His Perfect Woman (Harlequin Superromance) (15 page)

The older woman sighed dramatically. “I 'spose you're right. Guess that means you'll see me again tomorrow. But for now, I'm going to go play with my granddaughter and pretend Mrs. McCleary didn't tell me I gained at least ten pounds while I was off work. That woman…” She shook her head and rolled her eyes before she smiled at Melissa. “Melissa, sweetie, it's so good to have you in here. You've worked wonders!”

“Thank you. Although now that I've seen the difference in how things run with you here, I don't know how we made it
through without you, so make
sure
you come back tomorrow,” she begged with a laugh.

Janice smiled and waved and continued on her way toward the front door. “Bryan, you let that child go home as soon as she's done on the phone.”

“Don't worry about Melissa,” Bryan drawled. “I'll take good care of her.”

Melissa stilled. Why did he make that sound enticing?

Bryan pushed himself up from the desk and followed Janice to the front door, staying long enough to watch her cross the street and drive away. He locked the door and retraced his steps. “Who are you on hold with?”

“One of the insurance companies. They're looking into something for— Bryan, no—” She tried to keep his finger from pressing the button to end the call but it was too late. Her hand landed on top of his. “Why did you do that? Now I'll have to call them back and wade through all the voice mail again. I
hate
voice mail.”

“Don't we all. But forget that for now.” With a quick move, he rotated his palm and grasped her hand, pulling her out of her chair and very close. “Come on, I'm in the mood…”

She blinked up at him. “Ex-excuse me?”

“For a run.” His smile widened in slow, teasing degrees. “What'd you think I meant?”

A run, of course. She hadn't actually thought he was flirting with her. Not on a serious, get-her-into-bed level, anyway. Melissa tugged her hand free. She was in the mood for a run, too, but alone. Why tempt herself and wind up aching from a Bryan dream in the middle of the night.
Again
. “I need to work on the fund-raiser. You know, call the businesses on the sponsorship list?”

“It's after five. The businesses will be closed.”

“Yes, but…”

“We'll put together a master list you can work on tomorrow—after our run.”

“But—”

“Come with me. You know you want to.”

He couldn't really have said that with enough emphasis to make her think—

Bryan grinned when she remained speechless. His gaze lowered, swept over her body and lingered on her legs. “I'll see you around Oak Street in fifteen minutes.”

 

B
RYAN ENJOYED
running with Melissa. With her long legs, she could easily keep up with his pace and generate some speed when they inevitably wound up racing. But after hanging back to watch the sway of her hips one too many times and getting aroused by the sight of her bent over to stretch, he realized he hadn't thought his plan through by asking her to run with him.

They were in a public setting, and he couldn't make a move without everyone in town hearing about it. Like before, they jogged alongside the river, circled the statue in the park and slowed to a cool-down walk.

“The wedding is Saturday.” The moment the words left his mouth he regretted them. They hadn't talked much during the run, but reminding her of her father's upcoming nuptials wasn't the way to go.

“Yeah, it—it is.”

“Anyway, I, uh, checked on Ellen this morning before work and she's feeling better so that's good.” He'd never felt so awkward talking to a woman, not since his pubescent teenage years.

Melissa blinked in surprise. “She was sick?”

“Your dad didn't tell you?”

Her head lowered. “We haven't seen much of each other lately. He goes to work while I'm getting ready, comes home after I'm in bed.” She shot him a questioning glance. “What happened with Ellen? Is she okay?”

Melissa might not like the situation with her dad and Ellen, but she wasn't unkind. Quite the opposite. “She's fine now. She was just feeling a little under the weather.” Bryan spotted a bench up ahead, the same one they'd shared before. “Hey, you hungry?”

“Not much.”

“How about a cone, then? Come on, what flavor? Chocolate?”

She shook her head. “I'm really not—”

“You're not going to make me eat alone, are you?”

Three more steps, the corners of her mouth twitched with the makings of a smile. “Strawberry.”

Like before, Melissa walked over to hold their spot while he ordered a strawberry ice-cream cone for her and a chicken sandwich and bottle of water for himself. He carried the lot of it over to where she sat and had just unwrapped his sandwich to take a bite when Melissa's tongue swept up the side of the cone and curled delicately back into her mouth.

He was hard in an instant.

“Something wrong with your sandwich?”

Bryan lowered the sandwich back onto the white bag he'd dug it out of and hoped the paper sack in his lap covered his lack of control. “It's fine. Just, uh, decided I needed a drink first.” He drank half the bottle and stared at the Ohio River flowing by, imagining himself plunging into the cold depths. Under control once again, he forced himself to eat the sandwich without looking at her, not until he heard her biting
into the crunchy cone. It was gone with a minimum of fuss and before he could stop it, his mind focused on how she'd taste.

