Protected by the HERO (6 page)

“Are you on your way to see your friend now?” I asked her. Her expression wavered. I didn’t want to come on too strong and scare her away, but I didn’t want her to slip through my fingers.

“Well no actually I’m heading back home now. I usually catch the train into Midtown,” she said. My eyes widened.

“You take the subway this late at night?” I asked. Melina looked at me with that lopsided smile again and she chuckled.

“Well I have for years that I’ve lived in the city. Trust me I know how to look out for myself,” Melina said with amusement in her voice.

“Well…would you mind if I maybe accompanied you? I live in Midtown as well,” I said and Melina hesitated as she studied my face and then nodded slowly.

“Sure I guess, why not?” she said with a smile. I breathed a small sigh of relief. I just had to make sure I didn’t come across as some weirdo who wanted to follow her home or something.

“Great. So how long have you lived in the city?” I asked curiously. She smirked up at me as we walked down the street together. I walked on her left side, closest to the street just in case.

“Long enough to call it home I guess. So pretty much my whole life.” I smiled at her corny joke and she grinned. “How about you? I know a true New York accent when I hear one.”

I chuckled and ran my hand through my hair. “Yeah I grew up in the city as well. I travel a lot nowadays though, but I haven’t gotten tired of New York yet.”

Melina nodded thoughtfully and she bit her lip. We both paused, a bit awkwardly, while thinking of something else to talk about.

“So I know of this really great pastry shop that’s open late and has amazing hot chocolate,” I said. Melina smiled up at me as if I knew her deepest secret.

“I
love
hot chocolate that would be awesome.”

I smiled, and relaxed a bit as we headed to the nearest subway station.

*****

Melina was amazing. I hadn’t imagined that we would get along so great, but we did. When I brought her to Grandma’s Inn on Fifth Ave she nearly melted as soon as we stepped through the door.

“It smells amazing in here. It smells like chocolate heaven,” she said.

I laughed and then took her hand on a whim and led her to the display cases near the order counter.

“There’s a Nutella filled croissant here that’s amazing with the hot chocolate,” I suggested, and she looked up at me with childlike excitement. I ordered two croissants and two hot chocolates and then we found a seat outside. Melina took a sip of the hot chocolate and she moaned in pleasure. My jeans felt tight as my cock stiffened in reaction to her.

“Whatever fate brought us together, so that you could bring me to this hot chocolate, I’m extremely thankful for it,” she said. I laughed and she giggled. It didn’t help the tightness of my jeans any, but I was grateful for the beautiful sound nonetheless. She had no idea what ‘fate’ brought us to that point.

She said, “So I told you a lot about myself on the train ride, but didn’t hear enough about you. What do you do for a living?”

“Well I restore old historical houses and buildings all over the world. I went to school for architecture and specialized in restoring old homes first here in the US, and it sort of just grew from there,” I said. I was actually telling the truth, except about
how
I traveled from country to country. I had no need to take a plane.

“Wow, that’s incredible. You must know a lot about different cultures then,” Melina said. She seemed intrigued and I smiled.

“I do, I have to learn the history behind each house or building being restored in order to get certain details right. I could take you to each house or each building and tell you the story behind it, why it got destroyed or fell into such disrepair,” I said. Melina smiled. I
could
take her to each one, but I have never told anyone about my ability, not even my parents, to whom I’ve given hints before bot not told outright. I don’t know how people would take it; more importantly I don’t want to end up like some lab rat.

Melina said, “With the ballet we usually perform in the city, only a few times a year do we go to different locations within the country. Then outside of the ballet I’ve only ever been to the Bahamas on a cruise.”

Something inside of me jumped at the chance to show her the world. But I needed to hold back. I had to make sure she lived past the Nets game three weeks away, and then maybe I could fully tell her about my real life.

“So does this count as us going out? Or can I still call you for a date tomorrow?” I said. I gave her my best charming smile and she giggled.

“Yes you can call me definitely. I want to hear all about your adventures,” she said with sincerity. That Friday night was turning out to be a pretty good one.

“Well I do have quite a few stories to tell,” I said. Melina listened, fascinated as I told her about the time I was in Japan restoring an old tea house that had been destroyed from a siege held by warring samurai.

