been good at. The only therapy that had ever worked.
Reaching up to tuck back a strand of his hair, she murmured, “I might be inclined to stay.”
Chapter Nine
Liron was in danger. Serious danger.
He watched as Melody wandered through the marketplace, awestruck, her eyes filled with wonderment. He looked down at where her fingers were twined with his. She had been holding his hand since they’d left the cliffs, as if she didn’t want to be too far from him. Every time they severed the connection for her to look at a vendor’s wares, she sought his touch again as soon as she had finished.
The things she brought to life within him made what he felt for Elizabeth when he’d first met her seem trivial. He had been blown away by her beauty and her grace, by the music he had heard when he’d looked at her. But he had never been able to explore his feelings for her. She had never let him. He had been in love with a possibility that had never become a reality.
But Melody…. She was completely different. She seemed to seek his touch, his presence. She had come back to him, even though she had been so unsettled by her unexpected journey into his world. She had returned because she had wanted to, not out of obligation. Not because she’d had no other choice. She had desired his world, his company. She had desired him. It was a simple thing, he imagined, but held so much force it rocked the very core of him.
She understood his nature, what made him who he was. She understood music with a depth he had never experienced from anyone other than another musical muse. And they shared the same pain, that same empty, aching loss. They both knew what it was like to have their inspiration die. His loneliness had brought her to him, and as a result, they had both rediscovered music in each other.
He was in danger of wanting her so completely he feared he would never be the same.
But he couldn’t help but think that maybe that was a good thing. The fear he should have felt, the trepidation, wasn’t there. His broken and bruised heart felt comfortable with Melody. Safe. And for the first time ever, he felt like maybe he could move past hope, past a possibility, and learn what it was like to share himself with another.
Maybe….
Twilight had descended as the two of them had spent several hours perusing the wares of the vendors and traders in the marketplace. The shopkeepers started to close up their booths, much to Melody’s dismay, and Liron led her down the street. “In several hours the marketplace will be alive again, with a different kind of entertainment,” he said with a smile. “But until then, would you like some dinner?” He stopped outside the door of one of the more reputable taverns.
She glanced up at the sign, then put one hand on her hip and cocked her head in a playful, flirty gesture. “You know, Rob has taken me to dinner a couple times at a few really upscale places, and the feeling I’ve generally had when I’ve gone has been slight nausea, despite the delicious food. Now, I’m standing outside some seedy tavern, and I really can’t wait to find out what’s on the menu.” One of her eyebrows arched up in a teasing expression. “I’m beginning to think maybe my problem was the company.”
He narrowed his eyes and feigned irritation. “Who is this man you keep referring to? He sounds rather unpleasant, and I don’t think I like the fact that he keeps making an appearance in our conversation.”
Her laughter lightened his heart in a way he had seldom experienced. Knowing he had been the one to cause it made it that much more magical. “What’s wrong, Liron? Do you feel threatened?” She came up close to him, her eyes seducing him with their burning sensuality.
His insides ignited. The fact that she asked, that the possibility even entered her mind, meant that she acknowledged the mutual attraction between them. It was difficult not to. Sexual tension arced between them like electricity. Every time she came near him, his body reminded him of how completely un-dormant he was.
He buried his hands in her hair, relishing the silken strands as they slipped through his fingers. “And if I do?”
She ran her palms up his chest again in the way that made his knees want to give out every time she did it. “Don’t be.”
Her tempting lips were turned up to him, beckoning, pleading for him to claim them with his. For one horrible moment, he wondered if he would even remember how to kiss a woman. It had been so bloody long.
He had loved Elizabeth instantly. And he was horribly infatuated with this woman. Apparently, his heart’s idea of playing it safe was waiting a night before deciding it wanted to hand itself over to a woman. Every second he was with Melody, every teasing glance she shot him, every piece of spunk, every time she ran her palms across his chest the way she liked to do, he stumbled more and more into frightening territory.
He wanted to guard his heart, wanted to be safe, aloof. But he couldn’t.
Not when she made him hear rhapsodies.
He lowered his lips toward hers, aching to sample her taste, feel the petal softness of her mouth against his. It was an all-consuming desire. One he was powerless to resist.
She tilted her face up to his, accepting, welcoming….
“Hold your horses! I have to go and feed the pigs if you want to stay in business, you lazy scoundrel!”
