Songbird (A Sinclair Story #1) (11 page)

Nathan’s
mouth was at her breast again, his fingers tracing her body in the same manner
that she had explored his. His right hand reached the junction of her legs, and
without hesitation he slid one finger inside her. The sensation was too much.
The moment he entered her an orgasm ripped through her; she cried out and rode
the pleasure. He added some pressure on her clitoris with his thumb and this
increased the orgasm to the point where she was lightheaded. Her legs moved
restlessly beneath him as she processed the overload of sensory stimulus.

“So
responsive. So beautiful.” He groaned against her lips. “Such a damn turn on.”

She
cried out as his teeth scraped the pebbled bud of her nipple. He removed his
fingers, using the wetness between them to further lubricate her. Reaching
across to the nightstand he opened a drawer and grabbed a foil package.
Protection had completely skipped Melodee’s mind; she was glad he’d thought
ahead. Reaching her hand down between them, she captured the silky smoothness
of him in her palm. He was huge; she could not close her fingers around his
shaft, and her hand felt tiny as she started to move it up and down. She too
used her own wetness as a lubricant and his head fell back as she started to
stroke him. His low groan sent quivers through her already trembling body.

His
breath slid along her neck as he spoke. “If you don’t stop that I’m going to embarrass
myself, and I haven’t done that since I was a fourteen year old boy.”
 

He
reached out and slowed her movements, before leaning his head down to kiss her
again. This time it was rougher, more jagged as their arousal took over. He
reached between them one last time to check her readiness, and finding wetness
coating his fingers, he slipped on the condom and finally he was inside her.
Melodee gasped as she was filled to capacity. He felt even bigger than he’d
looked, as he slowly slid deeper. She had to concentrate on her breathing just
to stop a second orgasm ripping through her. This time they would come
together.

“So
tight. Perfect,” Nathan said; he rested deep inside her.

And
then there was no stopping. His arm muscles stood out as he held himself up and
thrust into her slowly. She rose up to meet him and their momentum increased
dramatically as the sensations washed over. Melodee knew she wouldn’t be able
to last much longer, he was everywhere and touching every sensitive nerve she
possessed. Her moans were louder, and as his teeth closed over her nipple,
biting down gently, she cried out as the beginnings of the orgasm washed over
her. As dominant and independent as she was in life, at some point with Nathan
she’d let go, given him some control. She’d never done that before.

Nathan
threw back his head and, groaning her name, sent them both completely over the
edge. The orgasms were forceful, shattering. He moved inside her a few more
times, drawing out every second of pleasure between them. They stayed joined,
their ragged breathing eventually slowing, and Melodee was able to think again.

“Well
damn,” she said. “Let’s do that again.”

Nathan
laughed as he withdrew from her body.

“My
thoughts exactly.”

He
stood and lifted her from the bed. Melodee’s heart swelled when his first
instinct was to check on Jewel; she was still sound asleep. He then took
Melodee into his huge bathroom. His shower was one of those from the magazines
with six heads strategically placed around the stall. Nathan held her close,
reaching out to hit the water. It was cold for only a second before the warmth
surrounded them. And as the wetness poured over them, he found her lips.

Nathan groaned, his arms
hugging the walls of the shower as Melodee ran her tongue along his dick. Not
only did she look like a wet dream come to life, she was incredible in the
bedroom. He could never in his life remember such an explosion of want, need
and arousal. But it was more than that. He never wanted to stop touching
Melodee. Her skin was smooth and silky, and her smell … fuck he was hard just
thinking about it. He was pretty sure that like a needy bitch he'd gone and
fallen for the one woman who was adamant that she couldn't do a long term
relationship. But Nathan had no doubts, Melodee belonged to him, or with him if
he was going to be politically correct. Nah, fuck it, she was definitely his.

