Perfect Harmony (16 page)

“Fuck,” he says, stroking back his luscious jet black hair. 
And now I can see he remembers how swept up we were in the whirlwind of passion
and desire, and how we forgot something so simple and significant.  “Fuck.  I’m
so fucking stupid.  Damn it.  Fuck.”

He starts pacing angrily, with an aura of menace, and a
sense of despair starts to build in me.  I knew he wouldn’t be happy with the
news, but to see him actually act this way, it makes it all the more real and
crushing.

He doesn’t want me.  He doesn’t want our baby.

I’m his biggest mistake.

The cold rain thumps me harder, but watching Chase feels like
an icicle stabbing me in the heart.

Instinctively, I cup my belly.  It doesn’t matter if Chase
doesn’t want us - we’ll always have each other.  You’ll never be alone, my dear
child.

“
God fucking damn it!
” growls Chase.  He smashes his
fist against the brickwork.

I jump in fright.

He turns to me and his look becomes one of sorrow.  “I’m
sorry,” he says.  “I’m sorry for everything.”

All we can hope for in this world is to be surrounded by the
people that love us.  Chase doesn’t feel the same deep overwhelming emotions
for me that I feel for him - I know that, but maybe my feelings for him can at
least provide him some respite.

“We’ll get through this,” I say.

“What?”

“Things are going to be alright.”

Chase stares at me, as if for once being unable to think of
a thing to say.  His handsome face betrays nothing of his inner thoughts.  He
just stands there, his expensive suit wet with rain and clinging to his
impossibly sexy body.  Droplets drip from the ends of his dark hair, as gusts
of wind flick the strands away from his forehead.  And then I can see it:

He’s scared.

The need to protect this man that I was on the precipice of
loving overwhelms me.

“I don’t want anything,” I say.

“What?”

“I just came here to tell you.  But your life, it won’t
change.  I didn’t come here to... I don’t want anything from you.” 

The thunder booms as the cloudburst darkens the sky.

Chase’s expression morphs into one of confusion, but also
anger.

“Just a weekend,” I say, “I know that’s all it was, and I’m
okay with that.  You’re not expected to raise our child and I’m not asking you
to.”

His face becomes ominous.

“No,” he says.  “You want something.  You must.  I’ve
already paid you ten thousand.  What do you want?  More money?  A house?”

“I don’t want anything,” I say, shaking my head.

He’s trembling.

“I don’t
need
anything.”

He glares at me.  “Except a father.  A husband.  A soul mate. 
What woman wouldn’t?”

His voice is harsh and admonishing.  I fight back tears, but
I know he’s right.  I do want him to love me and our baby.  But I remember how
it’s impossible for a man like him to love anything, and my heart breaks.

“What do you want from me?” he growls.

I cup my belly.  “You’ve given me more than I could have
ever dreamed.  That weekend together, I’ll never forget it for as long as I
live.  It changed me.  And not just with this little one in here, but it
changed
me
.”  I try to choke back tears but it’s impossible.

I raise my head and stare at his face, trying to memorise
every line, every curve, how his bristly chin curls into his lips, under that
rugged nose and hard jaw, and deep brow, and the endless depths of those eyes,
blazing with a fire and passion that could engulf the world.

If I can only sear his face into my memory, maybe this will
easier.

Maybe I won’t be truly alone.

“Thank you for everything, Chase,” I say.  “Goodbye.”

I spin around on my heels and pace towards the balcony
door.  The need to look back and see his face one last time overwhelms me, but
I push the feeling deep down into the pit of my soul and trudge on, my heart in
ruins.

My hand quickly grabs for the handle, when Chase’s hand
darts out and wraps around my wrist.  He pulls me away and whirls me around to
face him.

His eyes are dark and menacing.

“Who the hell do you think you are? You think you can drop
this bombshell on me and then waltz away?”

I suck in my breath, scared.  “What else am I supposed to
do?” I say through sobs.

“Leaving with my child is the only thing that comes to
mind?  What’s wrong with you?” he growls.

