Melody laughed, covering her mouth with her hand as she pressed her ear to the door. She could hear Jules and Wyatt arguing down the hallway as they walked to their rooms, because both of them had voices that could wake the dead.
“Do you really think they’re gonna die alone?” Melody asked when she was certain they were too far away to hear her through the door.
“Maybe.” Clay shrugged, seeming to consider it for a moment. He winced, a look of genuine sadness crossing his gruff features. “Probably.”
Melody sighed because she liked both of them. Even Wyatt’s smooth-talking ways weren’t so bad. At least he attempted to use his charisma for good, which was more than she had to say for most charmers. And Jules was bold and outspoken in a way Melody admired. The idea that neither one of them had another half out there was suddenly very depressing.
Feeling guilty for laughing a second ago, she left the foyer and walked to the main area of the suite. One wall was nothing but massive panels of glass, leaving the entire room open to the skyline at night. While Melody would never want to live in the city again, even one that was as enlivening as Las Vegas, she’d always had a thing for city lights at night. She couldn’t imagine anywhere with more color and lights at night than Las Vegas. She sat on the bench facing the floor-to-ceiling windows and took in the magnificent scene.
Clay sat next to her. He pulled his cap off, tossing it on the bench. Then he reached out, grasping her hand and holding it in his. “You never know what time will bring. Wyatt and Jules could find someone, maybe when they least expect it. I thought I was gonna die old and alone too, you know?”
Melody took a shuddering breath and turned to look at him. “Me too.”
He squeezed her hand tightly in his, giving her a secret smile. “Not if I have anything to say ’bout it.”
“How’d this happen?” Melody asked in a stunned whisper. She never expected to fall in love and certainly not this swiftly or with this much finality. “We just met.”
“I don’t believe that,” Clay argued as he turned her palm over in his and traced the lines of it with the pad of his finger. “I’m pretty sure we’ve known each other forever. Seeing you the first time was like coming home, and there ain’t been anything to happen since that’s disabused me of the notion.”
“Yeah,” Melody agreed, the bright skyline blurring to a sea of vibrant color. She remembered seeing Clay in Hal’s Diner the first time. Alone and eating his turkey, she’d been compelled to reach out to him. “Do you really believe in soul mates?”
“I do now.”
Clay leaned into her, his fingers threading into her hair at the nape of her neck. Melody was pliant, letting him pull her to him. When he captured her lips, she parted to the thrust of his tongue, already lost to the white-hot current of attraction that constantly pulsed between them.
Clay tasted like dessert and expensive red wine. Melody was drunk with him the moment they connected. She’d waited all day to get to a place where she was one pulse, one throb of desire with Clay. She hiked up her dress and straddled his hips without reservation. Melody threaded her fingers into his short black hair and took control of the kiss. She pushed her tongue into Clay’s mouth, and he groaned at the domination. It was a wildly empowering moment, having such a tall, strongly built, truly dangerous man quivering and yearning for her.
She gripped his shoulders, part of her mind measuring the wide breadth of them. Her center literally throbbed from the knowledge that he was hers. It was the first time they’d been together where Melody wasn’t half-dazed with exhaustion. Clarity brought the realization of just how beautiful Clay was. He was the perfect specimen of male power and strength. Every inch of him hard and commanding, his form was a massive work of art. Melody felt sexual and feminine having him hot and hungry beneath her.
She broke the kiss long enough to tug on the back of his shirt. She wanted all those beautiful muscles on display. She wanted to see them under the lights of Las Vegas. With Clay’s help, they pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the marble floor.
Bare-chested, he leaned forward, cupping Melody’s face in his large palms, and kissed her again. He was just as hungry, just as needy for closer contact. Melody let him own her mouth, savoring him. It was easy to give herself to Clay when being with him made her feel nothing but cherished. It was even sweeter because she knew she owned him too. They belonged to each other, and the realization made the moment all the more poignant.