Gun Moll (21 page)

Melina’s lips drew
thin. Instantly, Mac wondered if he had stepped over a line.

“I could have
afforded it, before, when I first got it,” Melina admitted.

Mac frowned. “And
now you can’t because you have to give up the escorting.”

“Probably. Twelve-month
lease says I’m still on the hook.”

“Damn,” Mac said,
feeling a weight press down on his shoulders.

Responsibility was
a bitch.

One Mac didn’t
know how to shake. In a roundabout way, his involvement in Melina’s life forced
her into a bad situation. She had to give up her job, she was left with a place
she couldn’t afford for long, and now she had a mark on her head that could put
her into an early grave if Mac couldn’t get the attention from Luca Pivetti to
wane.

It was shitty all
the way around the board.

Melina, seemingly
seeing the guilt raging on Mac’s features, said, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll
figure something out. I am nothing, if not a survivor. I don’t know how to
fail.”

“Easier said than
done, doll,” Mac settled on saying.

“I was thinking
about something.”

The strange
softness in Melina’s tone had Mac turning to look at her again. “What’s that?”

“What you said
earlier to me.”

“In the bath.”

“Yeah,” Melina
murmured.

Mac ignored the
heat traveling through his body at warp speed. His little plan to let Melina
relax and be cared for instead of worrying about the stress and craziness
surrounding them had left him with a semi-erection that just wouldn’t go down,
no matter how hard he tried. Touching this woman, cleaning her, listening to
her little sighs and her sweet voice while they were close in a bath of hot,
soapy water had been perfect. It had also taken all the control Mac had inside
of him not to reach out, pull Melina into his lap, and fuck her raw.

Once they were out
of the bath, dressed again, and some time had passed, Mac was still semi-hard.
But he was able to disregard it with some distance between them.

“What about it?” Mac
asked.

“I thought about
what you said,” Melina replied quietly. “You know, about what you would do for
someone who was your girl.”

Mac lifted a
single brow high. “I said you, doll. If
you
were my girl.”

“Okay, me.”

“Glad we got that
cleared up.”

Melina smiled
slyly, and shook her head. “Anyway, my point is that I realized something.”

“Like what?”

“Like everything
you said you would do, you have done. For me, I mean.”

Mac held back his
smirk, but barely. He wondered how long it would take Melina to put two and two
together about his earlier statements. “Oh?”

“Yes. You’re not
as slick as you think you are, Mac.”

“Actually, I’m even
more so, but we’ll leave that alone for another time.”

Melina pursed her
pretty pink lips like she was considering arguing with Mac. Thankfully, she
didn’t. “Nonetheless, I wanted to thank you for doing all of that for me. You
don’t have—”

“I do,” Mac interrupted
smoothly. “Because I want to. And as I told you earlier tonight, I want to know
more about you, doll. If I didn’t give a damn, I would leave you to fend for
yourself. I have a feeling there is a lot more to you than just what I’ve seen
so far. I’m still interested in learning the rest. Don’t mistake my interest
for simply kindness. I’m not kind to just anyone, doll. I don’t care about just
anyone.”

Melina swallowed
hard. “But you do care about me.”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

Mac laughed under
his breath. “Again with this ‘okay’ nonsense. What happened to the Melina with
her sharp responses and her quick wit?”

Melina lifted a
single shoulder like it didn’t matter. “She’s still there. She’s just …
processing this awful day.”

“It’ll pass,” Mac
promised.

“Good. But right
now, I want to sleep. I’m tired. It’s late.”

“Go ahead. I’ll
take the couch.”

Melina fiddled
with her fingernails. “I was going to ask if you wanted to share the bed.”

Mac’s throat
tightened as his cock thickened. “To sleep, or …?”

“Smooth, really.”

“Hey, I’m not in
the business of hiding my intentions, doll. If you want me to jump in bed with
you and fuck you until you fall asleep, let me know. I’m up for that.”

Melina grinned
wickedly. “Rain check, Mac. Tonight I just want to sleep beside someone. A
familiar, safe someone.”

Mac let her words
settle in.

He was familiar to
her.

And safe.

Mac put his darker
desires away in a locked box. “I can do that for you, doll. Whatever you need.
All you have to do is ask.”

Melina nodded, but
her smile fell slightly. “Thanks.”

“I buried my
father the same day I met you,” Melina said.

The words had been
whispered into the dark. Mac was sure that Melina probably believed he was
asleep already, or that he couldn’t hear her. He decided to stay quiet and let
her talk.

“Next to the
priest who said a few words before leaving quickly, and the man who shoveled
the dirt back into the hole, I was the only person there,” she continued.

Mac swallowed back
the lump forming in his throat. “What about your mother?”

“She died when I
was eight. Ovarian cancer.”

“I’m sorry,” he
said.

Melina sighed
softly, and turned in the sheets. Mac felt her hand skim closer to his side,
but she didn’t touch him. He stayed still with one arm under his head, and the other
resting over his bare midsection.

“I have a few
memories of her. All good ones. Even at the end when she was sick and knew she
was dying. She never showed it. That’s probably where some of my stubbornness
comes from.”

