The Game Changer (38 page)

“You wouldn’t,” Melody said, giving his chest a shove.

He didn’t budge. “Try me.” He was smirking down at her, and she was torn between kissing his upturned lips, and wiping that smug look off his face.

“I heard a woman in the background the night you called me from your hotel room,” she blurted.

His self-satisfied smile turned into a look of surprise, but quickly returned. “You’re jealous,” he said, his tone far too triumphant for Melody’s liking.

“I am not, you giant egomaniac.” She pushed at him again, but his hold on her was strong. “I’m just curious. We’re friends, I’m curious about my friend’s…friends.” It sounded lame, even to her own ears.

“You’re jealous. You
are
. I don’t believe it.”

Melody grabbed for the paintbrush and managed to snatch it from his hand. “Ha!” she crowed, holding the brush near Julian’s hair. “Let’s see how smug you are when
you’re
the one walking around with lavender hair.”

He grabbed for the brush, but Melody moved it out of reach, waving it around behind her back so he couldn’t get it. “Let me go and neither of us has to end up looking like a cartoon character.”

Julian laughed. “You don’t think I could pull off purple hair?”

“I think
you
think you could pull off anything,” Melody returned, unable to stop the laughter that rose in her throat. “But I don’t know what your new business associates would think of that.”

“Oh, please.” He rolled his eyes and loosened his grip on her waist, but didn’t step back. “Half of them are younger than I am and are covered in tattoos and piercings. I’d fit right in with purple hair.”

“Well, damn,” Melody said, giving the brush back to him. “That takes the fun out of it.”

“Doesn’t it?” With a laugh, Julian released her and went back to the far wall. When Melody joined him, he cast another sidelong glance at her. “She was a business associate,” he told her. “She’d been flirting with me all day, despite the fact I made it clear I wasn’t interested. That was the night we were all going out for drinks, and she came to my hotel room beforehand. Unannounced. Nothing happened.”

Melody nodded slowly. “I shouldn’t have asked. It’s none of my business,” she said quietly.

“Sure it is,” Julian said lightly. “We’re friends. I don’t keep secrets from you. You can ask me anything, you should know that by now.”

Melody met his eyes, and couldn’t help the smile that crept onto her face.

“And, since you admitted you’re jealous…”

“I admitted no such thing,” Melody said indignantly.

“Since you admitted you’re jealous,” Julian repeated loudly, ignoring Melody’s protests, “I have a confession of my own. I saw you with Rick.”

“You did?”

Julian nodded. He ran his paint-free hand through his hair, making a dark, silky lock fall across his forehead. Melody’s hands itched to push it back. “I did. I was going to come over, but…you didn’t look upset. The opposite, actually. I saw him touch your hand, and then hug you.”

Melody took a moment to process that. He’d seen them. And he hadn’t come over, because…“You were jealous,” she said, poking him in the chest with the handle of her paintbrush.

“I was not,” he said, avoiding her eyes and rubbing absently at his chest. “Okay, fine, I was. Are you happy? At least
I
can admit it.”

He was jealous! Melody had the sudden urge to break into a jaunty little jig. But wait…what did that mean?

“I saw you, too,” Melody admitted. “With that blond woman.”

“Ahh.” Julian set the paintbrush down and crossed his arms over his chest, looking serious. “You caught me. I’ve been having a secret affair.”

“With the woman you were with yesterday?”

“With the woman I was with yesterday,” Julian confirmed. He leaned forward and whispered in a conspiratorial tone, “The really scandalous part is that she’s my cousin.”

“Your…” Melody took a step back and shoved Julian, who started to laugh quietly.

“She’s my cousin, Mel. Her name is Amy, and she’s from Guelph. She’s moving down to Bellevue to help out with the business. That’s why I didn’t let you know I was coming back to town early. It was all really last minute, and I had to help Amy get her stuff together.”

Melody reminded herself that this was the reason she tried never to jump to conclusions. Things often weren’t as they appeared. Like Julian being jealous, for instance. It didn’t necessarily mean anything.

“You poor thing,” Julian said, his tone gently teasing, his face lit with yet another smug smile. “Two women you thought were competition. You’ve got it bad.”

“Very funny,” Melody said, spinning away from him. Needing to put some distance between them, she spotted their empty wineglasses and bent to pick them up, but Julian’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“Mel,” he said quietly.

She took a deep breath and turned around to face him. All traces of his smile were gone, and his gaze was so intense it made Melody’s breath catch. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I was only kidding. You know that, right?”

When she didn’t answer, he reached up and touched her face. She fought the urge to lean her cheek into his warm hand and close her eyes.

“There was a reason I was jealous when I saw you with Rick.” His voice was barely above a whisper, and Melody had to lean in to hear him. “Lately I…I’ve started to…I was thinking…ah, hell.” With an exasperated sigh, he lowered his mouth to hers.

The kiss was everything Melody had tried so hard not to think about over the last few weeks. Julian’s lips were soft and full, and they tasted sweet and minty from the wine and the gum he’d been chewing earlier. His hands cupped her face, and she reached up to hold onto one of his wrists, feeling his pulse beating like frantic butterfly wings under his skin.

Easing back slowly, he looked down at her, his dark-chocolate eyes earnest as they searched her face. She was too stunned to say anything, and when he opened his mouth to speak, she rose up on her tiptoes and pressed her still-tingling lips back to his.