A large woman with a bosom that could have swallowed a small child burst out of the tavern door, carrying a pan full of hog slop. She was too busy yelling over her shoulder at the “lazy scoundrel” to see Liron and Melody, who were positioned in a rather bad place directly in her path. Liron saw what was coming, and tried to move Melody out of the way, but his
reflexes were not as quick as he might have hoped, and the woman was an unstoppable force.
She ceased shouting long enough to turn around and plow straight into Melody, overturning the pan, which cascaded down the front of her splendid outfit.
Melody shrieked and stumbled back, then looked down at her shirt and pants in horror.
“Madam, I’m so sorry!” the woman cried. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going!”
Melody let out a wavering, shaky sound and turned her attention to Liron. “Why?” she muttered. “Seriously…why?”
He grimaced and went to her. “Melody, I am so very sorry. It was my fault for stopping in the doorway.”
Her shock slowly transformed into agitation, and she shook her arms sharply. “Why do I seem to be spending my time with you covered in liquids?” she snapped.
“Please, let me get you a change of clothes,” the woman said, flitting and fussing over Melody in a way that was really no help whatsoever. “My daughter is very slim, as you are. I am sure you can fit into something of hers. Please, I am so sorry, madam. Come inside and I will tend to this.” She took Melody’s hand and started to tug her in the direction of the tavern. “Dinner is on the house as well. I insist.”
Melody shot a scathing scowl over her shoulder at Liron as she stiffly followed after the woman. Liron trailed after them into the tavern and up the stairs. The woman ushered Melody into a room where there was a heated argument for several moments between the tavern owner and another girl, presumably her daughter, before the owner came out again and all but fled down the stairs.
“Gwennie will see to your lady, sir!” she shouted back at him as she hurried away. “And I will tell my husband to cook you the finest steak chili. We just slaughtered a cow this morning!”
Liron blinked, then sighed and leaned back against the wall to wait, much like he had done the night before. He had only been standing there for maybe ten minutes at the most when the door flew open again and a young girl stormed out looking irate.
She faced him and stabbed her finger in the direction of the room. “Go and tend to your lady!” she commanded.
Liron arched an eyebrow and stood up straight. “I beg your pardon?”
She huffed and shoved a strand of her sandy hair off of her freckled face. “I’m not trying to be rude here, but I can’t sit around and dote on her because my mother is a clod. I have things to do!” She glanced at the stairs, then sidled up to Liron and spoke behind her hand in a hushed tone. “I have a man to do.”
He frowned and stared at her for a few seconds. “That was…entirely too much unnecessary information,” he stated.
She rolled her eyes and spun toward the stairs. “I laid out some clothing for her. So just do what you need to do and let yourself out.” She rushed down the staircase.
Liron stared after her, then heaved a sigh and opened the door. He strode in and stopped short at seeing a tub in the center of the room, with a scowling Melody in it. A scowling, naked Melody. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head to the side as the door swung closed behind him. “Oh, good lord!” he cried.
“Well, gee, Liron. That’s just the kind of reaction I was hoping for.” Her voice was saturated in aggravated sarcasm.
“Forgive me, I didn’t know…. I mean—the girl….” He felt like a blabbering fool. “She never said….” He huffed. “I’m sorry. I will wait outside and let you dry off. She didn’t tell me you were…indisposed.” He turned.
“Liron, gimme a break. What are you, twelve? I know what parts I have and so do you. I don’t care! Just get me a freaking towel so I can get out of this freaking tub!”
He swallowed once, twice, and then somehow managed to gather the strength to be able to open his eyes and turn to look at her while keeping his body in check.
It was a monumental task.
Sure, he knew all about female anatomy. That did not mean that he was great at getting his male anatomy to cooperate when he was suddenly thrown right in front of a wet, naked woman who he so happened to be horribly attracted to. Gentleman or not, he was still a man. Certain things were just biological.
He stifled a groan as he stepped toward her and grabbed the towel that had been placed on a chair just out of her reach. “How come they decided to bathe you?” he asked, chancing a glance up at her. Just look into her eyes. Look into her eyes.
Her eyes were very unamused.
“Well, because. I had hog slop running down my cleavage, so there was that.”
A laugh was torn from him at her curt tone, and he handed the towel out to her, averting his eyes as she stood up and stepped out of the tub. He grasped another towel and turned back to her once she had wrapped the first one around herself. His heart softened. She looked bedraggled and war-torn. Her eye makeup had run tracks down her cheeks and her lustrous blonde hair was damp and stringy.