Reaching
down, he lifted her up, and when her legs wrapped around him he backed her
against the wall of the shower. She was tiny, but soft in all the right places
and her breasts were perfect, high and full, with pink tips that demanded his
attention. He could tell she was a fighter or athlete. She was perfectly toned,
with lithe muscles, but still curvy and sexy as hell. The water surrounded
them, and he might actually have to thank his mother for this crazy-ass shower.

 
A few babbles of baby talk caught his
attention. He listened for a minute, but there was no more. Luckily the baby
monitor was transportable; he knew Melodee liked to make sure Jewel was okay.
Reaching for the protection he’d placed on the shower shelf earlier, he had the
fleeting thought of how it would feel to be inside Melodee with nothing between
them. He was either in love or completely screwed in the head to think this.
Kids had definitely not been in his five year plan. But Jewel, like Melodee,
had knocked him on his ass. And now he didn’t know what he wanted.

“Nate,
please,” she begged him, her perfect teeth biting those luscious red lips.

Her
sweet voice had him harder than a rock, not to mention the pleading in her
eyes. She was so responsive, as if she’d been made to fit him perfectly. She
had his caveman roaring to life – not that he wanted to knock her out and drag
her into his cave forever – maybe he sort of wanted to, but it was more that he
wanted to claim her.

He
slid inside her; she was so wet that there was no resistance. Her warm, tight
channel hugged him, making it hard not to lose it, which would be the second
time tonight he had almost blown like a teenage boy watching porn for the first
time. But her pleasure was important to him. For once it wasn’t just about his
skill, but more about causing her to lose her mind. She was so light, there was
no strain as he slammed into her over and over. When this obsessive need he had
for her abated, maybe he’d trying slow lovemaking, so probably in ten years’
time. But for now it was hard and fast. Not that she seemed to mind, he already
could tell when she was close; her eyes were wild. He held her tighter as she
shattered around him, and he was right there with her. He had to bite back the
‘Fuck me’ that sprang to his lips. Melodee didn’t like that word and he was
trying his damned hardest to stop saying it. But at moments like this he
couldn’t think of another word strong enough to describe this sensation.

“So
I was thinking,” Melodee said, leaning into him, her breathing hard. “If the
NBA doesn’t work out, there’s got to be a career in the gigolo industry for
you.”

Nathan
laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment, but I’m not interested in sharing
this particular skill with anyone but you.”

He
lowered her to the ground, ripped off the condom, and sliding the glass door
across, leaned out to throw it into the bin.

“So
if you don’t make it, what will you do?” she murmured into his chest when he
returned. He reached for the body wash and started to clean them up. He wasn’t
one to ever enjoy the after-cuddle of sex, but for once he found a peace in
this moment. He finally understood the complete package of the physical and
emotional.

“I’ll
finish college and figure out what to do with my businesses. I’m already
running Gramps’ stables and a few other ventures.” He shook his head. “The
reality is, I was left a huge trust fund and will never need to worry about
money, so it’s more about figuring out what I love. For now basketball is my
dream.”

She
smiled. “If your performance tonight is any indication, you’ll have no problem
making it, Slam Dunk.”

“What
about you, Dee? If you hadn’t been handed this life, with the fighting and running,
what would you do?” He wanted to give her a chance to live the life she
deserved, college if she wanted or running a business. She was smart,
resourceful, and would be an asset to any venture. But, he knew, that she would
only see it as charity.

She
stilled in front of him and he worried that he'd pushed too
.
far, pried too deeply, but
eventually she started to speak.

“I
think my greatest desire has always been for a home, a family that loved me and
didn’t use me for their own gains. But as I grew older and realized the
impossibility of this dream, I gave up. Right now I'm happy with my life. I
make good money and no one controls me.”

She
hid her pain behind indifference, but he still saw it. Nathan wished her
parents were not dead so he could kill them for her. Death didn’t seem like
punishment enough for what they had done.

Eventually they were clean,
dry and dressed. Nathan ordered in Thai and poured Melodee a glass of wine,
while he grabbed a beer.

“Will
you sleep in my room tonight?” Nathan asked. “I want to wake up with you.”

