Read Melody Unchained for Free Online Page B

I wanted to have sex.” The memory of meeting him in his house made her smile. He had a very nice house. She looked forward to keeping it for him. “You wanted to have sex too. Did I misunderstand when you said coffee? Is it a code word for sex all day now instead of just after a date?”
    “What?”
    “On Seinfeld a woman asked George up to her apartment for coffee and he didn’t realize she meant sex. He was very upset the whole rest of the episode.”
    Jerry shook his head. “Did you learn everything you know from TV?”
    “Billy didn’t like to go out much in the last few years. We watched a lot of television. It really is a wonderful invention.”
    “Shh!” Jerry glanced around. “You have to stop saying stuff like that.”
    “Like what?”
    “Weird stuff like TV is a wonderful invention.”
    “Is that why people keep looking at me like I’m loony?”
    Jerry tapped his nose. “Bingo.”
    “I’m going to learn so much from you.”
    “About that.”
    Melody knew what that meant. He was going to explain why they were bad for each other or why they couldn’t see each other, but he was wrong. He would never be bad for her and she could learn to be very good for him. “I bet I can teach you a few things too,” she said, her voice lowered to the purr that had always worked before. She picked up his hand and started massaging it. Using her thumbs, she worked across the palm. He had wonderful, capable hands. Long fingers and wide palms. They would feel lovely on her skin. She ached to be touched by these hands. “Jerry, I want to make love to you.”
    “I need some coffee.” Jerry pulled his hand away.
    As she watched him walk to the counter and place his order, her skin burned for him. Two days she’d waited, planning for this meeting. Sitting alone in that apartment thinking about this, about what would come after. Thinking about the years that would come after. She’d watched so many masters grow old, it hadn’t been difficult to imagine. This time she would be able to grow old with him.
    Melody touched her cheek. Her skin would wrinkle and her hair would gray. And Jerry would love her anyway because he was that kind of man.
    Jerry returned to the table with his coffee. “Melody–”
    “You like me.”
    “Yes, I like you.” Jerry took a drink of his coffee. “I like you a lot.”
    “That’s all that matters then.” It had to be all that mattered. Like could turn into love given enough time.
    “No, it isn’t.”
    Melody frowned. “Then what is it?”
    “You were the victim of a crime.” Jerry tapped the table with his fingertip.
    “No, I wasn’t. Billy died of old age. I was–I explained to you why I was in the apartment. There was no crime.”
    “Yes, but you are vulnerable, and if I started seeing you right after I met you while I was investigating your grandfather’s death it’s going to look fishy as hell.”
    Melody sipped from her coffee. Billy’s diabetes had kept her from trying the modern coffee drinks. It was interesting, but not as good as the spiced hot coffee of her youth. “All right. How long do we have to wait?”
    “Wait?”
    “Yes. How long would we have to wait before it didn’t look fishy? I’m sure policemen have met mates on calls before. They’re people. People always meet mates in the course of their work.”
    Stiff annoyance flickered across his face. “Melody.”
    “It’s true.”
    “I know. I wish you weren’t so smart.”
    “I told you, I can’t grant wishes anymore.” Melody frowned. “You meant that rhetorically, didn’t you?”
    “Yeah.”
    “That’s one of those things I need to not do because it makes people think I’m loony.”
    He smiled. “Yeah.”
    Smiling was good. He looked so handsome when he smiled. Warm and gentle, with a sweet humor in his eyes. She slid her chair closer to him and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “So you think I’m smart?”
    “You’re changing the subject.”
    She slid her hand up his