Page 126 of Only in Your Dreams

“And you won’t let me do it for you?”

“Definitely not.” I smile, but she doesn’t return it.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I wanted to,” I admit. “But I wasn’t sure that was something we did. I don’t know where we stand on the wholecalling your sleeping buddy when shit hits the fanthing.”

“I would have wanted you to call me. I’d have wanted to be there for you.” She stares grimly at the side of my face. “Maybe we’re due for an upgrade fromsleeping buddies.”

A bomb, warm and fuckingelated,goes off in the pit of my stomach. Seeing me like this seems to have triggered something in her, and hell if it doesn’t make every throb of my aching head worth it.

“I’m interrupting again, aren’t I?”

We turn to find Noah hovering awkwardly in the doorway to the kitchen. My heart cracks wide open for him. He was distraught once his dad got escorted out, stayed with me while the team doctors had a look at the damage to my face. Now, he looks at me carefully, like he expects me to have turned on him sometime in the last few hours.

“Noah,” Melody says, voice thick with relief as she scans him, head to toe. I’m not sure what she sees there beyond what I do, but it makes her hop off the counter, cross the kitchen to wrap him up in a hug. “You’re not interrupting. You’reneverinterrupting. This is your home.”

She’s tiny in his arms, doesn’t even hit his shoulders, but after a second in which he doesn’t seem to know what to do next, Noah sags into her. His chin hits the top of her head, tears pool in the corners of his eyes.

Whatever Mel saw in him, she was right. He needed that damn hug. He looks about a hundred pounds lighter when they draw apart. He wipes dry his cheeks, and my fucking heart hasn’t felt so full in years.

“Are you alright?” she asks, clutching Noah’s shoulders.

“I’m fine. Zac got in the way before my dad even got close.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” When he shakes his head, Mel turns to the brown paper takeout bags on the counter. Blinking fast, eyes pink around the rims. “Well, then you’re just in time. I brought home dinner—and before you ask,yes,I got your diablo spiced wings, though I still don’t understand how you can stomach those. And I know you guys owe me a romcom after the back-to-back doom and gloom movies you’ve been picking out, but I’m willing to give up my turn.”

Noah starts fiddling with the takeout bags. They move in sync like they’ve been doing it for years, and there’s nothing more thrilling than seeing them—two of the most important people to me—exuding domesticity, right here in my kitchen. It’s exactly the kind of scene I dreamed up when I built the place. Me and my Melody, our kids. Quiet movie nights until we can escape upstairs for even quieter bedtime activities.

“Is it a forks-and-knives kind of night?” Noah asks her. “Or a sauce all over your face night?”

She waves away the cutlery. “Sauce everywhere. Drowning in sauce. Sticky fingers and stains on the couch we’ll need to clean up in the morning.”

With an approving nod, Noah piles the takeout containers in his arms—minus forks and knives—and crosses into the living room.

“What’s that look for?” With her eyes on me, Melody closes the gap between us.

I sweep her hair aside. “Which look?”

“This look. That smile.” Her fingers stroke the outer corner of my eye. My laugh lines? “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking about never realizing just how lonely I’ve been until the very moment I felt full.” When her brows pull together, I add: “Now. Here, with you. You make me feel so full, I can’t even breathe, sometimes. Like my lungs are screaming at me that I don’t need anything but you to survive. I am so far gone for you, Melody.”

She stares down at her feet, bashful as always whenever I say too much.

“Too sappy?” I nudge up her chin. “I am scaring you off?”

Mel clutches the hem of my shirt. “I was ready to kick a grown man’s ass for you—still am, if you’d let me. Sweet words like that don’t scare me when they come from you. Not anymore.”

“Hey guys?” Noah calls from the other room. “What do we think about a comfort movie tonight?The Silence of the Lambs?”

“He considersThe Silence of the Lambsa comfort watch?” I mutter as she huffs a laugh.

Melody leads me into the living room where Noah is already chomping down fries. “Come on, Porter. I’ll hold your hand at the scary parts.”

Chapter 32

Melody

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