Moments in Time: The Complete Novella Collection Page 17

  “Were you having a bath before I came?” Heat asked between kisses. “You smell like mango.”

  “Mmhm.”

  “Why don’t I join you? I’m a very dirty man.”

  She shouldn’t take this any further. It would lead to heartache down the line. If only her body would obey her mind!

  As Heat moved closer, his bulge pressed against her stomach, wanting her, needing her as much as she needed him.

  “Okay.” She laughed and reached for his arm as she pulled herself to a sitting position. “Follow me.”

  He followed her into the steamy guest bathroom.

  She locked the door, and before she could change her mind, tugged at one end of the towel. It unraveled and slid down to the floor; Heat’s gaze followed the towel, arousing her already sensitive body with his dark eyes.

  “I have to have you now,” he said, gathering her into his arms, covering her mouth with his again, tracing her lips with his tongue. Instead of climbing into the bath with her as he’d planned, he lowered her onto the thick white bathroom mat and removed his clothes in what seemed like mere seconds.

  Melisa almost melted as she watched him. How could she not want this hot body next to hers? Firm and tanned and godlike. Even the small flame tattoo on his chest looked like it belonged there, as though he’d had it from birth. She reached out and touched what interested her the most. He was as big and hard as she remembered. She couldn’t wait any longer either.

  When Heat lowered himself onto her, his eyes never leaving hers, she held him tight and guided him into her, inch by inch, until he filled her completely. Until he made her forget about the past and the future. As he grinded against her, all that mattered was this moment. She closed her eyes to better relish the feeling of being on fire. He quenched fires for a living, and yet he was skilled at lighting her up.

  Melisa’s phone rang, and her eyes flew open. She startled so hard that she almost slipped in the tub. She blinked several times and her cheeks burned. She still throbbed between her legs and her whole body felt sensitive, but Heat was nowhere to be seen. She could swear she smelled a tinge of citrus in the room. But it was all in her mind. It had all been a dream.

  Chapter Nine

  Squaring her shoulders, Melisa opened the door of Mel’s Delights, feigning confidence. No one needed to know her heart was thumping against her chest as curious, questioning stares were thrown her way. Patty, the florist with big breasts openly stared at her before elbowing the older woman beside her. Melisa would be the topic of discussion at all their dinner tables tonight. The woman who had disappeared years ago after her husband died had returned. Where had she gone? And why was she back?

  “Melisa,” Josie Deare, Melisa’s old friend, to whom she had sold the bakery, called out in her singsong voice. She ran from behind the counter and threw her arms around Melisa’s neck, almost knocking her off her feet. “I can’t believe you’re here. I thought people were lying. Where have you been all these years?”

  Melisa hugged her back, inhaling the familiar smell of sugar and yeasty dough in her corn-blond hair. Tears stung her eyes; she blinked them away and released Josie. “It’s nice to see you too.” Best to circumvent the topic of her whereabouts for as long as possible.

  Josie seized Melisa’s arm and led her past displays of cakes and cupcakes to the back of the room. “Let’s go and sit in the back. The royal table isn’t occupied.”

  She had been so brave coming here, and now she felt like bolting. Running away from a place that had once meant the world to her. But running was no longer in the cards. She had to face the past in order to regain control of her life.

  At the lace-covered “royal table”—which Melisa herself had named—she pulled out a padded chair and lowered herself into it.

  Josie sat opposite her, a large grin on her face. At twenty-eight, she still looked like a teenager.

  Josie placed a hand on hers. “I’ve missed you so much. It’s been so long. Where did you go after selling Mel’s Delights to me? You disappeared from one day to the next.”

  Melisa lowered her long eyelashes; she had to hide the shameful truth that she had become an alcoholic, like her mother.

