“You know!” she yelled, reaching for her just-out-of-reach tank.
“No, I don’t know,” he denied calmly.
“I don’t mess around with men I’m not in a relationship with, Cal! I’m not easy,” she pled, shaking her head as she finally managed to snag her top and quickly slid it over her naked breasts before turning to look for her underwear.
Cal chuckled, drawing a death glare from Melody as she shoved one leg into her brief panties. “Babe, the very last thing I’d ever think of you is that you’re easy. Melody, you are anything BUT. And babe, I just had my tongue shoved deep in your sweet little honey pot,” he continued, gripping her hips to steady her when she would have toppled over while shoving her legs back into her pajama pants, “I think it’s safe to say we are in a relationship. We might not have defined its limits and made up the rules for it yet, but we’re most definitely in one,” he assured her, drawing her back until her spine rested against his chest. “Now, take a deep breath for me before you hyperventilate.”
Cal smiled against Melody’s temple as she sagged against him and obeyed his order. “Good girl,” he murmured, dropping a kiss over the love bite he’d left on her flesh earlier. “You feeling better,” he asked a long minute later.
“Depends. Can we never talk about this again?” she asked hopefully, lifting a shaky hand to push a wayward strand of hair out of her face.
“What do you think, Princess?” he rumbled, nipping the shell of her ear in warning.
“I think I’m fucked,” Melody muttered grumpily.
“Not yet, but if you play your cards right, that’ll happen real soon,” he promised with a dark whisper. “Now,” he went on, gripping her hips to steer her toward the sofa, “I’ve got one last question to ask before we put a period on our little game earlier. You answer my question, and I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon and all day tomorrow being your own personal Yuletide decorating elf.” Tugging her down to sit beside him, he wrapped an arm around Melody’s shoulders and pulled her against him. “Melody, what did that asshole say to you on the phone earlier to send you running scared?”
“He didn’t scare me,” Melody muttered, trying to dismiss him by climbing back to her feet.
“Bullshit,” Cal snapped, catching the back of her pants and pulling her back down beside him. “You were shaking, Mel. He terrified you. Now, I wanna know what he said.”
“Honestly, he didn’t say anything I haven’t already heard him say. It was just more… menacing this time. He definitely isn’t accustomed to me standing up for myself. I don’t guess I can blame his confusion. For years, Brad steered our relationship. He was the one in the driver’s seat. Now that I’ve pushed him out of the metaphorical car…he’s at a loss. I don’t think he knows how to handle it. At any rate, after he denied the past couple of weeks of hang-ups I’ve been getting…”
“Yeah, ‘bout that. Don’t think I’m letting you get away with anything there. Your penchant for keeping important secrets from me is a subject that you and me are gonna revisit later,” he interjected in a deadly serious tone.
“Whatever, Cal. He denies it was him. On the other hand, Brad also denied that he and I are broken up. He says we’re on a break. And honest to God, I think he really believes that. It’s like he’s taken up residence in the land of self-delusion about us.”
“Fuck that noise,” Cal swore, his jaw clenching. “There’s one thing that little maggot needs to be concerned about right now, and that’s the fact that if he doesn’t cut this shit out, his forwarding address is gonna be the county morgue. If that bastard breaks that restraining order one more time...”
Melody made an annoyed sound as she glared at him. “Did you wanna hear from me about what happened or plan a hit on Brad?”
“I don’t see why I can’t do both,” Cal proclaimed grouchily.
“Look, I think what took me by surprise today is that Brad didn’t sound like the man I’ve known. I mean, he’s always been vaguely condescending, but today…he was threatening.”
“What?” Cal barked, stiffening. “What the fuck did he threaten you with?”
“It wasn’t so much his words as the feeling I got. Honestly, it wasn’t a physical threat. Well, unless you count saying that sometimes nasty little girls needed to learn lessons the hard way.”
“He said that?” Cal clipped, his voice lethally quiet. “Those words?”
