A Heart's Endeavor (7 page)

Mel arched a brow. “Such as?”

Sara explained that dancing on stage with a bunch of male strippers wasn’t the coolest thing in the world to do no matter what anyone said. Mel was tempted to ask if that advice came from experience, but quickly changed her mind. She didn’t know Sara all that well, but the two of them were closer in age than the rest of the girls. It’d be nice to have another woman to chat with. Sara had mentioned that she and her husband just moved to The Lake three weeks ago. Turned out they were only a couple of houses down from Mel. Maybe the two of them could go walking some time. She made a mental note to suggest it the next time she saw Sara, but right now she had to hurry home and take a bath.

* * * *

Mel rubbed her body down with her favorite berry perfumed cream and pulled on a pair of white shorts and a pink tank top. She surveyed herself in the floor-length mirror and sighed. It was pointless to hide her thighs now after Jack had his entire face buried between them. He had seen everything she had to offer but her ass. That part of her anatomy she intended to keep covered for as long as she could. He’d be seeing it a heck of a lot sooner if he carried out his threat to spank her.

Mel was looking out her bedroom window when she saw Jack pull into the driveway. She hurried into the kitchen, grabbed her purse, and went outside to find him standing at the bottom of the porch steps wearing a smile.

“You look beautiful,” he said and held out his hand.

She locked the door and closed the distance between them. “Thank you,” she replied and placed her hand in his. His clasp was warm and she felt all gooey inside. She couldn’t remember the last time she had held hands with a man. Mike wasn’t the type who liked a clinging woman, but Jack seemed to enjoy the closeness.

He steered her toward his Durango and made quick work of seeing her safely seated and buckled in. Mel watched as he crossed in front of the vehicle and settled himself behind the wheel. Boy, he looked good dressed in a pair of cut-off jeans and a short sleeve dark blue t-shirt. He flashed another smile and keyed the engine. He smelled delicious, all male and musk. Mel folded her hands in her lap and resisted the urge to lay her head in his lap and find out if he tasted just as good as he smelled. Yikes. She had to stop thinking about him or she’d go wild and attack him in the driveway.

They hadn’t gotten far when Mel spotted a duck waddling across the road with her brood in tow. She cried out and squeezed her eyes shut, afraid the animal would get run over. The speed limit at The Lake was twenty-five, so Jack was able to brake without causing an accident although he did lift his arm in a protective gesture across her chest. He honked the horn, but the stubborn fowl refused to move. With a heavy sigh, he opened the door. Stepping onto the road, he waved his arms at the bird and managed to get her moving.

Mel’s heart pounded in her chest until all the babies were safely on the other side of the road. She smiled at Jack as he walked toward her, but then her mouth dropped open in surprise. The female duck had doubled back. She flapped her wings wildly and snapped at Jack’s heels. Mel couldn’t believe a duck could move that fast, and by the shocked expression on Jack’s face, neither did he. He was surprisingly agile for a big guy. He landed in the driver’s seat with a thump and slammed the door. The duck blasted them with one loud quack and waddled back to her ducklings.

Jack expelled a loud whoosh of air. “Just goes to show that women don’t appreciate the guidance of a man,” he stated emphatically and shifted gears as if nothing had happened.

Mel wanted to argue that chauvinistic comment, but the sight of the six foot plus stern trooper running from a duck had her at a loss for words. Instead, she burst out laughing. She laughed so hard her sides hurt and tears ran down her face. She chanced a glance in Jack’s direction and saw the corner of his mouth twitch.

As soon as he parked in the designated area for the block party she jumped out of the car and threw her arms around his neck. She hung on tight and buried her face in his chest. He’d never know how much his act of kindness toward an animal had meant to her. She rained kisses over every inch of his handsome face. His eyelids, his nose, his firm chin, and the tanned column of his throat.

“Whoa. I’m not complaining, but what’s this about?” He grasped her chin with his thumb and forefinger. He frowned at the tears in her eyes. “Sweetheart, why are you crying?”

Sweetheart? No one had ever called her sweetheart. “I’m so happy that you didn’t run over the animal.”

He looked confused. “Why would I do something as heartless as that?”