  She caught sight of Josie’s ring finger, expecting something to be there, but it was devoid of a wedding band. What had happened? Five years ago, Melisa had left Josie planning her wedding to the man of her parents’ dreams. Josie had been crazy about Jason Ashwood, but she’d confessed to Melisa that she couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was wrong for her. But Josie, the youngest of five sisters, had always been the good girl, the one who bent to her domineering parents’ will. Her meddling mother had told her she would be a fool not to marry the son of one of the most successful investment bankers in Wisconsin, and her father’s boss. Had she finally come to her senses and stood up for herself?

  “I was away for a while. I needed to distance myself from…” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter anymore. How are you? How’s Jason?”

  “No,” Josie wagged her finger. “I won’t let you change the subject. Tell me how you’re doing first.”

  Melisa sighed. “I’m better than I was when it happened.” That was the truth. The wounds would never heal completely, but as long as they had stopped bleeding, she would be able to function.

  “You shouldn’t have left like that. I wanted to be there for you, to comfort you. I worried about you since the day you left.” She smoothed the tablecloth. “Mel’s Delights was never the same without you, Melisa.”

  A cloud of silence hovered between them, and then Melisa broached the reason she’d come to Mel’s Delights. “I need a favor.” She swallowed hard. She hated pity, hated asking for help. “I need a job.” She looked away at a table with a group of four teenage boys, eating donuts and playing cards.

  Josie cupped Melisa’s hands with her own, and Melisa turned back her attention to her friend. Josie’s sapphire blue eyes were warm and kind. “You don’t have to feel uncomfortable asking me for help. We’re friends, and time doesn’t change that.”

  Melisa opened her mouth to speak, but Josie shook her head.

  “You don’t need to say anything. You can work here for a while, but I can’t offer you a permanent position.” She paused and leaned back. “The business is going through some changes. I’ll tell you all about it later. Right now I do need some help, though. Nicole can only be here on weekends and when on vacation to help at the register. It would be great to have another baker. Nicole is good for business, though. On the days she’s here, this place crawls with teenage boys.” Josie laughed.

  Nicole was Josie’s teenage niece and was currently working up front.

  Melisa ached to know what changes Josie was talking about. Mel’s Delights still felt like her baby. But it wasn’t. Not anymore. She had no right to pry. Josie would tell her when she was ready.

  “Thank you,” Melisa said. “So, your turn. Tell me how you’ve been. How’s Jason?”

  Josie stiffened and her face fell. “I don’t give a damn how he’s doing. He’s out of my life.”

  “You’ve broken up? But you two were so close to…”

  “Wedding went to hell.” Josie’s voice was almost inaudible. “The night before the wedding I caught him in bed with the florist’s daughter.”

  “You mean Patty’s daughter, Janelle?”

  “Yep, her. When I confronted him, he had the nerve to tell me I forced him into proposing. Said he wasn’t ready for marriage or what this small town could offer him. He now lives in New York.”

  “I don’t understand.” Sudden anger simmered inside Melisa. Jason had pursued Josie all through college until she finally let him into her life. The jerk had taken her virginity.

  “You know what’s an even bigger slap in the face?” Josie let out a stiff laugh. “He got married six months later to some model.”

  “I’m so sorry, Josie.”

  “Hey, it’s my fault. I knew from the start he was popular with the ladies. He wasn�
��t a one-woman man. But he wanted me, because I made it hard for him to have. Once he got me, I guess the thrill was over for him.”

  “Don’t blame yourself. He’s solely responsible for making you give him your heart and then walking all over it.” Guilt squeezed Melisa’s chest. She touched Josie’s shoulder. “I should have been there for you. I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be. My problems are nothing compared to what happened to you. You did what you had to do to cope. The most important thing is you’re here now.” Josie paused. “It will be great having you back. You can start tomorrow, if you like.”

  Melisa nodded. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

  Melisa rose and embraced her friend. When her husband and child had died, she’d been too blinded by grief to see the people who loved her. She had just wanted to get lost. Now she was back and her heart was lighter. Returning was so much easier than she’d anticipated.

  “Come and visit us sometime. The Deare sisters will be happy to have you over for dinner sometime. Maybe you can distract them from trying to hook me up with every Tom, Dick, and Harry.”

