Home Read online

  Chapter 7

  Nick’s Playlist: “Finding You” by Kesha

  The salty breeze immediately relaxes me as I walk out of the plane. I’m momentarily distracted by long, reddish-blonde hair waving under the lights of the small airport. My head snaps up, and I lock eyes with Melissa.

  Before I can start to figure it out, I hear Cody chuckle. “You’re welcome,” he says.

  I roll my eyes.

  “So, this is the beauty you hooked up with. She’s cute, Nick,” Zoe says from behind me. “Are you going to introduce us?”

  We all walk away from the plane and as we approach the small airport, Melissa pushes off a wall where she’s been patiently waiting.

  “How’d you…” I trail off at the site of her in an unbelievably sexy dress.

  She shrugs. “I know people,” she laughs and throws her arms around my neck. “I’m glad you’re back,” she whispers in my ear.

  “Me too,” I murmur as I breathe in her scent. I hear Zoe clear her throat behind us.

  “Melissa, this is my cousin Zoe, Cody’s wife,” I say to her.

  “Pleased to meet you,” she says, extending her hand to Zoe. Zoe smiles and mirrors her greeting.

  “Do you all have a car? I have one just in case,” she says, motioning to a parked car in the distance.

  “I have a driver over there,” Cody responds as he points to a waiting SUV. “Why don’t you take Nick to the hotel, so I can show Zoe a bit around the island on our way there?”

  I know this is Cody’s way of politely telling me to go with my woman because there is no way Zoe is interested in seeing the island at night. But I play along and give my cousin a kiss on the cheek before heading off with Melissa.

  “Back so soon?” she asks as she expertly maneuvers us around the island.

  “Couldn’t stay away,” I say with a grin.

  “So, what’s going on, Nick? You said you’d tell me about it when you got here and well, you are here now?” she asks softly, glancing at me in the dark vastness of the car.

  I take a deep breath. “Let’s talk at my hotel. I want you to stay with me,” I tell her. I don’t want her driving while I tell this story.

  “Alright,” she says slowly, and we drive in silence. She parks the car near the hotel, and we walk in together. The room is under Bryce’s name, and when I ask for the room which is prepaid in advance and already linked to a credit card, Melissa gives me a weird look, although she doesn’t say anything.

  I take her hand and lead her up to a comfortably sized room on the second floor. There’s champagne waiting for us on the dresser with a note from Cody

  “Enjoy your stay,” it says.

  I set down my suitcase and pour us each a glass of champagne. I hand one to Melissa and then take her other hand in mine and lead her to the balcony. We sit down and stare out at the marina. The view is just as I remember it. Puffy white clouds hang out at the top of Pico and the water shimmers. I can make out dolphins in the distance. I take a large breath and smell the salty air. I can feel Melissa’s eyes on me.

  “A few summers ago,” I begin, keeping my gaze out at the water, “my mom went to Scotland to work on a book. She met Jack, my stepdad, on that trip, but Jack also had a…well, an interesting past. He was involved in espionage and had gotten in a bad situation with a Russian mobster of sorts. Anyhow, Lily and I didn’t know what was going on and showed up to visit my mom. Lily ended up getting abducted.” Melissa gasps and I put my hand on her knee and look into her eyes which are wide with surprise. “She’s alright. They were able to get her back. My mom was also abducted but managed to save herself. She killed the mobster in the process. The guy was involved in human trafficking. Anyhow, we thought all was good until Lily went to Colombia looking for our biological family after spending a week in the Galapagos with Zoe. They met Cody and Lance there. Cody ended up working in the same city Lily was staying in Colombia. Lance had decided to stay there for a few weeks with his brother, and he ran into Lily. He helped Lily do family research. Lily found out our mom had conceived us after being raped by a priest. Our father, the priest, was involved in human trafficking with the Russian mobster.” I take a breath and see Melissa’s wide eyes enlarge even further in the dim light of the marina. She takes a huge sip of champagne, her hand trembles as she does so. “After the mobster was killed by my mom, another international criminal group took over his territory for human trafficking and that group ended up being headed by a Middle Eastern man who was working with Cody. Anyhow, Lily nearly got abducted again, and our father was killed in the process. That man, Mohammed, ended up chasing after Zoe and Cody to China looking for a flash drive with data for their human trafficking operations. Cody killed him there, and then Mohammed’s brother, Saeed, came after my uncle Jesse, my mom’s brother, who had helped with encryption on the flash drive. Saeed was killed by my uncle’s wife, Vanessa, who had somehow come across Saeed and Mohammed as a teenager when they nearly abducted her and unfortunately did take her friend who was believed to be killed. Anyways, we thought all of this was behind us now, but one of the Russian guys, Alexei’s right-hand man, who Lily testified against just escaped from a British prison, and we are all under lock and key now. Cody, Zoe, and I came here for safety reasons until my stepdad can get intel on Ben’s whereabouts.” I take a long sip of champagne, unsure that I should have told her all of that but knowing in my heart of hearts that I can trust this woman.