“Wrong with me?”  I rip myself away from his grip.  “
You’re
the one who told me you didn’t want me. 
You’re
the one who paid me to
leave and never speak to you again. 
You’re
the one who told me you’re a
broken man incapable of love.  What the fuck do you expect me to do?  Fall on
my knees?  Beg you to love me and marry me and be a father to your own child? 
Please.  You made it damn clear that’s beyond you.  Really damn clear.”

I can feel the tears staining my cheeks, my eyes burning
red.

“Go back to your fucking ice queen!” I cry.  “She’s the one
you want.  All that power and money - it’s all that matters to you.  It’s all
that’s ever mattered to you!”

His eyes narrow.  “Things change.”

“Nothing changes,” I say.

“You did,” he says.  “And if this baby is mine...”

“If? 
If?
  Is that the woman you think I’ve become? 
A whore?  A liar?  You really think I’m capable of that?”

Chase fixes his stare on me, but his body is still as
stone.  “You never know what someone is capable of.  Not until the world comes
crashing down around them.”

“So what are you saying?  That I was scared and stupid and
got pregnant with some guy I fucked in a nightclub and I want to move west to
become a singer, but - oh boy - I’m gonna need a down payment on that house. 
Maybe that heartless dick who spent weeks rejecting me is the ticket to my
happiness.  I’ll just go and lie to him - that’ll solve everything. 
That
’s
who you think I am?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to,” I spit.

He’s silent and reflective.

“I don’t know what the hell happened to you, why you can’t trust
people.  But believe me when I tell you I’m not lying.”

He searches my gaze.  “Will you prove it?”

“What?  Prove it?  What do you mean
prove it
?”

“A paternity test.  Will you take one?”

The insult shakes me to my core.  How could he say something
so horrible?  How could he insinuate again and again that I’m some cheap slut
lying to steal his money?

“You’re the only man,” I say, “the only one, I’ve ever slept
with.  Ever.”  I take a deep breath.  “But if you find it so impossible to
believe that, then I guess everything between us really was wrong.”

I turn and grab the door handle again.  I wait a second,
hoping for something, anything.  But he doesn’t stop me.  I pull open the door.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers.  “I know you’re not.... I know you
wouldn’t lie.  About anything.”

I spin around and his face has morphed into what could
actually pass as guilt.

The tears stream down my face and couple with the rain.

He stares deeply into my eyes.  “I do know who you are. 
You’re kind and thoughtful and honest and... and I’m so so sorry.”

“Thank you,” I say with a faint smile.

“And that’s why,” he says.  He inhales a deep breath. 
“That’s why...”

I step up to him and brush his cheek.  “What is it, Chase?”

“I want you to marry me.”

I’m frozen in shock.  Did he just ask me to marry him?  No,
I must have misheard.  It’s impossible, after everything he said, how could he-

“Marry me, Melody Watts.”

My heart thunders against my chest and my legs feel numb. 
My head is spinning.

“You don’t want to marry me,” I say.

“Of course I do!  You’re pregnant with my child, for God’s
sake.  What the hell do you expect me to do?  Propose to that vile woman?”

I bite my lip.  “Kind of.”

“Then you don’t know me at all.”

“Seems like it,” I say, my head swimming.

“We’ll have to change that.”

The blood pounds against my ears and I feel faint.  I bow
over slightly, waves of nausea creeping up on me.

But Chase looks concerned.  He holds me, and peers down to
check my eyes.

“Are you alright?” he asks.

“You really want to marry me, don’t you?”

He nods.

“And raise our baby,” I say.

His voice becomes softer.  “More than anything.”  He brushes
a wet tendril of hair behind my ear.  “If you’ll let me, I’ll protect you
both.  From everything.  I’ll work and you’ll take care of our child, and
together we’ll be a family.  That’s a father’s duty.”

I smile, giddy with the thought.  “Boy, you sure are old
fashioned.”

He returns my smile.  “I’m the father; it is what’s
required.”

Required?

My heart sinks.

“Even though you don’t love me,” I say.

“Love is irrelevant.”

“Not to me!”  I take his hand off my cheek.  “I can’t do
it.”

“What?”

“Marry you.  Chase, I can’t marry someone who doesn’t love
me.”

