Chapter 6 Melody
Melody
Melody luxuriated in a sense of deep contentment as she hovered in that place between asleep and awake. It had been a long time since she’d awoken feeling so good. In fact, she felt so good that she wanted to go back to whatever delicious dream had left her feeling so blissful.
She burrowed deeper into the solid warmth that supported her and released a happy sigh.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” a familiar, sleep-roughened voice crooned. She felt the gentle scratch of whiskers against her brow as a warm hand moved to cradle the back of her head.
Melody jolted awake as shock washed over her like a bucket of ice water.
“Hey. Shhh. It’s okay,” Ben soothed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” One of his hands caressed her back in gentle, calming strokes.
As her mind raced to orient her, Melody became instantly aware of the strong arms holding her safe against a well-muscled chest. At some point, someone—probably Ben—had pulled the throw up over her shoulders. She had been nicely tucked in. Alexei lay gently snoring on the opposite end of the couch.
Embarrassment lapped at her like waves along the shoreline. “I’m sorry,” she apologized as she came more fully awake. She kept her voice low so as not to wake Alexei. “I must have fallen asleep on you.”
“It was no problem,” Ben said in an equally hushed tone as he gently brushed stray locks of hair back from her face. “Volkov was gesticulating so wildly that I think you came seeking protection on this side of the couch.”
Now that he mentioned it, she did recall Alexei getting so into the movie that she’d had to slowly inch away from him lest she accidentally get hit by his brachial windmilling. Apparently, she’d found herself a most agreeable safe haven within the cradle of Ben’s arms.
Melody used the hand that had found its nocturnal resting place against his chest to push herself back a little.
She might have spent the night happily cocooned in his arms, but now that she was awake, she felt more than a little bashful about the way her sleeping self had used him as her personal pillow.
“Have you been up for long?” she asked.
Ben shook his head. “No. Only for a few minutes.”
Her sleep-clouded brain couldn’t make up its mind about just how embarrassed she should feel, but she was cognizant enough to hope conversation would dispel any potential awkwardness between them.
Ben didn’t look bothered by the night’s events.
And yet, while she couldn’t speak to his reality, it certainly wasn’t every morning that she awoke to find herself curled up against a near stranger.
As her eyes surveyed the room, they landed on the empty recliner. "Where's Eric?"
“I heard the shower go on a few minutes ago, but I don’t know if he slept here or wandered into his room at some point during the night.”
Melody inched a little further away from Ben before getting to her feet. She covered her mouth as a yawn escaped it. A few tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes.
“Someone once told me that our eyes water when we yawn because we miss our beds and it makes us sad,” Ben volunteered.
If the warm twinkle in his eye was enough to go by, Melody would wager he was not-so-subtly suggesting she come back to the couch and resume resting in his arms. No, Ben definitely didn’t seem bothered by the way they’d spent the night.
Melody thought there was something very nice about the manner in which he was making his interest in her so plainly known. Relationships were hard enough without all the guesswork.
She could only imagine that Ben was used to waking up to find strange women draped all over him.
There were exceptions to every rule, but she’d witnessed enough over the years to understand that random—and frequent—hookups were part of professional athletics.
That wasn’t her life. She certainly wasn’t used to such easy intimacy with people she barely knew.
As much as a part of her wanted to crawl back into the warmth of his arms, her rational mind urged her to take a step back. She’d never been comfortable with casual physical affection. And she didn’t see that changing, no matter how appealing Ben was.
“Can I get you a glass of water?” she offered by way of practical distraction.
Melody thought he might redirect the conversation back to more personal matters, but after the barest of hesitations, he nodded. “Water would be great. Thank you.”
She returned his nod and made her way into the kitchen where she proceeded to pour two glasses of filtered water. She then made her way over to her favorite cupboard. It was her undisputed favorite because Eric kept it stocked with her favorite chocolate bars.
Chocolate and waters in hand, Melody ambled back into the living room.
“Here you are,” she said as she passed Ben his water.
“Thanks,” he acknowledged with his signature warm smile.
“You’re welcome.” She smiled back.
Melody couldn’t help but stare, no small bit transfixed, at the way the muscles in his neck worked as he took a healthy gulp of water. Whoever would have thought that neck muscles could be so sexy?
Seeking to distract herself, she took a seat on the floor in front of the coffee table and proceeded to unwrap her chocolate bar.
“What do you have there?” Ben asked. He repositioned himself on the couch and gestured to her now-open bar.
“It’s dark chocolate,” she explained. “Would you like some?”
Ben shook his head, but a smile lit his lips. “You eat chocolate for breakfast?”
“Mel eats chocolate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” Eric volunteered as he walked down the hallway, toweling his hair dry. “And often in between. She could give Willy Wonka a run for his chocolate-eating money.”
“My chocolate is far healthier than Willy Wonka’s,” she rebutted cheekily.
She didn’t bother to dispute his quantity claim. That much was true enough.
“Do you have chocolate for breakfast every morning?” Ben inquired. Both his tone and the way he was looking at her suggested he was fascinated to hear her answer.
