Page 33 of Only in Your Dreams

I’ve fantasized waking up next to Melody Woods forever. Sometimes, all I do is fall asleep holding her. Other times, she sighs and whispers,what the hell are we doing, Zac?before turning over and laying one on me. In those fantasies, I only manage to kiss her a total of three-point-one seconds before ripping off her panties and diving between her thighs, tongue-first.

A decade ago, I decided—got told, explicitly—that anything with Melody beyond platonic was strictly off the table.

But the truth is, I don’t want platonic.

I didn’t that night in her bedroom.

I didn’t the day I caved in and went to find her hand-in-hand with Connor.

I don’t today.

Fuck platonic. Iwanther. And I won’t keep that to myself this time. Not if I can help it, not if she ever shows signs of interest. Extends an olive branch.

I’ve been putting out little feelers all day, just to see how far she’ll let me push the flirtation before shutting it down. I didn’t think I was getting anywhere, but…

“Totally platonic mattress-sharing, of course. Everyone keeps their hands to themselves,” she adds.

Fuck.

“Still with me, Porter?”

“Yeah, I’m still with you,” I say. “Look, I…”

The rest of that sentence dies in my throat.

The hair at the back of my neck stands.

I’m now preoccupied staring at a dark shape only feet away from me, just out of reach of the light from this lantern. This shape that’s about a thousand times bigger than a chipmunk.

“Okay, point taken, Zac. I was just trying to be nice,” Mel grumbles, oblivious behind me.

Get her out of here.Now.

Without telling her what’s happening because the second she sees this, she’ll lose it and—I force a breath into my lungs just as the four-legged shape in front of me takes a step closer.

“Mel?” I say, forcing calm into my voice. “Do me a favor.”

“What?” she says absently, and I hear the sounds of her pulling my sweats back on.

“Can you make out the path back to camp from here?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Well,” I force out, and I swear this is karma for laughing at her chipmunk story. It has to be, because I’m fairly certain I’m now in a standoff with a fucking wolf. “It’s my turn to go, and I can’t do it with you around. Can you make it back to camp on your own? I’ll be right behind you.”

“Actually, I think I’ve become accustomed to being carried around.”

My hands start to shake and I ball them into fists. “Get back to the tent, please.”

“What—”

“Melody,” I say through clenched teeth. The dark shape takes another step toward us. “This is the one and only time I’m going to need you to do what I say, no questions asked.”

She doesn’t listen. Of course, she doesn’t. She hops closer. And closer. And then she’s steadying herself with a hand on my shoulder and following my gaze to—

It happens fast. Mel starts to scream, the dark shape starts moving, and I throw this woman over my shoulder so fast I almost wind myself. I dart down the path, countering Mel’s panicked stream ofoh my God’swithit’s okay’sand I swear I’ve never moved this quick. Not even when I had men twice my width barreling toward me in solid padding, looking to destroy me over a football.

But my footwork is NFL-caliber tonight. We emerge onto our campsite and I dive into the tent, tossing Mel onto her mattress so hard she almost bounces off it as I zip up the opening.

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