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Melody looked unconvinced. She laid a hand on her hip and looked about to say something but Jake beat her to it.
"I just need to call Lewis to have Sally for a couple of hours while I'm at work."
He saw the way she cringed at the mention of his best friend. Jake couldn't say he blamed her. He was dreadful when it came to women, but oddly enough, he was a wonder with Sally.
"You know I could keep an eye on her, right?" Melody said, and she immediately looked as shocked as Jake felt. Never in a million years could he have imagined that the aggressive one-night stand turned next-door neighbor would offer to watch his kid.
Alarm bells rang in his head.Bad idea. Very bad idea!
"No offense, but I don't really know you," he said, feeling his cheeks heat a little with embarrassment. He had known her well enough to put his dick in her, but when it came to his kid, that was a whole other story. Guilt gnawed at him when he reminded himself of the she-wolf he had allowed to be her mother. But Melody didn't know that.
She shrugged as if it was of little consequence to her. Throwing the dead flowers she held onto the pile at her feet, she looked at him and added, "If it makes you feel any better, you can give Tara a call. She can verify that I'm a professional nanny."
Jake's interest was piqued. "Tara as in Max's wife?"
He thought he had seen the blonde bombshell leaving Melody's house earlier that morning.
Melody shrugged again. "Yeah, we've been close ever since I helped her escape Mario's pack last year."
Jake gaped at that, unable to believe what a small world it was. "That was you?"
He had heard tell of the brave outsider who had risked her life in order to help Max and Tara, but he had never realized who she was.
"I don't need to do that," he said, shaking his head. "But it'll be a one-time thing."
Melody crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Whether it is or it isn't makes no difference to me."
Though she was still more than a little standoffish, Jake had to admit she was saving his bacon.
Though he worked for the pack, running the security firm, there were only so many times he could be late or miss work entirely before someone started to notice. And even as a cousin of the alpha, he didn't get an entirely free ride.
"I appreciate it," Jake admitted, blushing a little. He only hoped his dark facial hair would hide the fact.
"Whatever," Melody waved his gratitude away and said, "Just bring her over when she's ready. She can help me do that gardening I promised her."
Before Jake could say another word, she turned and began to make her way toward the house. Jake watched her for a moment as she pulled off her daisy-covered gloves and ran her fingers through her brown hair.
Damn, she was frustrating, fiery and stubborn, just like many other she-wolves he had met, and yet there was something else about her. With every flare of anger he felt toward her, he also got the urge to grab her in his arms and kiss her just to shut her up.
Grow up, Jake!he told himself as he headed back inside to get Sally ready. At least one of them was going to be exceptionally happy today when she found out where she was going.
Chapter 6 - Melody
The afternoon had gone about as wonderfully as Melody had anticipated. Sally, unlike her father, was a little ray of sunshine and determined to be as helpful as possible. And in just a couple of hours, they had managed to weed, feed and water every one of her flowerbeds.
To reward her for all her hard work, she set the little girl up on the breakfast bar in the kitchen with several coloring books, hot chocolate and a small plate of cookies while she went about her usual housework. For the life of her, she couldn't imagine how any mother could dump a kid as clever and helpful as Sally.
She was just washing up the plate that Sally had used for her cookies when there was a sudden knocking on the front door. At first, she thought maybe it was Jake home early.
Then the knocking turned to hammering. Whoever was on the other side of the door, they were angry. Seeing the uncertainty in Sally's big, blue eyes, Melody forced a smile and said, "Don't worry. I'll handle it. You just keep coloring. You're doing so well sticking inside the lines!"
At her encouraging, Sally went right back to it, and Melody held her breath as she headed down the hall to the front door.
She had just reached it when the banging became so strong that it looked like the door might rattle right off its hinges.
"Alright, alright! I'm coming!" Melody yelled through the door as she turned over the lock. Her territorial wolf was already beginning to grind her fangs at the intrusion.
She yanked open the door, surprised to find an oddly familiar face on the doorstep. She gulped the moment she recognized the blonde-haired, green-eyed woman who had been out on Jake's lawn that first evening.