Melodee
shook her head. “I’ve never shared a bed with anyone. Maybe we should work up
to that.”

Nathan
gave her a half smile, but didn’t comment further.

Melodee
.
stared at him from across the table.
“So do we just live in a semi-casual relationship until we find out about
Jewel? Or was this a one night thing?” Her tone was light, but he could hear
the real question there.

Nathan
was brutally honest as always. “We have something real, Dee, and I will fight
for you, but it’s going to be damned hard if you don’t meet me some of the
way.”

She
looked down, staring into her plate, before finally meeting his direct gaze.
“For now I need things to stay free. Give me a chance to see if this is a life
I can live.”

Nathan
nodded. He didn’t have much choice, pushing Melodee would only shove her out of
his life. And he was starting to realize that wasn’t something he could accept.

Chapter 8

The next day they were in a
private room at the police station, waiting on the detective. Jack Morrins
swept into the room. He was a big, brash man in his late forties. His hair was
dark with just the start of gray peppering throughout. Nathan got to his feet
and gave the man a hug.

“Jack,
thanks for seeing us,” he said.

“For
my favorite basketball star, anything. And who do we have here?” He smiled at
Melodee and Jewel, who was perched on her lap.

Nathan
moved and took his seat again. “Melodee and I have temporary foster care of
Jewel, while they’re trying to find her family.” He leaned forward. “It’s for
their safety that I need to deal with Leanna.”

Jack,
sat across from them, and opened the file that had been on the table. “So,
Leanna was released from the psych hospital a month ago. She was home with her
mother, checking in regularly, but her handler lost contact with her last
week.”

“How
the hell did she end up on the cheer team?” Nathan bit out. “Surely the college
is aware of the situation. It was all over the news last year.”

“We’re
looking into it now, we suspect a stolen identity.” Jack thumped the file shut.
“We will find her, Nate.”

Nathan
nodded. “I know, I just don’t want it to escalate out of control like before.”

Jack
stood then, lifting the paperwork. “I’m heading out now to interview the
college. I’m going to come down hard until I figure out how this happened.”

Melodee
followed Nathan’s lead, standing and shaking hands with the detective. She was
a little surprised by such a personal touch on a simple stalker case. It seemed
as if money and power did bring a certain level of special attention. Her
parents’ deaths, which were still unsolved, had had a half-assed investigation.
Although no one on the case had all of the information about their true lives
and choice of careers, so that wasn’t really fair to the Dallas police.

Jack
led them out of the room. “Do you still have your gun and permit?” he asked
Nathan, just as they were about to leave the station.

“Yep,
I hit the range at least once a month.”

“I’ll
speak with the judge and see about upgrading you to a concealed permit, so you
can carry.” Jack grinned. “Knowing who your parents are, I’m sure he won’t have
a problem with the request.”

Melodee
was surprised to see that Nathan seemed unhappy by this sentiment. Maybe he
didn’t like falling back on his parents’ money and influence. But all he said
was “Thanks, Jack.”

Nathan
was
quiet as they drove back toward his apartment.

“Do
you have a problem with me having a gun?” he eventually said. “It's locked up,
Jewel could never get near it.”

Melodee
hesitated with her answer. She wasn’t sure how much she should tell him, or
trust him with, in regards to her life in Texas. But considering his emotional
shut-down at the police station had clearly not been about his parents, but
more concern for her and Jewel, she decided he deserved the most honest answer
she could give.

“My
parents used the underside of my cot as a storage hold for one of their sniper
rifles.” She stared out to the snow-covered world flashing by. “By the time I
was six I could take apart and reassemble ten different styles of handgun in
under a minute. Guns do not frighten me. An idiot with a gun in their hand,
that’s a different story.” She smiled at him. “So going on the assumption that
you’re not an idiot, I have no problem with it.”

He
didn’t return her smile. “Are you ever going to tell me about your life, Dee?
Because my parents are neglectful assholes, but yours sound like monsters.”

