Tell Me

Chapter Fifteen

On the way back to Gabe’s ranch, Melanie checked her phone for messages. She hadn’t received a single call, email, or text from Nikki in over twenty-four hours. Melanie would have liked to believe that her friend had finally discovered tact and had allowed Melanie to enjoy her weekend with Gabe undisturbed, but she knew Nikki better than that. Either Nikki was having too much fun to bother checking in—unlikely, because when she was having that much fun she liked to brag—or something was wrong. Very wrong. Dread settled in Melanie’s stomach, and she couldn’t shake it. She sent Nikki a text, asking her to please check in because she was starting to worry. Melanie anxiously waited for the answering smart-ass response, but seconds became minutes and her text was marked delivered, but not read. Maybe Nikki had forgotten to charge her phone. Though that wasn’t likely. Nikki might forget to pay her bills or fill up her car with gas, but she never forgot to charge her phone.

“Everything okay?” Gabe asked.

Melanie peered around Beau, who was sharing her seat. Well, sharing wasn’t really the dog’s forte. He was hogging her seat.

“I don’t know. I’m really starting to worry about Nikki. It’s not like her to not bug me about something for this length of time.”

“She’s probably just having a good time in New Orleans.” He grinned at her reassuringly. “It’s easy to lose track of time in the Big Easy.”

Melanie prayed he was right. Prayed Nikki was all right.

“We’ll be back in New Orleans day after tomorrow,” he reminded her. “I’ll show you what I mean then.”

“What are you going to do with Lady while you’re on the road?”

His brow scrunched. “I’ll think of something. The guys keep bringing their women on the bus; surely they won’t protest if I bring along my own Lady.”

“But I have to work on Monday.” Unfortunately. She’d love to spend more time with Gabe. Hell, she’d love to spend all of her time with Gabe. But she had a life in Kansas. And she wasn’t missing it at all.

“I meant the dog.”

Oh. So that was where his loyalties lay. She scowled.

“I wish you could travel with me too,” he said hastily. “Do you have any vacation time saved up?”

She felt marginally better. Very marginally. “A little.”

“Could I interest you in wasting it all on me?”

She craned her neck to try to see around the eighty-pound hairball panting and drooling all over the dashboard. Didn’t dogs like to sit by the window? Apparently this one preferred a front and center view with the air conditioning vent blowing cold air at his throat.

“You might,” she said.

“You could join the tour for a couple days, which isn’t very pleasant once the novelty wears off.”

She couldn’t tell if he was trying to dissuade her from joining the tour or sincerely thought she wouldn’t enjoy riding on the bus with him.

“Or you can visit me at my place again. It’s usually calm and peaceful. Today has just been a day from Hell.”

Despite the emergency with Lady, Melanie had to admit she liked being a part of his day-to-day life. She loved his home. Loved his dogs. Loved… Well, she didn’t want to get ahead of herself with thoughts like that.

“Or,” he said, “we can take off somewhere, just the two of us, and have a real vacation.”

“Like where?” she asked. She so rarely got out of Kansas. She’d always wanted to travel, but had never found the time or a likeminded individual who wanted to travel with her.

“Anywhere. You pick. Our last option would be hanging out at your place for a few days.”

She cringed. Now that didn’t sound like fun. “I think it would be fun to go someplace unique.”

“Are you talking The Bahamas-unique or Antarctica-unique?”

She instantly knew where she wanted to go. The place she’d been dreaming of visiting since she’d seen the movie The Gladiator.

“How about Rome-unique.”

He made a sound of interest—a short mmm. “I’ve never been to Rome,” he said. “Rome it is.”

Really? Was she really going to live her dream of seeing the coliseum at Gabe’s side? If a wall of beige fur hadn’t separated them, she would have hugged him.

“But that’ll have to wait until the tour is over,” he said. “I don’t have enough time off between gigs to do a proper vacation.”

“When is the tour over?” she asked.

“November.”

“November?” She scowled. “I won’t get to see you until November?” This dating a touring rock star thing was a challenge she hoped she’d live through. Just being away from him for five days had been torture. What would it be like to not be able to see him for weeks or months? She’d go mad.

“We’ll see each other,” he said. “Just in small bites. You might discover that’s all of me you can handle in one setting.”

“Gabriel Banner, I want to eat you whole. Trust me, I can handle being with you for extended periods of time.”