  Melissa’s face is ashen white like she’s seen a ghost.

  “Beautiful,” I say slowly as I reach out to touch her cheek. “Melissa, are you OK?” I realize I just laid a lot on her, but her reaction isn’t what I expected.

  “Hey,” I say to her, pulling her up into my arms, I hold her tightly. She’s trembling, and I’m not sure why. I brush her hair away from her face. “It’s OK. I’m not really involved, and Ben shouldn’t know about Zoe or Cody, so really we’re here out of a lot of precaution.” Slowly, her trembling stops. I feel like she’s about to say something to me, but instead, she lets out a long breath.

  “I’m alright,” she says. I see her contemplating something, and I wonder what it is. “I…I had a sister too. She was abducted when we were kids. We don’t talk about it. I guess your story just hit close to home.”

  “Oh God,” I say in horror remembering the photos in her apartment. “I’m so sorry, Melissa.” I pull her tightly against me and kiss the top of her head.

  She doesn’t say anything for a few seconds and slowly I feel her body un-tense and come to rest against mine. “It’s alright. How would you have known that? Plus, it was a long time ago. I was much younger than her. I honestly don’t remember much about her anymore.”

  I pull back and cup her face in my hands. “I’m sorry,” I say to her again.

  She gives me a pained smile. “Let’s finish this bottle of champagne and move on to happier conversations.”

  “Agreed,” I say, reaching to pour her more champagne.

  I pull her back down onto my lap, and we sip our drinks and talk about a million other subjects. I really want nothing more than to rip her dress off and slide inside of her, but after baring our souls I’m not sure that is a good idea tonight.

  Eventually, she yawns. “Do you have to work tomorrow?” I ask her. She shakes her head.

  “Good, stay with me then,” I command.

  “Yes,” she answers. “Oh, but I don’t have a change of clothes.”

  “Then let’s go for a walk and get you some, and we’ll come back here. We can get breakfast with Cody and Zoe tomorrow. Cody and I have a quick site visit in the afternoon, but otherwise, we don’t have plans.” We head to her apartment. She grabs a bag and throws some items in it, and then we walk back to the hotel. She yawns again as we brush our teeth, side by side in the bathroom.

  “Sorry,” she says. “It’s been a long day.”

  “I feel you,” I say with a smile. “Let’s get to bed.”

  She throws on a tank top and l
ittle cotton shorts, and I peel off all my clothes except for my boxer briefs, and we climb into the bed. I pull her to me and tilt her head up to meet my gaze.

  “I really did miss you, Melissa,” I say to her as I lean down and gently kiss her perfect lips.

  “I missed you too,” she says against my mouth.

  We fall asleep curled up together, taking up the space of one person in a giant bed meant for two.

  “Nick?

  “Nick?” I hear my name through my dreams and my eyes flicker open to see Melissa’s face filling my view.

  “Do you want to go to breakfast?” she asks, glancing at the clock on the side table. I follow her gaze and see that it’s nearly nine in the morning.

  I run a hand over my face. “Yeah, let’s get dressed,” I say to her as I give her a quick kiss on her luscious lips. We take turns in the small bathroom and are ready in just under ten minutes. This pleases me for some unknown reason, the fact that Melissa doesn’t have to preen herself for an hour before going out to grab a bite to eat.