She
shrugged. “My parents were bad people. And I can tell you this now because
they’re dead and nothing should come back on you – they were elite, highly
trained assassins.” She rubbed at her temples.
Seriously
, sometimes she even wondered if she was insane. But alas,
it was more than real, the tale of her life. “I grew up believing they worked
for the government, and I think they probably did, but in some underhanded,
black-ops outfit. We mainly lived in Dallas. We were planted there, and for
many years my parents played pretend families.” She laughed then; it was
strangled. “I was born to cement their status as a family, but my sister,
Chloe, she was a mistake and they treated her worse than an animal. For that I
rejoice each moment I realize they’re dead.”

Nathan’s
hands were tightening on the steering wheel, his voice rough. “So they taught
you to fight and…” He hesitated.

“To
kill,” Melodee finished. “Yeah, inside our perfect suburban home was a training
zone that the CIA would have been proud of.
 
Mom said if they had to have me around, I might as well be useful if a
fight broke out.”

Nathan
didn’t say anything. She thought his features looked more chiseled, but there
was no look of disbelief. She continued to stare at him, her eyes wide. “Why
aren’t you surprised when I tell you crazy things about me? Why don’t you
accuse me of lying … or at least exaggerating?”

“Have
you been called a liar before?”

Melodee
shook her head. “I’ve never told anyone before, I don’t let people get close
enough to even ask.”

“I
know you’re not a liar or crazy,” Nathan said, “and I know this because for you
to be the unique, strong and self-sufficient woman that has amazed me from our
first meeting in the snow, you could never have been raised conventionally.”

Melodee’s
heart fluttered. That stupid organ which she had thought dead had sprung to
life under the care of Nathan. She inhaled loudly as she realized something.

“I
trust you,” she said, sounding shocked. “I never believed I would say that
about any human. Everything about me growing up was a lie and I believed from
an early age that all people were liars. But there’s something honest in you,
Nate.”

He
took her hand. “Don’t paint me with a halo yet, I’ve told my share of mistruths
for my own gain, but I’ve learned the value in honesty. I’ll do my best to
never lie to you – on the important things anyways.”

Melodee’s
voice thinned. “Why would you ever have to lie to me?”

His
eyes softened. “I’m just talking about surprise parties and Christmas
presents,” he said.

She
just stared at him silence.

“Shit!”
he said. “You’ve never had anyone give you a gift before.”

“We
didn’t celebrate anything,” Melodee said. “Although I always got to put up a
tree at Christmas, because we had to keep up appearances.”

Melodee
was jolted then as Nathan swung the car over to the side of the road and
brought it to a halt. He met her eyes. “This is not fucking happening. Starting
right now, no more depressing talk. We’re having Christmas this year. I’ll tell
my brothers, and now we’re heading for decorations.”

Waiting
for a clear run, he spun the car around and headed back toward the shops. Melodee
would have protested, but she couldn’t find the words. She realized deep down
she was actually excited by a real family holiday.

Nathan
continued the conversation as they drove. “So tell me about the life you
lived.”

Melodee
ran her teeth over her bottom lip. It was a little rough from all the icy
weather. She tried to find the words to describe her younger years. The fear,
the fighting, the cold methodical routine of her sociopathic parents. Probably
easier to stick to the facts.

“I
don’t really remember being under four, but the rest of my years are
permanently imprinted. Every day was the same. If we didn’t abide to a strict
schedule my mother would lose her shit. I had to be out of bed and dressed by
4am, then training for two hours.” She could hear Nathan’s breathing rate
increase, but she didn’t stop speaking. “Fighting, weapons, bombs, poison. You
name it, I learned how to use the weapon. I didn’t get a lot of food, but I
never starved because they could not have the neighbors notice us. We blended
in. The only time our daily routine changed was when they left for a job.”

“What
happened then?” Nathan’s voice sounded raspy.

“I
was locked in the basement.”

His
voice burst free like a bullet from a gun. “And what would have happened if
they hadn’t come home?”