  “You all live together now?”

  “Grandma Rose died two years ago and left us her house. We all moved in together, except for Eve. She wanted to raise Nicole in their own home.”

  “She’s still single?”

  “Yep, since Jack left her, she hasn’t met anyone good enough. Maybe there’s a curse over all of us. Men don’t seem to ever want to stay.”

  “But you’ve only allowed one man into your heart.”

  “And I’m not sure I want to let another come near me.”

  “Well, I’d love to come over for dinner.” Melisa thought of Heat. She understood completely.

  Two days later, Melisa did meet the Deare sisters for dinner at their red brick house. They didn’t pry into her past, and she was able to let loose and enjoy herself for the first time in a long time. She even had a few laughs, in particular when Paige, the eldest of the five sisters, tried to talk Josie into going for a month to some wealthy bachelor’s villa to compete for his heart along with ten other women. As they had done for most of her life, the older Deare sisters still meddled in their younger sister’s love life.

  Some things never changed. In a way, Melisa found some comfort in that.

  ***

  “Tell me that wasn’t who I think it was,” Melisa said as the disheveled woman walked out the door.

  “It was. Miss Claire Hattaway.” Josie finished arranging lemon cupcakes on a decorated platter and placed it in the display window. “The tables have turned for Miss Prom Queen. I felt sorry for her in the beginning, since I pretty much went through the same thing, but she’s still quite rude.”

  “I almost didn’t recognize her. What happened?” Claire’s hair was a mess, pimples dotted her face and neck, and she had put quite a lot of weight. If it weren’t for her huge, unmistakable green eyes, Melisa would never have known it was her.

  “Love does that to people. She was engaged and ditched two weeks before the wedding.”

  In high school, Claire had been a royal bitch, and that was an understatement. She’d been every girl’s envy. She had beauty, beautiful clothes, men falling at her feet. But the problem was, she knew what she had and she rubbed it in everyone’s faces, thinking she was above all the rest. The thing about being at the top was there was nowhere to go but down.

  “So she took comfort in food?”

  “She’s in here almost every day. Early, so no one sees her. She can’t seem to keep her hands off the strawberry creampuffs.”

  In a way, Melisa’s heart did go out to Claire. Losing someone you loved, whether to death or otherwise, was a bitter pill to swallow. She wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

  “Poor thing,” Melisa said, slicing a loaf of bread. “Who was she engaged to? Someone from town?”

  Josie moved away from the display and toward the kitchen door. “Florian Dane.”

  ***

  Melisa let herself into Nick and Carlene’s home, kicked off her shoes, and threw herself onto the couch. Claire and Heat were a couple? Why did it surprise her, though? Everyone thought they would end up dating. The prom queen and the football star. They would have been the perfect match.

  As she flopped back onto the throw pillows, she ached to know more—how they’d fallen in love, how long they dated, why they broke up.

  “It sounds like it bothers you that they were together,” Carlene said when they talked later that night.

  Melisa shrugged. “I’m just curious.” She felt a sting of jealousy, but Carlene didn’t need to know that.

  “Want to know what I think?”

  “Not really.” Melisa smirked.

  Carlene laughed. “I’ll say it anyway. I think you’re still subconsciously carrying a torch for this guy.”

  “That’s nonsense.” Is it really? A small voice in her head asked. If it was utter nonsense, why did she have an erotic dream about Heat while in the tub last week?

  “Then why do you keep bringing him up whenever we talk?”

  Chapter Ten

  Melisa was at Mel’s Delights before daybreak, hoping to bump into Claire. She had no idea why.

  And just as Josie had said, Claire was the first customer in.

  “Hi, Claire, what would you like?”

  Without uttering a word, she pointed at the strawberry creampuffs in the display case and mumbled under her breath that she wanted all twelve of them.

  Melisa packed them up and handed Claire the box. “You look well,” she said, for lack of a better compliment. “How have you been?”

