There were not a lot of situations that made Cisco Hernandez feel as though he were completely losing his mind, but not having any clue where to search for Melody was one of them. He kept waiting for her to show up to work. That was the primary place where he could hope to see her, yet there was a part of him that hoped she would just give Janice the finger and blow off her shift.

Of course, that did not happen. Cisco had been sitting on a bench near his car for almost an hour when he spotted Melody walking energetically down the street. She was dressed in a royal blue polo shirt that really brought out the warm sable tones of her hair. She had pulled her tangled hair up into a spiky knot, and she was marching along in those shapeless black pants even though each stride hinted at just a suggestion of athletic feminine curves beneath that worn outfit.

She was set to walk right past him. Cisco half wondered if she would spot him sitting there and purposefully cross the street to get away. He had not seen or heard from her since she had run away from him after that disastrous fake home showing in the city. They still needed to chat about that incident, but Cisco could not help but wonder if he should try and settle a few other things first.

“Hi.”

She hadn’t crossed the street to avoid him. In fact, she had plopped down on the bench beside him. He struggled to find words but could not.

“I only have a few minutes,” she told him in a clipped tone of voice. “I think we need to talk. I get off at six. Can you be here then?”

Should Cisco tell her that there was every possibility that she was about to get fired? Should he prepare her? Was that even right? It wasn’t his business. It was hers. Sort of. Not really. Dammit!

Cisco sighed. “I’ll be right here. I promise.”

“For hours?” She frowned. “Don’t you have to work?”

“I’m thinking about that too.” Cisco mumbled the words because he absolutely didn’t know what was up with that anyway. He had a lot of thinking to do. In fact, they both did.

“Okay.”

Instead of sounding as though she wanted to get away from him, she now sounded as though she were fighting the urge to stay and hear the story of what he was alluding to. Well, that made two of them. Finally, she reached out and brushed her fingertips over the top of his thigh. The touch seared him from the inside out. He liked it when she touched him. He liked touching her. He just liked being around her. It felt right.

“Melody,” Cisco called out at the last second. “Don’t take any crap. You get me?”

She paused as though confused. Then she thinned her lips into a tight line and nodded. “I got you.”

Then he waited. It was a very interesting experience. Cisco wasn’t used to waiting for anyone or anything. He was a doer. He was one of those people who consistently made an effort to be proactive. That was essentially one of the reasons he had been drawn to the law as a profession. There was a lot of doing when it came to being a lawyer. You waited, sure. But while you waited, you could file motions, request discovery, and use every resource at your disposal to try and find out what your opponent was up to.

The sun was warm. Cisco closed his eyes and let his head loll back a bit. He pulled his sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on. When was the last time he’d just sat in the sunshine and enjoyed the fresh air and beautiful weather? Years. Yes. It was quite possible that it had been years since he’d done such a thing.

The bench moved beside him. Cisco did not open his eyes. He felt the rays of the sun touching his face. As a kid he had always worn layer upon layer of sunscreen and a wide-brimmed hat when working or even going outside. His father had such a weather-beaten look about him that Cisco had become paranoid of looking like an old raisin before he even made it to twenty. Now he was pushing twenty-three and barely looked as though he had ever been outside. In fact, he was approaching pasty.

“You knew.”

Melody’s voice was quiet and, well—melodic. It wasn’t comical. In fact, there was nothing funny at all about what had likely just happened.

Cisco took a deep breath. “It’s complicated, but yes. To make a very long story short, I knew.”

“I like long stories.”

“Are you going to run away again?” He did not remove his sunglasses, turning instead and raising an eyebrow at her. “I swear I did not know whether or not to be pissed off or feel bad the other night. That was most definitely a first for me.”

“Then I’m glad to have broadened your horizons,” she teased. “And no.” She primly folded her arms over her chest. “I’m not going anywhere.”

In a very concise and abbreviated fashion, Cisco brought her up to speed on what had apparently passed between Janice and Vittoria. At one point, her mouth actually fell open in surprise. He could not blame her. Jealous lawyer approaches the boss of her rival. Lawyer tells boss to fire rival. Boss is greedy enough to not only take the first offer but to try and get a second piece of the pie by encouraging a counter offer.

“That is insane,” Melody finally whispered. She flopped against the bench’s backrest and stared across the street at the coffee shop. “I’ve worked there since I was seventeen, you know? I actually started working there before Janice was hired. I’m twenty-two years old. It’s crazy to think that all of a sudden I have to look for a new job. I’ve never had another job.”

“I thought you wanted to become a rancher.” He could not stop the bitterness that began creeping into his voice. “You know, live out on the range and raise some cows. Maybe a few pigs. Are you going to grow crops too?”

She turned sideways on the bench and stared at him. “Wow. You’re really bitchy when you get your feelings hurt.”

Cisco opened his mouth to dispute that but could not. She was absolutely right. He sighed. “I never thought you would want that place. It’s in the middle of nowhere. There are no restaurants or stores. You’ll have to commute to a job. Why would you sign up for that?”

“I don’t want to ranch.” She pursed her lips and looked thoughtful. “I suppose I have to admit something to you.”

“What’s that?” And why did his stomach feel like it had just dropped into his boots—er, his loafers actually.

“I went to have a little heart-to-heart conversation with Paul Weatherby today at his place of business.” She rubbed a hand down her face in obvious irritation so Cisco knew it hadn’t gone well.

“And?” he quietly prompted. There was no reason to say anything else. At this point, they could just be glad that she wasn’t trying to use him as her one phone call so he could bail her out of jail on some bogus charge.

