She definitely had it bad. Just watching Nick jump in a manly fashion was enough to make her hotter.
“What did you do?” Nick asked as Melody slid out of the car and slammed the door behind her.
“I got your car back,” she said, holding out his spare key
“You shouldn’t have done this,” Nick said, not looking as pleased as she had hoped he would be, and not reaching out to take the keys, either.
“I wanted to,” she said, letting her arm drift back to her side.
“It’s too much money, Mel,” he said, frowning at the car.
“I checked my budget for the month. I can make it work as long as I hit my parents up for dinner a few times.”
Nick shook his head, still looking displeased. “This is too much.”
“Why?” Melody asked, refusing to let this gesture turn sour. “Wouldn’t you have done the same for me? If it was my car that had been towed while we were on a date and you had the money to get it back for me?”
Nick’s brow furrowed. “Well…yeah. But—”
“There’s no but.” Melody held out the keys again. “If you don’t accept my help and say thank you and be happy, I’ll think you’re a sexist jerk.”
Nick’s sudden smile was like the sun punching storm clouds from the sky. “All right,” he said, taking the keys. “But I’m paying you back as soon as I can.”
Melody shrugged. “No rush. Really, I’m fine. I wouldn’t have done it if I couldn’t afford to. I like you a lot, but I like eating and paying my electric bill more.”
Nick’s smile faded. “I like you a lot, too. So does my brother. Probably more than he likes me right now.” He tucked the spare key into the back pocket of his jeans with a sigh. “He was at my place looking for me last night. He saw us kiss.”
“Oh,” Melody said, the expression on Nick’s face leaving no doubt Nash hadn’t been pleased about the kiss. “Why was he at your place at ten o’clock on a Tuesday?”
“He came to apologize for being a jerk the other night,” Nick said with another sigh. “But then he decided I was the jerk. He told me to call things off with you before I did something he couldn’t forgive me for.”
“You and I are none of his business,” Melody said, anger rising inside her. “I’m a grown woman.”
“He’s a good guy,” Nick said, “His heart is in the right place.”
“I know his heart is in the right place,” she said in a softer voice, understanding Nick’s need to defend his brother. She was the same with Aria and Lark. “But I don’t need another older sibling in my life. I have two already.”
“Try having seven.” Nick rolled his eyes. “It’s impossible to keep anyone out of your business. That’s why I don’t always tell them the entire truth about my private life. I like it to stay private.” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, but the strands all snapped back into their previous wild configuration. “I tried explaining that to Nash, but he’s too pissed. He’s not a fan of bending the truth.”
Melody thought for a moment. “Then we’ll just have to make him a fan of us.”
Nick peered at her through narrowed eyes. “What do you mean?”
“We’ll have Nash and Aria and the baby over for dinner and show them that we’re not a train wreck waiting to happen,” Melody said. “We could have it at my place if we want to keep it small, or do a family thing at my parents’ house if you think you’re ready to meet the entire March clan.”
“You don’t know the meaning of clan until you’ve been to a Geary event.” Nick shrugged as he glanced over his shoulder, checking on his customer who was still flipping through the books. “I’m fine with meeting everyone at once, if you think that’s a good idea.”
Melody stared up into his eyes, wondering how it was possible to feel anxious and filled with clarity at the same time. “Yesterday, you said you wanted to go skinny dipping with me in the spring. Did you mean that?”
Nick blinked, and seemed to be genuinely considering the question. “I did,” he said. “I know it’s still early, super early, but…” He glanced down at the sidewalk before meeting her eyes. “I don’t like to think about not being around you, you know?”
“I don’t like to think about not being around you, either,” she said, a giddy, blissed-out, hopeful feeling rising inside of her.
Was this what it felt like to fall in love? Real love, the kind that took hold of you and refused to let go? The kind that started out full of sparkles and only shined brighter and stronger the longer it lasted?
She didn’t know, but there was no way she was going to let anyone—especially a member of her or Nick’s family—get in the way of her finding out.
“Okay, so I’ll work out all the details for a family thing. Is next Saturday night good for you?” she asked. “We have that fiftieth anniversary to cater this Saturday, and a wedding on Sunday, but next weekend is open after the wedding Saturday afternoon.”
“Next Saturday is good,” Nick said, with a nod. “But I couldn’t get John to cover for me tonight. He has a date with some girl he met at the bar. But I’d love to see you tonight, if you don’t mind hanging out until I close the shop.”
“I’ll see you after rehearsal,” Melody said, kissing him on the cheek as she turned to go. She was about to cross the street when Nick called out from behind her—
“Hey, Mel…thanks,” he said, smiling when she turned around. “For the car and for, I don’t know just…being you.”
Melody flushed and blew Nick a kiss, before turning and practically dancing across the street.
If this was what falling in love was like, she decided she liked it. She liked it very, very much.
Chapter Ten
Late the next Saturday afternoon, Nick stood on the sidewalk outside Bob and Sue March’s house, working up the courage to walk up and ring the bell.
A week and a half ago this dinner had seemed like a good idea, but now…
Now he just prayed that he wasn’t going to screw up the best thing that had ever happened to him.
