Locked Out of Love (10 page)

Nathan wasn't fooled for a second. “What do they get out of it?”

“Me.”

Nathan shot to his feet.

Melanie held out her hands. “It's not like that,” she said hastily. “They know of my ability and they want to use me to get close to some other people with powers.” She sighed and rubbed her tired eyes. “It's one big complicated mess that I still haven't wrapped my head around yet.”

“Do you trust these people?”

“For now.”

He sat back down, was quiet for a moment as he glanced around the room. “Do we have any alcohol in here?”

“Nathan … ”

“I know,” he cut in. “But I can't help it, you said the respite wasn't going to last.” His gaze latched on to hers. “I'm afraid, Lanie. I'm sick of seeing the faces, I'm sick of all the death and destruction. I want it to stop, and this is the only way until I get that help you mentioned. I know what I'm doing is weak, and I hate it. But … please.”

• • •

Joel sat with his laptop in the middle of Syd's clinic. He was busy answering emails, trying to keep his mind off Melanie and how he wouldn't see her for another day, while Syd and Luke cleaned up. Cali and Niella were at the reception desk computer, looking through wedding stuff while they waited for Merrick and Felix to arrive.

“What do you think of these flowers? Normally I don't go for flowers, but I think this would look sexy in the front pocket of Felix's suit or pinned to the front. Whichever.”

Joel shuddered.

Cali noticed. Her dark head of hair popped up over the computer and her onyx eyes narrowed at him. “You can't even see the flowers from over there, so shut it.”

“I didn't say anything,” he protested, then mumbled under his breath, “Bridezilla.”

A dog biscuit hurled through the air and smacked him in the side of the face. A big dog biscuit.

“Hey!”

Cali's face was the perfect expression of innocence.

Joel rubbed the side of his face but refrained from mumbling under his breath. With a Silencer it was useless. Cali would able to hear everything; it was part of her gift to heighten her own ears and manipulate how others perceived sound. “When's Felix getting here?” he asked instead. “All this estrogen is choking me.”

This time he was prepared for the flying biscuit. He ducked and it sailed harmlessly over his head.

“He'll be here soon,” said Cali. “But don't think just because he gets here the wedding talk will stop. He has to weigh in on the flowers, too, you know.”

Joel groaned. “Niella, please tell me you're not letting Cali pick ridiculous flowers for us to wear in her wedding party.”

“I've got Niella in the romantic mood,” Cali boasted. “I even caught her watching
The Bachelor
the other day.”

He perked up at this revelation. “No way.” The idea was unheard of, but it had to be true because Niella shrank down into her wheelchair like a turtle trying to hide.

“Not a word, both of you. I just so happen to think the guy is hot. That's it,” she said.

Cali tossed her hair over one shoulder. “Well, if you're into those blond, green-eyed types, you should just hang out at the pizza place a few doors over. Don't either of you repeat this to Felix, but Tom's quite the looker.”

Niella shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Joel was about to comment on her unease when another voice spoke up.

“So the truth comes out.”

Cali jumped at the sound of Felix's voice. She swore under her breath but quickly plastered a smile on her face. “Felix!”

Felix's blue green eyes sparkled with humor. “Don't you ‘Felix' me, I heard what you said. Tom lover. You and Syd should start a club.”

“Sydney likes Tom?” Joel asked. She'd never mentioned that before.

Felix grinned. “Oh yeah, big time. Like the biggest crush I'd ever seen when she was younger.”

“I never knew that,” Joel said absently.
More secrets she kept from me.
But a
small twinge in his chest was the only reaction he got.

“I didn't know either,” a new voice came from the far end of the room where Merrick must have slipped in through the back door.

So Syd kept things even from her Mirror Mate. Merrick's confession made Joel feel a little bit better.

Sydney came up behind him. “Didn't know what either?”

Felix and Joel shared a look, hiding their smiles in their hands.

