Tangled Hearts (Passion in Paradise) (13 page)

He saw Melody’s brows
lift in surprise as she inhaled sharply.  “You want babies?” he heard her ask
huskily.   He knew she’d never admit to it when she was stone cold sober, but
he knew that was hope shining in her eyes and it filled him with a sense of
rightness. 

“Yeah, babe.  I
wouldn’t mind two or three little Valentines running around underfoot,” he
shared gently, smiling when she bit her lip nervously.  “I take it that you’d
like to have kids, too, huh?”

“Someday,” she admitted
with a ready nod.  “When I meet the right man,” she added belatedly.

“You’ve already met the
right man, Melody.  You just won’t cop to it yet,” Cal returned with a knowing
grin as he reached for the glass and lifted it to his lips.  “I have patience,
though.  I can wait,” he continued after he’d dropped the tumbler back to the
coffee table.  “Now, I think it’s my turn again.  You question is, what do you
look for in a man, Melody?”

“Obviously I looked for
the wrong things.  You
did
meet Bradley,” she reminded him. 

“Bradley fooled you,
sweetheart.  I’m betting you were looking for all the right qualities.  He just
dicked you around and made you think you’d found them in him.  That’s not your
fault.  Now, tell me what the ideal guy looks like in your fantasies.”

“Well,” Melody sighed
and reached for a jellybean.  “First, he’d be faithful to me.  That’s a top
priority for obvious reasons.”

Cal nodded, silently
ticking that off his list.  He had the fidelity thing down pat.  Hell, it
wouldn’t be hard staying true to a gorgeous woman like Melody.  She was
beautiful inside and out, and if he was being honest, his girl kept his dick
hard just by smiling at him.

“And kind.  I’d want
him to be kind.  Brad had this habit of talking down to me, so I also wanna add
that I’d want my mythical man to make me feel like his equal, not his
inferior.”

“Babe, there’s not a
man alive to whom you could ever be considered inferior.  Like I’ve said more
than once, that piece of shit you were hooked up with before was nothing but a
boy playing dress up as a man.  Real men want a woman that can stand by their
side, not behind them.”

Melody offered him a
genuine smile.  “I like that,” she noted softly.  “I think I want to have that
embroidered on a pillow.”

“I can make that
happen,” Cal responded quickly, enjoying the authentic happiness he saw in her
dancing eyes. 

Melody grabbed the
glass and took a quick sip.  “Okay,” she announced.  “My turn again.  Have you
ever been to jail, Cal?”

“Define jail,” he
instructed. 

“Jail is jail, Cal,”
Melody retorted with a huff.

“No, there’s lock-up. 
Then there’s prison.  Then there’s the pen.  It’s all a matter of degree,
darlin’,” he explained, grinning widely.

“Any of the above,
Callum.  Have you been there?  And if so, what’d you do?”

“I’ve been to holding,”
he admitted, dropping his head.  “I’m not proud of it, but I can’t deny it
either.  I was only there a couple of hours until my commanding officer could
get me released.”

“I’m intrigued,” Melody
murmured, scooting closer to the table as she settled wide, nosy eyes on him. 
“Spill.  What did you do?”

“I got in a fight,” he
stated simply.

“With who?”

“Another guy,” he
returned, giving her the bare minimum of an answer. 

“Cal, you aren’t being
very forthcoming here.  What did you get in a fight with another man over that
could have landed you in jail?  You don’t exactly have a quick temper.  As much
as I’ve tried to goad you into an argument since you moved in, I should know.”

“I
knew
you were
trying to pick fights with me, you little shit,” he growled, narrowing his eyes
at her.

Melody shrugged. 
“Answer, Cal.”

“Baby, it was a long
time ago.  Hell, it’s been almost fifteen years now,” he stated dismissively. 
“I’m not even sure I remember all the details,” he lied, not wanting to share
the details of that long ago night.  He’d already told her he wasn’t a violent
man and the events of that night didn’t exactly support what he’d told her.

