Sweet Melody (Rock & Rodeo Romance #1) (9 page)

T
he sky lightens
before we leave our temporary bed in the back of my truck. At some point, Mel fell asleep on top of me, her soft breaths coming and going like the waves on the beach in front of us. I lost count of how many times and how many ways we pleasured each other. Shit, the girl just gives me that certain look, runs her finger down my chest, and I come. I’ll have to get something really great for Bethany to thank her for her gift of condoms she put in Mel’s bag. We put many to good use.

My racing mind’s kept me up all night, trying to come up with some plan not to screw things up with Mel. She’s dropped more than one hint that she might be a runner. At least she’s given in to admit that there might be something more than just a temporary fuckable friendship between us. But that sure as hell doesn’t mean I won’t have to be careful in how I handle the huge transitions about to go down in my life.

As the sun breaks over the ocean in pink and red hues, our time for now has to end. Although I parked us pretty far down the beach in a secluded area, I don’t want an early morning runner catching us. Mel stirs on top of me as if in tune to my thoughts. One eye opens and looks at me. A slow grin spreads on her face.

“Morning. You make a nice bed.” She buries her head on my chest again.

“And you make a beautiful blanket. I could bury myself in you all day.” My cock twitches.

She sighs. “That’s a lovely thought, but I think you broke me. I’m ruined for anything else. Tell your dick to settle down.” Her gravelly voice has the exact opposite effect.

“He has his own mind. Can’t tell him shit.”

Her hair falls across her face, covering her sly grin. “Well then. Let’s see what I can do about him.”

Her head disappears under the blanket. My own drops back when her warm mouth covers my cock, her tongue licking while she sucks. God, my girl has a talented mouth. Her hand joins her sassy lips as she pumps me. My balls tighten, and I lift my hips to shove as much of myself inside her. She takes me in deep without complaint.

“Fuck, Mel. You’re incredible.”

She sucks me into oblivion. After a night like we had, it should have taken more effort. But I come like a horny teenager, quick and hot. She licks and kisses a path up my torso, and her head pops out from under the blanket.

“Good morning, sexy,” she says.

“That should be my line.” I can’t believe I can form words right now. Stars still fill my eyes as the dizziness from coming abates.

“Don’t you think we should be going? We could get caught out here. Especially with the loud noises you just made.” She giggles.

Did I make loud noises? Shit. I lose all sense of my surroundings when I’m with her.

We check the nearby landscape around us. With no sign of anything except seagulls and a couple of pelicans flying overhead, we detangle ourselves and get up. The search for our clothes becomes laughable.

“Found it.” Mel holds up the R&R T-shirt she swiped for me from a clump of sea grass.

“Yeah, but have you found your bra? I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to leave it out here.”

She walks back toward the truck where I’ve managed to clean up our temporary bed.

“No. It’ll be fine.”

Fuck no, it won’t be fine. I want to take her out for something to eat, and she’s not going to sit there with no bra for other fuckers to stare at.

“Wait. Here it is. How the hell did it get under the truck?”

Sand pours out of the bra cups, and we both crack up. She takes her arms out of her sleeves and lifts up her shirt. Her round breasts face me. In the light, their perfection slays me. Those beauties were touched by me, devoured by my tongue and my mouth last night. Fuck, I want to touch them again.

She covers them up with her bra, hooking the black lace behind her and adjusting everything before pulling down her shirt. When she looks up at me, her face turns quizzical.

“What? Oh my God, Hunter. They’re only breasts.”

“They’re your breasts. And they’re magnificent. Why don’t you bring them over here and let me worship them a while.” I jump down from the truck.

“Nice try, Cowboy. But I think you mentioned something about breakfast. And no.” She puts a hand up to stop me from attacking her. “Sucking on any part of my body doesn’t count. I’m starving. Now get in the truck, and let’s get out of here.”

M
y ass shifts
in the seat. There’s sand everywhere in my clothes. We’d shaken them out as best we could, but sand has a way of popping up from nowhere. Thank God we didn’t have sex
on
the beach, or we’d have sand in even more uncomfortable places.

“Where are we going?” Mel asks, wiping under her eyes and checking her hair in the tiny mirror of the sun visor.

