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Her heart hammered as he placed his hands on her hips and pulled her close. "Doyouloveme?"
The question was an utter shock to Melody's system.
She opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. Eyes closing, she melted into his arms, enveloped in the scent of him once more. Even wet as he was, he was warm and musky and drove her wild when he was close.
When he pulled back, she kept her eyes closed and asked, "What was that for?"
"I needed to kiss you, just one more time, before you break my heart," Jake said, urging her just a little closer.
She looked up at him then, stunned by his words. "What makes you think I'll break your heart?"
"The pretty ones always do," Jake smiled, though there was sadness in his eyes. It made Melody's heart twist.
She pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek sweetly. "I have no intention of breaking your heart."
As she said the words, she realized that if she did, she would only be breaking her own, too.
She dropped back onto her feet and met his gaze, her stomach churning. Biting the inside of her lip, she inhaled deeply through her nose and finally said, "I do love you, Jake, but that means I can't be Sally's nanny anymore."
The thought of losing the great relationship she already had with the little girl made her uneasy.
Jake's eyes sparked.
"In that case," he said, the corners of his lips twitching up in a smile. He pulled her so close that their chests were pressed together. "How would you feel about being her stepmother instead?"
Melody cringed. "I have always hated that term."
Whenever she heard it, she couldn't help but think of all the evil stepmothers in every film she had ever watched, and that was the last thing she wanted to be associated with.
Just seeing the hurt in Jake's eyes, she realized that to him her reaction must have seemed like rejection. Quickly, she wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed, turning her head up awkwardly to meet his gaze properly.
"Is that your way of asking me what I think you are asking me?"
Nerves bubbled in her stomach, mixed with butterflies, and though she didn't quite dare to hope, she could not stop the smile that spread across her face.
"Yes, Melody," Jake responded. He reached up and brushed wet strands of hair from her cheek. Stroking them back behind her ear, he cupped her cheek in his palm and said, "What I am really asking is, will you be my mate?"
The electricity that sparked through Melody's heart took her breath away. Unable to speak, she threw herself up at him again, catching his lips with her own, kissing him with such a passion she could only hope that he would see the answer in her actions.
It was clear that he did when he gripped hold of her buttocks and pulled her up into his arms.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and kissed him more. Feeling him hold her in one arm to use his free hand to unlock the door, she knew what came next. And she welcomed the idea with exhilaration.
The aches and pains in her body were quickly fading with his closeness, and the pounding of her heart seemed to speed her werewolf healing like never before. She felt more alive than ever as Jake carried her into her house and slammed the door closed with the heel of his boot.
"Where do you want me to take you?" he whispered against her lips, and the double meaning of his words made her quiver.
"The bed," she breathed.
As if she weighed little more than a feather, Jake carried her up the stairs, down the hallway and into the master bedroom that, as luck would have it, was the same bedroom as it was in his little townhouse.
He dropped her gently down onto the bed and stood at the end of it, pausing to pull off his sodden t-shirt.
Melody made quick work of kicking off her boots and yanking off her jeans.
The rain eased outside, and the cloud cover seemed to lift as silver moonlight filtered through the open curtains.
It bathed Jake in such a way that it made him look not only supernatural but all-powerful, like some werewolf god come to take her over and over again until she pleaded with him to stop. But she wasn't sure that moment would ever come.
