Protecting Melissa (Holiday Cove 4)

“Why you’re so good in bed.”

I laughed, surprised by her comment. “Oh yeah?”

“It was those stripper moves. You know how to work those hips.”

“Oh, good grief.” I rolled my eyes as I groaned but couldn’t stop smiling. “Yeah, yeah. Next time I’m leaving the lap dance to you.”

“I don’t know… this way seems to have worked out pretty well for you.”

I laughed. “I can’t argue with that, but I still wanna watch you work it.”

“All right, deal. But we’ll have to do that before I hit the waddling phase of this whole pregnancy thing.”

“I can’t wait to see you waddle.”

“You’re impossible.”

We laughed softly together, and Melissa laid her head against my chest.

Melissa fell asleep against me, and before I let myself drift off, I set an alarm for early morning to give her time to sneak back to her bed with Jackson before the sun would rise. As much as I wanted to spend the whole night with her, I knew for the time being it had to be this way.

Someday, I’d change that.

43

Melissa

“Where are we going?” Jackson asked me as I finished packing my bag and then asked him to get me his little suitcase from where we’d stashed it under the bed.

“We’re going home, sweetheart,” I answered, craning to look at him. He brought me the case and I opened the bottom drawer of the dresser and transferred the stacks of clothing from the drawer to the suitcase.

Jackson sat down beside me on the wooden floor. He was still wearing his pajamas and his hair was more ruffled than usual from a night spent tossing and turning. After Chase and I made love, I crept across the hall and climbed into bed with Jackson. He flailed and kicked. I was tempted to wake him from his tangled dream, but I knew it would be hard to get him back to sleep again, and he needed rest for the day ahead. Finally, after a few minutes, he had calmed down and turned back over again.

“Mama? Is Chase going to live with us when we go home?”

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, trying to read his expression. He looked confused. I set down the shirt in my hands and turned toward him, or knees touching. “I don’t know, baby. I haven’t asked him. Is that…what you would want?”

I was wading into dangerous waters, but eventually, I would have to tell Jackson about the new baby. While Chase and I hadn’t formally talked about it, there was a chance he would come live with us. Or, better yet, we would all find a new place together. I wasn’t eager to get back to the mansion that Henry and I had shared. It was haunted now, memories of the past, most of them unpleasant. But I knew that home would bring Jackson comfort so I was willing to live there at least for a little while to help him adjust.

“I like Chase, Mama.”

I smiled softly at my sweet little son. “I do too. He’s a very nice man.”

Jackson dropped his eyes to his hands and I noticed him fidgeting. “Mama, do you think Chase can be my dad now? Or is that bad?”

Tears pricked my eyes at the guilt in his small tone. “No, honey. That’s not bad. It just means that you like Chase very much.” I breathed in deeply. “Henry will always be your dad—even now that he’s gone. But that doesn’t mean that someone new, someone like Chase, can’t be like a dad to you too. That’s okay to feel that way.”

Jackson smiled and glanced up at me. “Then I think he should live with us.”

I laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“I’ll make him pancakes every day!” Jackson added, sweetening the deal.

“I’ll make sure to list that as one of the benefits.” I leaned forward and smoothed Jackson’s hair. “Let’s finish getting packed and we can go make our last batch here at the cottage before we leave, okay?”

“Okay, Mom.” He hopped up and went to his bedside table and came back with a handful of trinkets and treasures he had collected since arriving at the cottage. He had a few seashells, smooth stones in various colors and shapes, his treasure maps from the flea market, and a couple of flies from fishing with Chase. “Be careful with these, Mama. They’re special.”

“I will, sweetheart. Why don’t you go see if Chase can get you started with the pancakes?”

I packed his treasures carefully as he raced from the room.

I drew in a sigh as I zipped the case closed. We were really leaving. I couldn’t decide how I felt about saying goodbye to our little temporary home. I’d been on the verge of going crazy, cooped up like an animal all day, but now that the danger was over, we could have spent more time in Manzanilla, gotten to know the locals, and maybe really built something. A real life.