“Preposterous.  Once we’re wed, you’ll forget about the need
for such fantasies.”  His voice is cold and hard.

I shake my head and my soaking wet hair flings cool droplets
of rain in the air.  “No,” I say firmly.  “It can’t happen.”

“Melody, think of the child.”

“I am thinking of the child!  I know what it’s like to grow
up with two parents trapped in a loveless marriage.  I refuse to do that to our
baby.”

He grinds his teeth.  “As my wife, you’ll have everything
you ever wanted - money, respect, jewels and riches beyond anything you’ve ever
wanted.”

“All I’ve ever wanted is a man who I love and who loves me
back.  If I can’t get that, then I don’t want anything.”

He grabs me by the shoulders and pulls me to him, and my
heart races.  “You would do that?  To your own child?  Throw away everything
that could bring them every opportunity in the world because you’re so wrapped
up in such fairytale bullshit?”

The tears burn down my cheek and I feel like I’m going to
faint.  “How can you be so heartless?”

“I have to be.  One of us has to be,” he says.  “You will
have me, my name and my empire and my body.”

“And what about your heart?”

He’s silent.  After a moment, he speaks.  “With how events
have gone, I see no other choice for us.”

“I don’t want to be your...
consolation prize.
,” I say
through muted breaths.  “Marriage is about so much more: love and friendship
and belonging.  Not because you have no other choice.”

“You act like I don’t want you at all.”

“Do you?” I say, incredulously.

His grip tightens and my heart thumps at the speed of light.

“Our two nights together.  Remember how they made you feel?”

My breath is fast, his face and inch from my own.  “Of
course.”

“Imagine the rest of your life is like that.”

“Nothing but sex?” I whisper, a longing ache growing inside
of me.

“Nothing but passion and desire and devouring.  Tell me now
that doesn’t interest you, and this will end here.  But I know you, Melody.  I
know what we shared.  It wasn’t love; it was so much more.”

I want to shake my head and tell him he’s wrong, but I crave
his touch more than ever.  The feel of his naked body against mine lights up my
soul and floods my mind, and I remember how it felt those two nights we
shared.  How it felt so right and real.

How it felt like that’s how we belonged.

He caresses my hair with his fingertips, softly at first,
tracing down my neckline so very very slowly, every touch extended for the
maximum height of pleasure.

A thrill rushes through me and unconsciously, my lips part,
as if begging for him to kiss me.

Memory after memory fills my mind; the heavy swell of my
breasts, nipples pebbled tight and aching for his touch, his hot smooth lips
all over my skin, licking and sucking and tasting.

I shake my head.  “No, no.  We can’t.  It’s not...”

“For the last month, I’ve thought of nothing but you,
Melody.  How you taste and touch and smell - the memories of that night
together drives me wild.  I’ve thought of nothing else.  And I want it again. 
I want you in my bed.”

My breath is heavy.  “Chase, no... you’re lying...”

“I’m not lying.  That night, I made the boundary clear to
myself: that you deserved a man who could love you.  And I refused to step over
it.”

“And now?”

“And now things have changed. 
We
have changed.”  He
cups my cheek in the way he always does and I gasp.  “I want you, Melody.  I
want to have you and possess you and keep you as my own.  Every moment of every
night, forever.  I desire nothing else.”

“What about Mercedes?”

“Fuck Mercedes.”  His lips hover over mine, every moment so
agonising slow, delaying and postponing what we both need more than anything. 
“I want you.  I’ve always wanted you.  And now, you’re mine.”

He kisses me and my eyes fall closed, my body and mind
shaking and blinded by the overwhelming passion and desire and ruthless
domination and possession.  His lips take me, hard and hungry and I consume his
own right back.  We’re lost in an endless sea of devouring emotion, as the rain
and lightning and thunder riots overhead.  But it feels like nothing.  Nothing
is important anymore.

Nothing but us.

He pushes me against the glass in a sudden violent burst, as
his hands fondle through the wet strands of my hair, before moving lower, down
my neck and shoulders and exploring every inch of my skin.  I writhe and
undulate in sensual pleasure, almost unable to breath, pressed against his hard
muscular body.