Free Bringing Home a Bachelor by Karen Kendall Page A

apology.”
    She gasped. “You think I owe you one? It’s the other way around.”
    “You owe me respect, young lady.”
    Mel took a deep breath. “Respect is a two-way street, Mother. If you’d respect me enough to stop needling me about my weight—”
    “The only reason I do that is because I care about you! And I’d like your life to be different.”
    “Yeah? Well, it’s my life! So you can stop caring. Because if this is the way you demonstrate motherly love, then I’m terrified to see what you do to people you hate.” Melinda whirled around to leave and slammed headlong into her father, who’d arrived with two cups of coffee for them.
    The cup with cream went all over her dress. The black coffee soaked her dad’s shirt. Not a drop spilled on her perfect mother, of course.
    “Dad, I’m so sorry! I was trying to get away from her—” Mel shot a glance at Jocelyn, who turned her back and ignored her.
    A waiter came to the rescue with a couple of cloth napkins, and they mopped miserably at themselves.
    “What is going on between you and your mother, Melinda?” Her father spoke under his breath, and his tone was gentle, but he was clearly frustrated.
    “Ask her! I’m tired of being treated like a criminal if I eat something with more than a hundred calories in it. I’m tired of being told I’ll never catch a man. I can’t stand being around her—she’s a walking reproach and clearly I’m nothing but an embarrassment and a disappointment to her!”
    Richard sighed. “That’s not true. Your mother loves you, Mel.”
    “She has a funny way of showing it.”
    “And we’re both very proud of you.”
    Melinda stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek, inhaling the familiar scent of Old Spice and cigar smoke that characterized her father. “Thank you. Now, I’m sorry but I have to go. I can’t be around her right now. I hope you understand.”
    Richard nodded unhappily. “I do.”
    She turned and started to walk away. She’d only taken a few steps when he called, “Melinda? Do you need any cash?”
    She stopped. She looked over her shoulder at him and shook her head. “Thanks, Dad. But no.” I’m a grown woman with a business and I no longer need movie money. “It’s very sweet of you to offer, though.”
    Mel made her excuses, retrieved her belongings from her room and checked out of Playa Bella. She never once ran into Pete.
    It was just as well. He wasn’t going to call her, anyway.

9
    O N M ONDAY , P ETE WAS still disappointed. Melinda had disappeared without saying goodbye, and he’d never had a chance to get her number. Fortunately, her business number was easy to locate.
    He sat, lost in thought at his desk, picturing her at the breakfast as she stumbled through her apology for unzipping his pants. He’d loved that she did that. He remembered the unexpected surprise, the delicious shock as her warm little hand had slipped inside the fly of his boxers and taken him in a firm grip. Had stroked him until he thought he’d blow right there on the beach.
    And she’d felt the need to apologize?
    She’d felt the need to tell him that she understood that it meant nothing; that it had just been a booty call?
    Pete frowned. He hadn’t thought beyond the instant attraction he felt for her, beyond the heat of the moment. He’d just acted. And now she was complicating things by stating baldly how uncomplicated they were. Damn it.
    It was her vulnerability that got to him. The way her mouth had trembled ever so slightly as she said it. He’d instantly wanted to reassure her; to do exactly what she was telling him he didn’t have to do.
    Did that make him ornery? No. It just meant that he liked her. He wanted to make her feel good.
    There’d been something brave in the way she faced up to the “fact” that things would end in a one-night stand. Something dignified and sad about the way she’d let him off the hook. And that something, whatever it was, touched a chord within him. The