He chuckled and turned off the highway onto the gravel road that led to his home.

When they pulled into the driveway, the first thing Melanie noticed was that the beat-up pickup was no longer parked along the side of the road.

“I hope to God that little fucker didn’t find those keys and drive,” Gabe said. “I should have pocketed them instead.”

Melanie opened the door and shooed the massive form of Beau out of the truck so she could actually interact with the man who was so obviously in turmoil.

“Don’t beat yourself up, sweetheart. You had to take care of Lady first. There was no time to make sure that kid did the responsible thing. You did what you could under the circumstances. You even called the police.”

Gabe didn’t look at her. Instead he dropped his face into his hands and scrubbed at his eyes.

“I love my dog and all, she means the world to me, but…” He huffed out a heavy breath and dropped his hands to reach for the door handle.

She caught his arm before he could escape. “You can talk to me, Gabe. I want you talk to me. Whatever it is, you can tell me, okay?”

“Can I tell you that you really need a shower? You smell like dog.”

She let him off the hook—for now—by rolling her eyes and offering him a half grin. He’d tell her when he was ready. She hoped. She really wanted to build a relationship with him and that couldn’t happen if he didn’t trust her with his baggage. Hell, she had Nikki for a best friend. If she couldn’t handle Gabe’s baggage, no one could.

“I might be tempted into taking a shower,” she said, suddenly self-conscious about the dried blood on her dress. The legs of Gabe’s jeans were covered with it as well. “If you’ll join me.”

“Melanie Anderson, I’m starting to think you only have one thing on your mind.”

“If you think it’s seeing you naked,” she said hotly and then grinned, “guilty as charged.”

She honestly didn’t want to shower with him just to see him naked; she wanted his defenses down. She wanted to get tangled up in more than his arms. Soul bared, heart exposed, she wanted all of him. He opened up when he made love; that’s what had sealed the deal for her. That’s what kept her coming back for more, those brief glimpses of what he usually tried to hide behind tattoos and a foot-high mohawk.

She hoped that one day she wouldn’t have to seduce him to lay his heart open to her, but she’d stick with what worked for now.

He leaned across the seat and claimed her mouth in a soft, loving kiss that set her heart aflutter. “Thanks for being wonderful you,” he said, lifting a hand to brush a stray curl behind her ear. She turned her face to kiss his palm and caught a strong whiff of dog on his hand. She crinkled her nose.

“About that shower” she said.

He laughed, climbed out of the truck, and grabbed her around the waist, hauling her out through the driver-side door.

He slammed the door and carried her toward the house, getting an eyeful of her stockings and thighs as her skirt slid to her waist. She didn’t bother to make herself presentable.

“Looking good, Miss Melanie.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her nose in his throat. His neck didn’t smell like dog at all. It smelled like Gabe. She nuzzled closer and breathed him in.

“Beau!” Gabe called when they reached the porch.

She lifted her head to search for the dog and saw him nosing around the spot where Lady had lay in the grass after she’d been hit.

“Come on, boy. Let’s go inside where it’s cool.”

The dog gave Gabe a morose look and flopped down in the grass, his chin resting on his large paws.

“We’ll bring her home as soon as she’s better, buddy. Come on.”

Beau ignored his master. Gabe sighed, walked to the porch, and set Melanie on her feet. “I’ll have to get him. You can get that shower going,” he suggested.

Melanie nodded, but made no move to go into the house. She watched Gabe cross the yard and drop down next to his dog. She couldn’t hear what he was saying as he stroked Beau’s velvety ears, but after a moment, the dog rose to his feet and collected Lady’s discarded ball from the ditch. Gabe stood and waited for Beau to return to him and they walked side by side to the house.

Melanie didn’t know why she found the two of them so touching. She’d never had a dog, so she found the obvious connection between man and beast hard to comprehend. Obviously Beau didn’t know what was being said to him, but the tone of Gabe’s voice and his soothing hand had somehow reached the animal. She’d probably have just grabbed the dog by the collar hand hauled him into the house. Or scolded him for disobeying. Gabe’s way was better. Lots better.

What a truly remarkable man.

His face brightened and his lips stretched into a smile when he noticed her watching him, but his eyes were hidden under the shadow of his baseball cap. She felt those eyes on hers, though. Felt some connection between them that she couldn’t explain. She was in over her head with this guy and found that realization wonderful, amazing, and scary as hell.