“Mike would have.”

Jack cupped her face with both hands. “I’m not Mike. You’d do well to remember that. And if this is the kind of reaction I get whenever I help an animal in distress, I’d rather skip the block party and find some more critters to save.”

Mel laughed and slipped her arm around his waist. “Thank you, Jack, for helping that poor animal. I would have been devastated if she or her babies would have been hit by a car.” She sniffed back a sob.

“Stop this nonsense,” he admonished sternly then gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “Come on,” he said, drawing her closer to his side. “We’re here to have a good time.”

They entered the fairgrounds and he introduced her to some of the men crowding around a table filled with hot food. Most of them were Jack’s trooper buddies. Mel was shocked at how fast the food disappeared. Jack jokingly remarked that troopers would eat anything that didn’t move, mostly because their meals were often interrupted by an emergency.

Jack filled a plate with pierogies, haluski, and halupkies and moved to the corner of the table. He grabbed two forks and they shared the meal. Potato pancakes were next on the list to sample. Mel had never eaten so much food at one sitting and was ready to explode, but Jack insisted she eat her half of the funnel cake sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Mel didn’t have to move a muscle. Jack was very attentive to her needs. He made sure she had enough to eat and drink and hardly left her side. He downed one beer and nursed a bottle of water for the rest of the evening. Mel was relieved that he didn’t question her refusal of alcohol. She drank water with her half of the funnel cake.

It took some cajoling on his part, but Mel finally agreed to ride the Ferris wheel. After that, he attacked the different games with a vengeance and soon she was hugging a giant panda bear. They bumped into Jim, and Mel could see why the man always wore a smile. His wife, Katie, was a beautiful petite woman with long black hair and dark, soulful eyes. Their daughter Kay was so adorable Mel had to hold her. She pushed the panda bear into Jack’s arms and laughed at his flustered expression. The guys snickered, but Jack was a good sport and kept a hold on the bear.

When Mel took Kay into her arms, her heart ached. She pressed her nose to the baby’s little head and inhaled deeply. The fresh baby smell was intoxicating. Mel looked at Jack and saw the hope and longing shining in his eyes. She knew he wanted children. How could she tell him children might not be in his future if he continued to see her?

Jack was standing next to Mel. She closed her eyes briefly and imagined the three of them were a family. No. She had to stop dreaming about things that were not going to happen.

Kay twisted in the blanket, jerking Mel out of her dismal musings. The little girl’s eyes grew wide as saucers. Mel followed those big brown orbs to the panda bear Jack was holding. She caught his eye and nodded knowingly. Jack clapped Jim on the back and gave the startled man the bear.

The rest of the evening flew by in a blur and soon it was time to leave. Jack drove her home, kissed her goodnight, and made her promise to call him if they ran into any kind of trouble. A part of Mel had wanted Jack to forbid her to go, but another part was happy that he didn’t hold her back from experiencing new things. With a heavy heart she went inside the house and locked the door at his orders. She peeked out the window until his Durango was out of sight.

* * * *

Mel tried to hang back from the crowd of women at the entrance to the Blue Moose, but Stacy and Jen pushed her on ahead. She seriously had to have a talk with those two about respect and old people. The hot guy at the door insisted on checking Mel’s ID. The others left her standing there and went on inside. Mel hadn’t taken him seriously and was shocked when he stepped directly in front of her. Flustered at the sight of his bare chest so close to her face, she lowered her head and fished inside her purse for her driver’s license. He escorted her inside and the girls laughed when she hurried to the table as if the devil himself was after her.

Mel sipped a soda while the other girls hit the hard stuff right off the bat. This was her first time in a strip club so she concentrated on her drink instead of all the bare male flesh circling the tables. Glistening chests and bulging biceps were everywhere. The girls were screaming and yelling. Jen motioned to a guy wearing a G-string. Mel’s belly clenched. Hell, he was coming over to their table. He stabbed his barely covered penis in her face. Stacy flashed a twenty dollar bill at a guy dressed like a cop. The chorus of ooohhs and awwws was deafening. Mel mumbled something about going to the ladies room, but her plan to escape was thwarted. The girls had guessed her intention and formed a tight circle around her. Not knowing where to place her hands, she clutched the edge of her seat while the ‘cop’ gave her a lap dance.

