Saving Mel

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” I asked.

“Because you didn’t sleep well last night, and you needed the rest. You’ve been through enough,” he said.

I watched as Evan put up the last of the dishes before he turned around and started for me. He scooped me up into his arms and pulled me close. I loved his hugs. They were always full-bodied and tight. He wrapped me up in his strength before I tilted my head up toward his. I rose onto my tiptoes to capture his lips. His kiss was warm and inviting. Soft, but needy. Our tongues danced together as our heads fell off to the side, and soon his hands began to wander my back.

“Thank you,” I said, whispering.

“For what?” he asked.

I broke the heated kiss and looked into his beautiful eyes that brought me so much comfort.

“For being so understanding,” I said. “For wanting to keep trying even though I kept my walls up.”

“You don’t have to thank me for something like that,” he said.

“But I do. I know how hard that was for you. To constantly watch me walk away instead of talk.”

“You needed your time and your space. I honestly hate that I pushed you the way I did.”

“But you needed to. Because I needed to tell someone else. It really does feel better to know that someone else other than Layla or my dad knows exactly what happened.”

Evan’s hand came up and cupped my cheek before I closed my eyes and sighed. His touch was like fire against my skin. Heated and blazing, but it held a tenderness I’d never found in anyone else. His dark brown eyes with their beautiful yellow speckles glistened as the sun cascaded through the windows of the cabin, signaling a bright new day with a fresh new beginning.

A beginning I wanted with Evan.

“I was so scared to tell you,” I said breathlessly.

“You don’t ever have to be scared when it comes to talking to me,” Evan said.

“I just thought that if you knew what happened to me you would see me as damaged. That you wouldn’t want me around the kids, or you would regret all the things we’ve been doing together. You know, just the two of us. It took so much for me to physically open up to you like that, and I was petrified it would be thrown in my face.”

“Hey, hey, hey. Melanie. It’s okay. Everything’s fine.”

He cupped my face with his hands and tilted my gaze back up to meet his.

“Melanie, I need you to understand something.”

His arms descended onto my hips, tugging me into his body as my hands wrapped around his waist.

“There is nothing you could tell me that would ever make me feel that way. Because I’ve fallen head over heels in love with you, and there is nothing that could change my mind about that at this point.”

“Oh Evan,” I said breathlessly.

“I love you, Melanie.”

I looked up into his sincere brown eyes and I felt my legs giving out underneath me. His words washed over my ears and flooded my chest, swelling my heart with pride as it thundered against my ribcage. This man, with his rippling muscles and his chiseled abs and his heart of gold and his woodworking hands—he was in love with me. This beautiful human being that took me in during a snowstorm, opened up to me in his time of need, chased after me when I ran, and took me back when I found my way home, was in love with me.

I threw my arms around his neck and crashed my lips into his before I jumped and wrapped my legs around his waist.

“I love you, too, Evan,” I said, whispering. “I love you, too.”

CHAPTER 33

EVAN

I carried this beautiful woman in my arms back into her room. I wanted us to have some distance from the kids so they could nap. I wanted to pull wonderful sounds from between her lips and I didn’t want them to be muffled. I could feel her body shaking as her lips planted kisses into the crook of my neck.

She felt so alive against my body.

Slowly lowering her to the bed, our lips connected again. My hand slowly roamed up her shirt and I took in the heat of her skin. I took in how her legs parted willingly for my body and how her hands ran through the tendrils of my hair. How she giggled at the sensation of my beard upon her skin and how her hips rolled up into my body. I peeled her shirt up and found her bare breasts underneath them, and a groan slipped from my lips before I went down to devour them.

My lips wrapped around her pert little nipples and she sighed for me. I could hear her kicking off her house shoes as her hands tried to wiggle her pants off her body. The curves of this woman shook me to my core every single time I felt them underneath the palms of my hands, and I smiled against her tits as she whimpered.