MELT

by Deborah Bladon

  "I'll be busy with family stuff over the next few days. I'll call you on your birthday."

  It's a sweet gesture. I want to ask him to stay but he's already got one foot out the door, literally. The door to my apartment is open and his left foot is in the corridor.

  "I'd like that," I say quietly.

  He reaches into his pocket and tugs something out.

  I laugh aloud when I catch sight of it. "You had that in your pocket, Ryker? Why?"

  He holds it in the air above my head. It's a small bunch of wilting cilantro. The stems are wrapped in red ribbon and tied in a bow. "I wanted a repeat of last year. This was my guarantee to get it."

  "I didn't think you remembered that kiss."

  "I'll never forget that kiss." He leans forward and softly brushes his lips over mine. "I let you walk away after I kissed you then. I'm not going to make that same mistake twice."

  "Why did you act like it never happened?" I try to form a smile. "For an entire year I thought you completely forgot about it."

  He cups my chin in his hand. "You'd barely look at me after that. I thought you regretted it. I knew it could complicate things at work for both of us so I didn't bring it up again."

  "What's changed now?" I question, pinning my gaze to his. "What makes this year different than last?"

  "I've spent too long trying to run from what I feel for you." His thumb traces a circle on my skin. "I'm tired of running. I want you. I'm not waiting another year to make sure you know it."

  "What about Gem?" I blurt out the question without considering how it tarnishes the moment.

  "What about the guy from the deli? I couldn't order one of my favorite sandwiches for months because I couldn't stand the sight of him. I knew you were kissing him, touching him. I knew he was important to you."

  I take a step back. "He's nothing to me. It was a fling. He was a distraction."

  "Gem was the same." He closes the distance between us. "They're both in the past. They need to stay there."

  "I agree." I scrub my hand over my face.

  "You want to talk about Gem and why I was with her, don't you? You want me to explain why I started anything with her when I'd just kissed you? Is that what you want, Lark?"

  It is. I want all of that. I want him to tell me why tonight couldn't have happened a year ago. I want to know why I wasted so many nights with Dale while I constantly thought about him with Gem.

  "Was my kiss not enough?" I ask sheepishly.

  "It was too much." He presses his lips to my temple. "I was confused by it, terrified as fuck. I wanted the job more than anything back then and your brother was scary as hell when I first started at Matiz. I knew if I pursued you, it would potentially complicate my position and work has always been everything to me. I found Gem and tried to forget our kiss."

  "Would you take Gem back if she came here for you?"

  "Never." He closes his eyes. "I left her for good, Lark. That woman is nothing to me. Don't let her ruin tonight."

  "She left you," I correct him. "I might be a rebound. Am I a rebound?"

  "I left her. I hadn't slept with Gem in months." He looks me square in the eyes. "We didn’t sleep together in the Caribbean. I can't remember the last time I touched her. We were in a relationship without an anchor."

  "Why did you go on that trip with her?"

  "One of her swimsuit sponsors offered her a companion ticket and I bummed along because she had no one else to go with. I hadn't used my vacation days for this year and I was just about to lose them. We were friendly, not friends, but friendly enough that I tagged along."

  "Do you strip like that in front of all your friends?"

  "It was too hot out that day. I'm from the northeast, Lark. I can't handle that heat so I stripped. She did the same. She'd seen me naked enough times that I didn't think twice about it. If you hadn't noticed, I wasn’t hard in those pictures. Her body did nothing for me at that point."

  I didn't expect to have this conversation with him tonight, but then again, I didn't expect us to end up in my bed either. I sound like I think we are in a relationship when all we did was fuck.

  "I'm usually not this curious after I've slept with a man." I attempt a laugh. "I must sound insane to you. I was just wondering about Gem."

  "You shared your body with me tonight." He kisses the top of my hand. "You have the right to ask me anything."

  "Thank you."