Merrick caught the look that passed between them and gave them the smallest hint of a smile before his face turned to stone. “That you have feelings for Tom Larkin, the pizza man a few shops down.”

As if there was any other pizza maker in the Costa Mesa/Newport area with that name.

Sydney's smiled faltered. Felix didn't even try to hide his grin anymore. “That was ages ago. Who said I still had feelings for him?”

“The blush on your cheeks,” Cali supplied helpfully.

Sydney's hands flew to her face. Merrick chuckled. When Sydney turned her heated eyes on him, he tried to turn it into a cough.

“You don't even care, do you?” Sydney's face was completely red now. “You just wanted to give me a hard time.” She pointed a finger at Felix. “This was all your doing.”

Felix shrugged without a care in the world. “Hey, I'm just as outraged as you.”

As if
, Joel thought, but continued to enjoy the spectacle before him. He watched as the couples bickered and teased, noted the differences in personality and how they each made it work. Could he and Melanie make it work? Could he make more out of the attraction they had, build more out of their chemistry, like a lasting relationship?

Did he want to?

Joel was in the exact same spot as when Melanie first saw him in yoga class.

“I thought you weren't coming back once you found out you can't talk during the sessions,” Melanie said by way of greeting.

“I already paid for the class, might as well get my money's worth, right? Plus, the view isn't so bad.” He winked at her, but his playful manner didn't cover the sense of wariness she got off of him.

“Is everything all right?” She ignored the angry scowls women warming up sent her way.

He rolled his shoulders as if trying to ease some tension. His chest strained his tee and Melanie found herself entranced by the image of Darth Vader and “I give free throat hugs” written underneath. “Just a rough day yesterday,” he said.

Melanie made a noise in the back of her throat. “I know the feeling.”

 “What's wrong?” He reached out and captured her hand in his. The warmth of his skin seeped into her body. The contact made her nipples hard and the ache in her chest ease.

She wrenched her hand from his.

The last forty-eight hours hadn't been all sunshine and rainbows. Her short moments with lucid Nathan had ended with her trying to keep him sober. She'd attempted to talk to him, keep him distracted—anything to stay away from the alcohol, but she'd been exhausted. She'd tried to stay up as long as she could, but eventually she'd succumbed to sleep and woke the next day to find Nathan passed out on his bed, an empty bottle of vodka on the nightstand. It tore at her heart when she thought of how vulnerable and weak he'd sounded. She should have tried harder to stay awake all night with him.

And on top of that haunting memory was the horrifying vision she'd had when she'd taken Nathan's powers. She couldn't shake it. Every time she closed her eyes she saw that woman's face, the vehicle hitting her wheelchair, and a snapshot of
The Bachelor
—the countdown to how much time the woman had left. Yesterday Melanie had sought out her aunt and asked how the show was going, how many weeks would it get down to the final two. The episode was less than three weeks away, and the thought made Melanie sick to her stomach.

She'd tried to contact Juliet, wanted to get answers. If this was what Nathan had to deal with, she wanted him fixed immediately. When Juliet's contact info went to voicemail, Melanie left a very terse response, asking where the hell they were and when were they going to do anything?

And then because her life just kept getting better, she'd seen Alexander before work  yesterday,  across the street, standing there watching her. She'd seen him for only a moment before a moving van blocked her view. When the van left, Alexander was gone. She'd spent her whole shift tense and sweating. Was he planning something? Should she file a police report again? She didn't know what to do and waiting was weighing heavily on her mental well-being.

She was emotionally exhausted and felt like a coward when she breathed a sigh of relief as the instructor came in to start their yoga.

She wouldn't have to talk to Joel, not yet anyway. She had till the end of class to figure out what she wanted to tell him, because they both knew he'd question her until he got some kind of answer.

When the hour was up, Melanie took her time getting her things together. It was a stall tactic that backfired when the room emptied, leaving her and Joel alone. He came up behind her, the heat of his body seeping into her back. He smelled like sweat, man, and, funny enough, electronics.

