Chapter Six
Melanie didn’t know how Gabe could sleep at a time like this. Had he really just asked her to marry him? Not moving in together or how she felt about marriage, but a genuine proposal? And had she really said yes? She felt no regret over her hasty decision. Not even a trace of regret. But how could he cement their lives together and then casually roll over and take a nap? Must be a man thing.
Practically vibrating with excited energy, Melanie kissed Gabe’s bare shoulder and allowed herself the pleasure of running her hand down his perfectly defined chest, pausing to toy with the sexy barbell piercing his nipple before continuing over the eight perfect bumps that defined his abs. As she copped her feel, she dwelled on the reality that this magnificent, albeit sleeping, man was all hers, and then, unable to keep that reality to herself for a single second longer, she hopped out of bed. She found her shorts, fished her cellphone from the p
ocket and then quietly shut the bathroom door so she didn’t wake her sleeping fiancé. Fiancé? Holy shit, she was engaged!
“Mental Health Services,” a receptionist answered her call. “How can I help you?”
“I need to speak to Nicole Swanson, please. She’s a patient.”
“Oh yes, we’re all very familiar with Nikki,” the woman said.
What, exactly, was that supposed to mean? “Can I talk to her?”
“Let me see if she’s available.”
While Melanie was on hold, she stared at herself in the enormous mirror over the sink. She didn’t look any different from the way she’d looked that morning, but she felt like an entirely new woman. An obscenely happy one. Perhaps Nikki wasn’t the best person to share this news with first. She might not take it well. Maybe Melanie should have called her mom first. Her mom would be happy about her exciting news until she learned it meant her only daughter would likely be moving to Texas. Melanie normally saw her parents a couple of times a week. Her leaving Topeka would be an adjustment for all of them. And if she and Gabe had babies—her heart thudded with a mix of excitement and dread at the idea—she figured her parents just might find a way to move south to spoil those future grandchildren. But Melanie was getting ahead of herself. She and Gabe had talked about having babies only once, and it had been in regard to that pregnant groupie, Lindsey. Melanie wasn’t sure if she could handle the idea of another woman carrying Gabe’s baby. “Please don’t let it be his,” she murmured to herself.
“Please don’t let it be his what?” Nikki asked in her ear.
“Guess what?”
“You’ll be here in a couple of hours to bust me out of this hellhole.”
“Uh . . .” That had been the original plan. “We won’t be there until tomorrow, sweetie. Something came up.”
“Let me guess. Gabe’s dick came up, so you had to stop at a hotel and take care of that for him.”
Melanie laughed. “Lucky guess.”
“More like inevitable situation. You two are on fire for each other. Putting you into a car alone together could only lead to one thing.”
“Two things, actually.”
“You stopped at two different hotels? You are insatiable. Meow.”
“No, just the one. The other thing is . . . Can you keep a secret?” Melanie wasn’t sure if Gabe wanted her to keep their spur-of-the-moment engagement a secret or not, but just in case . . .
“You know I can’t keep a secret, Mel.”
“Well, try. I can’t keep this to myself. It’s too wonderful.”
“I’m locking my lips. Throwing away the key.”
Knowing Nikki, Melanie pictured her pantomiming the actions as she said them.
“Okay.” Melanie took a deep breath, her belly fluttering with butterflies. She was half-convinced she was dreaming, but telling Nikki made it more real. “Gabe wants to get married.”
“To who?”
Melanie rolled her eyes at herself in the bathroom mirror. “To me, silly.”
“You’re going to marry Gabe?”
“I know it’s a little fast—okay, it’s a lot fast—but I also know he’s the one. Is it possible? To just know? I never believed falling in love could really happen this way. I always thought love had to develop over time to be strong enough to withstand marriage, but with Gabe—”
“You’re going to marry Gabe?” Nikki interrupted.
“Yeah.” Melanie smiled at her reflection with complete confidence. “I’m going to marry Gabe.”
“Oh my God! You, Melanie from Kansas Anderson, are going to marry Gabe Force Banner, the motherfucking drummer of Sole Regret!” And so now the entire top floor of the hospital knew Melanie’s secret.
“Way to keep your mouth shut, Nik.”
“This is so freaking great! I get to be your maid of honor, right?”
“Well, I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
“Right?”
“Of course.” She couldn’t deny Nikki that central role at her side on the most important day of Melanie’s life. Nikki was her best friend. Melanie’s parents had never liked Nikki—she’s a bad influence on you, sweetheart—but that didn’t matter. If they thought Nikki was a bad influence, she couldn’t imagine how they’d react when they met Gabe. Conservative wasn’t just her parents’ middle names, it was their first and last names too. But she’d worry about their reaction to her fiancé later.
“Yes!” Nikki shrieked, her enthusiasm making Melanie smile. “I’m going to throw you the most amazing bridal shower and the bachelorette party of the century! When’s the big day?”
“We haven’t set one yet. Calm down a little. You’ll have plenty of time.”
“I’m going to start looking online for ideas. Oh, but I can’t do that here. I wish I had my phone. Then you could send me a pic of your engagement ring too.”
“Uh, well, I don’t have one of those.” And frankly a ring wasn’t that important to her. She wanted the man, not the diamond.
“Are you sure he proposed?”
“He asked and I said yes.”
Nikki cleared her throat. “Were you in bed at the time? Had he just had some crazy-hard orgasm right before he asked you?”
“Well, yeah, but—”
“Oh, Melanie, I’m so sorry. And you were so excited about it too.”
Melanie sat on the toilet because her knees were suddenly wobbly. “What are you saying?”
“Those after-sex proposals don’t count, hon. If I married every guy that proposed marriage to me after he blew a load, I’d have more husbands than Zsa Zsa Gábor and Elizabeth Taylor combined.”
“It wasn’t like that. We discussed it. He asked me. It was real.”
“Did he roll over and fall asleep afterwards?”
Melanie glared at her phone. Did Nikki have the place bugged? How could she know all that? Of course, Nikki had a lot more practice with men that Melanie ever would, but what Melanie had with Gabe wasn’t like anything Nikki had ever experienced.
“Yeah. He’s asleep.”
“If he doesn’t remember it when he wakes up, you have to give him an out. Sometimes good pussy makes guys say things they don’t mean.”
Melanie’s balloon of elation didn’t deflate, it burst. She swallowed the lump in her throat, glad she hadn’t been stupid enough to share the news with her mom before Nikki had set her straight.
“We’ll, uh, be there tomorrow,” Melanie said, blinking back the ridiculous tears in her eyes.
“Oh, please don’t cry, Mel. I didn’t mean to upset you. Maybe he really meant it.”
“I’m not crying.” And now she was a liar. She unrolled some toilet paper and dabbed at her eyes, fighting the urge to sniff, which would give away her deception.
“I’m sure he meant it, Mel. Who wouldn’t want to marry the sweetest, most caring and most generous, smartest, funniest, sexiest woman alive?”
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Mel,” Nikki whispered, “my heart is breaking for you.”
“I’m okay.”
She hung up and sat there trying to recall all that had been said and done when Gabe had asked her to be his wife. She’d believed his sincerity at that moment, so why was she doubting him now? She stared down at her bare left ring finger and jerked when a