  "I'm going to sprint." He takes another step out the door, his eyes raking over the white robe I'm wearing. "I can see your nipples through that, Lark. Lock the door when I leave. I don't trust any of your neighbors to stay away from you."

  I laugh as I watch him jog down the corridor before he pushes open the door that leads to the stairs.

  Chapter 15

  Lark

  "All you wanted for Christmas was a bang from your boss and boy, did he deliver."

  I snap my head up to look at Isla standing in front of me. "I thought you were putting Ella to bed. Where is Gabriel? I don't want him to hear you talking about my sex life."

  "With any luck, he's getting the swing ready for his Christmas gift later."

  I cover my face with my hands. "You and Gabriel do not do all those kinky things you say you do."

  "After you leave tonight, my husband is going to strap me to the sex swing that he had installed in the extra bedroom, and he's going to fuck me good and hard until I beg him to stop."

  Since I can't tell if she's serious or not, I change the subject. "Thank you for the cake and the gift, Isla. I love the scarf."

  She eyes the plaid scarf she gave me earlier. "It's beautiful. I saw it in October and I thought it would look perfect on you. I picked it up then and wrapped it."

  "You wrapped it in birthday gift wrap," I note. "You didn't use Christmas wrapping paper."

  "It's a birthday gift, Lark." She smooths her hand over the back of my hair. "We exchange birthday gifts."

  I like the subtle distinction. As much as I've complained about being born on Christmas Day, I've always felt joy in it as well. I may not have the distinction of having a day all to myself, but I've never celebrated a birthday without my family surrounding me. That happened earlier when I spent the afternoon and early evening with my folks and my brothers.

  "Did Ryker call you today?" She leans forward and presses her finger on my phone's home button.

  I glance down at where it's resting on the dining room table. "No, and he didn't text me either."

  She points at the digital clock." There are less than two hours left until your birthday is officially over."

  I know. I've been watching the clock carefully since I left my parents' condo to come to Isla and Gabriel's apartment for cake and ice cream. I expected to hear from Ryker on my birthday, mainly because he said I would.

  This morning, during a brief text message exchange, before she opened gifts with her family, I'd filled Isla in on almost everything that happened between Ryker and me the night of the party at Matiz.

  "I drilled him with questions about his ex before he left my place the other night," I admit with a sigh. "That might have been enough to scare him off."

  "Maybe." She sits down in the chair next to me. "If it was, he's not the guy for you."

  He is the guy for me. I feel it. It's not just the great sex talking. It's everything. It's the way his lips feel against mine and how my pulse races when he looks into my eyes.

  "You should text him." She picks up my phone and drops it in my lap. "Text him and ask him to meet you for a birthday drink."

  "No." I laugh off the suggestion. "I'm not going to come off like that woman."

  "What woman?"

  "The one who is so desperate to hear from the guy she slept with that she tracks him down."

  "You read too many advice columns." She reaches to pull the dish of ice cream she was eating earlier closer to her. "If you want to talk to him, call him. He's not going to think you're desperate, Lark. He'll think you like him."

/>   ***

  I cross the street and head straight for Rockefeller Centre. I was just about to take Isla's advice to send Ryker a text to wish him a Merry Christmas but he beat me to it with a call. He asked me to meet him in front of the enormous tree that New Yorkers and tourists alike flock to every year. I always manage a quick visit to the tree every December. I did that last week when snow was lightly falling. I stood and stared at it before I walked back up to Broadway and took an Uber to my place.

  "Lark," he calls to me with a wave of his hand. "I'm over here."

  I try not to run although I want nothing more than to jump into his arms. His hair is messy, evidence of the wind that rose up right after dinner. He's dressed casually in jeans and the same black wool coat he wore the night he came to my place.

  "Happy Birthday." He skims his tongue over his bottom lip before he kisses me softly. "I made it just in time, didn’t I?"

  I think he did. I haven't checked the time since I heard back from him. "It's good to see you, Ryker. Merry Christmas."