“Cal…”

“Fine, I got in an
altercation with another soldier that thought it was okay to knock his woman
around.  He slapped her and I gave him some of the same treatment to show him
how it felt.  In the process, I might have broken a couple of his bones.”

“You
might
have?”
Melody repeated doubtfully.

“Okay, fine!  I did,”
he blustered.  “I broke the asshole’s arm and jaw, but for God’s sake, his girl
was about five-foot tall and a hundred pounds soaking wet.  He was as big as
me, and he backhanded that woman in front of us.  The poor chick went to her
fuckin’ knees, he hit her so hard.  I couldn’t just sit there, Melody.  That’s
not how I’m built,” he growled.  He knew he was trying to justify the violence he’d
done, but in his mind it wasn’t violence so much as it was divine retribution. 
God had placed him in that little hole-in-the-wall bar for a reason as far as
he was concerned.  And that was so he could kick the ass of a man that had
desperately needed his kicked.

Reaching her arm out,
she touched his warm wrist with the tips of her fingers.  “Cal, calm down and
settle.  I would never judge you for protecting someone weaker than you. 
Especially a woman that’s being abused by a man.”

Calming at the mere touch
of her fingertips, Cal focused on Melody’s earnest face.  “I told you I wasn’t
violent, Melody.”

“And you aren’t. 
There’s a difference between violent and protective, Cal.  You’re the latter,
not the former.  Even somebody as stubborn as me can see that,” she
acknowledged softly.  “You came here to protect me and you didn’t even know
me.”

“I knew you, Melody.  I
knew you before I ever laid eyes on you.  RJ could tell some real vivid
stories.”  Cal stared into her soft chocolate eyes for a long moment, getting a
little lost in her gaze.  “You’re makin’ it damn hard for me to keep this table
between us, Princess.  I’m trying real hard to give you the time you need to
see what’s happening here but when you go sweet on me, it makes me wanna pull
you into my arms and kiss you quiet.”

“Then maybe you should
take your turn and ask me a question so I have something to chat with you
about,” she suggested faintly, her eyes glued to his mouth.

Cal’s lips kicked up
into a half smile.  “Fine,” he drawled.  “If I went into your bedroom and
opened your nightstand drawer, what would I find?  Vibrator or dildo, darlin’? 
What’s your pleasure?”

“You did NOT just ask
me that?!” Melody cried, her stunned eyes narrowing to slits.  “Is there
nothing you hold sacred?”

“A few things,” he
stated mildly.  “But your selection of sex toy isn’t one of those things, Sweet
Pea.  Remember, nothing’s off limits.”

Melody’s shoulders
sagged as she hung her head. “Vibrator,” she mumbled without looking up.

Cupping a hand over his
ear, Cal leaned closer.  “Eh?  I didn’t catch that.”

“Vibrator.  Vibrator. 
Vibrator!!!” Melody roared, her cheeks turning bright red as her voice grew
louder.  “The Silver Bullet is my favorite if you want specifics,” she spat
testily. 

Cal’s grin turned
wicked.  “Good to know,” he drawled as she took a huge swig from their glass,
her throat working quickly as she swallowed.

“My turn!” Melody
snarled, slamming the glass back to the table.  “When are you leaving
Paradise?”

 “Hmmm?” he hummed,
chuckling at her scowl. 

“You heard me, Cal. 
How long do you intend to stay here?” Melody clipped.

“Princess, my ticket to
Paradise was one way.  I’m here indefinitely,” Cal shared slowly, watching her
face. 

“Indefinitely,” she
whispered.  “Like, you’re staying here?”

“Yep.  After we get you
up and running at Hooks & Books, I’m gonna start looking for a space of my
own.  Your brother told me about his dream of owning his own gym, and it
sounded good to me.  After years of physical conditioning, running a gym with
RJ would be right up my alley.  I’m gonna get us the space and start
construction.  By the time he gets out of the Army in a few months, we should
be well on our way to opening a profitable business, too.”