Mac managed a
smile in the darkness. “At least you know where your roots come from, doll, and
what makes you … you, so to speak. What about your father?”

“Dying to know,
are you?”

“Only what you
want to tell me.” Mac rolled to his side and used his arm as a prop to hold
himself up. He found Melina watching him with a mixture of wariness and
curiosity. The way her dark eyes burned into him felt like fire spreading over
his nervous system. It didn’t really burn, but it felt damn good. “And guessing
by the fact you brought him up while we’re getting ready to sleep, I think you
want to talk about him, too.”

Melina’s gaze
dropped quickly. “Maybe I do. I haven’t got anyone to talk to him about. No
family. No friends.”

“Loneliness looks
terrible on a beautiful woman.”

“Does it?”

“Come a little
closer and you won’t feel so alone.”

The corner of
Melina’s lips lifted into a smile. “We’re supposed to be talking.”

Mac didn’t give
her another chance to refuse him. Reaching out, he snagged her wrists in his
palms and dragged her to his side of the bed. Melina instantly softened in his
arms when he wrapped them around her. Her head tucked under his chin, and her
hands balled into fists against his chest.

Comfort.

Sweet-smelling skin.

Soft hair.

Silky lips pressed
feather light to his pec.

Mac drew in a
quick breath. “That’s better.”

“It is,” Melina
whispered.

“Talk to me.”

“Daniel, my father,
was a former Marine. Lance Corporal.”

Mac stiffened. “A
military brat.”

Melina laughed.
“Is that all you got from that?”

“It explains a
lot, Melina. About you, for one. But for Luca and his opinions, too.”

“Maybe I should
have told you, but I didn’t think it was important that my father had been in
the military. It wasn’t like it fucking mattered to anyone else, that’s for
sure.”

The unhidden anger
in Melina’s tone managed to take Mac by surprise. “You don’t sound like you’re
very proud of him and his service.”

“Him?” Melina released
a shaky breath. “Him, I adored. Him, I couldn’t be more proud of.”

“Then what is it?”

“The military. He
was dishonorably discharged for disobeying orders to leave a small contingent
of his men behind enemy lines in Afghanistan. He ended up losing his left arm
up to the elbow in the attack. When he came back … when he came back, he—”
Melina stopped abruptly, and her fists balled even tighter.

Mac ghosted his
hand from the small of her back to the nape of her neck in gentle swipes until
he could feel the tension start to release. “It’s all right, doll. You don’t
have to tell me more if you don’t want to.”

“I do, though. My
father suffered from PTSD. The night terrors were the worst. Sometimes he
drank, which only exasperated his issues. He had severe anxiety and we just
didn’t have the money to get him the help he needed. I started escorting to pay
for his medical bills. I wanted him to get better, because no one else gave a
damn. The military forgot about him. The government overlooked him and his
service. The men he saved were allowed to return to their posts, while he had
been shamed and stripped of his position for what he’d done. My father was a good
man—an honorable man who took care of his family and his men.”

“And his country,”
Mac murmured.

“Well, his country
turned on him. They didn’t give a shit about what happened to him. He was the
little guy—the forgettable one. He was left to handle what he’d seen and the
things he’d been forced to do on his own, without so much as a fucking thank
you or a proper funeral when he died.”

Melina’s bitterness
practically wafted off her.

Mac let it roll
off him. He figured it made a hell of a lot of sense. “I get it, now.”

“Get what?” Melina
asked sharply.

“Hey, none of
that, doll.” Mac pressed the tips of his fingers into Melina’s back, just to
let her know that he was still there, holding her. “Keep your attitude at bay
for five minutes. Don’t turn it on me because you’re angry at the world. I’m
not the world, Melina. I’m just one man looking out for you. That’s all.”

Melina glanced up
at him with wetness coating her bottom lashes. Just as quickly as she’d looked
up, she was hiding her face again. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

“Thank you. As I
was saying, I get it. Your attitude, your distance, and your lack of
approachability. It makes sense. You hate anyone with any ounce of authority. The
ice queen persona is a hell of a lot easier to maintain than the poor little me
one, right?”

“Ouch, Mac.”

“Sometimes the
truth hurts, doll. Either way, you have a right to your feelings. You can
protect your emotions
however
you want to. You might find it easier
when you let some people in beyond
your high walls. No one’s saying you need to break them all down and let the
world in or anything.”

“Just the one man looking
out for me, right?”

Mac grinned. “Why
not?”

“Maybe I’m not
used to having anyone look out for me, Mac.”

“Hmm. I figured
that.”

Melina moved
closer until all the curves of her body had molded to Mac’s. It was dangerous
and wonderful at the same time. There was no hiding the hard ridge of his erection
pressing against the toned contour of her stomach. Mac simply didn’t act on his
wayward thoughts. Melina wasn’t finished talking, after all.

“What happened to
your father?” he asked.

“Killed by a drunk
driver.”

“Shit. That’s
rough.”

Melina nodded
once. “It was. I wanted him to get better. I was desperate enough to escort
behind his back to make the kind of money we needed for his medical costs,
right? He could be better, I knew it.”