Melt For Me (Against All Odds Book 3) Read Free

Kendrick, of all people, ruin things for her now.
    The need to run overwhelmed her. Turning away from him, she rounded the shelving unit, then made a beeline for the stairs. “I have work to do.”
    “Ella, hold on. I was hoping maybe we could have dinner. Catch up a little before I have to leave.”
    Catch up? Catch up? He wanted to catch up and hear about the total disaster that was her life since they’d parted ways?
    No way.
    Ella gripped the banister and moved quickly up the steps, desperate to retreat to the safety of her apartment, where she didn’t have to think about the past, the mistakes she’d made, and everything she’d lost along the way. “Sorry. Too busy. Have a nice drive down to Miami, Tate.”

    S he’d run like a cornered animal.
    Tate watched Ella disappear up the stairs and frowned. That hadn’t gone at all as he’d hoped. He should have stuck with his plan to keep things casual. Never should have followed her down into the cellar. But the moment he’d seen her, he’d been so excited, he hadn’t thought. He’d just wanted to talk to her.
    Which was all he’d done. Be it ever so briefly. Skipping back over their conversation, he tried to figure out just what he’d said to spook her. He’d been careful not to mention the accident. Knew from her mother that she didn’t like to talk about it. Purposely hadn’t brought up the dead husband, even though inside he was itching to know what the guy had been like. Knew that wouldn’t have gone over we—
    Shit.
    Tate clenched his jaw and rubbed his fingers over his forehead. Her mom. Ella had bolted after he’d mentioned he’d spoken with her mother.
    “Way to go, Kendrick,” he muttered. “Now she thinks you’re stalking her.”
    Which he was…but he didn’t want her to know that. At least not yet.
    A memory rushed through his mind. One of him and Ella on that Virginia beach at sunset, the waves lapping the shore behind her as she straddled his hips in the sand and braced her hands against his bare shoulders.
    “When you go on tour, I’ll go with you and be your biggest fan.” She brushed her chestnut hair over her shoulder, then leaned down with a sexy, you’re-all-mine smile.
    His gaze slid over her barely there bikini, the sight of her plump breasts and bare thighs distracting him from everything but grabbing her and repeating what they’d done only an hour ago in the motel room he’d rented. “Uh-huh.”
    She laughed, the sound like little silver bells, and grasped his jaw, forcing him to look up at her gorgeous brown eyes rimmed in gold. “Focus, sexy. You’re gonna be a star. And I’m going to be there to cheer you on. I plan on seeing the world with you, Tate. You and that golden voice of yours.”
    He frowned, even though all he really wanted to do was kiss her again. “I’m a ballplayer, Ella, not a singer.”
    She grinned like he was a sweet, stupid, lovable idiot. “You’re a singer, babe. Trust me. An incredible one. You just haven’t figured that out yet.” She leaned in and brushed her lips over his in a seductive, teasing move that brought every inch of his body to life. “But you will. I have no doubt.”
    The way she’d kissed him then floated through his mind now—long and deep and all-consuming—warming his blood as he stood in the cold cellar, staring up at the open door. At the time, he’d thought she was higher than a kite. He’d been between his junior and senior years, playing summer ball in Virginia, hoping to be drafted into the minor leagues, not sing. And even though he’d enjoyed messing around with his guitar during his downtime, that was all it had been—messing around. A hobby. But she’d seen something in him no one else had—even him. She’d known he wasn’t going to make it past single-A ball even if he did get drafted. She’d known his true calling was music.
    Man, he missed that girl. Missed the way she made him feel alive, missed the light she’d brought to his life,