You'll Think of Me (8 page)

The events of the weekend washed over her in tidal wave proportions. Her chin quivered. She didn’t want Rhett’s love. She wanted Cade. Tears fell from her eyes. “Will you hold me?”

Careful of her burns, Cade slipped her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her. “I insist.”

Chapter Nine

The next morning, Melanie opened her eyes and took a deep breath. Pain seared behind her eyes and every muscle in her body ached. She hesitated to move, afraid of increasing the pain, but the urge to pee was too strong and wetting her pants wasn’t an option. A sigh passed between her lips—damn, everything hurt. When she took a deep breath, the woodsy scent of Cade flicked across her senses and made her smile.

She glanced over at his sprawled position on the ugly mustard-coloured chair. Her insides turned to warm goo. His dark lashes and day-old whiskers were a stark contrast to his pallid skin. A pillow and blanket peeked out from under his solid frame. She yearned to crawl out of bed and run her fingers over his cheeks, just to make sure he was real.

Careful not to disturb him, she slid out of bed so she could slip into the bathroom. Her footsteps made soft thumps on the linoleum floor. She winced and stopped when Cade shifted and groaned. He wasn’t a morning person.

When she reached the bathroom door, she paused to catch her breath and to brace a hand on the wall. It was just a bump on the head. Why did her head and her back hurt so much, like she spent the night sleeping on pins and needles?

“Melly, I could help you.”

With a smirk, she dropped her chin to her chest. She never could sneak past him no matter how hard she tried. “I needed to go to the bathroom and you were still asleep. I didn’t want to wake you. You looked tired, even while you slept.”

Stepping up behind her, Cade smoothed his palms over her upper arms. “I’m awake now and at your service.” His voice slipped over her soul like a heat wave. How was it possible for one man to be so sexy?

She peeked over her shoulder. “Keep an eye out for the nurse and then help me back to bed. I want to know when exactly I can go home.”

With a wink, he grinned. “Do you want anything else?”

A shiver zipped up her spine. The words mixed with his devil-may-care wink alluded to more than a simple act of kindness. Heat pooled in her belly and lust swirled between her thighs. Why couldn’t they be home and lounging in his bed? Melanie dragged air into her lungs. “I want to know how long you’re home and then I want you to show me the injury to your leg so I know how to take care of you. And yes, I saw you limp when I picked you up from the airport.”

“I can’t get anything past you.” Cade smirked inched around to face her. “We can practice taking care of each other first and I’ll explain—later.”

He lowered his lips to hers just as footsteps echoed in the corridor. Claire strolled into the room. “Good morning Ms. Roberts, I see you’re—Oh!”

Melanie jumped back from her embrace with Cade just in time to see the nurse backing out of the room, her cheeks pink with embarrassment.

"I'll be right back." Claire turned and fled.

Shaking her head, Melanie slipped into the bathroom. When she emerged, face washed with a splash of cold water and teeth brushed, Cade wrapped an arm around her and helped her to bed. Her stomach leapt and her heart softened. How was it he could make such an innocent gesture so important?

While she focused on the questions she needed answered, she tucked her legs under her body and settled against the pillow. A lock of tangled hair slipped over her eyes. When Cade smoothed the strand behind her ear, she sighed. “Are you going to answer me? Your brain is a million miles away and you’re hurt. You never told me how long you’d be home. What’s going on?”

He threw his hands in the air. “You know how to trip a man up.” He stood in front of the window and leaned against the frame. “I haven’t given it any thought.”

Melanie didn’t buy his bluster for one minute. She slid from the bed and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Going to stick with your answer?”

“Only until I can come up with a better one.”

Melanie closed her eyes and ran her nose along the ridge of his shoulder blade, inhaling his earthy essence. “Okay, let’s change the subject. Why is Ginnifer Larkin hanging around? If you still want a relationship with her, I won’t stand in your way.”

He spun around and cupped her jaw. “I’m not sure what…” His words melted and he looked away.

Her heart pounded. A lump lodged in her throat. Too many questions, too soon. “Fair enough. Is the offer to take me home still on the table? I have work to do.”

Cade sat on the edge of the mattress with her in his arms and caressed her thigh. His eyes regained a bit of their warmth. “The offer never left the table, sweetheart, but you can’t go home to your rental.”