  We head downstairs and find Zoe and Cody already seated at a table. From the looks of it, they’ve been there for a while and have already eaten. Cody sees us first and waves us over to their table which has two other chairs.

  “Have a seat,” he says as he gestures to the two empty chairs. We sit down and are brought coffee immediately. Melissa requests juice, and we both order eggs and toast.

  “Did you sleep alright?” Cody asks us.

  “Fine,” Melissa says.

  Zoe raises her eyebrows, and I give her a look. She smiles at me. “Any plans today?” she asks us.

  I shake my head. “Just the site visit this afternoon,” I say.

  Melissa grins. “I…have a plan” she says in her best Tommy Boy impression. We all whip around to face her, and I grin at the ridiculousness of her voice.

  “What?” I ask her. She shakes her head.

  “You all will have to trust me,” she says.

  “OK, tour guide, we’re counting on you,” Cody says as he sips his coffee.

  We finish eating our breakfast, and Melissa takes us to the car she used last night. I give her a look of curiosity.

  She drives us around the island to a tower. It’s an old lighthouse and is surrounded by barren rocks and sand. “Come on,” she says as she gets out of the car. “Capelinhos Volcanic Interpretation Centre,” she explains.

  We walk up to the lighthouse and go down into a museum. It’s actually quite interesting. We get an appreciation of the volcanic eruption that occurred here in the 1950s. We climb around the old lighthouse and enjoy the amazing views. She stops at a little café on the way back, and we eat lunch.

  “I can drop you at the wind farm site if you like,” she says as we reach a fork in the road. Cody checks his watch.

  “Yeah, sure,” he responds, and we drive out to see our project. Melissa offers to take Zoe to see more of the island, and they agree to pick us up afterward.

  It’s at this point I notice the car that pulls up behind us. It’s Pierce. I don’t even know how he got here since he wasn’t on our flight, but I give him a nod in the direction of Zoe and Melissa, and he follows them back out to the road. We have plenty of security at the wind farm site, and quite frankly I think Cody would agree with me that the ladies are more important.

  We spend the afternoon with Mark and Steve again and take a look at the progress. It’s actually quite impressive. The construction is a few days ahead of schedule right now, although Mark and Steve admit they are hauling ass now since they know other delays could happen with supply deliveries later on in the construction process. By late afternoon, we are finished, and Cody texts Zoe to see their whereabouts. They are about thirty minutes away, so we mingle with staff for a bit longer until I see Melissa pull up out front.

  We pile in, and she heads back to town with Pierce in tow. Apparently, Zoe has already explained Pierce’s presence to Melissa because she is unfazed by the car following her. We chat about our afternoons, and Zoe raves about the island. Melissa suggests a trip over to Pico someday, and Zoe agrees enthusiastically.

  We pull up and let Zoe and Cody out, and I stay with Melissa until she finds a parking spot.

  “Whose car is this anyhow?” I ask her.

  “Oh, it’s Marco’s car. He lets me use it when he’s busy or at work. He just lives down the street from me,” she explains.

  “That’s nice of him,” I say, although I feel a tinge of jealousy for some reason.

  We park and walk back to the hotel. I get us drinks in the bar, and we walk out by the pool and survey the surrounding boats. There are a few mega-yachts and some sailboat yachts and a number of smaller boats. We discuss the pros and cons of a few of them.

  “Let’s grab an early dinner,” I tell her.

  “Sure, you want to go to the bar,” she asks me. I nod. I could use the distraction of her friends. I text Zoe and Cody to ask them to join us. We head over and grab a big table. It isn’t long before the normal crowd starts to gather.

  “Hey, man, good to see you,” Marco says as he gives me a “bro hug.”

  Cody and I get similarly warm greetings from all the tour company crew. It’s a pleasant evening, and we all enjoy ourselves. Although it doesn’t appear that Zoe drank anything, she looks super tired, and I can tell Cody wants to get her back to the hotel. I wonder if she’s just trying to get over the jet lag. I’ve always read that one shouldn’t drink alcohol and should drink a lot of water. They stumble back, and Melissa and I stay for a bit longer before I catch her eye. She’s watching me just as I have been sneaking glances at her all evening. She’s just so damn beautiful. She has the cutest little idiosyncrasies. I love how she twirls her hair around her finger when she’s deep in thought or how she rubs her forefinger with her thumb when she’s agitated or nervous. Her laugh is deep and infectious. I’ve missed all these little things about her.

