Vivian Arend - Rising, Freestyle

He rested his chin on the top of her head for a moment as he squeezed. Derrick was a rock, her rock. Solid, and completely there for her. Not to take over her life, but to provide a firm place to stand while she took back control.

She was falling in love harder by the minute.

Melanie turned to face her brother. He’d meant well—she needed to remember that—but it was well-meaning friends and family who had caused a lot of her pain. “There’s nothing else to say, Kane. There was nothing you could do to fix it, so I kept it to myself.”

Kane looked wearily around the room as he dragged a hand through his hair. He took in Nathan, standing alone to the side. His gaze lingered on Derrick and the way he held her close. “Okay. You’re right. You’re right, and I need to butt out. But Mel…if you do need me in the future, tell me. Please.”

She sniffed, her throat tight with emotion. “I will.”

He glanced again at Nathan. “Anything, including shit like breaking knees. I know how to make someone disappear so they’ll never find the body.”

Yup, that sounded like her family. She forced out a laugh. “Have shovel, will use it? Kane. It’s going to be okay. I really do trust Nathan.”

“I’m looking out for her too. Stop being an ass toward both your sister and me. Damn idiot.” Derrick’s deep rumble made Melanie hide a smile.

“Yeah, well, I’m still not sure I approve of you dating her, so don’t push it, spider-boy.” Kane hesitated then held out his arms. Melanie slipped from Derrick’s embrace to give her brother a quick hug.

Kane took his leave with only a few more suspicious glances directed Nathan’s way.

And then, they were alone.

Melanie made herself busy, unpacking and tucking her camping gear into the storage chest in the corner. Some of her bright happiness had disappeared, clouded by Kane’s accusations, but she figured it would pass. She just needed a few minutes to get her brain back on target and remember the past thirty-six hours.

An incredible thirty-six hours. It seemed too short a time for the changes she felt inside to have occurred.

“I swear, Mel, I knew nothing about this.” Nathan had the article in hand and a huge frown marring his face.

Shit. She hurried to his side and tugged the magazine from his fingers, tossing it to the couch. “I said I believed you. Nate—you’ve never been the kind of guy to go around hurting others. I don’t think you’re going to start with me.”

“But what if—”

“What if what? What could they print that could possibly hurt me anymore?” A huge sweep of emotions rushed her again. Incredible gratitude was the most prevalent, and that’s what made the words easy to say. “‘On the outside, Melanie Dixon appears to have healed, but in reality, she’s still a mess of scars.’ Nathan, if they had done this article even a few months ago that would have been true.”

“Oh, Mel.”

The late-afternoon sun shone in the windows, lighting the tiny living room. Derrick sat on her well-worn couch, his dark eyes watching her intently, his body poised and alert. As if ready to leap to her side on a moment’s notice, to either guard and protect, or to care for her more intimately. Nathan’s eyes revealed his deep desire to provide her the assurances he thought she still needed.

What she needed now was not what she’d required a day ago. Healing had arrived and it felt incredible.

“But, guys, it’s not a few months ago. It’s not even yesterday. It’s today, and right here and right now, I’m not the same woman. Because of both of you.”

She’d been turned inside out over the past two days. Stripped bare, in more than one way. Discovering she’d fallen in love with Derrick had filled her heart to the top with hope and happiness. Yet somehow, Nathan had done the impossible. He’d made the scars fade more than she ever thought possible.

The two of them had done it—Derrick by being willing to ask, Nathan by giving unselfishly. She couldn’t let things end this way. She wanted to give back to them both, the two men she’d come to care for so deeply.

Empty Chinese food containers littered the floor around them. Contentment and warmth filled him as Derrick watched Melanie pull another laugh from Nathan.

When she’d made them grab takeout instead of eating at the restaurant, he’d wondered what was going on. Then she’d sweet-talked him into opening the gym so they could haul out mats and set up their own private smorgasbord, and it had made even less sense.

Until she’d started provoking Nathan. There was no way the man could continue to be gloomy over Kane’s accusations, not with Melanie applying her full power to teasing him.

She was a live wire—sheer vitality radiated from her every move. Not sexual in nature, but simple all-out energy.

He was going to explode with happiness. Seeing the woman he’d always knew she was emerge—it was a miracle, and he’d gotten to watch it occur. The barriers and walls were gone, her liveliness turned way up past high.

Melanie Dixon was a power to be reckoned with, and he was madly in love with every enthusiastic inch.

Derrick leaned on an elbow and enjoyed the interplay snapping between the other two.

“Like that’s a threat, monkey girl.”

“Oh yeah? You’re a good one to talk. Couldn’t even finish a basic 5.5 route.”

Nathan sniffed. “I’m an artiste, not a jock.”

Melanie tackled him back to the mat and tickled him.

“Stop it, not on a full stomach. I call deliberate cruelty. Derrick, make your woman stop picking on me.”

Derrick wasn’t getting in the middle of this fight. “Hey, if she’s happy, who am I to hold her back?”

Melanie nodded curtly, a smug expression on her face as she straddled Nathan’s chest. “See? If I’m happy, then all is good with the world.”

She swung off Nathan and plopped to her butt next to him on the mat before turning to face Derrick and winking.

His face ached from smiling so much. “Okay, sweetheart. What do you have next on the agenda? I can’t believe you wanted to eat here for the incredible ambiance.”

“Hey, I like ropes.”

Derrick managed to not choke on his own spit. Oh, the images in his brain.

She knelt, the tip of her pink tongue poking out to wet her lips for an instant as she glanced between them. “I meant it, guys. What I told Kane. You’ve made a huge difference in my life.”