“That man is a really horrible person,” she whispered.

Cisco could not argue with that. “Yes. He’s definitely a piece of work.”

“He made me feel so stupid!” she moaned. In her overdramatic response, she flopped against him. Cisco put his arm around her shoulders and wouldn’t move it.

“Why would you feel stupid?” he asked. “Weatherby is a cop. You think he’s supposed to be a good guy. Your brain tells you he can’t possibly be doing the stuff that he’s doing. We’ve all gotten used to that part of dealing with him, but this is new to you.”

“I was going to offer to lease him the land. I just wanted answers about Watson.” She shook her head and went silent.

Cisco could only imagine how that had gone over. He gently touched her face and stroked her hair. The physical contact felt good. She scooted closer whether she meant to or not. He scooted closer to her. Soon they were sitting squashed up against each other, and it was still too far apart in his opinion.

“Cisco, he’s an evil man.” She refused to expand, but Cisco could only begin to imagine the threats that Paul Weatherby would have made against someone of her background.

“Did he threaten to drag your juvie record out for show-and-tell?” Cisco asked quietly.

She turned so quickly he heard her neck crackle. “How did you know that?”

“He did the same thing to my younger brother Met.”

Melody threw up her hands in frustration. “How is that even possible? A juvie record is sealed.”

“In theory.” It was difficult to explain how that sort of thing worked. “But it still exists. It can’t not exist. It just isn’t held against you when you’re going through additional legal troubles—for the most part anyway—and it can’t be used against you when you’re trying to better yourself as an adult. But let me tell you, if you wanted to be a judge or a prosecutor or some certain type of government employee, that juvie record would be up for grabs because it happened and it’s still there.”

“Which means you can be tried in the court of public opinion, according to Paul Weatherby and the Flying W,” she added bitterly.

Cisco couldn’t stand it anymore. Yes. They were sitting on a bench just a few hundred yards from her former place of business. They were around the corner from his office building. There were dozens of people meandering by on foot and in cars. It was a nice day, and there were plenty of Denver residents out enjoying the beautiful spring weather.

Cisco didn’t care. He put his arms around Melody and tugged her into his lap. He held her tight and rubbed her back as she pressed her face into his shoulder and finally—finally—let the tears go. She soaked his dress shirt. He didn’t care. He was done caring about that sort of thing when it came to Melody. Somehow, she existed outside all of his rules and boundaries and everything else.

Gently threading his fingers through her tangled hair, he cupped the back of her head. His thumb and index finger found her earlobe. He gently massaged the sensitive area until she tilted her head to one side to give him better access.

Her tears began to subside. He let his fingers trace the pulse point just below her ear where her jaw met her neck. The graceful column of her throat was covered in the silkiest skin he could imagine. He longed to kiss it with his lips. Of course, he longed to kiss any part of her with his lips.

The floral feminine scent of her hair washed over him. There was a faint trace of lemon too. He nuzzled her hair and blew lightly into her ear. She shivered. He could feel her fingers curling into his shirt as her shoulders began to rise and fall with increasing speed.

“Cisco?” She whispered his name.

“Yes?”

“You’re kind of turning me on.”

“Is that bad?”

“We’re sitting on a bench out in the open.”

“Right.”

Cisco didn’t care. He held her tight and kissed her neck. Then he moved his lips to her cheek. Gently nuzzling that sensitive skin, he kissed her earlobe and laved his tongue lightly around the shell of her ear until he felt her shiver.

Was it his imagination, or could he feel her nipples begin to harden beneath her shirt? His heart was beginning to speed up. It hammered against his ribs in a staccato beat that left him almost breathless with anticipation and excitement.

It wasn’t just the possibility of consummation that had him excited either. This was more. She turned her face to his, and he captured her lips in a very light, very loving kiss. He moved his mouth carefully. He didn’t want to push too fast or too hard. His goal was to coax and cajole. He let the tip of his tongue skate lightly over her full lower lip. She parted for him, and he gently eased inside her mouth. He tangled his tongue with hers until he felt her grip on his shirt tighten. She was trying to get closer. It felt so good that he let her.

Melody was sitting in his lap now. Her legs hung over his thighs, and her feet were on the bench beside him. Her face was at the same height as his. She cupped his cheeks in her hands, and he gazed into her eyes for just a moment. There was tenderness in those green eyes of hers. There was hunger too. Neither one of them scared him. Not this time.

“Cisco,” she whispered. “What if my boss sees?”

“Didn’t she fire you because someone paid her a thousand bucks?” he whispered back.

“Yes.”

“Then, who the hell cares what she sees?” Cisco nipped her neck and then gently placed a kiss over the love bite. “I hope she sees how much I want to be with you and knows that there’s probably not a damn person on this planet who feels that way about her.”

Melody’s eyes brightened, and she drew back just far enough to give a surprised laugh. “That’s naughty!”

“It’s true,” he growled.

She placed her fingers against his bottom lip and stroked it until he thought he might go daft because of the teasing touch. “Cisco, you aren’t really mine.”

“I don’t want to be owned,” he said immediately. “Do you? Do you really want to belong to me?”

“No. I don’t.”

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. She made love to him with her mouth and with her hands. She twisted her fingers into his hair and tugged until he wanted to scream her name for the whole city to hear. She set her teeth to his lower lip and drew back slowly.

Finally, she gazed at him and shook her head. “Now isn’t the time. We should go. We’re better than this. Don’t you think?”

She had him there. He might be nothing more than a cowboy in disguise who left his scuffed-up boots in his closet at home, but as far as Cisco was concerned, Melody was a queen.