That was all it took, and he let out a soft growl, wrapping her in his arms and lowering his mouth over hers once more. This time, he deepened the kiss, his hands sliding around her waist without hesitation and he exhaled a sigh as one hand moved up into her hair. When he pulled back again, she took a step back and tugged out of his arms. She licked her lips, feeling her cheeks heat.
“That one was my fault,” she breathed.
Logan met her gaze. “I’m not trying to complicate things for you.”
She’d wanted that kiss—she wanted another one, too, but she couldn’t play with this. She needed to restart her life, not trip into another man’s arms. What she really needed tonight was a distraction—something to keep her from doing that again.
“Ice cream,” she said. “I have a whole tub in the freezer—chocolate. You want some?”
Logan blinked, then laughed softly. “Actually, yeah.”
She’d read somewhere that chocolate triggered the same response in a brain as being in love. And since romance wasn’t a reasonable option, she’d make do with the runner-up.
And ice cream with Logan... It wasn’t quite the same as his kisses, but a friendship between them would last longer. This time around, she was a grown woman, and she wouldn’t be pining. Not for Adam, not for Logan, not for the life of being a mom that had slipped between her fingers. She was going to create the life she wanted, and live it. And it wasn’t going to rely upon something so fickle as a man’s feelings.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THAT EVENING AFTER Logan left, Melanie sat on her deck, watching the moonlight glimmer on the water. She had the lake house to herself again, and the silence felt deafening. It was strange how she could long for some quiet and privacy, and when she finally got it, it felt almost ominous.
Angelina had called, and she was on speaker, Melanie’s phone balanced on the arm of a deck chair while she stared out over the water.
Was it this lake house, filled with too many memories? This house was lonely when it was just her in it, and she couldn’t help but remember evenings just like this one when she’d sat on the deck with the kids watching the sunset. Back then, she’d felt so safe and secure—married to Adam, protected by his wealth. But she’d also felt isolated—her time and energy used up with the kids. She’d declined suggestions she get a nanny and free herself up. These kids needed a mother, not a nanny, and if she’d never have a baby of her own, then they were her chance at motherhood.
And now she wondered if that had been a mistake. Maybe she’d been trying to earn her place in this family. Because while her stepkids never had accepted her, even after all she’d done for them, other moms had their families—their place never questioned. It hadn’t been about how hard they worked. So who had been foolish, after all?
“You know what I was told when I was a young woman?” Melanie asked, leaning toward the phone. “They said that if you wanted to find a great guy, become the kind of woman a great guy needs. You have to bring something to the table. And I don’t argue that—I think you need to be a whole person with something to offer. But even that isn’t enough.”
“What did you bring to the table?” Angelina asked.
“I was willing to raise Adam’s kids and love them as my own,” she said. “That was something no other woman had wanted to give him. I was honest, loyal, willing to work hard. I wasn’t there to spend his money. And there were a few other women who would have married him for just that.”
“Maybe you should have spent a little more,” Angelina said ruefully.
“For what?” Melanie sighed. “I decorated our home. I dressed well, too. It isn’t that I didn’t do anything for myself, but...what I wanted was a life with him. I wanted intimacy, openness. I wanted a marriage.”
“Didn’t you have that?”
“I thought so. Apparently, I was wrong. Whatever it was that captures hearts—we didn’t have it. But I thought that trying hard would make up for it.”
“For Ben and me, it was the opposite,” Angelina said quietly. “I was enough for Ben when it was just the two of us. We were madly in love, but when his wealthy family came into the mix, I just couldn’t compete. I couldn’t be cultured enough, or fit in with their friends. To them, I was always that little peasant that Ben married—and in the end, they won. I didn’t bring enough to the table for his circle to accept me.”
“Did he leave you?” Melanie asked.
“No, I left him,” she replied. “Sometimes you get tired of being a disappointment.”
“But look at you now,” Melanie replied.
“Even all of this wouldn’t be enough for them,” Angelina replied. “Love has to overcome a lot of hurdles to bring two people together, and love doesn’t always clear them all.”
Melanie sighed. “That’s my point.”
“That said, you’re only forty,” Angelina said. “You have a long life ahead of you still. Why not find a guy you can grow old with?”
“Because if I could dedicate fifteen years of my life to a man and not know that he was cheating...if I could raise his kids and still end up on the sidelines as not mom enough for any of them... Ange, what I bring to the table is my work ethic—my determination, my loyalty. And I found out the hardest way possible that the one thing