He could tell she was
shocked by the way she just stared at him, unblinking.  “Your brother didn’t
mention any of this to you?” he asked carefully.

“Yeah, but he never
said you were going to be part of the package,” she replied shakily.

“That would be because
I asked him not to say anything to you yet,” he confided sheepishly.  “I wanted
you to have time to get used to having me around before you learned that I was
gonna become a real permanent fixture in your life.”

“That’s… a lot to take
in all of a sudden,” she murmured.

“My turn,” Cal said
suddenly.  “Are you happy I’m staying, Melody?” he questioned quietly.

“I…I’m…. you didn’t
drink yet,” she said, stalling.  Pushing the drink toward him, she smiled
stiffly.  “Rules are rules, right?”

Tipping the glass to
his lips, Cal took a hit of the whiskey, ignoring the burn it produced as it
slid down his throat.  It was nothing compared to the one in his gut as he
waited for her to answer his question and put him out of his misery.  “Well,
Mel… are you happy I’m stayin’ around here?”

“That depends… am I one
of the reasons you’ve decided to stay?” she probed hesitantly.

Meeting her turbulent
gaze, he slowly nodded.  “One of the biggest, babe.  What I wanna know is how
do you feel about that?”

Melody popped a handful
of jellybeans into her mouth and chewed nervously, swallowing before she
finally opened her mouth to respond.  “Truthfully, it makes me happy to know
that you’re staying.  When you’re not being an arrogant prick, I like being
with you.  I mean, being around you.  It’s easy.  Natural.”

“We fit,” Cal noted in
a hushed voice.

Melody bobbed her
head.  “Yeah, I guess we do.  But right now, I’m not sure what that means.  I
just got out of what I learned was a pretty shitty relationship and Brad is
still making trouble.  I’m trying to get my store off the ground and most of
the time I feel like I barely have the energy to crawl into bed.  Maybe it’s
the alcohol talking, but today I can say that I’m really glad you’re here. With
me.  Satisfied?” she asked him sarcastically.

“For now,” he returned
with a wink while she took a sip from the glass. 

“Okay, it’s my turn
again,” Melody proclaimed as she tried to smother another yawn.  “What is the
most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?”

“You sure you wanna ask
that one?” he asked with a noticeable wince.  “You won’t like my answer, babe. 
I can guarantee it.”

Melody scoffed.  “Now I
have to know the answer.  You’ve already made whatever your answer is too
interesting to resist.”

Cal wasn’t a man that
wasted a lot of time on regrets, but staring into her expectant face now, he truly
regretted that he was an honest man.

“Shit,” he muttered,
releasing a heavy sigh before he looked at her.  It was better to just tear the
bandage off and pray he wasn’t mortally wounded, he decided quickly.  “The most
embarrassing thing I’ve ever done is to accidentally sleep with a married
woman.”

From his vantage point
across from her, Cal literally watched a wave of rage descend over her face as
her body stiffened, reflexively bracing itself against his words.  “You WHAT? 
You have
got
to be
kidding
me!  You sat right there and swore you
never cheated before in your
life
, Callum,” she accused, bolting
furiously to her feet as her eyes filled with a bone deep kind of pain that
made him ache just to witness it.

“Melody,” he began,
holding out his hand toward her.  “Just listen.”

“Fuck you!  You don’t
accidentally
sleep with somebody – much less a
married
somebody,” she stated
reproachfully, his guilt already well-established in her eyes.  “What, she told
you she was hitched and your dick leapt into her vagina to hide?  Is that what
happened, Cal?” she yelled as she began to storm past him.  “Your cock went
into witness protection in her vagina?”

Coming to his knees,
his arms caught her around the waist, tackling her to the thick carpet.  “Babe,
you need to listen,” he urged as he rolled on top of her struggling body.