Melodee
shrugged. “When I was thirteen, they didn’t. They were killed by a sniper. He
took them both out and then took out their target. Cleaned it all up and then
dumped my parents far away. Luckily, I’d figured out how to escape my prison
years earlier. After a week I knew they weren’t coming home.” She remembered
the mixed feelings of fear and relief. “The police showed up the next morning;
their bodies had been found in an alley. I went into the system that day.”

“How
did you know they died that way?” he asked.

“I
recognized the kill. Part of my studies was to follow the kill-patterns of
others in the same field as my parents. They had me monitoring their jobs and
others. It's very competitive, this old assassin field.” Melodee shook her head
at the memories. It sounded like a bad movie script.

Nathan
was quiet for a moment. Melodee finally glanced across. He had his hands
clenched on the wheel, his eyes focused on the road.

“I’m
not sure what to say.” He was speaking but his lips barely moved. “I want to
fight against the life you lived, and yet there’s nothing I can do to change
the past. There is literally no one I can fight for you.”

Melodee
captured his hand. “That’s not true, you’ve been fighting my inner demons every
moment since I met you. For the first time in my life I feel free and I feel …
not alone.”

“You
will never be alone again.” He kissed the top of her hand.

They were just pulling into
the mall car park when Nathan’s phone rang. He hit the answer button on the
Bluetooth speaker.

“Nathan
Sinclair,” he said as a form of greeting.

“Hello
Nathan, it’s Denise Ronin from CPS.”

Melodee’s
heart started to pound hard, and as if Nathan sensed her distress he took her
hand.

“What
did you find out on the baby?” he asked.

“We
are struggling to identify the woman. So far no one has come forward, and no
missing persons were reported that fit her description. I’m afraid that with
the Christmas shutdown period it could be a bit longer.” She paused for a brief
moment. “Are you happy to continue caring for the child, or would you like me
to organize something else?”

“It’s
been no problem. We’ll care for her for as long as you need,” Nathan said.

“Fantastic,
Mr. Sinclair, I’ll be in touch soon. And great game yesterday.” Her voice went
a bit fan-girl high at the end.

“Thank
you, Denise,” Nathan said, reaching forward to flick his speaker off.

Melodee
was out of the car now and already had Jewel snuggled in her arms. “I’m afraid
I’ll freak out and run with her if they try and take her,” she confessed when
Nathan joined them. “But I know if she has good family somewhere, they deserve
her little baby kisses too.” Jewel proved her point by latching on to Melodee’s
cheek.
 

Nathan
didn’t say anything, he didn’t want to give Melodee false hope, but he too
worried about the loss of Jewel. In large part for Melodee, but for himself
too. He was starting to think it would be really quiet without her around.

Two days later, after a busy
morning Melodee stepped back to admire her handy work.

“What
do you think?” she asked Nathan.

He
moved closer, Jewel in his arms. His head tilted to the side as he surveyed the
green, gold and red Christmas decorations coating every surface.

“Kind
of looks like Santa threw up in here,” he laughed. “Which is perfect. Matt,
Charlie and Luke will love it.”

As
if they’d been summoned, the front door slammed open and four people trooped
in. The Sinclair brothers had arms filled with colorful presents and Melodee
realized that she had not even thought of gifts for anyone. Shit, she was
terrible at this family stuff.

Nathan
leaned down close to her ear. “Get that look off your face, this is a
celebration.”

Melodee
gave him a jab in the ribs with her elbow. He just laughed and kissed her on
the cheek before moving further into the room to greet everyone.

“Jewel,”
Charles exclaimed, holding out his arms. “My favorite girl in the world.”

Nathan
deposited her in Charles’ arms.

“You
assholes should really learn to knock before you enter, I could have been
naked,” Nathan said as he slapped hands with each of his brothers.

“We
were hoping Melodee would be… ” Luke started to say, but was cut off by his
brother’s arm around his throat in a headlock.

“Don’t
say it, Luke, I’d hate to have to kill my brother at Christmas.”