Mel finally relaxed and enjoyed watching the girls carry on like a pack of wild dogs after a bone. It was all done in fun, and she made sure they got home safe and sound. She laughingly refused Stacy’s offer of hitting the club again sometime soon. She may have had a good time after the initial teasing, but the only man she wanted to see naked was Jack.

It was well after two in the morning when she got home, but she was too wound up to sleep. She made herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table.

She thought about Mike and how happy they had been during the first five years of their marriage. She swore she wouldn’t marry a cold man like her father, but she had done just that. Her dad had been fairly tolerable when everything was going his way, but as soon something went haywire he would become downright nasty and insulting. Mike had reacted in the same way, and Mel couldn’t understand why she hadn’t noticed it before. He hadn’t been a man that showed emotion. She had mentioned Mike’s lack of sentiment to her mother one day and received a lecture. Helena had insisted that as long as a man worked hard and provided for his family silly words of love and outward displays of affection weren’t needed.

Mel sipped her coffee. If she had talked to someone about her depression she might have been able to help herself sooner. Her doctor had suggested that she join a support group with other people who suffered from the same illness, but Mike insisted that he didn’t have the time to play taxi driver. Was it possible that his constant nagging about needing pills just to make it through the day had prevented her from accepting her illness and moving forward? She had already made some headway by getting a job. She was…happy. Now, could she strike up enough courage to tell Jack that she had depression? Would he laugh at her? Would he think her an impossible case or find her lacking because she had to take a pill every day? Mel rubbed at the spot between her eyes. All this thinking was giving her a headache. Sooner or later, she’d have to tell Jack. It wasn’t fair to him to keep her illness a secret.

* * * *

The following day was sunny and pleasant. Good weather to tackle yard work. Mel pulled the lawn mower out of the small shed beside the house and began cutting the grass. The sunshine on her face felt good and she hummed a little ditty as she worked. Her second turn around her small front lawn was met by a cruiser pulling into the driveway. She flipped the key to the self-propelled lawn mower and tried not to dwell on her unkempt appearance. Cut-off denims a hair too short hugged her ass and a red tank top covered her bra-less breasts.

Jim was with Jack, and both men wore the usual wraparound sunglasses. Mel didn’t have to guess as to where their eyes were riveted. She knew her nipples were on high beam mode. Just thinking about Jack did that to her. And damn she had been thinking about him. It seemed she couldn’t keep her mind on anything else. She released the handle of the lawn mower and propped a sneaker clad foot on the red painted base. She took her time flicking a clump of grass from her shoe. She needed to gather her wits.

Jack took off his sunglasses. “I could have cut the grass.”

Mel blinked. “I can cut my own grass, Jack. I’ve been doing it for years.” She cocked her head jauntily to the side and propped one hand on her hip. “Surprise, I can even take my own garbage out to the end of the driveway.” She heard a chuckle coming from the passenger’s side. Jim saw the humor in everything, but not Jack. Her heart thumped at his scowl.

“That sassy mouth of yours is going to get you into trouble, young lady.”

Knowing she’d probably rattle him some more by ignoring his threat, Mel reached down to casually knock a clump of grass off her other sneaker. “It’s okay,” she replied flippantly. “After my husband died the men on my street offered to give me a hand whenever I needed help.”

She may have thought him angry before, but it was nothing compared to now. He hauled his ass out of the police cruiser and dwarfed her five foot seven frame. She gulped and backed up a step.

“I just bet they’d like to give you a hand.” He leaned his body close to hers, forcing her to take another step backward, and then another, until she found herself pressed against the shed. “You’ll feel the flat of mine on your sexy little ass if I find out you asked someone else for help instead of coming to me.” He was so close. A little closer and she’d be able to rub her pussy against his hard thigh.

Jack’s nostrils flared. Mel could smell the scent of her arousal and knew without a doubt that Jack did too. He grinned, and it was naughty, downright devilish. “I’m working until ten. I’d like to see you tonight.”