Where indeed. Once we get breakfast, I’ll have to take her home. And then what comes next? When will she let me see her again?

“If you’re up for the drive, we can drive south down the two-laner and hit up Pop’s Place, this cute little diner that’s been there so long it’s considered retro. It’s right on the beach. I’m guessing that their biscuits will be fresh by the time we get there.”

I try to hide my pleased look at my idea. It would take us a couple hours there and back in the truck, plus the meal together. The more time I can coax her into spending with me, the bigger chance I have at fighting any instinct to run.

“Some other time, maybe.” She leans back in the seat. “But I’m starving now. Need to refuel. Somebody used up all my energy last night.”

“And into this morning,” I remind her.

She nods. “So take me some place with lots of choices. And definitely bacon. If the place doesn’t serve bacon, we don’t go there.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

To take my mind off of the anxiety of what comes next for us, I play with a few lyrics in my head.

Looking down at where your head rests

When you lift yourself up I see your beautiful breasts

Holy Hell, she’s fucked me so sideways I’ve lost the ability to come up with decent lines.

When we’re together you’re a ton of fun

I can’t handle myself when I watch you come

So I’m left with only dirty rhymes? And those aren’t even that close. Pull yourself together, Ford.

Now listen, baby, I don’t mean to be blunt

But when you look at me that way I want your sweet little…

“No, no, no, no.” My head tries to shake those horrible attempts at composing out of my head. Not only are they damn inappropriate, they keep reminding me of last night. When will my dick get enough? And how bad is it that the answer is never?

“What’s wrong?” Mel turns in my direction.

“Nothing.” I clamp my lips shut and turn on the radio.

By the time I pull into the parking lot of Citrus, my stomach growls and distracts me from my dirty lyrics. I put on the baseball hat from the floor behind me and step out. When Mel jumps down from the cab, she smooths out her clothes.

“Do you think it’s that obvious that we’ve been fucking each other’s brains out?”

She looks a little rumpled, but it adds to her sexiness.

My finger brushes over the R&R logo on her shirt. “No, but it does look like we’re a couple of employees who had a late night.”

She shrugs. “All of us who work late hang out and meet up after work sometimes. You and I look like we worked really, really late.” She takes my hand and walks toward the door. “On each other.”

The place isn’t packed yet since we’re so early. It smells of morning food delights. Especially bacon. Mel takes a deep breath and smiles. We follow the hostess to a small table and beg for coffee before we sit down. We don’t really talk to each other until after we place our order.

“Damn, I should have ordered some pumpkin pancakes. They’re so good, and they have this amazing walnut and maple syrup thing happening.”

I can’t stop marveling at her. She sings, she’s sexy as hell, and she actually eats. Amazing. And so damn rare.

“You want me to order you some?” Whatever she wants, I’m going to give it to her.

She laughs. “No, I think my eggs, hash browns, grits, and bacon should do me just fine. I was only saying. Their pumpkin pancakes are really good. I was this close to ordering them.” She holds her fingers up to show me the lack of space between them.

Our conversation flows better than I anticipated. We talk about the Rock & Rodeo, how much she likes it there, what she does during the day before she goes to work, and other mundane details that I hang on to like gems. Mentally, I take notice of any detail that may help me win her.

A random waitress walking by pours more coffee without us asking. Mel fixes her coffee with two sugars and two creams. Noted.

She stops talking mid-sentence. I look at her confused, and her eyes move from me to the space beside me. The waitress stands next to us staring, the pot of coffee in her hand trembling a bit.

“We’re good with coffee, thanks,” I tell her.

“I’m so sorry,” she gushes. “But are you Hunter Ford?”

Damn, I do not want Mel to see shit like this. But I can’t afford not to play to the fans. I plaster a fake grin on my face. “I sure am. You a fan of Tailgate Down?”

My question opens the floodgate for her to word vomit all of her admiration all over me. My body shifts in the fan’s direction, but Mel stays in my peripheral vision. My stomach tightens at what she must be thinking right now.

“So would you mind taking a pic with me? I can’t wait to post this on Instagram. Me and Hunter Ford.”

“I’m kind of here with my girlfriend right now.”