“Fuck you.  You wanna
explain
? 
Yeah, Bradley wanted to explain, too.  I wasn’t interested in his reasons for
doing what he did, and I don’t wanna hear yours, either!  Lemmee go,” she
screeched, clawing at his arms.

Thankfully she had
short, blunt nails and the damage she could do to his flesh would be minimal,
Cal thought absently as he finally caught her flailing arms and pinned them
above her head with one hand encasing both her slender wrists.  “Baby, I didn’t
cheat.  You can’t cheat if you don’t know the woman you’re fucking is in a
relationship.  I was barely 22 years old, and I was stupid.  When I asked if
she was with anybody and she said she wasn’t at the moment, I didn’t realize
she meant it fucking literally.  She wasn’t wearing a ring.”

“Cal,” Melody bit out,
“Get off me and get out of my house.”

“Not until you hear
what I’m telling you.  I was a kid, Princess.  I was looking for an easy lay,
and I thought I’d lucked up and found it.  She was a married woman on the prowl
out to get revenge on her own cheating prick of a husband.  She used me to get
it.  Believe me, I felt like a chump… especially when her husband showed up and
tried to beat the shit out of me.”

Melody stared at him,
some of the anger fading from her eyes.  “He beat you up?”

Cal exhaled heavily as
he shifted on top of her soft body, his jaw clenching as his dick began to
swell against the vee of her legs.  The last thing he needed right now was for
her to feel him getting hard for her while he talked about fucking another
woman, he thought as he tried to shift his weight.  “He got a few good shots in
before the woman got between us.  I didn’t fight back.  I figured I had it
coming for being a fuckwit.  Believe me, I never made the same mistake again. 
I pretty much gave any chick I slept with from there on out the third degree
before I took things up a notch.  I have never been interested in being the
other man, babe.  I’m selfish enough to admit that when I’m fucking a woman, I
wanna be the
only
man on her mind.  You know me well enough by now to
know
that poaching on another man’s territory would never be my style.”

The fight seemed to go
out of Melody at that remark.  “No, that wouldn’t be like the “you” I’ve gotten
to know.  You definitely don’t seem like the type of man that would willingly
share your woman’s attention – even if she was just your woman of the moment,”
she conceded grudgingly.  “I still don’t like it.”

“I didn’t like it
either, babe, and I’m the one that unfortunately did it,” Cal confessed
grouchily.  “Now, if I let you up, are you gonna continue trying to make this
rooster into a hen or am I safe?” he asked, loosening his grip on her wrists as
he stared down into her face.  “Because I gotta say, as much as I’ve wanted to
get your body beneath mine, this isn’t the way I’d aimed on it happening,” he
complained, seeing Melody’s lips twitch with amusement.  “What?” he growled.

“You.  You sound so put
out with me. 
I’m
not the one that played hide the hot dog with a
married woman,” she said as she fought a laugh.

“First of all, it was
an accident that happened twenty years ago, and the emphasis in that statement
belongs on the word, ‘accident’.  Second, I resent the comparison you just made
about my dick.  If my cock resembles anything it’s one of those thick Italian
sausages, damn it.”

Melody bit her lip to
keep from giggling.  “My apologies.  I’m sure you’re a magnificently hung
beast, Callum.”

“You don’t believe me?”
he asked with a fierce scowl.  “I can show you, woman.  I’m not afraid to put
my dick where your doubt is.  I’m happy to put all your concerns to rest,” he
warned, leaning more heavily against her as she let a giggle escape, and damn,
he loved the sound of it.    “Although, I gotta say that if I pull my dick out
with you here, it isn’t gonna wanna be confined when you’re done looking at
him.”

“Oh, he isn’t, huh?”
Melody challenged.

“Absolutely not.  He’s
been waiting to get some face time with you.  If I know my dick at all – and
believe me, in the past few years, nobody knows him better than me -- he’ll
wanna stay with you, take his time, and get a hell of a lot better acquainted
with you.”