She sighed. “I don't feel like talking right now.”

“That's fine.” His breath ruffled her hair. “We don't have to talk.”

She jumped when his arms came around her waist. She dropped her yoga mat but didn't dare reach for it. Her body was frozen—not in fear, oh no. Desire held her prisoner. All her soft curves were flush with the hard planes of his body. She wanted to arch further into him, but she didn't dare react. She wanted him to make the first move, wanted to know that she wasn't the only one trapped in this crazy sexual tension. And move he did. His hands inched up the sides of her body, tracing her rib cage, up, up, until they brushed the underside of her breasts. She drew in a ragged breath, silently willing his hands to move further up, to push harder. She wanted more friction; she wanted his hands all over her. She was a burning ball of need.

His breath tickled her neck. “Do you know how much it pains me to see you in these tight outfits but not be able to touch you?” His low voice slid over her, making goose bumps erupt along her arms.

He dragged his hands down her abdomen and back up again; this time when he reached her breasts he cupped one in each hand.

Melanie sighed, her head falling back in response to his touch. She was throbbing all over, moisture collecting between her legs. For the first time in forty-eight hours she wasn't thinking about anything—except Joel. She wanted to see him naked. She wanted to taste his salty sweet skin and explore his entire body with her hands, her tongue, until he was nothing but a puddle of desire.

One of his hands ventured south again, his palm lazily sliding down her stomach, over to her hipbone and then … further.

She swallowed thickly when he didn't go back up like she'd expected. Instead, his hand crept slowly toward her center, where she ached fiercely. His fingers danced over her most sensitive flesh, and when he slid his hand in between her legs to cup her, she moaned.

“Are you wet?”

She could feel an impressive erection pushing into her backside, and she melted into him, eliciting a growl from deep in his throat. The sound made her wild. Or maybe that was from Joel torturously gliding his fingers back and forth over her sex.

Her legs wanted to give out and she had a mental image of the two of them getting down and dirty right there on her yoga mat. She entertained the idea more than she should have.

When she spoke her voice came out shaky. “We can't do anything, Joel. What if someone comes in?”

His arms tightened around her like a boa constrictor, bringing her that much closer to all that lean muscle. “I could Lock the door,” he suggested in her ear.

No one would be able to come into the classroom then. They'd be alone for however long Joel wanted them to be. She shivered. The idea appealed to her way too much.

But what if they break down the door?

She couldn't see the community center being that desperate for a room.

“Cameras,” she spoke aloud, not sure why she was looking for excuses to get out of this situation.

Joel's hot mouth pressed an open kiss below her ear. “I don't see any in here, do you?”

She quickly scanned the ceiling and found nothing. Joel sucked her ear lobe between his lips and her eyes slid shut.

He disappeared from behind her, taking all that glorious body heat with him. She heard a faint
clink
and Joel was back. Her pulse spiked as she realized he'd actually Locked them in.

Anticipation made her whole body quiver.

She didn't dare turn around when she felt him return. She waited; there was a faint
whoosh
and then the sound of something soft hitting the floor.

He's laying out his yoga mat.

Her heart tripped over itself. Her nerves were on overdrive.

“Afraid to turn around?” he whispered huskily.

She licked her lips. “Yes.” There was no need to lie. But she wasn't afraid of Joel; she was afraid of what she might do. That feeling of being out of control was back and she didn't like it—or she liked it too much. Either option frightened her.

As if he understood her unspoken thoughts, he chuckled. “No need to be afraid, Melanie. I'm right here.”

I'll always be here
.

The statement hung in the air unspoken. And for once Melanie let herself believe it.

She turned to face him. He was breathing just as unsteadily as she. His eyes swirled with desire, roaming over her body, and she felt their touch like a physical caress.

She reached out to touch his chest. She could feel his heart beneath her palm, and for a moment she let herself marvel in the strength of its beating.

She stepped into him and his arms went around her like it was second nature. It felt right. It felt good. But not as good as when his lips came down on hers.