Melody nodded. “Close enough. Honestly, though, I just think he was trying to intimidate me. He was pissed, Cal,” she continued to explain. “Apparently he’s been out of town for the past several days and the restraining order I took out just got served today. He wanted me to undo it.”
“Like hell,” Cal growled, his eyes flashing dangerously. Visibly tense, he forced his shoulders to relax before he scared Melody. The last thing he wanted was for her to be frightened of him. Her ex, on the other hand, should feel afraid. When he found that scumbag, he was going to regret the day he’d decided to try and scare Melody into seeing things his way. “I’ll call Zeke tomorrow and find out why there was such a fuckin’ delay in serving that protection order.”
Melody huffed impatiently. “Are you listening to me? I told you why, Cal. He was out of town. I guess that’s why he thought it was okay to keep calling and hanging up. Look, bottom line is he’s been served now and I’m not going to have it torn up.”
“You sure as shit aren’t,” he agreed strongly. “In fact, I’ll be paying Brad a visit of my own tomorrow.”
“No!” Melody denied. “You won’t. Look, Cal, I get that Brad is an asshole, but I still don’t believe he’s a real threat. He caught me off guard today and was able to shake me a little. So what? I’m fine now, and I don’t need you to fight my battles for me. If he breaks the order again by contacting me, I will handle it. I’m trying to launch a new business. I don’t need some of my relationship nonsense potentially creating a scandal when I’m trying to be seen as a respectable business owner. This is a small town. Word gets around. You don’t want folks thinking I’m some kind of abused woman that can’t keep her personal life in order while I’m trying to gain the town’s respect. Please, let me handle this.”
Cal was silent a long moment as he absorbed what she was saying. He could see her point of view, but ultimately her safety trumped her desire to keep her private life private. He could be a reasonable man, however… and maybe get a little closer to Melody in the process. “Okay,” he finally consented. “We’ll play things as close to your way as we can.”
“Meaning?” Melody questioned suspiciously.
“Meaning I won’t go find Brad’s ass tomorrow and kick it if we can agree on a few conditions,” Cal bargained, sliding his fingers through her silky long hair and tugging it gently until she inclined her head to look up at him.
“Start talking, Cal,” Melody grumbled, clearly unhappy that she wasn’t entirely winning this recent round of Who’s-in-Control-of-Melody’s-Life-Today.
“Listen, Mel, I made a promise to your brother to look after you, and I keep my word. Always. But even if I’d never promised him a thing, this would be important to me because you’ve become important to me. So do me a solid and cut me some slack here. Tomorrow, I call Zeke and let him know that Brad hasn’t exactly obeyed the letter of the law as far as the restraining order goes. If he chooses to have a word with the asshat, that’s on him, but I won’t. For now,” he added meaningfully. “But if I’m making that concession, I’m gonna ask that for the next few weeks, you stay close. No wandering off on your own. I don’t know what this dick is capable of. You said he sounded different today, and that doesn’t fill me with warm fuzzies. Could be that he’s just a fuckwad that’s pissed that daddy’s money can’t get him what he wants. But it could also be that he’s a psycho that’s fixated on you. I don’t know him, so I can’t say.”
“But I do know him!” Melody exploded.
“Do you?” Cal asked simply. “Did you know he was capable of betraying you with ha
lf the female population of Knoxville?” When she said nothing, he shook his head. “Maybe you don’t know him half so well as you think you do, Melody. If you did, you wouldn’t be in this position.”
Melody inhaled sharply. “Low blow,” she whispered.
“Maybe,” he assented with a grim nod. “But it’s the truth, babe. You needed to hear it. At any rate, you stay close and we have no further Brad problems, I’ll stay away from him. He shows his ass again, though, and all bets are off. Nobody is going to threaten you while I’m around to put a stop to it. He doesn’t get to use fear and intimidation to control my woman.”
“I’m not yours, Cal,” Melody contradicted him sharply, her eyes stormy as she stared at him.
“Had my tongue deep in you, Melody. Everywhere, babe. I know what you smell like when your body is so aroused it could spontaneously combust at any given second. I know what you taste like when passion overwhelms you. I know how your body reacts to my touch. Trust me, you’re mine.”