“Melissa…” He glanced around them, noted far too many people and shot to his feet. “Come on.”

“What? Where?”

He took her elbow in hand and urged her to her feet, down a path and into a wooded area closer to the water.

“Bryan? What's wrong?”

“I want to talk to you and I don't want an audience while I do it.”

“Oh. Then maybe we should go back to the office?”

He couldn't take her there. It was too close to his bed. That thought brought with it another image and he groaned softly. Now that he'd made up his mind about Melissa, his body responded accordingly despite the need to get other business out of the way first. “Down there,” he said, pointing. A large rock approximately four feet high and flat on top was up ahead of them. “Sit down. We need to get some things straight.”

Her shoulders dropped. “Are you letting me go now that Janice is back?”

The trial period. He'd forgotten he'd told her they'd reevaluate things after a few weeks. “No. I'm good with you working there. Aren't you?”

“Yeah, but if it's not that…” Wide blue eyes stared up at him, infinitely wary.

“Stop worrying about the job, Melissa. You're doing fantastic.” He ran a hand over his hair and caught her watching him before her gaze darted away and a blush stained her cheeks. He liked it that she still blushed. “I just wanted to tell you that…men don't require breasts to think a woman beautiful.”

Melissa gasped and tried to hop off the rock. He stepped
close, crowding her until he pressed her against the rock. Leaning low, he placed both hands on the sun-warmed surface by her hips and stopped by sheer will when her succulent lips were a breath away. Now that he'd started, he couldn't turn back.

“Bryan, don't.”

“Don't what?”

“Don't. Just
don't.
Don't play with me, don't humor me, don't treat me like a—a—”

“Woman?” he drawled huskily. “Melissa, you are a woman in every sense of the word.”

“Don't play games. You think you know everything there is to know about me, but you
don't.
You've no idea what you're saying, no idea how—how
untrue
that is.”

He leaned forward until she dropped down onto her elbows to maintain distance between them. Seated there on the rock, her legs stretched down to the ground, thighs pressed against his, Bryan let her feel his arousal. “This isn't a game, Melissa. You said all men are obsessed with breasts and I told you that wasn't true, but I didn't finish,” he clarified, his focus dropping to her mouth. “Men like other things, as well.” He shifted, balanced his weight on one hand, and relished the gasp she released. Slowly so as not to scare her, he cradled her jaw, getting her used to his touch before he pushed his fingers into her short hair. “They like hair so soft it feels like silk, and imagine how it would feel against their skin.”

“B-Bryan.”

He curled his fingers and smoothed his knuckles down her high cheekbone, over her mouth. “Full lips made to be kissed, that make them ache thinking about them.” He leaned even closer, his mouth parting, his eyes holding hers when he dropped his head and licked the flesh he craved.

T
HE MOMENT
Melissa opened her mouth, Bryan pulled away, slid his knuckles down her neck to her arm, careful to avoid all contact with her chest just yet. At her hips, he paused. “They
like
a heart-shaped rear that's tight and firm and just like—” he squeezed “—this.”

Melissa's lashes lowered over her desire-laden eyes, her breathing deep and measured. He felt a surge of primal excitement because he knew the signs. Knew he turned her on and wasn't alone in how he felt.

“They like,” he continued, sliding his open hand down her muscled thigh to grip and raise it until she cradled his hip perfectly, fit him perfectly, “long, beautiful legs, so they can imagine what their woman's legs will feel like wrapped around them.”

He kissed her then, Ashley's reminder to make Melissa forget everything but him loud in his head. He stroked her tongue with his, slipped his arms beneath her back to protect her from the rock, and nudged her hips in a poor imitation of what he craved. He laid his soul bare, let her feel every inch of the erection she'd given him and hoped she understood he wanted so much more.

Bryan smothered her moan with his mouth and didn't let Melissa come up for air. He kissed her again and again. He
wanted her hot and bothered and clinging to him, wanted her to forget her scars and think only of him and the pleasure they could achieve.

Her hands found his head and gripped his hair tight. She seemed torn between trying to pull him away and hold him close, all of it done with a strength he savored, a passion he craved. Her hands slid to his jaw, down his neck and shoulders, fingers splayed as though she wanted to touch every bit of skin she could. He had to concentrate to stay focused on her, block out her touch to keep from allowing her to distract him too much. Through it all, he never took his mouth from hers other than to repeatedly tease her by changing the angle of the kisses, slow strokes, gentle nudges, breath-altering explorations she not only met, but countered until he was counting backward in his head, struggling to maintain control.

She was the very essence of his dreams. So much so his legs shook with the effort of supporting himself. Groaning, he wrapped an arm around her and lifted her from the rock. He pivoted and sat down, arranging her so she was straddling him. He pressed her body close, glad the shorts they both wore provided little barrier.

