MissBEHAVED

Chapter Eighteen

Dixon

Mellie seemed off tonight.

Nervous.

Preoccupied.

I couldn’t help but think the worst.

She’d insisted we go out to eat, even though we’d previously agreed to stay at her house and cook dinner together. When I showed up with a bag of groceries, she’d been ready to walk out the door, telling me she made reservations at a new restaurant in Ellicottville.

While I wasn’t opposed to her making plans, I didn’t like her changing things at the last minute without talking to me. Where we had dinner wasn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but I had no doubt she wouldn’t like it if I did it to her.

Rather than calling her out on her strange behavior, I went along with it, wanting to find out what was bothering her. Sure, I could have turned her over my knee and made her tell me, but she obviously needed time to work up to whatever she had on her mind.

I’d been patient through an appetizer, two glasses of wine, and the entrée, but my patience was wearing thin. She’d gotten more nervous as the meal went on, and I was about to put a stop to it.

“Tell me what’s going on, Mellie?”

She looked up, her eyes wide. “What… what do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb. There’s something bothering you, and I want to know what it is. Right now.”

“Ummm…” She bit her thumbnail as she continued to stall.

“Should we go out to the car and have this discussion with you over my lap in the backseat? Because I’m ready to do just that if it makes you spit out whatever’s on your mind.”

She looked around the restaurant in a panic. “Dixon, don’t say things like that so loud!” she whisper-yelled at me, making me more annoyed.

“Melody, you’ve been fidgeting and nervous all night. And don’t even get me started on changing our plans without talking to me. We’ll be having a discussion about that later.” Her cheeks pinked, but she didn’t argue with me. “But right now, you need to talk to me. What is going on?” I repeated my first question, enunciating every word so she understood just how frustrated I was becoming.

“This isn’t how this was supposed to go.” She sat back and ran her hands through her hair before taking a deep breath. She let it out and met my gaze. “Would you like to move in with me, Dixon?”

That was not what I expected her to say. I was readying my arguments against breaking up, or taking a break, or whatever fool thing she was going to propose to push me away, so my answer wasn’t the best.

“You want me to move in with you?” I repeated back, my tone harsher than I’d intended.

“I mean… if you want. You haven’t been able to find an apartment, and I thought this would be a good solution. I know it’s soon, but I thought we were good… You know what? Just forget I said anything.”

She was rambling and looking everywhere but at me and shredding the paper beverage napkin that had been under her drink.

“Melody. Stop talking and look at me.”

She complied, and I saw that she was close to tears.

“Are you just asking because I can’t find somewhere to live, or do you want me to move in with you?”

“Both. I probably wouldn’t have thought about it if you weren’t looking for a place, but I did, and I realized I do want you to live with me. If you want. If you’re not ready, I understand.”

She was about to start backpedaling again, so I grabbed her hands and waited until she met my gaze.

“I’m ready. I want to live with you, too.” Over the last month I’d thought about it several times, but I didn’t want to push her, or make her feel guilty. “But we need to hash out the details. I’m not living there for free.”

“Well”—she pulled a hand away and reached into her purse—“my dad is actually insisting that we have a written agreement.”

She handed me a three-page document titled ‘Rental Agreement’. I skimmed it and didn’t see anything crazy.

“I hope you’re not angry, but he just wants me protected in case things don’t work out. I think they will, but my dad always assumes the worst is going to happen.”

“Mellie, you don’t need to feel bad or explain anything. I want you protected, too, even if it’s from me. I don’t think we’ll need this, but I agree with your father. I have no problem signing this.”

She let out a huge sigh of relief.

“I was so nervous. I’m sorry I was acting weird.”

“You don’t need to be sorry for being nervous, but I would have appreciated some notice that you wanted to change our plans. That was pretty rude, don’t you think?” I gave her a pointed stare that had her lowering her eyes.

“Yes, you’re right.”

“We’ll address that when we get home. Right now, we need to talk about the details of our agreement, especially all those cameras all over the house.”

There was no way in hell those were staying on all the time. We had lots of rooms to break in, and I didn’t want her father spying on us while we had sex all over the house. Our house.