Free Make Me Melt by Karen Foley Page A

the blanket slipped enough to one side so that he caught a glimpse of one slim thigh. He took a hefty swig of his drink.
    Caroline cradled her own glass in her hands. “I had a dream about my father.” Her voice was low and troubled. “In the dream, I’m standing on the sidewalk when he opens the door. I can see that the person standing on the porch has a gun. I try to scream a warning, but nothing comes out.”
    “Caroline—”
    “So I run toward the house, but my feet are so heavy, as if they’re encased in concrete. All I can do is watch while he’s shot. And there’s so much blood...it spills down the steps in a gush, until it surrounds my feet.”
    She sobbed and covered her mouth with a trembling hand. Jason took her glass and set it down on the coffee table with his own. She didn’t resist when he pulled her across the distance that separated them and enfolded her in his arms.
    “Shh,” he murmured against her hair. “It was just a dream. Your father is alive, and we’ll find whoever did this to him.”
    Her fingers clutched at his shirt, and she shuddered with recalled horror. “It seemed so real. And when I woke up, I felt so helpless. So alone.” She raised her face to look at him. “But then I remembered that you were here. And I knew everything would be okay.”
    Her words caused something to shift in Jason’s chest, and he had to fight to keep his arms from tightening around her.
    “Caroline—”
    She swallowed, tears still shimmering in her eyes. “I’m sorry I’ve been so miserable to you today. I just kept thinking about what you said last night, about hating me.”
    “I never said I hated you,” he corrected her. “I said I would have grown to hate you if we had slept together back then. There’s a big difference.”
    She nodded and fixed her gaze on the center of his chest. “You’re right. But I don’t think you would have actually hated me, just like you wouldn’t have left me.”
    She sounded so sure of herself that Jason felt one corner of his mouth twitch in amusement. “Oh yeah? And why do you think that?”
    “Because you always do the right thing, no matter the cost to yourself.”
    He stared at her. He’d done the right thing when he’d turned her away, and she would never know how much it had cost him.
    “Unlike me,” she continued. “I was the one who left. I’m the only family he has, and I left him. What’s worse is that I did it for my own selfish reasons.”
    Two days ago, Jason would have agreed with her. But seeing her misery, and the genuine regret in her eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to criticize her. Instead, he tipped her chin up so that she was forced to look at him.
    “None of this is your fault,” he assured her. “Chances are that even if you’d stayed in the area, you’d have had your own place, and your father still would have been alone that night. Or worse, you could have been living with your dad, and it might have been you who answered the door.” He stroked his thumb along the curve of her cheek. “The only blame is on the bastard who pulled the trigger. There was nothing you could have done to prevent this, Caroline, and your father wouldn’t want you blaming yourself.”
    They gazed at each other, and Jason was aware of his own heartbeat, throbbing hard and heavy through his veins. She was looking at him as if he was her own personal hero, and he knew that if he didn’t release her, he was going to end up doing something he’d later regret.
    “Jason,” she murmured and curled her fingers around his wrist. He still had her chin between his thumb and forefinger, and now she closed her eyes and pushed her cheek into his palm. “Even after all these years, I wonder...”
    “What?” His voice sounded a little hoarse. “What do you wonder?”
    She opened her eyes and looked up at him through her lashes, and the expression in those luminous blue depths sent a tidal wave of desire crashing over him.
    “What it would be