The trembling that shook Christian’s body only grew worse at her demand, now fired by a need that went far beyond sexual gratification and all the way to his soul. He needed to prove to himself that she was real, that she was safe and whole. He needed to prove that she was okay.
And Melody needed the same reassurance. He could see it shining in her dark fathomless eyes.
“Kiss me,” she ordered him again, more forcefully this time, and Christian was helpless against the entreaty gleaming at him from the depths of her gaze.
He pulled her close into his body, lowering his head to meet hers. He was unable to deny her anything. Unable to deny the dark shadow inside himself, that part of him that had played all the most terrible things, all the things that could be happening to her and their child, over and over again in his head as he’d searched for her.
Christian kissed her, his lips pressing against hers, but as soon as they touched, Melody flinched back with a sound of pain that had him jolting back as well.
Instantly, he froze, pulling back far enough that he could examine her more clearly, and his eyes found the cut on her lip, could see the bruises just starting to form.
“He hurt you.”
Christian ground out the painful words. He didn’t need to say who. He couldn’t have forced the man’s name out anyways. It stuck in his throat like shards of glass, shredding him from the inside out.
“No, it wasn’t… it wasn’t him,” Melody whispered, her voice faltering as her eyelashes fluttered at the memory. “It was one of his men. When they grabbed me at the diner I tried to fight back, and one of them didn’t like that very much, so he gave me this little souvenir.”
Melody shrugged and turned away, emotion flickering in her gaze now that made Christian’s stomach churn.
“Don’t do that,” he whispered roughly.
“Do what?” Melody asked.
But she still didn’t look at him. Her eyes were locked on the black wall on the other side of the room.
“Don’t do that. Don’t make it a joke. Don’t brush it off like it was nothing.” He took her chin gently in his hand and tilted her face back around until he could look into her dark eyes, trying to banish the shadows he saw lurking there through will power alone. “And don’t ever, ever feel ashamed because of what someone else did.”
He stared at her for a long moment, tension rising in the air between them, as he tried to make her see the truth in his eyes.
“This isn’t your fault, sweetheart.”
“It’s not yours either, Christian.”
Christian jerked back at her unexpected words, realizing for the first time that the dark greasy feeling in the pit of his stomach wasn’t fear. It was guilt.
“I should have known,” Christian whispered. “I should have known that he would try and pull something like this.”
“No,” Melody said just as softly, shaking her head at him. “It was just bad luck. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. No one could have known that Enrique’s men would be there.”
Melody glanced up at him through a thick fringe of lashes, and for a moment he tipped forward and lost himself there, in the sweetness of her.
He was so close it was as if he could see all the way into her soul, could see all the dark, shattered places within her.
“Please Christian.” Her words were just as ragged. “I need you.”
Her words shuddered through him, and the darkness that had festered inside Christian rose up to meet hers, twining together in acceptance and love.
Their bodies met just as fiercely, and Christian had to pull back on his desire so that he didn’t hurt her again. But Melody wasn’t about to let him go slow or gentle.
She was like a wild animal as she dragged him towards the bed, and he wasn’t any calmer as she pushed him down until he was stretched out on his back, staring up at her with hunger and awe and all the love that was overwhelming him to the point that he couldn’t even speak.
His whole body was suddenly on fire her, and there was only one thing that would quench the flames roaring hungrily inside him. Melody. His wife. The woman he loved more than he’d ever loved anything in his life.
They stripped each other with shaking hands, both of them trembling like leaves caught up in the same storm with need and wild abandon. Christian wanted to growl in frustration at even that small delay, but finally she was moving over him. They both threw their heads back in bliss as she straddled him and took him into her body. Heaven and hell, all rolled into one.
Everything disappeared as she rode him. The bed they were on, the house they were in. The gang, his father, the whole world. It all receded until all that was left was him and Melody, and the ecstasy that shot through his body like lightning, his heart roaring like thunder in his chest.
It could have lasted mere moments, it could have lasted for an eternity, as he lay there, wrapped up so tight in her that he couldn’t tell where his body ended and where Melody’s began, but finally he couldn’t last another moment.
He watched her shudder and come apart above him, his goddess, his Venus, her head thrown back in absolution, and he was helpless to stop his own body from tumbling after hers.
They came together, and as his climax slowly receded Christian could feel some of the darkness inside him recede right along with it as he pulled her close against his chest.
They were both out of breath, panting, and covered in sweat, but he didn’t care. It didn’t matter. She was the only thing that mattered. Melody, and the life growing inside her. The life that they had made together.
Christian wrapped his arms around her. He knew he was holding her too tight, but he couldn’t force himself to let her go, not even an inch.
“I’m never letting you go again.”
He breathed the words against her hair, holding her so close that he could feel the shiver run down her body and then back up again. She turned her face against his shoulder so that she could look at him.
“Never is a long time, Christian.”
He met her gaze, not looking away, not blinking. He needed her to see that he meant every single word and each one was drawn from his very soul.
“Never again, sweetheart.”
Christian had to fight back the tight feeling that suddenly constricted his chest as Melody shook her head at him, laying her lips gently against his. After a moment, she snuggled back into his side and they lay like that for one sweet moment as they both recovered and Christian fought to get his possessive emotions back under control.
He held her like that for three breaths, but on the fourth inhale Melody shifted in his embrace, pulling herself up until she was sitting on the edge of the bed. She looked around the quiet room restlessly. It was obvious there was something that was on her mind, and he was patient, waiting for her to speak
“I’m not afraid anymore.”
“What?”
That wasn’t what he’d been expecting. But there was a quiet conviction in her voice that riveted him. It only grew as she turned to look at him over her shoulder. He could still see the jagged places inside her, and he could feel them start to heal with every word that fell from her bruised lips.
“I was lying here, right here, in the bed where Enrique…”
“Hush,” Christian said, stopping her with a finger pressed gently in front of her mouth, not quite touching. He couldn’t stand the thought of causing her any more pain, “You don’t have to say anything. Whatever happened…”
“No, you’re wrong. I do, Christian. I need you to know. I…” Melody trailed off for a moment, fighting for the right words to go on. “Nothing happened with Enrique. He just laid down beside me on the bed and fell asleep, and I was so scared because I knew… I know exactly what that monster is capable of.”
All he wanted to do was wrap her back up in his arms and disappear back into that magical place where no one else existed, where there was no past and no pain. But he could also see how important this was to her. So, he bit his tongue, waiting for her to go on.
“But I started thinking about you. About our baby. About our life together. And I wasn’t afraid anymore. Because I knew that no matter what happened, he would never touch my love for you. He would never be able to hurt that part of me ever again.”
Christian had to blink back the sting of tears at her softly spoken words. This time, he couldn’t stop himself from wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close once more in a quick but fierce embrace, before standing to put his own clothes back to rights.
Melody rose with a languorous stretch beside him, and he glanced at the clock on the expensive inlaid table that sat next to the bed. Panic hit Christian square in the chest.
“We have to get out of here, Mel. I don’t know how much time we have left before Enrique and his men get back, but it can’t be long.”
“No.”
The single word pulled Christian up short, and he spun around to look at Melody with a combination of disbelief and frustration.
“‘No’? What do you mean? You want to wait until he gets back?”
But Melody was already shaking her head.
“No, that’s not what I mean, Christian. We can’t go. Not yet.” She drew in a deep breath and looked up at him with something close to desperation back in her dark eyes. “Bianca is still here. He still has her. Enrique never intended on letting her go. She’s trapped somewhere in the house. We can’t leave without her.”
It was Christian’s turn to sigh sharply as her words hit him all over again.
“Well, hell!”