Just a Dare

Chapter Thirty

"What if she doesn't like me anymore?"

I looked over at my fiancé with a lopsided grin. She looked more beautiful than ever with her worried emerald eyes peering up at me from behind the glasses sitting crookedly on her nose, her shoulder-length hair a mess of wild auburn tangles that stood out like a perfect halo around her head.

I walked over to her and collected her into my arms, causing her to drop the book she had been reading. I smiled down at her and stole a sweet kiss from her soft lips. She was my fallen, bed-headed angel.

I leaned down and kissed her exposed shoulder, bare because my gray cotton T-shirt had slipped down it. "She loved you ten years ago and she'll love you again now," I mumbled against her pale skin.

Mel sighed, shifting on the bed. "But Jade won't remember me."

My lips trailed their way to the base of her neck, curling into a smirk as her breath hitched when I pressed another teasing kiss there. "It'll be fine, Melody," I chuckled, my breath fanning across her collarbone. I placed a final lingering kiss on the side of her neck before pulling back and looking at her.

She reached up to pull off her glasses and rub her face with her hands, brows knitted anxiously. "I'm sorry for being such a worry wart."

I sat next to her, pulling her compliant back into my chest and putting my chin on her shoulder. "It's okay, babe."

We sat like that for a few quiet minutes, giving me time to reflect over the past six months.

The David Grey case closed nearly five months ago after a thorough investigation of the Grey household. While his mother was still overcome with grief over the sudden death of her fifteen-year-old son, she found comfort in the fact that it had been caused by an accidental overdose of his anti-depressant medication, not suicide.

Since then, my relationship with Melody had evolved into something much more serious than my eighteen-year-old self could have ever dreamed of. My thoughts drifted back to four months ago. Ever since Melody and I had unofficially gotten back together, I immediately started looking at rings every time I had the chance.

This woman-this beautiful, talented, supportive, smart, bossy woman-was only meant for my arms to hold. I had known since she stumbled back into my life that morning in my office all those months ago that I couldn't let her get away again.

Once I found something I thought she would like, I bought it and rolled it up in a pair of inconspicuous black socks, hiding it in the back of my sock drawer until I knew all my preparations were complete. I talked to an old friend from college who went on to be a successful interior designer with his own small business to help ensure that everything went flawlessly.

I remember flying out to visit my family three months ago, promising Mel that I would bring her on the next trip because I had some business to attend to. My "business" was what brought me to the doorstep of her old house.

I had been a ball of unbridled anxiety as I stood on the porch, nostalgia greeting me like an old friend as I felt like I had been transported back to high school again for a moment. Mel's mom answered the door and I halfway expected to see Melody standing behind her with her long hair that had been cut for ten years and counting once more, itching to get past her to come with me.

The box in my pocket felt like a lead weight that threatened to pull me to the ground at a moment's notice if things got ugly. She looked at me in surprise, recognition flickering in her blue eyes before a knowing smile lit up her face. "Come inside, Trey," she said to me, stepping aside so I could reenter the home. i remember feeling like it had been full of so many memories that I felt it might burst if I took one incorrect step and they would pour out all around me.