Chapter 21
M elanie was practically walking on air. Her day and night with Logan had been like something out of a dream. A naughty, sex-filled dream, but a dream nonetheless. They’d made love twice more, including once in the shower. And that one was new to her. In her ten years of having sex, she had not once, ever, had shower sex. She’d always thought and assumed that people were insane for having sex in the shower. Just the logistics alone had always baffled her. Who did what and what went where and in what position?
But two minutes under the steaming hot water with Logan and she was a convert. He’d had no problem, bending her over, her head practically on the floor and her hands grabbing her ankles. And when he’d entered her...HOLY SHIT, she’d screamed so loud that she was sure the neighbors had heard her. In that position he’d been so damn deep.
She’d felt full.
Complete.
And she couldn’t wait to feel those things again.
He’d been so amazing and loving, that it made her wonder why anyone would ever settle for less than that in a relationship.
She was the first to arrive at the studio that morning because she had told Leah and Carly that she would clean so they didn’t have to the previous night. She only had two studios to clean and since it was something she did daily, she had a rhythm and could finish the job in less than an hour. When she was almost finished with her studio, Carly walked in.
“Hey,” she said.
Carly put up a hand. “I don’t want any personal details about my cousin but I do want to know everything else.”
Melanie laughed and put the rag that she had been cleaning the mirrors with down. “It was,” she searched for the right word, “incredible.”
“I take it he had no problem with giving you sex?”
“None. He said that me taking charge was just what that voice in his head needed.”
Before Carly could speak again, Leah walked up behind her. “Are you guys talking about hot sex without me?”
“She is.” Carly pointed to her. “I have no hot sex to talk about.”
This was Melanie’s chance to confess that she went to talk to Tony. “About that.”
Leah, who was still standing behind Carly, gave Mel a quick glance as if to ask what was going on.
“About what?” Carly asked. “My lack of a sex life?”
“I kinda did something that you aren’t going to like.” Carly looked at her and then turned to look at Leah. “Leah had nothing to do with this and doesn’t even know what I am about to say.”
“I have a feeling I need to sit down for this.” She moved into the studio, Leah following her and they all took a seat on the dance floor. Carly sat with her back against the mirror.
“I went and talked to Tony.” Mel braced for Carly’s anger, was prepared for her wrath, but it never came.
“You talked about me with him?” she said calmly.
“I asked him if he liked you.” Again she waited and again Carly surprised her.
“Why?”
“I needed to know if you were barking up the wrong tree or if he felt the same about you.”
“And?” This from Leah.
“He likes you, Carls. More than likes you.”
“Is that what he said?”
“Yeah. But it’s more than that. He was willing to take the fall for this breach of friendship. He wanted to tell you that he came to me and that he made me tell him. He knew that you would be pissed and he didn’t want you to lose our friendship over it.”
“Wow, “ Leah said. “That’s admirable.”
Carly looked down at her hands where she was playing with her nails. “Why would he care?”
“Because, you idiot,” Leah shouted. “When you care for someone, you don’t want to see them hurt. Making sure you are happy is more important to him than him being happy.”
She looked at them, eyes sad. “I don’t think I’m equipped to deal with someone caring about me that much.”
“We care about you that much,” Melanie pointed out. “And you don’t seem to have a problem with us.”
“That’s different, I’m not sleeping with you.”
“Your loss, because according to Logan, I am a Goddess in bed.” Her attempt at lightening the mood worked because both Carly and Leah smiled.
“Technically,” Leah said, getting them back on track, “You aren’t sleeping with Tony either.”
“But I want to. God, do I want to.” She took a deep breath. “Have you ever seen someone so fucking gorgeous? I mean, when he walks into a room, I can barely breathe.” She ran her hands down her face.
“Then what the fuck are you waiting for?” Melanie asked. “It’s not like you’re shy or timid.”
“He...scares me.”
“How?” Leah asked.
“The feelings he brings out in me are ones that I’ve never felt. And that scares the living daylights out of me.”
Melanie scooted over to where Carly was leaning against the mirror. “Being afraid is a normal emotion. Every time I took the stage to dance, I was scared out of my mind that I would mess up. But the fear is what made me do my best. Without it, each performance would have just been another day. You need the fear to show that you still care.”
“Mel’s right, Carly. Being scared is not a reason not to do something. I was scared out of my mind to move to Cedarville and start my life over. But I did it and look what happened? We have this amazing business that is thriving and I found Brandon.”
Carly wasn’t the type of person to cry, but tears were slowly falling down her cheeks. “Being in love has made you two annoying.” She smiled through her tears.
“You could be this annoying too if you just got off your ass and took a chance.” Melanie had been friends with Carly long enough to know when her friend needed a kick in the pants. And now was one of those times.
She wiped her eyes. “I will. I just have to do it in my own time.”
Melanie got that. She’d taken years to finally tell Logan how she felt. So she was the last person in the world to tell Carly she had to do it immediately. Standing up, she put out her hand to lift Carly to her feet. “We are here for you if you need us or just want to bitch.”
––––––––
A t the end of the night , Carly seemed to be in a much better mood, and Leah suggested they go out for drinks. It had been a while since they had just had fun, and it seemed like a good idea.
Until they got to the bar.
Both Leah and Melanie had called Logan and Brandon to have them meet up with them. What they hadn’t counted on was that Logan and Brandon would call Tony.
