SOMETIME—AND SHE wasn’t exactly sure when—Mellie had decided to simply enjoy Delano while she could. And she’d been glad of that choice after talking to him later in the evening.
He’d been honest about his intention to go back to Trinidad as soon as he could. Looked at from that perspective—that maybe she had as little as a week with him—Mellie could relax and just enjoy their time together.
And she did enjoy him, to the fullest. Delano was the most selfless and attentive lover she’d ever had. Waking up each morning, filled with memories of the night before, had her smiling and in the best of moods.
If there were any clouds in her blue-sky attitude, they manifested whenever she actually allowed herself to think about what her life would be once he was gone.
The truth was that he’d become more than a lover to her, and although she staunchly refused to give a name how she felt, it was useless to deny she would miss him.
Terribly.
She’d forgotten how it felt to be with someone who not only stimulated her sexuality but also her mind. They could talk about almost anything, laugh together, work together. She’d taken to sharing her thoughts and plans with him, without reservation. Telling herself she felt that free and comfortable with him because she knew he wouldn’t be around much longer became a refrain she wished she fully believed.
On the Wednesday before the spay and neuter clinic, Delano came into the office at lunchtime, Baldur at his heels.
“Hey,” he said, coming to lean against her desk. “I had an idea I wanted to pass by you. Have you considered arranging a freedom flight for some of your animals? Sending them to the US or Canada to be adopted?”
Mellie rocked back in her chair, and nodded slowly.
“I have, but I don’t have any contacts abroad to make it happen.”
His grin made goose bumps fire out across her chest, and tightened her nipples.
The man was too damned sexy for his own good—and hers!
“I do. My friend Sam Nichols runs the Vaughn Shelter just outside of Toronto. I’ve known her and her brother for years, and I called her and asked her advice. She’s thrilled by the opportunity to help.”
Mellie sat back, staring at him. It was, on the surface, a great idea. A shelter in Jamaica had done something similar in the past, sending over a hundred dogs to Canada and new homes. If they could pull it off, it really would give them some breathing space. However, to Mellie, there was the other side of the equation.
Delano hadn’t asked if this was something Mellie would consider. He’d just gone ahead and reached out to his Canadian friend.
It smacked of him sidelining her, despite the fact that the shelter was hers.
“What’s wrong?” Delano’s eyebrows dipped into a frown, and he tipped his head to the side, as though trying to figure out why she wasn’t over the moon about it.
“Nothing,” she said quickly, not wanting to sour his pleasure at what he’d done, although at the moment she couldn’t share it. “How do I contact your friend Sam?”
“I gave her your number, and she said she’d call you.” He was still eyeing her narrowly. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
It was the perfect opening to express her annoyance, but she didn’t take it, needing time to figure out why she’d had that knee-jerk reaction. Putting it aside for the moment, she smiled and, instead, asking if he was ready for obedience class that evening.
“As ready as I can be. Dad is coming with me, so I better bring my A game.”
“He’s not that much of a stickler.” Mellie jumped to Dr. Milo’s defense. “Also, he’ll probably be so happy to get out of the house, he won’t care if the entire class is a shambles.”
Delano chuckled in agreement. “That’s probably true. Dad’s not used to being stuck at home like this with Aunt Eddie hovering over him and making him rest—not if all the chores he’s given me since I arrived are any indication.”
“Very true. Your father has slowed down a bit over the last couple of years, but was still one of the busiest men I know.”
Delano was slowly stroking his hand along her neck, from just beneath her ear to her shoulder, giving her goose bumps. Not that she minded.
“Do you have time to have dinner with me this evening, before obedience class? Then we could go together. Dad’s been asking for you.”
That was something she really liked about him. He never demanded her time, but always asked if she was available. In the past she would have been quite content to say no, citing work at the shelter, but she was already considering how best to accommodate him.
“I think so.”
“Great.” Bending, he placed a lingering kiss on her lips, before getting to his feet. “By the way, what time should I be ready to go to the spay and neuter clinic on Saturday?”
It was an opportunity to ask when he was planning to go back to Trinidad, but Mellie let it pass, wanting to know and yet not wanting to, as well. She was just glad he was actually sticking around, at least until then.
“It’s about an hour to Grand Harbor, depending on the traffic, and I usually try to get to the venue by about seven thirty to set up and help with registration if necessary.”
“I’ll be ready then.” He paused, halfway to the door, and continued, “If I’m not already with you.”
She was smiling to herself as he went out the door. If she had anything to say about it, they definitely would be together on Saturday morning. Then the smile faded, to be replaced with a wave of melancholy. By then she suspected they’d be on a countdown to his departure, and she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.
Unfortunately, she had to cancel their dinner plans that evening, and tell him she’d probably miss obedience class.
“Your friend Sam contacted me and wants to teleconference tonight to start making plans.” Mellie had forgiven Delano about the freedom flight too, knowing she was being unreasonable. His excitement about possibly helping the shelter had been palpable. “The board and I will be talking to her about what we need to do to get it off the ground.”
“Okay. I’ll miss you at obedience class, but that’s more important. Can I come by your place afterward?”
They were alone in the office, the last patients for the day seen and the staff already gone. Mellie couldn’t resist moving into his arms and kissing Delano, reveling in the surge of desire that immediately swamped her.
“Of course,” she finally replied, a little breathlessly, when they finally parted. “I’d be very disappointed if you didn’t.”