“Giving me an orgasm doesn’t give you ownership rights to my body!” Melody exclaimed in frustration.
Cal just grinned. “Look in the mirror, Melody. The brand on your neck tells another story.”
Automatically lifting a hand to touch the faint bruise on her neck, Melody’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t,” she hissed.
His smile was her answer.
Chuckling as her eyes widened and she bolted off the couch toward the bathroom, he heard her irate squeal of dismay echo like a war cry through the house. Lifting his eyes toward the ceiling, he wondered just how many Christmas lights he’d need to hang before she forgave him for something he fully intended to do again at the next available opportunity.
Chapter Twelve: Naughty or Nice and Other Difficult Decisions
Five Days Later
Christmas Day
Yawning widely as she rolled over on her comfortable king-size mattress, Melody Reardon became almost instantly aware that she wasn’t alone. Freezing in the big bed as she caught a whiff of the now-familiar subtle cologne of a man intent on convincing her that being naughty was a whole lot more fun than being nice, she briefly toyed with the idea of playing possum. Maybe if she pretended to be asleep long enough, the man that sat behind her with his hip against her ass would grow bored and wander out of what was supposed to be her off-limits bedroom.
Then again, this was former First Sergeant Callum Valentine. Based on what she’d experienced firsthand over the last month he’d lived with her, the man didn’t appear to have any boundaries. At least, none that he wasn’t willing to cross when the mood suited him. That included entering a room where she distinctly remembered banning him from crossing the threshold.
Of course, that was all part of Cal’s charm… or so he tried to tell her on a regular basis.
“I know you’re not asleep, Sweet Melody,” Cal’s deep, amused voice drawled as she felt his fingers at her temple, drawing her long hair behind her ear. “It’s time to rise and shine.”
Squinting at the brightly-lit numbers of her alarm clock on her light pine nightstand, she groaned into her pillow. “It’s zero foul early, you asshat. Not all of us get up with the chickens, Cal.” She knew he couldn’t help it. He had what she liked to call early riser syndrome. His big body was conditioned to wake up before the sun even rose in the sky. It came from being in the service, and her brother had the same frickin’ sickness, often waking her at the crack of dawn when he was home between deployments. That, however, wouldn’t save him from her wrath if he continued to try rousing her from her toasty warm bed. “Get out of my bedroom and come back and knock on my door when the sun - otherwise known as that big, bright-ass star in the sky - has been there for more than an hour.”
“Now, is that any way to talk to your man when he comes bearing your first gift this fine Christmas morning,” Cal chided as he lowered a fragrant cup of coffee in front of her face.
Damn, that coffee looked good. And it smelled even better, Melody thought, torn between giving into the Sandman for an hour or two more sleep or letting Cal win. Again. Breathing deeply, the rich aroma pulled her eyes open wider. If she wasn’t mistaken, he’d brewed some of those French gourmet beans that you could only get in that little coffee joint she’d been boycotting since the day she met him. In part at least, she blamed that bitter barista for the pickle she found herself in most days – the ongoing battle that her heart and hormones had with her brain over Callum freaking Valentine.
Turning sharply in the bed, she flopped over on her side to fume at Cal. “You crossed my picket line!” she accused.
Cal’s eyebrows lifted as he tilted his head. “Huh?”
“My picket line,” she repeated caustically. “You crossed it. The Coffee Klatch is off-limits to this household! The Klatch crew are on my most wanted hit list and you consorted with the enemy.”
His lips twitched, but Cal quickly got it under control. “It was necessary. You needed an incentive to get out of bed and the café is closed for the holidays. This is the next best thing,” he declared, indicating the cup of coffee with a nod of his hair. “C’mon, Mel. Just for today. Call a cease fire in the name of goodwill and drink this expensive French crap,” he pleaded, waving the steaming cup under her curled nose. “You know, even the English and the Germans called a halt to the war on Christmas Day during WWII.”
Melody’s eyes narrowed. “Are you making that up?”
