I turn my head to kiss her palm. I hold it, looking into her eyes as I make my promise. “I won’t mess this up,” I say. “The worst is behind us, I swear.”
Melanie smiles. I kiss the edge of her mouth and her cheek and her forehead until she laughs and turns away. I kiss her neck. Her shoulder. Her collarbone. Every little piece of her I can reach.
I love her.
I love her so much.
I finally lean back and balance on my elbow, out of breath all over again. “You want to stay for breakfast?” I ask her.
“Yes, please,” she says. “I’m starving, actually.”
“Any requests?”
Melanie licks her lips. “French toast?”
“I can do French toast.”
“Yum.”
One more sweet kiss on the lips and I push off the bed to find my slacks. “I’ll get it started,” I say.
“And bacon!” she shouts after me.
I laugh as I enter the living room. “All right, all right,” I say as I pause, spotting my phone on the couch. I haven’t checked it since last night, so I grab it on my way to the kitchen.
One new message. It’s from Trix.
Roger’s the secret admirer? Really? REALLY?
I glance over my shoulder for Melanie. “Shit,” I murmur before sending a reply.
It’s a long story.
Immediately, she sends one back.
It’s a BULLSHIT story.
Just let me handle it, I reply.
Coward, she says.
Harpy, I send right back.
“Who are you texting?”
I spin around. Melanie lingers in the doorway wearing nothing but one of my white t-shirts with her panties peeking out the bottom.
My cock twitches. “Oh, just… Roger,” I lie.
She straightens up. “Roger?”
“He’s just… checking in. Making sure last night went well.”
“Such a good sponsor,” she says.
“He’s the best.”
She nods before skipping toward the bathroom down the hall.
I wait until she’s out of sight before shutting down the phone completely.
Thirty-Three
Melanie
I adjust my shirt, twisting around to check myself in the bathroom mirror. Clothes on. Clothes on for the first time in two days, but clothes on. Hair combed. Make-up… could be better, but I’ll live. Shoes? Shoes.
I head back into the bedroom to look.
“Are you going to tell them?” Robbie asks from the bed. He lies on his back, his arms gently cradling his head, with a bed sheet just barely obscuring the thick outline of his penis.
“Tell them?” I ask.
“About us.”
I spot my shoes on the floor, one near the dresser and the other by the window. I gather them and sit down on the edge of the bed beside him. It’s not the first time I’ve considered this over the past few nights. Robbie and I are, officially, back together again. Some would consider that to be worth celebrating, and I’d include Nora and Trix in that group.
However.
“No,” I answer. “Not yet.”
Robbie smiles. “Why not?”
I slip on my shoes. “I’m not sure it’s the right time yet,” I say.
“You’re worried about what they’ll say,” he says, not a question.
“Kind of,” I say, considering it. “I told them to not let me do… pretty much exactly what we’ve been doing for weeks.”
He chuckles. “You did.”
“And I want to enjoy this. I am enjoying this. The last thing I want right now is something jinxing us until we figure everything out ourselves first.”
“I agree.”
“You do?”
“Hell yeah,” he says, biting his lip. “I enjoy being your dirty little secret.”
I twist in his direction and he sits forward to meet me halfway. “Is that right?” I tease.
We kiss, his hand gently curling behind my head to bring me closer.
“We’ll keep it quiet for as long as you want to,” he says.
“Thanks.”
I take my phone from my back pocket to check the time. Eleven-thirty. I should get going if I want to make it to brunch on time.
I move to slide off the bed, but Robbie’s arm curls around my waist.
“And just where do you think you’re going?” he asks.
“It’s passed eleven,” I say, chuckling. “I need to go to brunch.”
He pulls me back in. “Be late.”
I resist, swiping open my messages as his warm touch crawls beneath my shirt. “Well, I should at least let them know—”
“Or...” He pinches my chin, forcing my lips to blend with his. “You can arrive fashionably late and they won’t care.”
The phone slips from my hand, getting lost somewhere in the sheets as I let myself fall deeper into his embrace. Robbie twists us around, turning me onto my back as he yanks my jeans down to my ankles. I open my legs, welcoming his naked body on top of mine.
He kisses me softly on the corner of my mouth. “I love you,” he whispers in my ear.
I smile as my heart quivers in my chest.
“I love you, too,” I say, meaning it.
Really meaning it.
I am, officially, in love with Robbie Wheeler all over again.
I stroll into Moira’s around half-past twelve. The girls are already there, sans Haley this time.
As I approach, Trix throws up her hands and sighs with judgment. “Well, look who decided to show!” she teases.
“Sorry,” I say, playfully cringing as I take the empty chair. “I overslept.”
“Long night of word-smithing?” Nora asks.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“Are you almost finished with the book?”
I nod. “Yeah, just about. I’m feeling really good about this one.”
“Oh, good!” She grins. “I can’t wait to read it.”
I glance across the table into Trix’s dark and sinister eyes. She flashes a devious smile with her hand gently resting beneath her chin waiting for me to notice her.
I grow nervous. “What?” I ask her.
“You had sex,” she says.
Nora gasps.
“What?” I ask, playing dumb. “No, I didn’t.”
“Oh, yes. You did,” Trix says, her painted lips curling even more.
“Uh, no. I didn’t.”
She leans closer to me and sniffs. “This morning,” she says. She grabs my hand and brings it to her nose. “With Robbie!”
Nora gasps again.
My jaw drops. “What?”
Trix rolls her shoulders back, victorious. “At eleven thirty-two this morning, to be more exact,” she says.
I deflate. “Okay. How do you know that?”
“Wait, it’s true?!” Nora asks.
“Yes, it’s true,” Trix says