Melissa whimpered in need and tore her mouth from his. Her eyes were closed, her chest rising and falling while she dragged in breaths she couldn't fully benefit from because he didn't stop his assault. Gently, he bit a tender spot in the crook of her neck and earned a mind-blowing squeeze when she tightened her thighs.

Just like he'd imagined.

“Bryan?”

“Shh…let me.” Groaning roughly, he slid his hand from her back to her thigh, slid his fingers beneath the hem of her shorts and found the heat of her a moment later. She was ready
for him. Aroused and needy and everything he could've possibly wanted. “Melissa…sweetheart. You feel so good. Let me make love to you. Let me see you—”

She flinched. “No. No, Bryan, let me—let me go!”

 

M
ELISSA CAME
to awareness with a flash of unmitigated humiliation. A few kisses, a few touches, and she'd nearly let Bryan make love to her? In broad daylight? The buzzing sound located somewhere behind her became the low hum of a motorboat, probably within sight of them and able to—
What had she done?

She untangled her legs from around his waist—how had they gotten
there?
—her body burning hot with embarrassment and cold with fear.

Her wobbly legs found the riverbank a split second before Bryan pulled her back and held her close. He ignored her squirming and muttering, his arms looped around her firmly enough that she couldn't break free.

“Shh, calm down and let's talk about this.”

“No. You—how could you—
ooh!
”

“Keep your voice down. We're out of sight, but if someone hears you scream we'll have an audience.”

She shut her mouth immediately. The last thing she wanted was for someone to find her like
this.
One look and they'd know what she'd—what had she done? Was she so desperate for comfort, for release, that she—

Melissa lowered her head in shame, tears stinging her eyes. A few strokes of Bryan's hand and she would've done just that; even now her body quivered and ached. All for a man she didn't have a chance of keeping.

He kissed her shoulder. “Don't. I can practically hear your mind churning, but it isn't going to work. You can't escape what just happened.”

“What
shouldn't
have happened.”

He kissed the same spot again, his five-o'clock shadow rasping over her skin and drawing a shiver she couldn't suppress.

“Do you have any idea how sexy you are? How sexy it is that I almost made you—”

“Shut
up!
” Melissa elbowed him hard in the ribs and her jab earned her blessed release. She scrambled away from him. Thankfully, Bryan stayed where he was, an amused expression on his too-gorgeous face. “What? Is Bang 'em Booker so desperate he's resorted to banging his—”

“You say one word to put yourself down and I'll show you desperate.”

Meaning what?
Given the look on his face, she wasn't sure she wanted to find out what retribution would entail, but at the same time, her pulse jumped at the thought.

“I'm not that man anymore, Melissa. I haven't been for quite a while now.”

“So you're saying your reputation is all fictitious?” She snorted. “Don't lie about it, Bryan. If a female had your reputation she'd be called all sorts of nasty names.”

“It's not all a lie,” he admitted. “I took advantage of some of the offers made because I could. Because I felt the need for control. I'd lost someone I cared about, that I'd fought to help save but couldn't, and it hit me hard. I could control the other, the sex. Then the paper came out declaring me the so-called winner and the offers increased. But once I realized there was nothing more unsatisfying than meaningless sex, I stopped taking advantage but by then the damage was done.”

“Oh, poor baby,” she drawled. “That doesn't explain why you— Why didn't you leave me alone?” Melissa clenched her hands into fists, the urge to hit something strong. “You had no right to kiss me! To
touch
me!”
To make me want you!

“You enjoyed it. Deny it and I'll show you differently.” Bryan shoved himself off the rock and stalked toward her. “I want you, and you need to know that. I want to prove to you what an incredibly sexy, desirable woman you are and— Melissa, we're not finished with this.
Stop!
”

She swung around, her mad dash to escape temporarily halted. “Why? You want to screw me against a tree? Back on the rock? Guess it might work.” Her chin raised and she played her last ace, desperate enough, scared enough, to want him to feel the same way. “So long as I didn't take my shirt off. But if I did, what would you do then?
Huh?
I'll tell you what.
That
—” she waved a hand at his still obvious erection “—will fizzle fast. You'd look away in horror and be sick with disgust because I…I…”

“You didn't have reconstructive surgery.”

Shock rippled through her. “How do you know that? You
asked
someone that about me?”

“Does it matter?” He moved closer slowly, one step at a time. “I knew it when I kissed you. I knew it when I listed all the things I think are beautiful about you. Had you not pulled away, I wouldn't have stopped.” His voice lowered. “And if you take your top off right now, if you let me see you, I'll tell you the same things,
do
the same things, all over again.”

She swallowed tightly, the lump in her throat too big. Maybe he wanted her, maybe he even thought he could handle her body, but what then? She couldn't handle Bryan. His looks. The women. She'd had two boyfriends in her whole life because she didn't date unless she
really
liked a guy.