“Pretty much,” she confirmed as she munched happily.
“With the amount of chocolate Mel consumes, it wasn’t hard to determine that it’s her Achilles’ heel,” Eric revealed. “I keep her well supplied with the good stuff and she keeps doing all the cooking for us.”
She laughed. “I love to cook, but the chocolate supply certainly doesn’t hurt your cause.”
“Throw in my ineptitude in the kitchen,” Eric added, “and I seem to have acquired my own personal chef.”
Ben rose from his seat on the couch and moved to crouch down beside her. She felt her pulse rate increase at his nearness.
“What makes this chocolate so special?” Ben asked, curiosity lighting his gaze.
“Well,” Melody answered, happy to discuss one of her favorite topics.
“I try to only eat organic dark chocolate that has been sweetened with whole sugars like unrefined evaporated cane juice, coconut sugar, and maple sugar. Most people don’t realize it, but refined sugar—which is what most chocolate bars contain—requires more nutrients to metabolize than it contains.
This means our bodies need to steal nutrients from other healthy foods that we have eaten simply to metabolize the sugars.
The result is a depletion of our nutrient reserves, which predisposes us to feeling tired and rundown.
Whole sugars might not be perfect, but they’re a heck of a lot better than the alternative. Especially in the quantities I eat.”
Melody paused for a beat before adding, “Some of my favorite brands even contain one hundred percent of the recommended daily intake for iron.”
Ben’s eyebrows lifted in apparent intrigue. No surprise there. He probably wasn’t used to hearing someone talk so passionately about chocolate, especially first thing in the morning.
“Mel has a skill for making healthy food taste delicious,” Eric asserted. “I don’t pay as much attention to food quality as she does, but I know I always feel great when I eat her food. If she didn’t already have a full-time job, I would seriously try to hire her as my personal chef.”
“I can see why,” Ben complimented. “Those nachos you made last night were amazing.”
She flushed with pleasure at his praise. “Thank you.”
Goodness. If he didn’t stop smiling at her with that ridiculously compelling combination of kindness, curiosity, and—dare she hope?—romantic interest, she couldn’t be held responsible for her actions.
“What is it that you do for a living?” Ben inquired. He eyed her scrubs—which, after having been slept in, now felt like they had been on her body far longer than they should have been—curiously. “You never mentioned.”
“Oh!” she said, surprised that he didn’t know. “I’m a physical therapist.”
Ben’s eyes widened.
“I have a doctorate in physical therapy,” she clarified. “I help patients address impairments, functional limitations, and disabilities related to movement, function, and overall health.”
“Oh wow,” Ben said, clearly impressed. “So, it’s Doctor McGuire.”
“It is, yes.” She smiled brightly. She was darn proud of her education. “I work at The Winchester Retirement Residence. I’m the staff PT.”
Ben let out a low whistle. He was new to Chicago, but it would seem that he’d heard of The Winchester.
“That’s a pretty posh workplace you have there.”
Says the professional hockey player, Melody thought with amusement. Instead, she answered, “It’s definitely a great place to work.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Eric scoffed. “It may be ritzy, but I still think you should come back and work with the team.”
Ben’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “That explains how you seem to know all of the players so well,” he observed, as though he’d just solved a riddle that had been puzzling him.
Melody wasn’t sure what conclusions he’d drawn with regard to her relationship with his teammates, so she settled for a simple nod of acknowledgment.
“Speaking of work,” Melody continued as she glanced at the clock, “I had better get going.” Her first appointment was in just over an hour.
“Do you have time to get home and get ready before heading in?” Ben inquired.
“Probably,” Melody answered, “but it’s unnecessary. I keep a change of clothes at the office and there are showers I can use to freshen up.”
Thanks to the city’s excellent transit system, she could be at work in fifteen minutes. She could also make it home in under half an hour, leaving her with enough time for a quick shower and a change, but there wasn’t any need.
Chocolate bar finished, Melody lifted herself off the floor. “Thanks for hosting, Eric.” She reinforced her thanks with a friendly hug.
Eric chuckled as he gave her a gentle squeeze back. “Thank you. You saved me from getting food poisoning from my own cooking.”
She would have laughed, but there was some truth to his assertion. Eric had managed to give himself food poisoning on several occasions. Yet another reason she strove never to eat anything he cooked.
Melody turned to say her goodbyes to Ben. “Thanks for taking care of me last night.” She rolled her eyes over to the still-slumbering Alexei so Ben was clear on who and what she felt he’d protected her from. Her tone was shy, but also a little flirtatious.
His eyes stared meaningfully into hers. “I’ll look forward to seeing you again soon.”
“Me, too,” she affirmed. Thankfully, she didn’t blush in the face of his clear interest. This time.
She gathered her stuff in quick order. A private smile played at her lips as she felt Ben’s eyes track her movements while she prepared to make her exit. Did she just say she was looking forward to seeing him again soon? That time couldn’t come soon enough.