Cal shrugged. “I read it somewhere. I’ve got no idea if it’s true or not but it sounded good. Now, take the fuckin’ coffee and drink it before I pry your mouth apart and pour it down your throat myself,” he growled, losing patience with her.
Snatching the Christmas mug from his hands, she glared at the candy canes adorning the enamel before lifting the aromatic brew to her lips.
“Besides, if not for that little coffee shop from hell, we wouldn’t have met that day and you wouldn’t have cast your spell on me,” he pointed out with a grin.
“I did not cast anything on you. If I had, you’d have warts and a humped back. Believe me, I would have come up with some creative stuff,” she assured him firmly, taking another sip of coffee. “But it is Christmas, so I’ll try to overlook your betrayal.”
“Triple threat,” Cal muttered, stealing her coffee cup and taking a sip for himself.
“What do you mean?” she asked warily.
Handing the morning wake-up juice back to her, he smiled again. “I mean that you’re a triple threat, Princess. Sass, class, and an ass that can bring a strong man crashing to his knees.”
Melody snorted. “Hardly.”
Leaning toward her, Cal stole a kiss before she could avert him. That was nothing new. She’d been trying to avoid his lips since she’d finally sobered up enough to realize that if not for his moral code almost a week ago, she would have mounted him like a stallion and ridden him all the way to her finish line. How was that for being classy?
And as good as it felt, having his lips against hers was a big no – no. She wasn’t going to go there with him. It just wasn’t a good idea. Callum Valentine was just too…too… everything. She’d gone on a man-diet, damn it!
Now, if somebody would just explain that to her whiny vagina, then this Christmas would be great!
“Cal,” Melody mumbled against Cal’s talented mouth. And dear Lord, the things that infuriating man could do with his lips, she thought a touch desperately as he kept up with his leisurely nibbling of her lips. “Cal, stop. We can’t do this.”
She knew Cal heard her clear, but muffled plea vibrate against his mouth by his chuckle as he slowly moved his lips to her ear. “You know, Santa might see you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake, but he’s also knows when you are horny and aware when you’re just turned on. So please don’t bother lying, cause you know that’s wrong, wrong, wrong,” he sang in a softly off-key voice against her ear.
“Did you just desecrate an innocent holiday carol for your own nefarious purposes?” Melody man
aged to wheeze between her laughs as Cal relieved her of her coffee before she spilled it all over both of them.
“Hey! This Sergeant Santa has skills, Princess. Now, get your ass outta bed. We’ve got a whole day of holiday fun to have and that starts now!” he ordered sternly.
“Cal, it will still be Christmas when the sun comes up,” Melody returned, already snuggling back down under her downy comforter.
“Woman, you shoved my ass out on an icy roof in below freezing temperatures to string 7,432 twinkling Christmas lights because according to you, ‘Christmas isn’t Christmas without all the bells and whistles that go with it!’,” Cal declared, raising his voice a couple of octaves to mimic Melody.
“Is that supposed to be your dramatic interpretation of me? If so, I remain unimpressed,” Melody snickered without opening her eyes.
Cal chose to tune her out and continued. “You then preceded to grow even more afflicted with this disturbingly incurable holiday decorating disease, forcing me to build you a candy cane walkway. After that, you continued with the holiday mania and proceeded to make me gift wrap the front fucking door in gold tin foil, and then spent over an hour bitching that the red bow I put in the middle wasn’t perfectly placed! I spent over an hour moving that fucking red velvet bow until it met your crazy Santa standards! I did not do all this so that you could sleep away half of Christmas Day! Now either you get out of bed willingly like a good little princess should, or I haul your ornery ass out of there myself. Either way, you’re on your feet in five, soldier,” he growled, snatching Melody’s feather pillow from underneath her head.
Moaning as her head bounced against her mattress, Melody cracked one eyelid. “Cal,” she began, her voice deceptively soft. “You, sir, are about to find out how much damage one very real Nutcracker can do when she feels harassed.”
Tangled Hearts (Passion in Paradise) Page 14
