Page 42 of Wilde Abandon
Fox waffled.“I know everything I need to know about her to trust her.”
Dean stared him down.“And yet, you’re keeping something huge from her.”
He thought about why he hadn’t said anything yet.“She doesn’t need to know it to be with me.”
Dean shook his head.“You’re scared she’ll be more interested in—”
“She’s not like that.She cares about me.So much that she’s headed over to deal with Tanya’s drama so I can go to work.”
“Did you tell her you were making a multimillion-dollar deal?”Max asked.
Fox sighed.“Does that even matter?”
Dean started walking and they followed.The center was only a few blocks away.“It might matter to her that you’d rather take her to bed than be on time for a deal worth that much.”
“It’s not like we’ll lose the deal.This call is just a formality for them to accept the terms and hire us to do a job that no other firm can do as well as we do it.”
“You meanyou.You’redelivering this project,” Max pointed out.“This one is all you.And maybe she would like to know what a fucking genius boyfriend she has.”
He rolled his eyes.“You guys just don’t get it.Maybe that will impress her, but what she really cares about is me.I asked her to come back tonight.Instead of agreeing right away, she was concerned about me getting enough sleep.”
“Guess she doesn’t know that’s the one thing you don’t do well,” Dean pointed out.
They reached the New Adult Education Center and entered the building using Dean’s key card.
“Can’t you guys just be happy for me?”
Max nodded.“I am happy for you.”
“Me, too,” Dean added.“I just don’t think you should hide parts of yourself from her.It’s like lying.And it will come back to bite you in the ass.”
Fox never dismissed a warning from his friends.But he wanted to get to know Melody better, and for her to get to know him, without her being influenced by his success and what that meant in his life.
Chapter eleven
Melody’sdaystartedoffright with Fox.The man knew how to keep his promises.She appreciated that he thought one more time with her was more important than any business call he had scheduled.Maybe it wouldn’t always be like that, but with things between them so new…it made her feel special.
That’s what she’d been looking for all this time.
And she wanted to show him that he meant everything to her, too.So she’d stopped at the donut shop on her way out to Tanya’s place.A peace offering of sorts.No matter how Tanya felt about her, Melody intended to make things easier for Fox by not giving in to temptation and spewing all the hateful things she wanted to say.
At least, she’d try.For him.
And a chocolate glazed donut or two never hurt.
She pulled into the drive, grabbed the box of donuts and her coffee mug, and headed up to the porch.
Tanya opened the door with a frown and anger in her eyes.She looked about to blow her top.“What are you doing here?”
“Fox had an important meeting.I volunteered to fix your plumbing problem.”
Tanya’s dismissive gaze raked over her.“You?”
“I’m actually quite handy.”She held up the box.“And I brought donuts.”
Tanya’s gaze narrowed with suspicion, but she held the door wide for Melody to walk in.“Is he coming at all?”
“I’m not sure.He didn’t tell me his schedule for today.He’s with Dean and Max.Seemed like the call they had was important.”She looked around the living room, noting the dust on the tables and shelves, the dirty dishes on the coffee table, and the basket of laundry sitting on the floor of the bedroom down the hall.“So, where is the leak?”