  “Mind your own business. Haven’t you done enough damage?” She snatched the box out of Melisa’s hands and walked out, her black, knee-length, pleated dress swirling around her dimpled knees. Curves suited some people, but Claire looked like she was in the wrong body.

  Melisa wanted to curse after her, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. The poor woman had suffered enough.

  Instead she stared at Claire’s back, eyes narrowed. What did she mean by that? What kind of damage? And how? She’d been hiding at Oasis for years. Claire was clearly bent on lashing out at anyone who crossed her path. As she had done in high school after being dumped by one of her many boyfriends.

  Melisa shrugged and went back into the kitchen to remove the chocolate and coconut brownies from the oven. But her mind was still on Claire’s accusation as she prepared the melted chocolate and drizzled it onto the tops of the brownies before sprinkling them with coconut flakes.

  When Josie walked in, Melisa was almost bursting with curiosity.

  “Hi,” Josie said, wrapping a red, pink, and white apron around her trim waist. “You’ve been busy.” She eyed the assortment of baked goods Melisa had spread out on the kitchen table—scones, muffins, cookies, macaroons, and two chocolate cakes.

  “I had a blast making them.”

  “When did you come in? I know you wanted to open up shop, but from the look of these”—she waved a slender hand at the brownies—”you must have been here since dawn.”

  Melisa smiled and leaned against the fridge. “I’m trying to make up for lost time.”

  “You know you don’t have to. You went away to heal and now you’re back. You did nothing wrong.”

  The doorbell chimed, and Melisa walked out of the kitchen as an old woman with a cane walked in, soon followed by a loud group of teenagers and a mother holding her little girl’s hand.

  For a while, an endless stream of customers came and left, or stayed for a cup of coffee and a slice of cake.

  In between helping Josie and Nicole—who arrived later—serve customers, Melissa baked several more batches of multicolored cupcakes, cookies, rolls, pies, whipped up meringues, and frosted a birthday cake. There was no break long enough for her to talk to Josie about what weighed on her mind. But finally, lunchtime came around and Nicole left to have lunch with a school friend.

  Josie closed the door and
flipped the sign to signal they were closed.

  Lunch was a cup of coffee and the pepperoni pizza Melisa had baked last night and brought along.

  “What a morning,” Josie said, flipping her long, wavy hair over her shoulder so it wouldn’t fall into her pizza. “The place hasn’t been this busy for quite a while. I bet you have something to do with it.”

  “No, we have something to do with it. We’ve always been a great team.”

  “Even when we used to do school projects.”

  Melisa laughed. “Those were the days.” Things used to be so much simpler then. She’d laughed without holding back and slept through the night instead of spending it worrying how she would get through the next day. “I miss those days.”

  “Me too. I can’t believe how much has happened since then.”

  Melisa bit into her pizza and nodded. After chewing for a while, she placed the slice back on her plate and folded her arms on the table. “Claire said the weirdest thing when she came in today.”

  Josie perked up. “She spoke to you? I mean, apart from giving an order?”

  “I asked how she was doing and she told me to fuck off, pretty much. Apparently I’ve ‘caused enough damage.’ What damage?” Melisa chuckled, but a knot formed in her stomach.

  Josie wiped her mouth, sipped her coffee, and sighed. “I don’t know if it’s my place to tell you this, but Serendipity is a small town. You’re bound to find out at some point.”

  Panic gripped Melisa’s throat. “What is it?”

  “You were the reason Claire and Florian, or Heat, if you prefer, broke up. Rumors circulated that she had insulted you in some way.” Josie frowned, as if thinking. “Yeah, something about you being in some kind of nuthouse. Can you believe her nerve? Anyway, it must have rubbed Heat the wrong away. I don’t know if it’s true, but that was apparently one of the reasons for their breakup.” Josie winked. “Looks like someone has a soft spot for you. You did have a major crush on him, if I recall correctly?”

  Melisa had never told Josie what she had felt for Heat, or that she’d slept with him. It would have been too humiliating to tell anyone that he had used her and forgotten about her.