Holy shit, that’s a risk and a half. I look fully at Mel. Her eyebrow quirks up, but her smile reveals jack shit. Except, damn, she’s actually amused at my discomfort.

“Um.” The waitress gives half her attention to Mel. “Would you mind taking a picture of us?” She holds out her camera not giving Mel a chance to turn her down.

“Sure, why not.” Mel takes the phone from the girl and tells us to get close together. She snickers as she says, “Say cheese.”

The manager comes over and chastises the waitress. He offers to pay for our meal, and I decline. Encounters like this one don’t happen often, but when they do I have to handle them as professionally as possible. We talk briefly, and he shakes my hand. I hope the waitress doesn’t get into too much trouble.

Mel grins like a cat that’s caught a mouse in her paws and wants to play with it first before eating it.

“Should I be honored that my boyfriend is
the
Hunter Ford?”

My brow furrows. “That didn’t freak you out?”

She takes a sip of coffee. “Which part? The one where a busty young fan pushes her boobs against you or when you called me your girlfriend?”

How can she be so casual when last night she so clearly wanted to run away?

“I guess the fan part since I was joking about calling you my girlfriend.”

“I knew that.”

Damn. So she doesn’t like the label. The little hope in my heart deflates.

“So about the fan. Seriously, no issues?” I look at her incredulously.

She shakes her head. “I’m guessing groupies come with the territory of being in a band. Especially being its hunky lead singer. Besides, have you ever slept with a groupie?”

I shift in discomfort. “Mel,” I start.

“No. That wasn’t the right verb tense. Let me try this again. Are you planning on sleeping with her?”

“Hell no.” My quick response comes out a little too loud. A couple of heads turn our way. “Hell no,” I repeat in a lower tone.

She nods. “And are you going to sleep with the groupies in Nashville?”

I shake my head. “No.”

She leans back. “Then what’s to be upset about? Here, I’ll make you a deal. Anybody you kiss, I have to kiss. Same goes for sex.”

Now I shift in my seat because of a different hard discomfort. “That’s not exactly the best deterrent.”

“Yeah, but the same rule exists for you. If you kiss somebody, expect me to do the same. And whoever I kiss…think about that if the opportunity ever tempts you.”

EJ would die to hear this conversation. And right on cue, my phone beeps.

“You still with Mel, fucker?”

“Yes, EJ. Having breakfast.”

“Sweet. Fist bump. You coming to Nana’s?”

“Not if you’re gonna grill me.”

Mel watches me texting. “Who’s that?”

“EJ. He’s just giving me shit.”

She smirks. “Tell him that you’re arranging a three-way with me and one of the waitresses. Let’s see how he handles that?”

There’s no trace of scheming or baiting in Mel’s tone. She’s playful and willing to wind up EJ. I text Mel’s message and wait.

“No fucking way!!!! You’re idea or hers?”

“Hers.”

“Fuck yeah. You must keep her. Bring her to Nana’s so I can kiss her perfect ass.”

“You keep your hands off her!”

“Touchy. So when will we be seeing you?”

“I don’t know. Will ttyl.”

I put the phone away. Mel looks at me with expectant eyes.

“So, what did he say?”

“He thinks you’re a perfect woman. Also, he invited us to his grandmother’s place for brunch.”

Her nose wrinkles. “I like EJ’s grandma. She’s sweet. But if you don’t mind, I’d rather go home after we finish eating.”

My heart sinks a little.

“It’s just that someone kept me up all night. These are my normal sleeping hours. You know us vampires don’t like the sunlight.” She jokes, but her tone indicates something more serious underneath. “Oh, hell yeah. Bacon. The cure for everything.”

A different waitress sets out our food. Plates cover the tiny table. We move everything to fit it all. The last plate she sets down has pumpkin pancakes on it.

“Wait, we didn’t order that.” Mel hovers over the pancakes but doesn’t touch them.

“I did.”

Her eyes widen full of surprise and hunger. “When?”

“While talking to the manager. I told him that a plate of pumpkin pancakes would even the score.”

She doesn’t wait any longer, cutting off a bite and popping it in her mouth. She chews with her eyes closed and moans. Another note taken. Give Mel food that causes her to make obscene noises.