He responded instantly, pulling her even closer and deepening the kiss. His hands trailed down her bare arms, sending shivers racing over her skin. His hands paused at her wrists, encircling them possessively for a moment before sliding down to link his fingers with hers.

Melody’s heart pounded in her ears, drowning out the sounds that came from the open window. Her head spun as Julian released her hands and moved them back up her arms and into her hair, pulling the elastic free and letting the waves cascade down her back and over her shoulders. His mouth left hers and he looked at her with slightly glazed eyes before gathering her hair up and pressing it to his face, inhaling deeply. “I’ve always loved your hair.” His voice was hoarse, and the sound of it sent electric sparks of lust shooting through Melody’s belly. Entwining one hand in her hair, Julian gently tugged her head back until she was looking up at him, and he lowered his lips to hers once more.

Gone were the tentative, exploratory kisses. Now his mouth was hot and hungry on hers. Melody was lightheaded from breathlessness as Julian slowly backed her across the room and down the hall. With Julian’s warm, soft lips trailing along her neck and shoulders, Melody was only semi-conscious of the fact that they were passing the bathroom and Olivia’s room, and heading for hers. This wasn’t how she’d imagined tonight going, but she wasn’t going to stop it.

“Are we really doing this?” Julian asked suddenly, pulling back and gripping her shoulders. His already dark eyes were nearly black in the dim hallway, and the mixture of desire, affection, and—what? Surprise?—on his face left her breathless.

“Yes,” she said, taking his hand and leading him the rest of the way to her bedroom.

The sun was just setting, and her bedroom was bathed in a fiery glow. She smiled at Julian as he swooped down to kiss her again. She couldn’t believe this was happening. In the back of her mind, she knew they should talk. She knew they should get things clear—about this not being a one-time thing, about it not ruining their friendship—but in that moment, all she wanted was his lips on hers, and his body pressed against her.

With a light, playful shove, he pushed her down on the bed and joined her. His hands were just finding their way under her shirt when a buzzing from Julian’s pocket made them both freeze.

“Phone,” Julian said with a laugh, pulling the cell from his pocket and setting it on the nightstand.

“I feel like I should make some comment about how I thought you were just happy to see me,” Melody said a little breathlessly when Julian’s hand found its way once again under her shirt and onto her stomach.

Julian chuckled softly, placing a light kiss at the corner of her mouth.

Could sex really be like this? Melody wondered. Comfortable, with jokes and laughter, and all these different feelings? It had never been like this before. She didn’t have long to explore that train of thought, because Julian was doing some exploring of his own. His hand had almost made it to her breast when his phone started buzzing again.

“Maybe you should get it,” Melody sighed.

Julian groaned and reached for his phone. “It’s my mom. She wouldn’t call twice in a row unless it was important.”

“Answer it,” Melody told him.

“Nothing like your mother calling to kill the mood,” Julian said with a grin. He pulled Melody into a sitting position and began stroking her back as he hit the Talk button on his phone. “Hey, Mom.”

Watching Julian’s face, Melody knew instantly that something was wrong. His happy, sexy smile slowly faded into a look of concern, and his hand stilled on her back. “Okay. Okay, Mom, just calm down. Call Aunt Sarah to come to the hospital to sit with you. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Hospital?” Melody asked when Julian ended the call and got to his feet.

“It’s my dad. He had a heart attack and my mom called an ambulance. They’re in Emergency right now.” Julian stood and ran a hand through his hair repeatedly, glancing around the room as if he were looking for something. “I need to go. I have to get to Ottawa.”

Melody sat frozen on the bed. She didn’t know what to say or do.
Say something!
Her mind screamed. “I’ll go with you.”

Julian was silent for so long, Melody wasn’t sure he’d heard her. Then he said, “This was a mistake. We never should have…I think it was a sign that my mother called when she did…that we weren’t able to go through with it.”

Melody felt like she’d been slapped. She bit her lip hard in an attempt to fight the stinging in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Julian said, finally looking at her. He had moved across the room and was silhouetted in the doorway, so Melody couldn’t see his face. She was almost glad. “I need to go.”

“I’ll go with you,” she said again, surprised by her own words.

“No, Melody, you should stay here.”

Ignoring him, she rose from the bed and crossed the room, giving him a wide berth as she passed him in the doorway. “This is a shock for you, you shouldn’t drive three hours alone. You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to, but I’m going to make sure you don’t speed or fall asleep or something. I don’t want to worry about you all night.”

She paused briefly to glance at him, and her heart ached when she saw his head was bowed and his hands were shoved deep inside his pockets. She couldn’t imagine what he was thinking or feeling, and she wasn’t sure she even wanted to know.

“The only coffee shop in town you really like is closed, so I’m going to make coffee to take with us.” She went to the kitchen and quickly got coffee brewing, then went back to her bedroom where Julian was still standing frozen in the doorway. “I’m going to change and pack a few things.”

Melody expected Julian to leave, but instead, he simply turned around so his back was to her. She stared at him for a few beats, wondering again what was going through his mind. With a sigh, she changed into jeans and a t-shirt, threw a few outfits and a pair of pajamas into her bag, then stopped behind him. He stepped out of her way, but she remained there for a moment, looking up at him. When he didn’t make a move to touch her or speak, she sighed and stepped around him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him reach out to her, but when she turned back he was already walking down the hall. Clenching her jaw, she went into the bathroom to collect her toiletries. When she came out, Julian was pouring coffee into two travel mugs and fixing hers the way she liked it.