 Melody rocked her
pelvis against his groin and arched one eyebrow.  “Why, Cal?  Does having me
try to rip Little Cal from your body
actually
turn you on?” she asked
wryly.  “Kinky.”

“Princess, there’s not
much you do that doesn’t flip my fuckin’ switch,” he admitted ruefully.  “So,”
he cautioned, grinding his iron-hard dick against her, her thin, cotton pajama
pants doing nothing to disguise his size and length, “If I were you, I wouldn’t
push me right now.”

“Why do you want me so
much?” she mused aloud, canting her head to the side on the plush carpet.  “I
don’t understand it.  A man that looks like you do… who acts like you do… well,
I’ll do you a favor and tell you a secret that could cause me to lose my
membership into the sisterhood for sharing, but I like you, so I will … Callum,
you could have anybody you wanted.  Honestly.  You’re hot.  You’re undoubtedly
alpha.  When you aren’t being an ass, you can be one of the sweetest people
I’ve ever met.  Go find somebody that’s not dealing with a very messed-up
feeling of self-worth… somebody that’s not dealing with a crazy ass ex-fiancé. 
Go find somebody
easy,
Cal.  Because honest to God, I’m not her.”

“We’ll circle back
around to your comment about the dickhead ex, babe, but we’re gonna hash
through all the other crap you just tried to shovel at me now,” he growled, his
nose moving closer to hers as he bent to stare in her eyes.  “Listen real close
because I want you to hear me, Melody.  I’m forty-two years old.  I’ve had a
lot of time to taste easy over the years.  I’ve had it… sampled it at a variety
of buffet tables, darlin’.  It was fine for what it was, I guess.  It filled me
up and eased the ache, but, it wasn’t what could hold me.   I didn’t get
addicted to the flavor of
easy
.   If I had been, I’d be there with them
and not here with you.  I’ve
had
easy.  I’ve found that I’ve developed a
taste for the more complicated flavor of a certain stubborn spitfire that I
know.”

“But…”

Gently covering her
parted lips with a hand, Cal shook his head.  “Nope.  My turn to talk is now. 
Maybe I’ll let you have a turn when I’m done.”  Chuckling when her espresso
colored eyes darkened ominously, warning him that a storm was imminent, he
sighed.  “Melody, I knew you were gonna be special to me the moment RJ showed
me your picture.  Half a world away from where you were, your brother passes me
this beat-up snapshot of you grinning like a lunatic with a drink in one hand
and a book in the other while you were lying on some beach.  Saw it one
afternoon about a year ago when we were getting ready to go out on a mission,
and the second I laid my eyes on you, I felt something shift inside me.  I
didn’t know what it meant then.  I didn’t know what the fuck was happening. 
And God’s honest truth, I’ve only been able to figure it out over the last few
weeks of being with you.”

Circling one thick
wrist with her hand, she tugged at the hand over her mouth.  “Well, enlighten
me,” she ordered when she managed to uncover her mouth. 

“Not sure you’re ready
to hear it yet, Princess, but I’ll try to explain the best I can,” Cal’s deep
voice rumbled as he got a little lost in her bottomless eyes.  “Here’s what I
can tell you without any trouble at all.  When your brother told me what was
going on a few months back with your ex-prick boyfriend and asked me to check
in on you, I didn’t think twice.  I fuckin’
volunteered
for guard duty. 
Because after seeing your gorgeous face in that snapshot, I just knew I had to
know you better.  I got here.  I watched you.  And I knew… I needed more. I
wanted to be closer.  I’ve never felt like that for a woman.  That pull… that
primal need.  Like you were essential to me in a way I’d never experienced in
my life.  I know you would deny that you need anybody to protect you, but that
doesn’t change the fact that my first instinct is to put myself between you and
anything I think could hurt you.  It’s not even a choice for me, Princess.  Its
reflex, babe.  A compulsion that I can’t and have no desire to fight.  You’re
mine.  My heart and dick recognized it the moment my eyes came to rest on that
photograph of RJ’s.  My brain caught up over the last month.  And now, I just
know.  I was put here to be yours and you were meant to be mine.  We fit. 
Fuck, even when we fight, we fit.  Do you know how rare that is?”

