Melt (Steel Brothers Saga 4)

Jonah

My body went rigid, and my hands clenched into fists. Another man had his lips on Melanie.

My Melanie.

But she wasn’t my Melanie. Until that moment, I hadn’t known how much I wanted her to be.

Instincts took over, and my hackles rose. I stepped toward her, feeling feral, primal. I grabbed the man’s suit coat by the back of his neck and pulled him off of her. He landed on the floor on his ass.

“Hey! Who are you?” he said. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

I ignored him. He wasn’t the problem. The woman kissing him was.

Melanie inched backward slightly, rubbing at her lips. They were red from another man’s lips.

Never again.

“Who the hell is he? And what was he doing kissing you?”

“He… He’s a friend of mine from medical school.”

“Is that how you say hello to all of your friends?”

“Look, Jonah, this isn’t any of your—”

“The hell it’s not.”

The other guy had gotten up, and he touched the sleeve of my shirt. “Look, I think we have a big misunderstanding here. It’s like Melanie said. I’m Oliver Nichols, a friend of hers from medical school.”

I shrugged away from him and pushed him down to the floor again.

“For God’s sake, Jonah, would you stop that?” Melanie knelt down to the other guy. “Oliver, are you all right?”

Oliver stood and brushed off his pants. “Yeah, I’m fine. Look, maybe we should have this date another time.”

“You have a date with him?” I spat out.

Melanie stood. “He’s a friend, Jonah.”

“I’m going to excuse myself now,” Oliver said. “Melanie, I’ll call you.”

“Don’t bother,” I said over my shoulder.

He walked out the door.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Melanie demanded. “He and I had dinner plans.”

“Yes, dinner plans with your friend. A friend who had his tongue shoved down your throat.”

She reddened. That beautiful raspberry flush… But no, I was not going to fall prey to her feminine wiles. I was angry—livid, actually—and she was going to answer to me.

“Why was he kissing you?”

“I don’t know. I was as surprised by it as you were.”

“You didn’t look surprised from where I was standing.”

“You came in at the exact wrong time. He had just started to kiss me, and I was about ready to end it.”