He smiled and guided her to sit on the edge of the tub. Then, he took the towel he held and started to gently wipe the rogue makeup off of her cheeks.
She made a small, growling noise in the back of her throat. “I don’t even want to know what I look like. Those women practically stripped me and shoved me into that tub.”
He chuckled and tipped her chin up so he could get the black from under her eyes. They captured him and some of the irritation in them warmed into a slow-burning desire. His gaze traveled from her eyes to her lips, full and soft and begging for attention. He lowered his head toward her, abandoning the process of wiping off her makeup. She slid her hands up the front of his chest, encouraging him, drawing him closer.
He closed his eyes and took her face in his hands, leaning forward and down to reach her lips, which had become the object of his obsession over the past twenty-four hours. She tilted her chin up to him, welcoming his advance.
She wavered beneath his touch and let out a startled shriek as she started to lose her balance and tilt backward. Reflexively, she grasped a handful of his shirt to steady herself, and succeeded in pulling him so far forward he couldn’t catch himself in time. He barely had a chance to shout before he toppled over her and sent them both over the edge of the tub and back into the lukewarm water.
Melody got the worst of it, being completely submerged under his body weight while he flailed around like a fish out of water trying to right himself. He flipped over so as not to drown her and landed in the water backside first with his legs curling over the side of the tub. Melody emerged, coughing and sputtering, looking more despondent than the first time.
They looked at one another, and Liron suppressed a wince, sure she was going to be furious at him. But to his surprise, a warm smile curved her lips and she started to laugh softly. “I’m beginning to think kissing you is a bad idea.”
He chuckled and shook his head. He extracted himself from the tub and reached a hand out to help her out as well. As she stood, the towel she had been wearing slipped off in a waterlogged heap, and he squeezed his eyes shut with a groan he couldn’t have contained if he’d tried.
To Melody’s credit, she didn’t razz him about it. She moved around him while he strategically kept his eyes closed, passing with a soft touch on his arm.
A few seconds later, an aggravated curse drew his attention, followed by her exclaimed, “Are you freaking kidding me?”
He opened his eyes and turned to where she stood in a skimpy, two-piece, purple outfit he usually only saw belly dancers wear. Tiny, silver bells adorned the flimsy, sheer skirt and tinkled when Melody moved.
For a moment, as his body flamed beyond a temperature he thought was healthy, he wondered if maybe having her in this outfit was worse than having her naked.
“What is this all about?” she cried in obvious exasperation.
He swallowed hard and tried to tear his attention away from her flat, toned stomach. “The girl who assisted you must be a dance muse,” he responded absently while his gaze traveled from her stomach down to her long legs barely visible through the gauzy skirt.
&nbs
p; “Well la-dee-da!” she cried. “I’m not an anything muse and I look like some sort of gypsy hooker!”
He chuckled and moved forward to take her hands in his and draw her close. “I have seen many women in my time,” he murmured against her ear. “And never have they made me burn the way you do.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her jawline before pulling back to look into her eyes. “You do not look like a gypsy hooker.” She let out a disgruntled growl, and he reached up to push a few damp strands of hair off of her face. “If it makes you feel any better whatsoever, my entire midsection is soaked through.”
She glanced down at the band of wet across his torso and hips and giggled.
He shook his head and held his hand out to her. “This is hardly what I had in mind when I decided to take you on your date.”
She grinned and placed her delicate hand in his. Long, slender fingers, a true musician’s hand. “What, you mean an absent-minded woman spilling hog slop all down my shirt, an irritated girl stripping me and shoving me into a bathtub, you attempting to be suave and kiss me only to fall into the tub yourself and try to drown me, and me getting stuck in some atrocious belly dancing costume for the rest of the evening wasn’t your idea of a romantic time?”
He chuckled. “Well, when you put it that way, it is a bit of an adventure, isn’t it?”
“Definitely more of an adventure than I’ve had in awhile.”
He squeezed her fingers and led her out of the room. “Come on. I was promised the best steak chili this establishment has to offer on the house. At least we got that out of the deal.”
She whimpered and held back. He glanced at her over his shoulder in concern.
“Do I really have to go out there in this?”
He allowed his gaze to sweep appraisingly over her once again. “Melody, what are you worried about? You look so amazing I can’t keep my eyes on you for too long or else my mind will become filled with dark, wicked notes.”
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