It wasn’t what she said, but how she said it that made Derrick’s pulse pick up. The light-hearted teasing was gone, replaced by a thoughtful, contemplative tone.

“We care about you.” This wasn’t the time for confessions of love.

Melanie twisted to press both hands to his knee. “I care about you as well.”

The short silence that followed felt relaxed. Comfortable.

Until she turned to face Nathan. “And you—I still can’t believe you. You’re like a saint to put up with all the teasing I did this weekend.”

“Saint Nathan.” He seemed to consider it seriously for a moment before reaching to tweak her nose. “Don’t think it fits. It’s okay, monkey, I survived.”

Her expression was unreadable. “Surviving isn’t always enough, Nate. I’ve learned that the hard way.”

Derrick stroked a hand down her arm. There were no words.

She turned to face him, whispering for his ears alone. “I want to prove to Nathan that I trust him. I want to thank him for being there.”

Derrick didn’t think she was talking about a store-bought gift. “He doesn’t need anything. Caring for you doesn’t require payment.”

She straightened, anger flashing. “Caring for me also shouldn’t require him to put up with being insulted.”

Ahhh. “Kane thought he was looking out for you.”

“Unintentional pain still hurts like hell, Derrick.”

They stared into each other’s eyes. She gripped his forearms tightly, clinging to him. There was something in her face that made him pause. Longing was there, but also an incredible strength.

It took all his strength to ask the question. “What do you want?”

“To finish what you offered me in the mountains. What I was barely able to accept, but the acceptance changed my life. To be with two men I trust explicitly.”

His blood pressure shot skyward, pulse pounding. Without intending to, his volume rose as well. “Be with us how? Sex?”

“Melanie, what the hell are you talking about?” Nathan roared. Derrick snapped his head up, ready to protect her. Guard her if necessary. But the other man was shaking his head, hands raised in protest as he rolled to his knees. “Damn it, this isn’t something to joke about. Don’t go screwing things up with Derrick. Not for some kind of cheap thrill.”

Melanie scrambled upright, her petite body seeming to tower over them as he and Nathan remained sprawled on the safety mats. “I’ll have you know I don’t consider anything about you cheap.”

“Mel—”

“I trust you.” Melanie touched Nathan’s cheek. “You and Derrick. Completely.”

Derrick’s confusion and momentary sense of betrayal morphed into understanding. She wasn’t asking on a whim, or out of a misplaced sense of obligation.

If her self-esteem had been tied up in the aftermath of her fall, Nathan’s was connected with his photography. Kane’s accusations could have hit hard. She had assumed Nate needed her as much as she’d turned out to need him. Wanted to wash away a little of the hurt Nathan had experienced in exchange for the gift he’d given her.

Nathan caught her hand where it lay against his cheek, kissing her palm softly before pulling her close and enveloping her in an enormous bear hug. He gazed over her shoulder at Derrick, shaking his head slightly as he stroked her hair.

“Oh, monkey. I think I’m a little bit in love with you right now. You’ve got a heart that simply refuses to stop giving, and I’m honoured beyond belief that you’d offer yourself like that. But I have to say no.” Melanie protested, and Nathan pulled away and stuck a finger in her face. “I am first, and foremost, your friend. Getting a chance to prove that you’re an extremely attractive woman was a wonderful experience, but I’m bowing out of anything else. Unless…”

Derrick froze.

She straightened. “Unless what?”

There was a moment of hesitation before Nathan spoke, and then he stared at Derrick, as if asking his permission. “I want to watch again.”

Melanie took in a rapid breath and Derrick tucked her back against him as she swayed off balance.

Nathan chuckled. “Does that surprise you? It did me, a little. Seems I’ve got a kink I wasn’t aware of before.”

“Watch? You want to watch…what?”

Nathan stood and paced toward the wall, turning slowly to face them, one brow quirked upward. “You two make love. Maybe take a few more pictures.” He shrugged lightly. “If the answer is no, I’m fine—”

“Yes.” Melanie sat upright, then stiffened, twisting to face Derrick. Her mouth hung open in a perfect O as she stared for a second. A blush raced over her cheeks and she lowered her eyes. “I mean, if it’s okay with you.”

He pulled her against his chest, breathing in her scent and feeling the tension in her body as she leaned in tighter. He spoke softly, just for her ears. “I understand why you suggested this.”

She tilted her head back to stare at him. “It’s important to me, Derrick. To be sure Nathan knows how much I trust him, but not if you don’t want to. I’m sorry I sprang this on you without asking first. That was wrong of me.”

There was no way he could remain angry, not when the expression on Melanie’s face so clearly showed her heart.

She knew what she wanted, and why, and damned if he wasn’t going to give it to her. Didn’t stop possessiveness from rising up and flooding him as well. They could give reassurance to Nathan, but at the end, everyone would know who belonged with who.

Hangdog: A climber who hangs from the rope on a route.

Derrick delicately brushed a knuckle along her jaw as he admired her dark beauty. The way her eyes flashed, mouth twisted into a smile that was one hundred percent trouble, her chin rising in challenge. He slid his fingers around the back of her neck, teasing as he leaned in to kiss her. She grabbed his head and gave back as good as she got, a heated exchange, all teeth and tongues. They scrambled each other’s brains as the air between them evaporated.

That wasn’t the only thing that had vanished. Derrick dragged his hands down her shoulders to discover she’d been busy. Her clothing had disappeared, and all he touched was sweet, hot flesh.