“Callum,” Melody
breathed shakily as her wide eyes darted everywhere but his face. “Come on,
this is…”

“This is a fact,
Melody.  You can try to hide from it.  You can insist on burying your head in
the sand and avoiding it.  But when you’re finally forced to come up for air,
this thing between us is still gonna be here because I’m not runnin’ from it. 
And I’m not going anywhere.  Tell me the truth, Mel.  Did you ever feel
anything like what you feel with me with Bradley?” he asked, sneering the other
man’s name as if it tasted like shit on his tongue.  “And remember, I seem to
have a talent for knowing when you lie,” he growled.  “I won’t think twice
about tanning your ass if you try to bullshit me now.  This is too important.”

“You aren’t gonna put a
hand on my ass, you bully,” Melody spat back , squirming underneath him as one
of his wide, warm hands slipped underneath her left butt cheek and squeezed her
flesh.  His grip was hard enough to let her know he meant business, but not
enough to actually cause her pain.

“You were saying?” he
murmured, his fingers now kneading the toned muscles in her ass, pulling a
trembling moan from her lips as he rocked his stiff cock against the cradle of
her thighs.

“You don’t play fair,
Cal,” he heard Melody whisper, his gaze glued to where her hardened nipples
pressed against his chest.

“Who’s playing?” he
grunted, lowering his head until his lips skimmed her pale cheek.  “C’mon,
baby.  Could that fool before me ever make you feel like this?  Like you wanted
to claw your way into his body and take up residence there because only he
could make the ache stay away?  Could he make you shudder like a leaf in a
hurricane just by putting his lips to this pretty neck of yours?” Cal breathed,
gently rubbing his lips against the skin where her pulse throbbed a quick,
pounding beat.  “Did you want him so badly that you couldn’t stop this sticky
sweetness from sliding out of you no matter how hard you fought it?” he rasped
against her ear as his hand slid between them to caress the damp crotch of her
pajama pants.   “Could the fucker do to your body what I can do just by looking
at you?”

“N-no,” Melody finally
stuttered a denial.

“No, what, Melody?” Cal
returned darkly, his tongue flicking the lobe of her ear as he moved his hand
to curl around one of her firm breasts.  “I want the words.  All of them.”

“N-nobody can make me
feel the way you do,” she whispered against his ear as he strummed his thumb
against her pebbled nipple, toying with the peak as his breath fell hot and
heavy against her collarbone.

“Fuck, no, they can’t. 
And I’ll kill the fucker who tries,” he snarled a split second before his
hungry mouth took hers, forcing her lips apart as he thrust his tongue inside
her wet heat to taste her as the impulse to imprint himself upon her overtook
him.  Stroking her tongue with his, he felt her body relaxing against his,
molding herself to him.  Her slender legs wrapped around his hips, urging him
closer as she rocked her pelvis upward, sliding her still covered pussy against
the hard ridge straining inside his jeans. 

Tearing his lips from
hers, he pressed heated kisses down the arch of her neck, pausing when he
reached the shallow indentation between her throat and shoulder. Swiping his
tongue against the sensitive patch of skin, he growled against her flesh as she
moaned before sucking the skin there sharply between his lips.  Drawing back
slightly to see the faint but clearly discernable love bite he’d left behind,
he felt his cock jerk behind his jeans.  It might make him a caveman, but he
fucking loved seeing his brand on her otherwise unblemished flesh.  More than
that, he loved knowing that he’d claimed that body as his own and that anyone
who looked at her would know that she was irrevocably taken.  Fuck, if it was
up to him, he’d cover her body in his marks, but he knew Melody was a reserved
woman that wouldn’t appreciate her neck being covered in hickeys.