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Jack lumbered into the room, making a pit stop at Adam’s knee, then beelining to Melanie. How that dog loved her. Adam toyed with telling Melanie that Jack had taken to standing next to the bed at night, resting his head on the pillow where she’d slept. Even Jack knew that she belonged there.
Melanie ruffled Jack’s ears and smiled at him. “I’m no expert, but it’s better to come out with things and live with the consequences. I did that with my dad. It didn’t go over well, but at least I said my piece.”
She was so smart, so intuitive about people, although she seemed more interested in helping others than examining her own problems. “I like hearing about your family.” It makes me feel closer to you. He’d wanted to say that last part so badly, but it would sound too much as if he’d fallen desperately in love with a woman he couldn’t have. And he had. He loved Melanie with every fiber of his being.
“I should probably go.” She stood, straightening her dress and collecting her purse. “And you should get out of that suit so you don’t get it all wrinkly before tomorrow.”
He rose to his feet to say his goodbye, finding her only a few feet from him. His arms ached to hold her, never let go. He wanted to kiss her for days, escape from the entire world with her. He wanted to cherish and adore her the way she deserved to be. She’d shown him the opportunity in tomorrow, the day he’d been dreading, reminded him that he determined his own destiny. Of course, that pertained to business. There was no controlling it when it came to love, now that there was another man in the picture.
Seventeen
Melanie had rendered herself dateless right after she left Adam’s. As difficult as it would be to see him with Julia at the gala, taking Owen as her human security blanket wasn’t right. So, she stopped by his apartment, apologized profusely and owned up to everything. He deserved better and she needed to get her head screwed on straight.
She hardly slept at all that night, haunted by images of Adam, the way he’d looked at her after he’d tried on the suit, the gravel in his voice when it seemed as if he might be jealous. Other memories swooped in and out of her consciousness—the mountain house, dancing at Flaherty’s, the night when she’d finally allowed herself the pleasure of the sexiest man she’d ever known. She could still feel his tender lips on hers, remember his warm and welcoming smell, conjure the safe sensation of his arms around her. Knowing that her chance with Adam was behind her left a void—one that made the one left by Josh look like a chip on a china teacup.
In the morning, sleep-deprived and feeling duly horrible, she knew she had to keep herself busy on gala day or it’d mean hours of rehashing what she’d gone over countless times. She was going to miss the hell out of Adam and there was no getting around it. She tried on twenty different dresses, threw in a load of laundry, smeared on a facial mask, took a bath, painted her nails ruby red, and spent entirely too much time messing with her hair and makeup. At least she would look good when she said goodbye.
Just when she’d narrowed her choice of dresses down to two, a push notification arrived on her phone. She picked it up and checked it—big mistake. It felt as though her breath was being dragged out of her as she looked at the tabloid photo of Julia leaving Adam’s apartment building early that morning. So that was what Adam had on his social schedule last night. Julia had been on her way over.
She plopped down on her bed, still in her bathrobe. She stared at the picture, struggling to make sense of the emotion seething inside her. Logic said that this should make her sad, another sign from the universe that she and Adam weren’t meant to be. But there was no melancholy. She didn’t even feel bitter. She was flat-out pissed off—not at Adam, but at herself. The most incredible man she’d ever met, the only man she wanted, was about to walk away and she was going to let him. Everything holding her back would expire at midnight, and then where would she be? A few bucks ahead and brokenhearted, that’s where.
Julia wasn’t what he wanted. She knew it. Even if he hadn’t told her as much, her heart still knew better than to accept that. Her heart knew exactly the way it felt when she and Adam were together—complete, fulfilled, as if it didn’t make sense to be anywhere else. And when they were apart, she was lost, not just without a map or compass, but without a destination.
In the moments when Melanie had been able to see past the obstacles between herself and Adam, their chemistry was more real than anything she’d dreamed possible. The rest of the time, even when they were at odds, she’d been unable to deny his pull on her. She’d only learned to pretend it wasn’t there.