“We can leave,” Mel said. “They haven’t seen us yet.”
“No.” Carly shook her head. “I have to do this. Unless, you know, I spontaneously combust from just looking at him.”
“Carly made a joke,” Leah said, feigning shock.
“Oh it’s no joke,” Carly said. “I might have to excuse myself to the bathroom so I can take care of the problem.”
“Remind me not to use the bathroom after she’s been in there,” Mel said to Leah.
“All right, let’s do this.” Carly linked their arms and together they walked toward the men. As soon as Logan saw them, he stood up and made room for them to sit down.
“Hey.” He leaned in and kissed her long and hard.
“Hi,” she said breathless from the kiss.
“Who wants what?” Brandon asked. “I’ll go grab drinks from the bar.”
“Beer,” both she and Carly said.
“Chardonnay for me please,” Leah told Brandon.
“Hey, Tony,” she said. “Good to see you.”
“Ahh, yeah. You too.” She could tell he was uncomfortable and she knew that it was her fault.
“How was work?” Logan asked, his arm resting on her chair and his fingers playing with her hair.
“Long,” she answered and then leaned into him so that only he could hear her. “Someone kept me up all night.”
“I don’t remember any complaints. Lots of screaming my name and moaning, but no complaints.”
She slapped his arm, laughing. He smelled so good, and she was surprised to find that it was turning her on. So much so that she was thinking about dragging him into the bathroom with her so she could get her fix.
Brandon returned with their drinks, passing them around. “Did mom mention Sunday dinner to you guys?”
“Yeah, she texted me yesterday,” Carly said. “Are you guys all going?”
“We are,” Logan answered.
“Us too,” Brandon said.
Carly nodded. “Cool. It should be fun.”
“Tony, you should come,” Logan said. “Mom won’t care.”
“That’s okay,” he said apprehensively. “It sounds like a family thing and I don’t want to intrude.”
“Your choice, man.”
Carly pushed her chair back and stood. “I’m gonna go pick some songs.”
“I’ll come too,” Melanie said and stood up.
At the electronic jukebox, they flipped through songs silently. Melanie wasn’t sure what else there was to say to her friend that she hadn’t already said earlier.
“How did you do it,” Carly finally said. “How did you go for years being in the same room with Logan when all you could think about was sex.”
“Well, that’s not all I thought about.”
Carly raised her eyebrow in question.
“Okay fine, it was all I thought about, but I don’t know how I did it.” She glanced over to where Logan was sitting at the table. He was sexy with his hair a mess and his old t-shirt on. “Honestly, it’s harder now that I’ve had sex with him. You could use that as motivation.”
“That’s fucking helpful.”
She shrugged and moved her eyes to Tony. “If it helps, I’m pretty sure he is in as much pain as you.”
“Yeah?” she said and darted her eyes to where Melanie was looking.
“He’s avoiding eye contact with you, fidgety and I could swear he’s sweating when it’s freezing in here.”
“Hmm...Maybe I can work with that.”
Oh no. Melanie knew that voice and that look. Carly was up to something and if the past was any indication, it was not going to end well.
“Don’t do anything you’ll regret later,” Melanie told her as they walked back to the table.
Walking right up behind him, Carly put her hand on Tony’s shoulder. Mel could have sworn she saw him jump at her touch. “Anthony, why don’t you come dance with me?”
His face went pure white and he practically choked on his beer. “W-what?”
“Come on, I want to dance and not with one of my cousins.” She was laying it on thick and if Melanie wasn’t so afraid of the consequences, she’d be in awe of her.
Reluctantly, Tony stood, setting his beer on the table. The two of them walked away and when they were out of earshot, Leah said, “What the hell was that about?”
“It seems that Carly has decided to make Tony miserable.”
“What are you talking about?” Logan asked.
“Come on, you can’t be that blind, can you?” Melanie asked him.
“Blind about what?”
“Tony likes Carly,” Brandon said.
“Wait,” Leah put her hand on his arm, “how did you know that?”
Brandon sighed. “He kinda told me.”
“How come you didn’t tell me that?” Leah shouted.
He shrugged. “Wasn’t a big deal.”
“It is when Carly also likes him,” Melanie said.
Logan, looking dumbfounded, asked, “You all knew and no one thought to tell me.”
Melanie held up her hands in a surrender move. “Hey don’t blame me, I had no idea that Bran knew anything about this. Leah and I were just following girl code and keeping our friends secret.”
“Girl Code,” Brandon said and rolled his eyes. “Why does it always come back to girl code?”
“Because we’re girls and it’s what we do,” Leah said.
During their conversation, they all pretended not to watch Carly and Tony dancing, but it was hard not to watch them. Carly was grinding on him like she was a twenty-one-year-old college student and he was the guy buying her beer all night.
It was crude and dirty.
And really, really impressive.
Impressive that Tony was holding back and not dragging her out the door and pinning her to the nearest flat surface.
“I feel dirty watching this,” Logan said. “She’s my cousin.”
“Agreed,” Brandon said and turned his back on the dirty dancing couple. “I’m gonna need a shower to wash that image out of my mind.”
“You two are idiots,” Leah said.
The conversation turned to Logan’s new gallery but Melanie kept her eye on Carly. She didn’t want her to take her game too far and she didn’t want either Tony or Carly to get hurt.