As she sucked in a ragged breath, she gazed into the dark chocolate of his eyes. “Where am I going to stay? I cleaned out the house, save for my dark room.”

With a chuckle, he twined his fingers with hers. “You’ll stay with me. I can control who comes and goes in my own home.”

She punched his arm with no venom. “Cade, I moved out so I could experience life on my own.”

His dark eyes burned with fire. Passion? Renewed energy? She wanted the passion to scorch them through and through. The beginnings of a smile twitched on his lips. “I never said you couldn’t, Melly, but I won’t leave you in the path of potential danger.”

Emotions warred in her heart as she stared at him. “You know I’ll be all right.” She placed her hand over his mouth to stifle the expected comeback. “But I want you to help me. You’ll protect me.” As much as she wanted him close, she chose to keep him at arm’s length until he made his decision.

He cupped her chin in his hand. “I will.”

She shivered. Excitement raced up her spine. His simple response rocked her to her core. “I expected nothing less.”

* * * *

Two hours later, Cade grinned as he rounded the hood of his truck. Dr. Adams had released Melanie and given her explicit orders to rest. His heart leapt. She’d be home with him, in his arms and safe from harm. Life couldn’t get better unless she accepted his offer of marriage. Well, he had to ask her first, but one step at a time.

So why fib and tell her he wasn’t sure what he wanted? Saying those three little words served as finality. Could he embrace the emotional connection in sex he feared?

Cade snuck a glance at Melanie. She curled up on her half of the bench seat, dressed in an Air Force emblazoned grey T-shirt and oversized track shorts. Her face still bore some of the redness from the heat of the fire and her hair needed to be washed, but she looked beautiful.

“Can we go past the house? I need to see the damage. I need closure.”

Cade nodded and focused on getting out of the parking lot. She needed closure. Hell, she’d nearly died. He groaned. He wasn’t sure he could handle the devastation of losing her for good. For Melanie, he’d beat the damned demons and move forward. “It’s a total loss, so there won’t be much to see. Rhett says it’s a pile of ash, but I’ll take you there.”

“Thank you.” She squeezed his hand and cuddled against his arm. “I can’t believe someone burnt down my home.”

He gripped the wheel tight enough to turn the knuckles of his left hand white. “Who knows what things people think.” Turning onto Harwick Road, he braced himself for the worst.

A sob escaped her lips as he pulled into the lonely gravel drive. He threw the truck into park. No matter how hard he tried, his heart rate wouldn’t slow. Clutching his hand, she dug her nails into his palm.

“Please come with me,” she whispered.

“You know I will.” Cade got out of the vehicle and rounded the hood to help her to solid ground. He averted his eyes from the torched remains of the once pale yellow house and held her close to his body.

“I’m not made of glass, Cade. You can let go.”

Although he cursed himself for clinging, he let her stand on her own. A cracking twig captured his attention. He grabbed the hunting knife he kept in his glove box and shoved the folded up weapon into his jeans pocket. Something brushed against his boot-clad ankle. He started to give the unwanted object a kick until a sixth sense forced him to look down. The intruder came in the form of a dirty orange kitten. The frightened animal skittered a few feet away. The edge to Cade’s mood softened.

“Hi there.” He crouched and held out his hand, expecting the kitten to run back to his or her hiding spot. Instead, it wobbled over to his position, its gold eyes wide.

As he rubbed the animal’s furry belly, his fingers smoothed over every single rib. Melanie liked felines, especially strays, and she’d always wanted an orange cat like the one in the commercials. She suggested she’d like to get a cat after he left for Afghanistan. She claimed she needed the company. He wondered, as he snuggled the kitten, why she never followed through. “I know where you can get a good meal and all the attention you can handle, once we get rid of the dirt and fleas.”

Melanie’s distant sobs shook Cade to the core and sent him running to her side, kitten in hand. She dropped to the grass before he could catch her. “It’s gone. It’s all…gone.”

Cade knelt next to her and wrapped his arms around her, pinning the contented kitten between them. Melanie buried her face against his neck. “My camera, my portfolio, my computer… They’re all gone. Why? Tell me what I did to deserve this.”

He pulled her into his lap and stroked her hair. The kitten mewled and cuddled closer. “I don’t know what to tell you. You know I suck with mush.”