  "It's great to see you. I would have called sooner but I've had a shit day. One of the freezers at Cremza failed. I finally got that sorted when I found a repair guy who wasn't after my firstborn in exchange for a fix." He exhales in a rush. "I got you something. I picked it up yesterday. I didn't have time to wrap it or anything but I wanted to give it to you now, here in front of the tree."

  I look up at the colorful lights. Only a few people are milling about, most of them focused on capturing a selfie in front of the tree. "It's a perfect spot. Is it more cilantro?"

  "You'll kiss me without that, won't you?" He reaches to squeeze my chin. "You can't expect me to walk around forever smelling like that."

  Forever.

  One word with a lifetime of meaning.

  "I like the way you smell today." I step closer to him.

  "I'll like the way I smell later." He closes the small bit of distance left between us. "I'll smell like you. Your smell will be all over my face."

  I smile at the promise of what's to come. Me, specifically if he has his way.

  "Close your eyes and open your palms, Lark." He gently slides his fingers over my eyes. "I'll put your surprise in your hands."

  I do as I'm told, even though I can feel my hand shaking in anticipation.

  I hear the music before I feel the weight of the gift. The song is haunting and beautiful. It's familiar to everyone, yet special to me.

  "Open your eyes," he whispers against my cheek.

  I do. I look down at the snow globe in my hands. It's a scene that matches the one we're standing in the middle of. There's a tree with the Rockefeller Centre behind it. Spots of colored paint mimic the lights. He must have shaken it before he gave it to me because the snow within is gently falling. It's punctuated by the ongoing melody of Silent Night in the background.

  "I love snow globes." I stare at it. "This one is perfect."

  "Last week I overheard you telling Dexie that you were coming here to see the tree because you do that every year."

  "You were eavesdropping?" I don't look up.

  "Yes." He picks up the globe and shakes it again, so the snow rains down. "I saw the snow globes lined up on the windowsill in your bedroom the other night. I could tell that you like them."

  "I love them." I finally look up at him.

  "You love Silent Night too." His gaze is soft on my face. "You hum it all day at the office. I love the sound. I love the song now too."

  I hold the snow globe tightly in my hands. "My mom used to sing it to me every Christmas night before I fell asleep."

  "I'll sing it to you tonight."

  I feel my eyes well with tears. "You'd do that for me?"

  "I'd do anything for you, Lark. Anything."

  Chapter 16

  Ryker

  Sweat runs down my temple. I brush it away with a quick swipe of my hand. I'm not moving. I don't care how hot it is in this room. I'm a man on a mission, and right now my goal is to coax another orgasm out of Lark.

  I ate her pussy once while she quietly circled her hips and tugged on my hair. I took her silence to mean I wasn't doing a good enough job even though she flooded my tongue with the tangy taste of her release when she fell over the edge.

  I know she's fighting her desire to scream and cry out.

  "You don't have to be shy with me, Lark." I kiss the inside of her thigh, my lips stalling over her small heart-shaped tattoo. "You can be as loud as you want."

  "My neighbors," she whispers. "I don't want them to know what we're doing."

  "They can't hear us." I jerk my head toward the radiator. "That fucking thing sounds like a freight train. It's like Grand Central in here. No one can hear you come but me."

  "The super will fix the heat issue in a few days." She skims her hand over her belly and the hint of sweat that's coating her skin. "We can stop if it's too hot for you."

  I crawl up her nude body, pressing my erection against her stomach before I straddle her. "I'm not stopping. I want to drink in the taste of you. I want that to be what's on my tongue when I wake up tomorrow."

  She swallows hard. "You're different than other men."

  "I sure as hell hope so." I chuckle as I push my hair back from my forehead.

  "No." She shakes her head, causing a few strands of her long blonde hair to stick to the side of her face. "You touch me in different ways. You kiss me in places I'm not used to. You want me to be loud."

  If that was her first time receiving oral I fucked it up. I didn’t give it my all. I intend to but that was just a prelude of what's to come.

