Take Two (27 page)

She blushed and turned away. “
Thanks.”

“W
here’s your movie collection? Do you have one?”

“Of course I have one. What type of question is that?”

“
Well w
here is it?”

“It’s
in
black
boxes in
two rooms to the right.
”

“Of course it is,” I stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

I was convinced she was never going to comple
tely unpack her things. The
room was full of stuffed garbage bags, suitcases, and plastic bins. I climbed over
s
tacks of books and held myself
against the wall.

There were at least twenty black boxes in the corner alphabetized and separated by genre.
I searched for the
“romantic comedy” box and thumb
ed through the W’s.

“What’d you pick?”
she
looked up from her soup.

“
When Harry Met Sally
.
Have you watched it this month?”

“No
t yet
…
”

I popped it into the
DVD player and wrapped my arms ar
ound her. “I’ve never watched this
all the way through.”

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know.
I never finished
You’ve Got Mail
either.”

“W
e have to watch that next
then
,” she leaned against me
and I buried my face in her hair
.

“I cry at the end every time,” she wiped her eyes. “I can’t help it.
I really like the way they spread the story out over the years.
”

“It was really good.
I should’ve watched it
a long time
ago.”

She looked up at me and smiled. I bent down an
d pressed my lips against hers.

S
he immediately broke away.
“
You’ve Got Mail
?”

We
really
need to break that habit today…

“In a m
inute.
Where’s your spa?”

“
It’s d
o
wn the hall
.”

“Can you show me
?”

“Sure
,”
she
quickly moved away from me
and stood up.

She
led me through a long
corridor and down a couple steps.
The room was pitch-
black until she clapped her hands and hit a couple switches.

“Wow,” I
ran my hand against the grass
and flagstone
that surrounded the pool.
As the room
brighte
ned
, I noticed that there was a Jacuzzi, a sauna, and a small waterfall.

“I said the same thing when I first saw it. It reminds me
of the lakes
in Tennessee
.”

“I’ve never been,” I pulled off my shirt and jeans.
“I’ll take your word for it
though
.”

“You brought your swim trunks?”

“I told you I was
going to
,” I
stepped into the
pool
and felt
warm
waves moving across my chest
.

“Give me a second. I’ll be right back,” she slipped inside the sauna.

She came back out
several minutes later,
wearing a bright
yellow bik
ini
.
Her
body was more amazing than I remembered.
She slid into th
e pool and paddled on her back.

As she brought her right han
d over her head, I noticed
faded
black ink on her wrist. I thought back to our encounter at the launch party,
to our time in St. Barts. She
’d
always wor
n
a bracelet on that arm.

“What’s that on your wrist?
” I stood her upright. “
Notes?”

Stop turning away from
me…

“I
t was whe
r
e
a
tattoo used to be.
I had the first layer removed last week.”

“What did it say?”

“It
was
just something stupid,” she rubbed it with her thumb.

“Tell me.”

“It said ‘when you know you know,’ and it had all these little intricate stars around it.
My
ex
and I
both got it earlier this year.
I can’t believe I actually
bought into
that crap
.”

“You don’t believe in love anymore?”

“It’
s not that. I think love exists.
I just think men don’t really know what love means. No offense.”

“None taken. Do you
have any other tattoos?”

“No.
W
hy?”

“Mel
ody,” I
softly tugged
her hair
. “We’ve already est
ablished you’re a terrible liar.
”

“There’s one on my right ankle,
”
she
smiled.

“What’s it say?”

“Nothing. I
t’s a tiny dolphin.”

“Inter
esting,
”
I
couldn’t hold back anymore. I
lifted her onto the edge of the pool and
grabbed
her face
with
my hands
. I traced her lips with my to
ngue and kissed her deeply, barely
giving her the chance to breathe.

“Matt…” she murmured.

I brushed strands of hair away from
her face and palmed her breasts, softly squeezing each one. I pushed her down against the flagstone and
slowly
untied the left side of her bikini.

“Matt…” her voice was weak.

“Wrap your legs around me,” I whispered.

