Page 62 of Road to Rosalee

‘Are you okay?’ His voice was tender and husky. ‘You seem a million miles away, my beautiful lady.’

She glanced up at him from beneath her lashes. ‘Yes.’ She brought her chin to his chest. ‘How about you?’

He gently touched her face, studying her with a deeply passionate gaze. ‘Couldn’t be better.’

‘Good.’ She brushed her fingers over his collarbone, admiring the intricate curves of his tribal tattoo that skated over his shoulder and out of sight.

‘Your fingers feel like flames.’ Exhaling with her gentle touch, he kissed her on the nose. ‘You’re a very special woman, Sweet Melody. I hope you know that.’

‘If you say so.’

‘Oh, trust me.’ He arched his eyebrows. ‘I know so.’

‘Well, you, Zai Wellstone, are a very special man.’ The need to tell him everything about the life he knew nothing of was becoming overwhelming.

‘I’m glad you think so.’

‘I know so,’ she added with a slightly wobbly smile.

Her voice of reason stormed to the front of her mind. Just say it, Melody. Tell him …

‘So what now?’

Zai’s voice brought her back. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Are we official?’ He grinned a little self-consciously. ‘I really want the world to know how lucky I am to have you as my gorgeous girlfriend.’

Her stomach clenched into a tight fist. ‘I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that just yet.’ She needed to make things completely final with Antonio before revealing what she and Zai had together.

Hurt flashed across his face. ‘Why? What are you so afraid of?’

It was a valid question, one he deserved an answer to. She tried to form the right words, looking everywhere but at him.

His body tensed and his eyes were intent as he formed his next question. ‘Melody, what haven’t you told me?’

She wilted a little under his interrogative look. ‘There are some things you don’t know about me yet, things I need to do before we can tell the world we’ve fallen in love.’

He slid out from beneath her cheek and sat up. ‘What kind of response is that?’

Her mind raced, her breathing quickening – how in the hell was she meant to say this to him? ‘I’m … kind of married. But not in the usual sense,’ she added quickly.

‘Married?’ Inching away from her, he scanned her face, his eyes turning cold and hard. ‘What in the hell are you on about?’

Feeling downright dirty, she knew it was time to come completely clean. ‘He cheated on me and I moved out to my Aunt Sally’s place. But my mother was sick and all my attention and time was on her, and now we’re kind of having a trial separation of sorts so I can figure out what I want.’

‘What in the hell, Melody.’ He shot from the bed as if she were venomous, taking the sheet with him. ‘Don’t you think this should’ve been something you told me about ages ago?’

‘Yes, of course I should have.’ As she pulled the doona up to her chin, she did her best to hold his increasingly stormy gaze. ‘I just didn’t know how to.’

‘You didn’t know how to?’ He stared as though she were out of her mind. ‘How about just saying, “I’m married” before sleeping with me? Because that would have been a damn good start to a conversation we should’ve had before doing this.’

Her mind scrambled for all the excuses she’d given herself, and even though they’d sounded reasonable in her head, saying them out loud was another thing. ‘I suppose, deep down … I didn’t want to lose the possibility of there ever being an us.’

‘Well, for the record, you’ve gone and done that by doing this.’

She fought to not burst into tears. ‘I don’t know what you want me to say.’ Her stomach clenching, she watched feelings chase over his face – anger, resentment, disappointment, and hurt. And she’d caused all of it.

He breathed in deeply before huffing it away. ‘I thought I was more important to you.’ The muscles in his jaw clenched. ‘But I was a fool for believing that.’