Melody of the Heart (Runaway Train, #4)

“Next weekend?” At my hesitation, Brayden said, “Two weeks?” When I still didn’t respond, he laughed. “Hmm, I’m thinking it’s going to be never.”


I nudged him playfully. “Next month is your birthday, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“Then we’ll do it on your birthday.”

He grinned. “That’s a helluva gift.”

“I hope it will be.”

“Oh, I know it will.” His brows lined. “Do you think it’ll be too cold in November in the tree house?”

“Won’t you keep me warm?” I teased.

A gleam of desire flashed in his eyes, causing me to shiver. “Oh yeah, you don’t have to worry about that one bit. I’ll keep you nice and warm,” he replied, his voice husky. He made me feel so loved and so desired all with one look. And given how hot I felt just from what we’d been doing and talking about, I knew he would indeed keep me warm.

Reaching between us, I felt the hardness in his jeans. “I think it’s only fair I take care of you since you took care of me.”

He sucked in a harsh breath before giving me an erotic smile. “I won’t argue with that at all.”





BRAYDEN


THE PAST


Glancing down at my watch for probably the millionth time in the last hour, I once again surveyed the time. Lily was late. Five minutes to be exact. As I paced around the inside of the tree house, I began to worry she had second thoughts and decided to back out. I sure as hell hoped she hadn’t for many reasons. The first being I was never more ready to have sex in my entire life than I was with Lily. Before I met her, I thought I wanted it, but it wasn’t until I was with her, kissed her, and tasted her, that I knew there was no one else in the entire world I wanted to lose my virginity to.

The second reason was the fact I had gone to a hell of a lot of trouble transforming the old tree house into something romantic. I’d dragged up a queen-sized inflatable mattress and made up the bed. I’d also lit a ton of candles. For the final romantic gesture, I’d gotten a ton of silk rose petals and scattered them across the worn floorboards. I had to admit it looked pretty amazing. It wasn’t some classy hotel room, but it was a hell of a lot better than the backseat of my car.

“Brayden!” I heard Lily call from outside.

I opened up the hatch in the floorboards and peered down at her. “Hey,” I said, lamely.

“I’m sorry I’m late. I didn’t think my parents were ever going to go to sleep.”

I smiled. “It’s okay. Come on up.”

She started up the ladder. When she got to the top, a cloud of her sweet perfume filled my nose. “Hmm, you smell good.”

With a giggle, she replied, “Thanks.” I helped pull her up the last step and into the tree house. As she fell against me, we just stood there, staring at each other. Unable to stop myself, I placed my hand over her heart. I could feel it beating fast.

“Don’t be nervous,” I whispered.

“Aren’t you even a little bit nervous?” she countered.

Ducking my head, I replied, “Yeah, a little.” The truth was as much as I wanted to have sex, I was still petrified. With both of us being virgins, neither one of us knew what we were doing. I sure as hell didn’t want to ruin Lily’s first time by being totally inept.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” she urged. Because of the love and understanding in her eyes, I told her everything that had been running through my head. “Oh Brayden, you could never ruin my first time. The very fact that it’s with you—the man I love—means more to me than anything in the world.”

I laughed nervously. “You can say that now because we haven’t done anything yet.”

She smiled. “It doesn’t matter.” Dropping her gaze from mine, she then took in the tree house. “Oh my God…” she murmured.

I winced. “I’m sorry that it’s not what you were thinking it would be.”

Shaking her head furiously, Lily replied, “It’s so amazingly beautiful. And the fact that you did it to make it better for us, well, that makes it even more special.”

“You really like it?”

“Yeah, I do.”

A broad smile curved on my lips. “I’m so glad to hear that.”

We then stood around rather awkwardly. Neither one of us sure who was supposed to make the first move or what that first move should be. “Uh, I brought my CD player with me. Let me put on some music,” I said, before I went over to the rickety table by the mattress. Thankfully, I’d remembered the batteries or we would have been out of luck. I switched on the mix CD I had made for the occasion, and U2’s All I Want Is You came out of the speakers. I turned back to smile at Lily before I went back over to her.

“Want to dance?” I asked.

“Sure,” she said, softly.

I drew her to me, wrapping my arms around her waist as her arms went around my neck. We swayed back and forth to the music for a few moments before Lily started giggling uncontrollably. “What’s so funny?” I asked.