Chapter Twelve
Before the sun could even fully rise over the Manhattan skyline, Melanie was awoken by a harsh, non-stopping vibration. Groaning, she sat up in bed, blearily rubbing her eyes as she blinked them open. She let out a long yawn and sighed in relief as the vibrations stopped.
Maybe it was an earthquake or something, she thought to herself. New York earthquakes were never really that large to begin with. Nothing had even fallen from any of Aiden’s shelves. The man himself was still sleeping soundly next to her, his arm outstretched. Melanie smiled down at him and began to reach back for him, for a sleepy good morning kiss, when she suddenly felt the vibrations again.
Aftershocks? She thought. But no, there was a distinct pattern to these vibrations. They didn’t shake the apartment so much as fill it with an annoying buzz. She knew exactly what that meant.
Melanie groaned and pressed her face into her pillow. Ann just couldn’t give it a rest, could she? Not for the first time, she wished that she’d been born an only child.
She waited for the vibrations to stop, with bated breath, hoping that they wouldn’t rouse her sleeping lover. She didn’t know what excuse she would give him as to why her supposedly estranged sister was suddenly calling her, at just after six in the morning. When it finally stopped, she relaxed and worked on falling back to sleep. Neither of them would be needed at the office today, so she had planned to spend the entire day in—
There were the vibrations again, as strong and annoying as ever.
Melanie sighed into her pillow, then pulled herself out of bed and shuffled out into the living room, where her phone lay, facedown, on the floor. That was why she had felt and heard the vibrations. Even now, the phone was moving around on the hardwood floor, having shifted off the carpet already. Melanie wondered how long Ann had been calling her.
“Does this woman ever get any sleep?” she murmured aloud as she picked up the phone and looked down at the screen. To her surprise, it wasn’t Ann’s name that appeared on screen, but rather Ian’s.
What did he want?
Swiping her finger across the screen, Melanie answered as she padded out to the balcony, closing the door behind her. She was only garbed in Aiden’s dress shirt, but there were very few people who could see her here.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Mellie! There you are!” came her brothers harried response. “Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”
“Because it’s six a.m., Ian,” she retorted. “I’ve been sleeping.”
“I’ve been trying to reach you for over an hour!”
“As I said,” Melanie sighed, “I’ve been sleeping.”
“Well, wake up!” Ian huffed. “Ann and I have something we need to tell you and it cannot wait. Meet us at the Midtown Diner in half an hour.”
“Is that even open right n—”
Ian had already hung up.
Melanie sighed and shook her head as she slipped back inside and tiptoed back into the bedroom, where she gathered her things and got dressed as quickly as she could. By the time she had started back out the door, Aiden had begun to stir and his sleep roughened voice had her stopping, dead in her tracks.
“Melanie?” he murmured. “Where’re you going?”
Melanie searched her mind for an excuse even as she turned and forced a smile on her lips. “Good morning, sleepyhead,” she whispered. “I didn’t want to wake you. I’m just…going to have breakfast with a couple of old friends in town.”
“At six-thirty in the morning?” he yawned. “Is the sun even up yet?”
“It is,” Melanie laughed. “Their flight leaves at nine, so I really have to go right now, but I’ll be back later, okay?” She padded back to the bed and leaned down to peck his lips. She intended it to be short and sweet, but Aiden had other plans. He pulled her closer, pressing his mouth insistently against hers, one hand roaming her body while the other held her cheek, his thumb stroking the soft skin of her face. Melanie sighed, her body relaxing immediately against his.
“Are you sure you need to see them?” he asked. “I could just fly you out next week and we could stay in bed all day instead. Eat breakfast in bed off one another’s bodies. Maybe lunch and dinner, too.”
Melanie almost said yes, almost gave into his request and the siren call of his naked body, before she suddenly remembered that it wasn’t a couple of old friends that she was going to see, but rather her two siblings, who claimed to have news for her. Important news, her mind urged her. She pulled away from his body, regrettably.
“Lunch and dinner sounds great to me,” she said, “but I really do have to go have breakfast with them. I promised.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want you to go back on your promise now, would I?” he chuckled, finally letting her go. “Just don’t forget your promise to me, huh?”
Melanie smiled and pressed a kiss against his knuckles. “Never,” she said. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours, okay? I’ll bring an overnight bag.” She winked at him as she backed away from the bed. Then, so she wasn’t enticed to join him any more, she turned on her heel and headed straight for the front door.
This better be good, Ian, she thought, angrily, as she made her way to the elevator.
*****