Every day with Melody was better than the last. Even just hanging out at the shop together—making new playlists on his computer, or teaching her how to use the tattoo gun on some old oranges he had sitting around in the fridge in back—was more fun than he’d ever had spending time with anyone else.
They just clicked. It felt like he’d found the person he hadn’t known he’d been waiting for, a person who made him feel relaxed and electrified at the same time, who made every good thing a little better just by being there with her smile, her laugh, and her serious, silly, kind, thoughtful self.
More and more, he suspected that Melody was it. The One.
The thought made his palms sweat and the cellophane wrapped around the flowers he’d brought for Melody’s mom feel sticky in his hand.
If someone had asked Nick a couple of weeks ago if he even believed in “The One” he would have laughed in their face. He had been sure that kind of deluded, romantic thinking was for lonely women and Mama’s boys.
But he couldn’t deny the powerful nature of the feelings he had for Melody. They didn’t make sense in a logical context. He hadn’t thought it was possible to fall in love so quickly—or to fall in love at all, given his track record. The only explanation was a greater cosmic plan.
Maybe people really did walk around with holes in the shape of another person inside of them, holes that were only filled when they met the one they were supposed to spend their life with. He didn’t know. It still sounded a little woo-woo, but he couldn’t deny that he felt more whole when he was with Melody. He felt stronger, better—truly a man, instead of an overgrown boy.
The only thing more shocking than how fast this thing had happened between them was how scared he was to lose it, to lose her.
What if he screwed things up with her family? He and Melody might be able to ignore Nash’s disapproval until it went away, but Nick knew Melody’s father was a hard ass. Bob wasn’t a fan
of men messing with his daughters and Nick got the feeling Mr. March had given Nash a hard time when he and Aria were first married.
Nash had never said anything straight out, but he always got quiet when Mr. March’s name came up in conversation. Nash was a big proponent of “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Nick could only guess that his brother’s silence meant Nash was holding back some less than pleasant thoughts about his father-in-law.
Compared to Nick, Nash was a dream son-in-law—secure in a well-paying job, a pillar of the community, and a stable, upstanding guy who was great with kids, dogs, and the little old ladies who ran the gardening club. If Nash wasn’t good enough for Bob March’s daughter, what was Bob going to think of a guy who ran a struggling tattoo business, barely had enough money for rent every month, worked as a part time cater-waiter, and who, before meeting Melody, refused to make a long term commitment to anything more serious than his brand of hair gel?
Get out of here, man. Run, don’t walk!
Nick swallowed hard, and felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple. He was seconds away from slinking back to his car to call Melody and feign sickness before heading back to his place, when the front door flew open and a flushed Melody appeared. She looked gorgeous in a pair of dark jeans and a light yellow halter top, her blond hair flying as she slammed the door behind her with a growl of frustration.
“What’s wrong?” Nick stepped forward—the need to get closer and make sure she was okay was instinctive—but Melody was already running down the walk. A second later she hurled herself into his arms.
Nick caught her with a grunt, dropping the flowers to pull her tight against him, marveling again at how right it felt to hold her.
“My family are a bunch of jerks,” Melody said, breath coming fast. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to spend another minute in that house.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, voice muffled as she burrowed her face into the crook of his neck.
Nick tried to pull back to get a look at her eyes, but she was holding on too tightly. He resorted to stroking her hair instead, while sneaking a peek over her shoulder at the front of the house. There was no one at the windows or the doors, but he couldn’t believe the Marches would let their youngest daughter storm out of the house without coming after her. He and Melody probably didn’t have much time alone, and it would be better if he had some idea of what was going on before the rest of the Marches descended.
“Come on, Mel. Tell me,” he urged. “I can’t help if I don’t know what happened.”
“I just can’t stand them. They treat me like I’m a dumb baby, and it’s not fair.” She pulled her arms from his neck to press her hands to her flushed cheeks. “Aria ran off and got married to a guy she hadn’t dated since high school, and everybody welcomed Nash like he was the prodigal son. I just want to introduce them to someone I’ve been dating for weeks and suddenly it’s time for an intervention.”
Her breath rushed out as her eyebrows furrowed in misery. “They told me they only agreed to this supper because they wanted to talk to both of us at the same time about what a ‘serious choice’ we’re making.”
“What does that mean?” Nick asked, unable to keep a smirk from his lips. “They aren’t going to give us the sex talk, are they? They know we’re not fifteen, right?”
Melody’s mouth quirked, but she didn’t smile. “No. Or at least I hope not, that would make it even worse.” She rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms at her chest. “I think they just want to tell us to break up because our relationship will mess up the family. Nash and Aria are together and that’s okay, but apparently Mom and Dad and everyone else except Aria think that another Geary-March match up is a bad idea.”
“Why’s that?”
She pulled a deep breath in and her words came in a rush. “They think it will make things miserable for everyone else when we break up, and that it’s not fair to Nash and Aria, who are probably going to have another baby soon, and it’s uncomfortable for Mom and Dad, and I’m young and what I have with you isn’t serious, so I should do what they want for the good of the family, and blah blah blah, what Melody wants doesn’t matter, as usual.”
