Protecting Melissa (Holiday Cove 4)

“Sure.” I leaned over and handed her the phone, noting her hands shaking as she reached for it.

“Hello Matt. I’m really sorry—” she stopped and I smiled sadly, knowing Matt would have insisted she had nothing to apologize for. “Oh…”

She went white as a sheet.

I sat forward, my brows creased, wondering what Matt had told her.

“Okay.” She nodded. Another half a minute passed as she listened intently. “Okay. I understand. Thank you, Matt. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”

“Bye.” Melissa hung up and handed the phone back to me.

As soon as the phone was back in my hands, she doubled over, folding in half in her chair and seconds later her back shook with a silent sob. A cold chill went down my back and I balled my fists, wanting to demolish the asshole who was responsible for her pain.

I drew in a breath and sank down into a squat in front of her, gently resting my hand on her back as it shook and trembled. Eventually, her sob broke loose, a strangled sound of pure anguish that rocked me to the core. There was nothing I could say to make her feel better. All I could offer was a warm hand and a calm presence.

Melissa looked up at me after her sobs quieted, her tear-soaked eyes glistening under the moonlight. In that moment, I was overwhelmed with the urge to kiss her full lips. It was the wrong time. The wrong place. The wrong situation.

Everything about it was wrong. But I wanted it all the same.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice raw and stripped.

I shook my head. “Don’t be, Melissa, please. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

With the pad of my thumb, I stroked her cheeks to wipe away the remnants of her heartbreak. It was the least I could do. She smiled sadly at my effort before wiping with the back of her hand to clear the rest. “Matt had Henry served today. With the divorce papers. It’s all really happening.”

“I’m sorry, Melissa.” I stayed hunkered down before her even once she sat up straight in her chair again.

Her eyes drifted over the side of the boat at the calm, cool waves, as though drawing some peace from the gentle lapping sounds as they washed up against the boat. “God, I’ve never felt so out of control before in my life.”

“I wish I had some advice for you,” I replied. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

She glanced down at me and smiled. “You’re already helping me. You’re keeping my son and me safe. What more could I ask for?”

I shrugged and gave her a smile. “I don’t know. A glass of wine?” Her lips made a little O and I smiled. I’d found her trigger. “Matt’s a major wine snob and usually has three or four bottles of the good stuff stashed away on this thing.”

Her eyes went wide and a smile crossed her lips. “I would love a glass of wine.”

“Coming right up!” I popped up to standing in one fluid motion and caught Melissa’s eyes raking up my body as I stood. Her dark glance left trails of heat over my skin wherever her eyes had traveled and I hustled below deck before I let myself get too carried away.

When I returned a few minutes later, an unopened bottle in one hand and the stems of two glasses in the other, I stopped short when I saw Melissa leaned over the table, as though she had just laid her head down to rest her eyes for a moment, but she’d fallen fast asleep.

“Another time,” I whispered to myself. I set the bottle and glasses aside and went to Melissa. I scooped her into my arms and she nestled her head against my chest. She stirred slightly as I took her down below, but once I set her on the bed beside her son, she snuggled against his rounded back and didn’t stir again.

I smiled down at the two of them and pulled the coverlet at the bottom of the bed to cover Melissa up to her shoulders. “Night.”

With the two of them safe and snug, I went back topside and scanned the dark marina. At some point, I’d need to get some shut-eye too, but I wouldn’t be able to rest until I knew that Melissa and Jackson were going to be all right. Matt’s warning about Henry’s men showing up at his office with weapons and threats had me unsettled. The job was getting darker and more dangerous with every passing hour, not only for Melissa and her son but for my brother and me as well.

6

Melissa

I didn’t remember falling asleep and had no idea how I’d made it downstairs to the bed I’d tucked Jackson into earlier in the night, but when my eyes fluttered open, taking in the morning light streaming through the window, I shuffled through the memories of last night and figured I must’ve fallen asleep up on the deck when I was talking to Chase. And that unless I’d sleepwalked down a flight of stairs, he’d carried me to bed and covered me with the thin blanket from the foot of the bed.