“Mitch?”
“Melanie?”
They spoke at the same time, each turning to stare at the other.
“You go first,” he offered gallantly. The words he had wanted to say were stuck in his throat anyway.
“Well, as you know, I have sort of a temper.” Mitch snorted at the obvious understatement, and Melanie had the grace to blush.
“Okay, I have a temper,” she admitted.
“A terrible temper,” Mitchel revised, tongue in cheek.
“Anyway…” She glared at him over her sunglasses. “I wanted to apologize for jumping to conclusions the other day. I know you were trying to help me, and I’m sorry I snapped at you.”
Mitchel Stewart’s mind had wandered to considering whether she would wear that swimsuit again. “Uh-huh,” he muttered, lost in his daydream.
“If you are still offering, I would like to take you up on your offer of a residence. Just for a few weeks,” she added quickly. And then, for his information, “No strings attached.”
Privately grinning with glee, Mitch calmly asked, “What changed your mind?”
Her sea-colored eyes studied him suspiciously before she answered. “Well, I think I’m being evicted.”
His head shot up in surprise. “For what?”
Melanie grinned. He could see that half-hidden little twitch that seemed to say “Gotcha!”
“Shawna eloped with her boyfriend last weekend, and now she wants her husband to move in with her.” She grinned. “Not unreasonable, I suppose, but I think it’s going to be just a little crowded with the three of us.” Melanie shrugged nonchalantly. “Who am I to stand in the way of young love?”
He was getting to know her, and he recognized a put-on when he heard it from her pink glossy lips.
“Come on, Melanie!” Her big green eyes stared at him innocently. Mitch smirked. “What’s the real reason? I know enough about that nurse to know she plans everything ahead. She’d no more elope than you would. And you would no more move in with a man than fly to the moon. I never expected that you’d go for my suggestion.” He stared at her. “What’s changed?”
Melanie sighed in defeat, and he knew she didn’t really want to agree to his plan, at all.
“We got a notice that the owners want the top floor for their children, who will be going to school in the fall. They will pay us two months’rent if we vacate immediately so they can do some renovations before fall.”
She shrugged her slim shoulders before continuing.
“I’ve been praying and praying that God would lead me in this contest thing. Then this came up. Right after you offered to let me stay there.” Her sigh was not encouraging. “I guess God is trying to tell me something.”
Mitch stared. “You think He wants you to have this money so badly He’d force you to move in with me? Wow!” He was teasing, but the laugh stopped in his throat as she turned those expressive eyes on him.
“I think He must be trying to tell me something,” she said quietly. “I’ve been praying for ages and nothing happened. Now suddenly there’s the contest and the opportunity to get some money for Sunset. I get evicted, and there you are offering to share your place.” Her eyes were wide with amazement. “It’s like a small miracle.”
“I’m not sure…”
“Besides, there’s nothing between us. Everyone knows that. And I work all kinds of hours. I just need somewhere as a base until I can find another apartment.” Her head tilted toward him as she careened around a convertible full of rowdy teenagers. “So I gratefully accept your offer.”
“You must know what it’s like to find accommodation in this town.” Mitch added that just to let her know how lucky she was and how magnanimous he was.
They talked terms and conditions all the way to the beach. Melanie could move in immediately. It would be every man for himself. No cooking, no cleaning, she told him. No garbage, no lewd propositions, he promised.
Eyebrows raised, Melanie asked what that meant.
“I only make proper propositions,” he joked, eyeing her heightened color with interest.
Privately, Melanie wondered what the future would hold for them. Especially after an afternoon of Mitch’s company. Her body hummed from the massaging action of his large hands as he obligingly applied sunscreen to her bare back. His big, strong fingers worked the oil into her skin, and she felt supple and exotic as the fragrance of coconuts wafted around them. Mitch had been insistent that she wear sunscreen.
“I’ve seen sun damage,” was all he would say. “It’s not pretty.” She was aware of his appreciation of her swimsuit.
Melanie was flattered that he found her outfit every bit as interesting as before, but she regretted those extra ten pounds she had never shed. Not that they seemed to matter to Mitch. Shortly after rubbing in the oil, he had rushed away for a quick dip in the cold lake.
“Come on in,” he had teased, dripping frigid drops of water on her toasty skin. He laughed when she shrieked, then razed her unmercifully about her squeamishness until Melanie could stand his teasing no longer.
“I knew you were a beach baby,” he muttered. One dark blue eye had opened as he lazed on his towel. It traveled the course of her body, following the lines of her swimsuit. “I doubt if that thing even withstands more than a dip in the hot tub,” he added, disgusted. “Afraid of a little natural water, probably.”
When Melanie refused to answer, he continued the goading.
“You can’t swim, can you? That bit at the apartment pool was all just a ruse to get my attention, wasn’t it?”
Melanie had sat up at that, fury wrinkling her forehead as she glared at him.
“For your information, I don’t need to attract anyone’s attention.” She straightened her spine in haughty disregard. “I would have you know I am an excellent swimmer. I simply refuse to subject myself to that frigid water in order to prove something to you.” She arranged her beach chair more comfortably and leaned back, soaking up the sun’s rays. “I merely wanted some free time away from the office. I would appreciate it if you could let me enjoy the day.”
Melanie thought she had won their war of words until she heard him mutter something under his breath.
“Pardon?” she inquired superciliously.
“I said, you’re chicken, just as I thought.”
“You know,” Melanie said, eyeing him severely, sunglasses pushed to the end of her nose, “if you ever win in court, it must be because of your bulldog tendencies.”
She stretched out on her stomach, letting the warming heat of the sun penetrate her skin. There was blissful silence for about sixty seconds.
“What do you mean, bulldog tendencies?” His voice was strident. “Admit it, you are a chicken.” Big blue eyes glimmered with excitement. “Bok, bok!” He flapped his arms.
Melanie was getting tired of his ridiculous juvenile games. She looked around the beach and found several pairs of interested eyes trained on them.
“Stop that,” she ordered angrily. “Everyone is staring at you.”
Mitch continued to chant louder and louder.
There was nothing else to do. He would not leave her alone, and she wouldn’t get a moment’s peace until she put an end to this stupidity.
Melanie stood gracefully and walked to the water’s edge, dipping the end of one big toe into the water.
“Agh!”