Obedience class went better than Delano expected, mainly because most of the lookie-loos from the week before didn’t bother to come back. And when everyone saw his father walking in, the jubilation was unmistakable. A good half an hour went by, with everyone crowding around him in the pavilion, before Delano could get the class started.
“Where’s Mellie?” Kiah Langdon asked, just as Delano was getting everyone situated.
“She had some business to take care of this evening,” he replied, hoping no one noticed the disappointment in his voice.
His father had been disappointed too, when told Mellie probably wouldn’t make it. Although they spoke on the phone almost every day, she hadn’t been by the house since Delano had arrived.
“You tell Mellie I want to see her, okay?” Dad said, as Delano was in the process of dropping him back off at home after the class.
It was the only time his father had intimated he knew where Delano was spending his evenings, and nights.
“I will, Dad,” he replied, half expecting for his father to segue into a more detailed line of questioning about the relationship between his son and his associate, but nothing more was said. Maybe just knowing Delano was going back to Trinidad soon was enough to make him hold his tongue.
When he got to Mellie’s it was to find her in a state of cautious excitement.
“Sam was very helpful, and we have a tentative action plan in place,” Mellie told him as she paced back and forth across her living room, the dogs’ heads following her movements as if they were watching a tennis match. “Next week, we’re going to start picking the dogs we think will do best, and photographing them, sourcing kennels—although Sam thinks she can help with that—and speaking to the government vet. Luckily, I know him well, and can count on his discretion. We’re going to keep this as quiet as we can, until we know whether we can bring it off or not.”
“Have you thought about contacting the shelter in Jamaica and asking how they managed?”
Mellie shook her head. “Sam is speaking to one of the people who was involved in that freedom flight, and they’re advising her how best to go about it.” She paused then, and turned her gleaming gaze his way, and something in that look made his heart gallop. “Have I properly thanked you for this?”
“Sure,” he replied, as she stalked closer to where he was sitting on the couch.
“I’m pretty sure I haven’t,” she said. “I was annoyed about it at first because you didn’t ask me before contacting Sam.”
The shock of her words had him sitting up, horrified.
“Why didn’t you say something, Mel, so I could apologize? I didn’t mean for it to look like I was doing an end run around you, or something. I was just so excited by the idea, I went ahead with it.”
She smiled then, shaking her head.
“It was a knee-jerk reaction.” She seemed to consider for a moment, before lowering herself into a chair so she was facing him across the coffee table. Was it intentional that she kept a distance between them? “I have a problem with anything that seems to threaten my autonomy. I’m not very trusting, as you know all too well.”
He wasn’t sure if she’d answer, but it seemed important to ask, “Is there a particular reason?”
“A couple.” Her brow wrinkled, as though she was wondering why they were talking about it, but then she gave a small shrug and continued, “I told you a little about my mother, and her reaction to my contacting Daddy.”
“Yes.” Something held him still, poised at the edge of his seat, surprised she was opening up to him in this way.
“Well, that was the final break, but the rift between us had been growing for a long time. All my life she’s been demanding, wanting me to do whatever she said, without question. But as I got older, I realized she also lied, a lot, to get her way. When you’re a child, and realize you can’t depend on your parent to be truthful, you stop trusting everyone.”
She took a deep breath and shook her head.
“She didn’t want me to be a vet. She told me she and my stepfather couldn’t afford my tuition. I took out loans and worked to get through vet school, only to find out afterward that Daddy had been sending her my college fees. When we figured it out, he made her give me the money so I could pay off the rest of my loans, but that sense of betrayal intensified.”
Delano wanted to go to her. Hold her. But everything about her posture told him it would be the wrong thing to do just then.
So all he said instead was, “I’m sorry, Mel.”
The movement of her lips might have been an attempt at a smile, but it didn’t succeed.
“You’d think I’d have learned my lesson, wouldn’t you? But I didn’t. I was engaged to a man who treated me almost the exact same way. He isolated me from my friends by getting me to move to Miami with him, took my savings as a down payment on a house, used me to help fix it up, then sold it out from under me. Kyle kicked me out on Christmas Eve, leaving me with almost nothing.”
Now she smiled, a ferocious grin that eased the anger welling inside him.
“But he’d underestimated me, you know? He knew what I’d gone through with Mom, and figured I’d be too embarrassed or weak to do anything about it, but I’d learned from Daddy that you don’t let people get away with things like that. The money I have put away is what I won when I sued him for both my savings and punitive damages.”
He couldn’t bear it anymore. Delano got up and strode around the intervening table, Mellie’s gaze following his movements. When he reached her, he opened his arms, his heart thundering in his ears, as he waited to see if she’d accept his offer of comfort and solace.
When she did, rising to step into his arms, Delano closed his eyes, more thankful than he could express, even to himself.
“Oh, sweetheart,” he said, when he’d gotten control of his anger, sorrow and voice. “I’ll never lie to you, ever. And now that I know how you feel, I’ll always ask your opinion before I interfere in your business.”
Mellie didn’t answer, except to pull his head down and kiss him. Not passionately. At least, not at first. Instead, it felt like a promise, as well as an act of forgiveness and understanding.
But it didn’t take long for the desire that always flowered when they were together to rise into a flame, and then a conflagration that wouldn’t be quenched without the ultimate intimacy. And Delano didn’t resist when she led him to her bedroom, although a part of him whispered that they’d crossed a dangerous line, and there could be no going back.
Even if he’d wanted to retreat.