Nick opened his mouth to respond, but Melody pushed on before he could speak.
“But I’m not young!” she protested, tears rising in her eyes. “I’m going to be twenty-three in the spring, and most of my friends are already married, with babies. My family refuses to see that I’m not some silly little girl anymore, and it makes me crazy. It makes me want to just… Just…” She shook her head with a little growl that Nick found inexplicably sexy.
She was hot when she was angry, so long as she wasn’t angry with him.
“I don’t know what I want to do,” she said, “but I don’t want to stay here. Let’s go somewhere. Anywhere.”
“Wait,” Nick said, catching her arm as she tried to move past him. “I know you’re upset, and you have every right to be, but…”
“But what?” she asked, eyes narrowing.
“I think we should pull ourselves together and go inside,” he said, hurrying on when the wrinkle between her brows became a furrow of betrayal. “They’re not being fair, but sometimes families are like that. They’re so busy thinking about what’s easiest for the group they forget that what’s easiest isn’t always what’s best. Let’s go in there and show them that we care about each other. Hopefully that will be enough to convince them to back off, and if not, at least we can say we tried.”
Melody’s forehead smoothed and tenderness softened her eyes, those killer brown eyes Nick sometimes compared to things like melted caramel and dark honey when he was thinking private, cheesy thoughts about how beautiful she was.
She was so beautiful, and already so important to him. He didn’t want to give up so easily on winning her family’s—and his brother’s—stamp of approval. Not when he planned to be in Melody’s life for a long, long time.
“That’s a very rational, mature suggestion,” Melody finally said, a smile teasing at her lips. “Usually I’m the rational one in my family.”
Nick smiled as he pulled her closer. “Usually I’m the impulsive one. We must be rubbing off on each other. Sorry you’re getting the bum end of the deal.”
“I’m not. I like being more impulsive,” she said, placing her hands on his chest and rubbing her fingers back and forth in an affectionate caress that made Nick’s heart squeeze. “I like you.”
“And I like you,” Nick said, but his tongue felt stiff as he spoke, the way it always did when he was telling a lie.
He didn’t just like her. This was more than like, this feeling that made his chest ache with a strange, pleasure-pain every time he thought about Melody March—pleasure because being by her side was the only place he wanted to be, pain because they still had to spend way too much time apart. Every night without her in his bed was more miserable than the night before, and every morning without her smile being the first thing he saw felt empty. It was ridiculous and he was sick of pretending that dating Melody was enough.
“What’s wrong?” Melody asked.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Nick said, tongue slipping out to dampen his lips. This wasn’t the perfect moment, but would there ever be a perfect moment? And if Melody said “no,” then they might save themselves the misery of the coming evening.
“You have a weird look on your face,” Melody said. “We don’t have to go in. It’s okay to change your—”
“I want you to move in with me,” he said, the tension in his throat easing as he stopped fighting the words.
Melody’s eyes widened in surprise, but she didn’t say anything, so Nick hurried on, filling the silence—
“I’ve already talked to John about it, and he’s cool with another roommate, and it would save us both a ton of money, and I can pay to get the oven fixed because I know you love to cook and I… I just…” He took a breat
h, ignoring the dizzy feeling making his head spin as he forced himself to put it all out there.
“I don’t want to wake up without you anymore,” he continued. “I don’t feel right when you’re not around. It’s like there’s something missing and that something is you and I just… I’m…” He closed his eyes for a moment, willing himself to man up and quit being a wimp, before opening them and confessing, “I think I’m in love with you, Mel, and I want to be with you all the time. So…there.”
Melody’s shocked expression lasted for another beat, and then another, just long enough for Nick’s heart to start shriveling behind his ribs before she smiled and said, “I think I love you, too.”
Nick’s breath rushed out in relief and a smile wide enough to make his jaw ache stretched across his face. “You do?”
“I do,” she said, cupping his face in her hands. “Oh, whatever, there’s no ‘think’ about it. I am in love with you, and I would love to move in, but I’m going to have to say no. My family would really flip if I moved in with two boys, neither of whom I’m even engaged to marry.”
Nick’s spirits sagged, but only a little. Melody loved him, as long as that was true, there was no way he could feel too down about anything.
“I get it,” he said, turning to press a kiss to her palm. “I should have thought of that before I asked.”
Melody’s fingers slid into his hair as she pressed closer, standing on tiptoe until their noses brushed together. “I’m glad you didn’t,” she said. “I like hearing how much you want me with you.”
“Every second of every day,” Nick whispered.
“Does that mean you’ll finally admit that the five dates are up?” Melody asked, breath warm and sweet against his lips.
For the past week, Nick had been making excuses for why some of their dates didn’t count toward the final tally. For the first time in his life, he was doing his best to put off sleeping with a girl instead of rushing to the bedroom as soon as she gave the green light. He wanted his and Melody’s first time to be perfect.
Wild For You (Always a Bridesmaid 3) Page 10
