Protecting Melissa (Holiday Cove 4)

I nodded. What she said wasn’t a surprise. I’d assumed that her one-eighty had more to do with her situation than something I’d done or said—although it hadn’t made her actions less frustrating or confusing. “Totally understand, pretty lady. And I don’t want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

“But that’s the thing, Chase. You do make me comfortable—really comfortable. Like we’ve known each other forever. I’m constantly wandering around in a state of shock, wondering how on earth you’ve managed to slip into our lives so easily. It’s like…I can’t even remember what our life was like before we left California. It’s weird to think that less than a week ago, we were strangers, meeting in a McDonald’s of all places!”

I chuckled and rubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “That does seem a little weird, now that you mention it.”

“Right?” She shook her head, marveling over the oddity of it all. “I’m happy you’re here, and I think we could really…have something. And God knows, the sex is off the charts. But then, there’s Jackson. How do I explain to him you’re more than just a friend and his dad’s a monster?” She paused and then looked across the table at me. “I don’t.”

I glanced down at my hands as they came to rest on the table again. “I wish I knew the right answer, Melissa. But I don’t.”

“I don’t either. That’s the problem. I don’t want to betray Jackson or confuse him by starting something with you. But at the same time, I can’t not want to be with you.”

My eyes flashed up to hers. “I want to be with you too, Melissa.”

We held each other’s gaze for a long moment, each of us desperately searching for some magic solution that would erase all the stress and anxiety-riddled worries. But the truth was there wasn’t an easy button.

And we both knew it.

Melissa stood from her chair and came over to stand in front of me. I placed my hands on her waist and pulled her in between my legs. I rested my head against her, my forehead pressed between her breasts. She wrapped her arms around my neck and her hands splayed across my back, working their way over my tensed muscles.

It felt so good to hold her. She smelled like fresh vanilla, and I wanted nothing more than to peel the night shirt off her body and taste her skin again. I hadn’t been able to get her scent and the sight of her out of my mind and having her in my arms made it all rush back to the surface with renewed strength—after I’d spent days fighting it all down.

“Chase?”

I pulled away from her, noting her hard nipples protruding through the fabric, as my eyes raked up her body to meet her eyes. “Say the word and I’m yours.”

Melissa bit her lower lips, working it between her teeth as she turned over my offer. “I want you. I need you.”

That was all I needed to hear.

My hands slid from her waist, over her hips, and down the outside of her bare thighs. She shivered and sucked in a breath as my fingertips traced lightly over her smooth skin. “Chase…”

I teased the hem of the lightweight dress, not lifting it, but silently letting her know I wanted to get under it. Melissa moaned softly and drew a leg up to straddle my lap.

She lowered into my lap and I reached for her, bringing her mouth to mine. The kiss started off slow, our lips hardly moving against each other, but when I reached out to flick her full pout with the tip of my tongue, she moaned and opened her lips for me. I plundered her mouth, exploring her lips and her tongue, memorizing each touch as we kissed. She tasted like the wine we’d shared and I couldn’t drink her in enough to satisfy my thirst.

“Let me see you, baby. I want to see the moon reflecting off your beautiful body.”

Melissa’s eyes widened at the suggestion. “Up here?”

I chuckled at her obvious surprise. “Why the hell not?”

“Seems so…naughty,” she said, her lusty voice getting me all kinds of hot.

“That’s the perk of being in the middle of fuckin’ nowhere. You can get a little naughty and no one will care.” I ran my hands up the outsides of her legs and this time pushed right beyond the hemline of her dress, lifting the fabric until I could get a peek at her. “Oh, Melissa. Looks like someone was already a little naughty.”

Melissa met my gaze, grinning. “All my delicates are drying downstairs.”

“Thank God…” I sucked in a ragged breath at the sight of her and could hardly keep my hands to myself.

She arched back, still straddling my lap, and I pushed the dress up her body, revealing her slowly, one delectable inch at a time. Damn, she was sexy. Every move she made was fluid and catlike. Precise and intoxicating. And this badass Navy SEAL was getting drunk off the sight of her.