She followed my command
and
moaned
softly
as I planted kisses
across
her stomach.

I started to untie the right side of her bikini and she sat up.

“We can’t,” she panted. “
W
e should stop now.
”

Damnit!

“Okay,” I let her go
. “
You’ve Got Mail
now?”

“Yeah
. W
e should
go
watch that.”

I
pulled myself out of the p
ool and w
e dried
off
in silence.
I tried to look at her face, to see what she was thinking, but each time I tried, she turned away from me.

She put in the DVD and sat on the other end of the couch.
I
moved closer.

We sat watching the opening credits
—
not touching, not ta
lking.

Melody

I could feel Matt
watching
me, waiting for me to turn and look at him.

Focus on Tom Hanks. Focus on Tom Hanks.

“Melody?” he
kissed my shoulder.

I pretended I didn’t hear him. I kept my eyes locked on Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan’s encounter at the dinner party.

“So you’re
attempting to
act like you’re deaf
?” he moved
down to my collarbone.

Oh my god….

I felt him untying the back of my bikini top, whispering my name as he played with the strings.

“Matt…” I struggled to speak.

“You can hear me now?” he laughed and threw my top onto the floor.

I fold
ed my arms to hide my breasts. “This is the best part of the movie.”

“Melody,” he pulled me i
nto his lap. “You and I both know you’re not
really
watching the
movie.”

“Yes I am! This is the part where—”

His lips were on mine and I couldn’t remember what I was going to say.

This isn’t real…

“You were saying?” he pulled away and I knew he was teasing me.

“You’re a really good kisser.”

He smiled and moved me out of
his
lap, laying me across the couch. He pulled off his swim trunks and tossed them on the floor.

OH MY GOD! This definitely isn’t real!

He forced my arms away from my chest and pinned them above my head. “You have a beautiful body
, Melody.
”

I closed my eyes and
felt him kissing my chest, softly biting my nipples. I squirmed and moaned with each bite, failing to seem unaffected by his touch.

I felt his
free hand fiddling with
the strings of my bikini bottom, expertly loosening the triple knot I
’d
made
minutes
earlier.

“
Matt…
Wait…”

“Do you want me to stop?” he covered my mouth with his lips again, harshly biting my lower lip.

Never…

I was lost. Gone to some other world. I stare
d into his dark eyes, wondering if he could read my mind
.

“Answer me,” he bit my lip again.

I gasped.
“I don’t want to be on the couch
..
.”

“Oh?” he
moved
back and pulled me up by my hair. “Where do you want to be?”

I caught my breath before answering. “My bedroom.”

He stood up, completely unfazed by his nakedness. “You want to show me where that is?”

I was too busy looking at his body to answer.

“Melody,” he helped me to my feet. “Where is your bedroom?”

I was still speechless. My heart was beating a rhythm I’d ne
ver known
. Before I could
calm myself down, before I could come back
down to reality, Matt lifted
me
in
to
his arms and carried me across the floor.

“I guess I’ll find it myself,” he
looked down at me and kissed my forehead
.

I woke up in bed alone. There was no sign of Matt. I figured Joan had
called and needed
to whisk
him away to some important interview
.

I pulled the covers over my head and giggled.
Everything about
last
night had been incredible, fulfilling. I wasn’t sure if I’d
ever be able to stop smiling
.

“What’s so funny?”
Matt’s voice interrupted my laughter.

I pushed the covers down and saw him holding a breakfast tray.

“Nothing. I thought you left.”

“Without saying goodbye?” he set the tray in front of me. “You think I would do that?”

I shook my head
and looked over the tray: W
affles, chocolate bagels, scrambled
potatoes
,
orange slices
and c
ranberry juice.

“Whe
n did you
get groceries?”

“
I didn’t.
Joan picked up a few things
and left them outside your door
.”

“Does she a
lways do that when you stay the
night with someone?”

He laughed. “
No
. This is the fi
rst time Joan has
ever
done that. I think she
likes
you.”

“Good to know,” I cut up the waffle.
“What are you doing today?”