Underneath the Star

Chapter 11

Melanie had never had so many bottles of wine in her possession before, and although they weren't hers, the simple fact didn't stop the racing in her heart as she transported them to Lukas' house.

He had called her early on a Saturday morning to ask her for help. The contractors he'd hired were working on a new wine cellar in the basement, and because he was out of storage space for everything he kept behind the bar, his only option was to bring them home with him for the time being. Since he had been visiting his mother in the opposite direction of Midnight, he had asked Melanie to transport, which she happily agreed to.

It was also an excuse to spend time with her. He hadn't seen her in over a week since she had been stuck at the office most nights with Nora. But as long as she was working, that meant she couldn't give Christopher the time of day either, which was a relief to Lukas.

As Melanie pulled into his driveway, he approached her black Corolla and waited until she was parked to open the door for her. The first thing she did was wrap her arms around his neck, breathing in the scent of his cologne as they basked in the comfort of their embrace.

"Thank you for doing this, pretty girl."

"Anything for you." She pulled herself away and popped her trunk. "It was hard not driving this all the way home instead."

He chuckled. "If you ever need a little start to your weekend, it's all here."

"What does it cost?"

"Just your company."

She couldn't hide the smile that appeared on her face. "I'll cook tonight, and you can open a bottle of wine to thank me for loading these heavy crates into my car."

"What would I do without you?" He grabbed one of the crates from the trunk and carried it over to a table in the garage. "Head on inside and relax for awhile. I'll be in soon."

"And let you do this by yourself?"

Once he was standing in front of her again, he grabbed her by the waist and drew her close. He wasn't expecting her to wrap her arms around him. "You missed me, huh?"

"Someone grew a big head in just one week," she said, rolling her eyes. She could feel his body shake with laughter and smiled. He was happy, and it made her heart heavy. "Yeah, I missed you. You have to admit that it was nice not seeing me all week."

"It was actually pretty terrible," he confessed. "Nothing felt right."

She squeezed her eyes shut. It was moments like these that made Christopher question her friendship with Lukas, but she couldn't help that she felt so safe in his arms. With reluctance, she broke away and grabbed another crate from her trunk. "Let's hurry so we can spend the day doing nothing."

He smiled. He was very fortunate to have Melanie Rivera in his life.

After the two of them had successfully unloaded her car, they walked into the house and fell on the couch in the living room together. Her head was on his shoulder, and even though he wanted her on his chest, listening to his rapid heartbeat, he remained still for the long moment they sat in silence. Then Melanie finally broke it when she sighed and looked up at him.

"Christopher is threatened by our friendship." When he didn't react, she continued. "Maybe it'll help if you explain to him that we're just friends."

Lukas couldn't help but laugh. Little did she know that he had practically told his brother that he would stake his claim soon enough. "I'm curious to know, love. What do you want from him?"

"I'd like to see where it goes."

"So, if he says you have to drop me because it's a boost to his ego, you'd go as far as cutting me off to see where it goes?"