  We excuse ourselves. As we are leaving, everyone agrees another Pico trip should be in the works for the weekend. I take Melissa’s arm and tuck it around mine as we go back to the hotel.

  “What time do you work tomorrow?” I ask her.

  “I have to be up early to meet a fisherman,” she says.

  “How early?” I ask her.

  “Five,” she says. I look at my phone. It’s nearly eleven. Damn, I think to myself. I really just want to strip her naked, but I also know she needs her sleep.

  “Well, let’s get you to bed then,” I say to her as I open our hotel room door.

  “I’m not really tired,” she says as I lock the door and turn to see her pulling her shirt over her head. She watches me as it falls to the floor, followed by her bra, jeans, and panties. Her shoes she must have already kicked off as they are on the floor by her clothes.

  “Oh?” I finally answer.

  “Oh,” she says. My willpower completely dissolves, and I’m on her in two seconds flat. I pull her up against me, and she wraps her legs around my waist as I kiss her hard, my tongue is granted access to her sweet mouth. I taste her, really taste her for the first time in nearly ten days. She tastes so good.

  “God, I missed you,” I murmur against her mouth. She’s unbuttoning my shirt as we kiss, and I help her remove it. And then she’s out of my arms and falling to her knees as she unbuckles my belt and unzips my pants, pulling them down with my briefs. I’m in her mouth before I can respond, and I groan from pure ecstasy.

  She licks and sucks her way up my length to my crown and takes me deep in her mouth. I’m actually startled a bit by how deep she can take me.

  “Jesus, Mel…” I trail off as I grab her by her hair. She hollows her cheeks and creates such a strong suction I almost blow my load. “Easy,” I groan.

  She’s relentless and sucks harder and swirls her tongue around my tip as she allows me to fuck her pretty little mouth. “I’m going to come,” I moan as I feel my balls tighten. I’ve been daydreaming of this for too many days, and I lose my willpower as I s
hoot stream after stream into her throat. She licks me clean afterward, and I pull her up and kiss her, tasting myself on her tongue.

  The kiss alone has me hard again in a matter of seconds. I toss her on the bed, and she giggles as she bounces. My eyes are on her breasts as they bounce too. I dive in after her and immediately latch onto one of them. She gives a yelp as I graze her nipple with my teeth. “There’s so much I want to do to you, but right now, I just need to be buried inside of you,” I growl. I reach into the bedside table’s drawer and fish out a condom with one hand, while I reach between her legs and stroke her with my other hand. She’s so wet, and I plunge two fingers into her, stretching her, readying her for me.

  She takes the condom from my hand and rolls it on me, and then I’m inside of her, moving with such need, such desire that I get lost in her. I feel as though we are one, and I thrust over and over into her warm channel. She feels perfect.

  “You. Are. So. Perfect,” I grunt as I continue to throttle her at an epic speed. She’s tightening around me, and I know she is very close. I nip her ear with my teeth and run my thumb over her swollen clit and that is all it takes. She explodes around me, crying out some form of my name. I can’t hold it much longer, and I thrust three more times before I go over the edge and follow her into Nirvana.

  We lie on the bed panting. I can literally feel the heat of her body even though there are millimeters between us.

  “Mel, huh?” she giggles.

  I turn to her with a questioning look.

  “You started to say my name, but I guess you only got out ‘Mel,’” she says with a raised eyebrow.

  “Do you not do nicknames?” I ask.

  “On the contrary, I like them,” she says. “But only a few people call me Mel. My brother couldn’t say my name well, so at home, I was always Lissa. I assume your full name is Nicholas.”

  I nod. “Lily is actually Liliana, but we call her Lilypond.”

  Mel laughs. “Mel,” I say again, seeing how her nickname sounds.

  “Yes?”

  “Yes, I like it, Mel,” I say definitively.