  "Was that your first time, Lark?" I ask even though I'm not sure she'll answer. "Have you never been eaten out before?"

  She covers her face with her hands. "I have. My first boyfriend did it, but not like you do. You kiss me there like you kiss my mouth."

  I yank her hands into mine, pinning them next to her head on the bed. "Your pussy is as delicious as your mouth. I'll salivate every time I think about it now. I'll want to taste it every time we're together."

  "You don't mean that." She tries to laugh my comments away.

  "I mean every word." I dip my head to circle her right nipple with my tongue. "I'm going to savor you the way you deserve. I'm going to help you experience everything you want."

  "I've had experiences." A pink blush blooms on her cheeks. "I've had lovers."

  "You've had sex partners," I correct her. "You've never had a lover. A lover would worship all of this. He'd crave it and beg you for more when you're ready to fall asleep."

  She studies my face intently.

  "A lover would need to hear you come as much as he feels it. He'd want you to yearn for his touch as much as he yearns for yours. He'd make love to you tenderly and then flip you over and fuck you hard. When he's done, a lover will hold you and remind you that he'll never fucking get enough of you."

  Her eyes skim over my body. "Are you my lover?"

  I rest my forehead against hers. "Absolutely. I'm your lover. You're only lover and you're mine."

  ***

  I got what I wanted for Christmas. The second time I skimmed my tongue over her clit, she cried out. It was brief and before the orgasm consumed her, her hand was over her mouth sheltering the sounds.

  I'd rolled a condom over my cock right after as the taste of her lingered on my tongue. I was relentless, driving my dick into from behind so her so hard the headboard pounded out a rhythmic beat on the wall. That's when she gave me the most precious gift she could have. She moaned as she climaxed. It was music to my ears and enough to make me come. I did. It was so intense that it dropped me to my knees beside the bed when I tried to stand.

  I'd found just enough strength after that to toss the condom into the wastebasket before I crawled into bed with her.

  "Do you have to go?" She pushes her naked back into my chest.

  "No." I wrap my arms around her. "I'm staying. I don't need to be anywhere until tomorrow afternoon."

>   "We can fall asleep like this," she whispers. "I'll sleep like a baby tonight."

  I will too but first I have to do something. I lean forward and cocoon myself around her. Then I rest my lips against her ear and I softly sing Silent Night to my Christmas angel.

  Chapter 17

  Lark

  I wake to silence. There's no sound in the room, only the distant blast of a car horn from somewhere outside the closed window. The radiator quieted sometime during the night which means my bedroom is cold. It's too cold. I slide my legs over the cooled sheet; the bite of the chill of the air entices me to tug the blanket closer, wrapping it around my body. I open my eyes then, wanting to see his handsome face next to me.

  The indentation of where his head met the pillow is all that's there. The blanket is flung open on his side. The sheet is still warm from where his large frame was.

  "Ryker," I call out quietly. "Where are you?"

  My gaze catches on the empty nightstand. I saw his phone there during the night when I woke briefly to pinch myself to make sure it was all real. We'd make love before he sang me to sleep with a raspy and soothing version of my favorite Christmas song.

  I must have slept for an hour or two before his hands were on me again. I'd taken the lead buoyed by his words last night about lovers and needs. I took his cock in my mouth and let my desire for him take over. I'd licked and sucked, not caring if I was doing everything right. I moaned around his cock when it touched the back of my throat.

  He liked that. His hands twisted in my hair, his hips bucked.

  I braced myself to take his come but he'd pulled back and stumbled into the other room. He came back with a condom and slid on top of me, fucking me slowly while I clung to him, riding the crest of my orgasm over his.

  I whispered in his ear then that Boyd, the first man I gave myself too, laughed when I let myself go. I'd chanted 'Oh God' over and over as I rode his cock and Boyd the bastard had stalled, stilling me with his hands on my hips. He'd laughed at me before he told me that I sounded like a hyena.