She couldn't
be
with Bryan and not— “I'll help you with the fund-raiser,” she whispered, her voice taut, hoarse. “And I'll keep working for you. But if you ever t-touch me like that again, I'll—”

“Run away? It's what you're doing with every step backward you take. You want to know if I have the guts to make love to you?” he asked, following her, drawing ever closer. Too close. “Come here and I'll show you. If not here, let me take you somewhere. Back to my house, a hotel. Let me show you what you're afraid of, Melissa. Prove to you there's no reason for you to be afraid, not with me.”

His words had her curiosity aroused again, wondering. Could he? “Your ego is amazing.”

“It's not ego that makes me want you.”

“I refuse to be another Bang 'em Booker
conquest!
”

“Then be more.”

Fear tore at her, unquenchable hope. Why would he say something like that? He couldn't mean it. It was a ploy, a line guys like him used to get women into their beds. Her evil conscience snickered in her head.
Other women, maybe, but her?

Havoc-wreaking doubts made her shake, but it was the need in Bryan's eyes that shot pure terror through her. She wanted him, too. Liked him. Had grown close to him working side by side, running with him. Laughing with him. But she couldn't. Of all the people she couldn't stand to have leave her when he couldn't follow through on his words, it would be Bryan.

Beautiful, perfect Bryan.

Without a word, Melissa turned on her heel and ran back to the path. She continued running out of the park, all the way back to the house. Away from him, away from temptation. Away from everything. Especially the mocking voice in her head that said she was the coward her father accused her of being.

 

“I'
M GLAD YOU'RE HOME
.” Hal stared at his daughter's tear-pinched features and figured Booker had made a move on her.
One she apparently hadn't been receptive to. Problem was, he didn't know if he should be glad or sad that she'd turned the doc down.

Now there was a dilemma for a father to be in.

After her mother's surgery it had taken a while to convince his wife he loved more than her breasts. But they'd fallen back on their years spent together, the child they shared. Experiences Mel didn't have.

“I'm going to work here tonight,” she murmured huskily.

“Booker got a woman at his place?”

“No, he—no.” Mel added a tea bag to the mug on the counter and drummed her fingers impatiently at the kettle heating on the stove. “Bryan, um, mentioned Ellen has been sick?”

He pulled out a chair and sat down at the table, hoping she'd do the same. They'd avoided each other long enough. They needed to talk, get things sorted out. “Morning sickness, a really bad case of it. Her doc gave her something to help today and she says she's already feeling better, but she's still weak and pale. She took a few days off work.” He rested his arms on the table and clasped his hands, hating that he seemed to want the impossible. “Mel…I'm leaving tonight.” He looked up in time to see her lose what little color she had in her cheeks and shoved himself to his feet in case he needed to catch her. “Sit down. Please?”

The kettle began to whistle. It took her a second to move, but she poured the steaming water into the cup and then crossed the room. He had a feeling her slow, deliberate steps were to buy time, adjust to what he'd said. He couldn't blame her. It would take him some time to adjust to all the changes taking place, as well.

“Why are you leaving tonight? I mean, you're not getting
married until Saturday. Won't it look badly if the chief and his girlfriend are living together?”

“I think it would look worse if people thought I didn't care enough about my future wife and child that I let them stay alone knowing she's having such a hard time.”

“You said she was feeling better.”

“She isn't throwing up every few minutes, but she's still dizzy. What if she falls down the stairs? I found her lying on the bathroom floor last night, too sick to even call for help. You know what that's like. Could you leave her there?” He sat down when she did, taking in her bleak expression and hardening his heart out of sheer will. Mel was okay. Of the two women in his life, his daughter didn't need him as much as Ellen did right now.

“I'm…I'm going to miss you.” She didn't look up from her mug, but her lower lip trembled the way it had when she was little.

That trembling lip had ripped his heart out more than once. “Mel, this isn't— Sweetheart, I
love
you. I'll always love you and I only want what's best for you. You know that, right?” A weak nod was his answer. “So listen to me. If you
ever
need any help with the bills or projects around here, ever need to talk or just want some company, you are to call me. Come see me. Understand?” She didn't respond. “Melissa Ann, you will always be my little girl. Always be the best example of the love I held for your mother.”

“But that's over now.”

“My love for her will never be over, but I can love more than one person, Mel. Just like I can love more than one child. I love you, and the baby Ellen carries.”

Her nose turned red at the tip and a tear trickled down her cheek. “I just wish…”

“What?”

She sniffled, shaking her head mutely. Her hand trembled visibly when she lifted it to wipe away the tears, and a raw laugh escaped her chest.

“Wishes can come true, Mel. So can dreams. It's all in what you believe, all in your faith.”