Melanie raised her head to stare him in the eye. “Can I really stay with you? It won’t be too weird or stressful for you?”

“I’ll have more stress if I can’t protect you.” Cade chuckled and nodded to the kitten. “How about naming the little addition. If it likes you, then we’re good.”

More tears rained down her cheeks, even as she laughed and stroked the dingy, purring kitten. “Where did you find it?”

“It found me, but didn’t you say you wanted a furball about a year ago? I think he’s a sign.”

With a smile, she hugged him. “I agree.”

“Then consider coming home with me.” He cupped her jaw. Desire sizzled in his veins. “You can stay in my room.”

A blush crept up her neck and blossomed on her cheeks. “So you and Tracker will sleep on the floor in my old room?”

He knotted his brows together. “Who?”

“The kitten.”

A lump formed in his throat. If the kitten was a sign, then the fire was too. He needed her more than the air he breathed. “The guest room is Rhett’s until he leaves for Kansas, so I’ll sleep with you.”

“Cade—”

He silenced her with a kiss. He twined the fingers of his free hand in her hair, careful not to press the lump on the back of her head or to squish the feline kneading his stomach.

Cade feathered kisses over her cheeks. Melanie winced. He gave an inward curse and kissed the top of her head. “Did I hurt you?”

“No. Sharp kitten claws in my forearm.” She wrapped her legs around his torso and kissed his neck. “I’ll live. Now, kiss me again. I need you, Cade.”

He carried her to the truck and placed her on the seat. “Good because Killer can’t sleep alone.”

Grabbing the wadded up sweatshirt he kept under the seat, she swathed it around the kitten. “Killer? He hardly seems like a killer to me.” She moved the ball of cloth and sleeping animal to the driver’s side floor of the vehicle. “Sappy as it sounds, I like Tracker because he tracked his way to you.”

Cade threw his head back and laughed
. Really laughed
. For a moment, the world seemed right and the dread in his soul faded. She truly was his other half. He caressed her bare knees as she sat on the edge of the truck seat. “Why don’t you follow his lead and come here?”

With tentative movements, Melanie scooted the last few inches to the edge of the door. “Yes, let me lose myself in your arms.” She rubbed her forehead on his chest and parted her legs. “Make love to me and make the sadness go away so I forget why I wanted to run.”

Cade blinked and processed her words. Just a moment ago, she was a heap of tears and now, she wanted sex? His brain fuzzed. No, she wanted him to make love with her. Well, fuck. She made no sense and perfect sense at the same time. The only way to prove they were alive and together was to connect on the deepest, most primal level. Yes, he needed to be inside her more than he needed to drag air into his lungs.

Melanie nibbled on his chin and wrapped her arms around his neck, clutching his shoulders. “Don’t hide from me. Let me show you how much I want you.”

Cade fondled her breast through the thin material of her shirt, kneading her pliant flesh. Her nipple peaked under his touch and a whimper escaped her lips. He stooped to suckle on the turgid tip.

“Cade.” Melanie panted and arched into him. She relinquished her hold on his shoulder and moved his right hand into the leg of her shorts. “More.”

Cade stroked her slick lips through her panties. Her clit seared his index finger. He groaned with increased desire. “But your head? I don’t want to hurt you, baby.” He blurted the words, even as his other hand worked the zipper on his jeans. Hurt her? Hell, he wanted to plunder her sweet little body until the sun rose the next morning.

“You always knew how to make me feel beautiful even when I didn’t feel sexy or pretty. Let me do the same for you.” She sat on the running board of the truck and nuzzled his rigid dick. Her lips parted and her eyes sparkled as she smoothed her hands up under his T-shirt. With tentative licks, she explored his length, spiralling his desire higher than he could imagine.

How did she see to the root of his problems when he wasn’t ready to acknowledge them himself? She knew his heart and soul. Still, she didn’t need to view his damaged body in order to make love to him. Cade swatted her hands away and pushed the oversized T-shirt up over her chest. Her bare nipples pebbled in the cool afternoon air as she continued to nibble on his cock.

“I’m tired of thinking about me,” Cade murmured. He grasped her hands and held her flush against his body. Cade nipped her goose pimpled flesh. She knew the right words to say, even when she didn’t know the entire story.