“Wow, that’s just crazy, so you were able to restore, perfectly, a tea house that had been nearly burnt to the ground?” she asked incredulously, and I nodded.

“I worked with a couple other Japanese architects and historians. We pored over some ancient architectural plans to familiarize ourselves with the period. It’s usually how a job goes when the building is practically a pile of rubble.” I said and Melina smiled.

“You know, you’re the first guy I’ve met in a while who is actually genuine. You wouldn’t believe how many guys I meet who lie about their jobs in some way just to get me to bed or something,” I quirked my eyebrow at her to hide the spike of guilt I was feeling. I
was
lying to her about who I was, by omission.

“I can understand why they would. You’re a beautiful woman and in this city it’s always a race. Usually women won’t give a guy the time of day if he seems to be struggling to pay rent.”

Melina blushed at my compliment and I couldn’t get over how sweet she looked with the touch of pink to her cheeks. I reached out and caressed her cheek and then froze when she did. She hadn’t been expecting me to touch her and of course this made me look like some idiot who was only looking to get her into bed. I was moving too fast.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know…why I just did that,” I said lamely and Melina laughed at me.

“You’re so cute Caleb. It’s fine, I’m not weirded out or anything,” I breathed a sigh of relief and then realized she called me cute.

“
Cute
? Just cute? Not hot, or gorgeous at least?” I teased her and her laugh turned into a giggle.

“Well maybe you are hot and a little gorgeous, wouldn’t want to blow your head up completely,” she said, giving a minx-like smile. I chuckled. I was definitely in trouble. Melina seemed like the perfect woman.

*****

After our hot chocolate I set up our next date, then walked Melina home.

We’d ended up talking for hours about all sorts of things. It was nice having someone to tell my stories to; usually I only stayed with women for one night to scratch an itch. Then I was on to my next adventure. It was turning out to be different with Melina. Especially as we simply dated and talked for two weeks without my so much as kissing her.

I made sure I saw her every day though. We’d go for coffee in the morning and dinner at night, or lunch when she went to Brooklyn. I was beginning to wonder about this
friend
she kept visiting there. She’d always shy away from the subject whenever her trips to Brooklyn came up. Each time it did all I wanted to do was tell her that her that she would die on one of her trips there. In fact the more time I spent with her the more I wanted to tell her, just warn her outright. But that wouldn’t do any good. I was sure I’d mess with something cosmic if I told Melina about her own future death.

The Nets game was only a week away now and every day I grew more anxious. Melina and I were walking back to her place after having dinner and she kept looking up at me with odd expressions. As if maybe she was expecting something from me, but I had no idea what she wanted.

“You seem anxious Caleb. Are you all right?” Melina asked with curious concern in her blue eyes. I took a deep breath and then simply nodded.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright. I’m just keyed up today is all,” I said. Melina gave me that look I think all women learn by the time puberty hits. She knew I was full of it.

“Can I ask you a question?” Melina said abruptly. I thought she was going to grill me about my mood and was glad she didn’t.

“Sure, what’s up?” I asked her. She tilted her head at me slightly.

“Why haven’t you kissed me yet?”

I stopped walking in the middle of the cold busy sidewalk and Melina stopped as well. She faced me with an expectant expression.

“Well…I didn’t want to come on too strongly,” I said, and she rolled her eyes.

“Just because I sometimes complain about other guys doesn’t mean you’re one of them. I
like
you,” she said. My heart picked up its pace in my chest as a smile broke out across my face. I’d had feelings for Melina from the first second I laid eyes on her. I was treading lightly because I didn’t want to scare her away for one, because I needed to save her life, and two because…well because I was falling for her. I just couldn’t tell her
all
of that.

“You do? Are you sure?” I asked with a teasing lilt to my voice.

“Yeah I’m sure. I’m positive, now are you going to make me beg?” I smiled and then pulled her close. My arms wrapped around her waist and I lowered my mouth to hers. I heard her small intake of breath before my lips pressed against hers. Melina’s arms slid around my neck and I held her tighter against me as our lips moved against each other’s slowly. The rest of the world around us melted away and all I knew was Melina.

She broke the kiss and then gazed up at me with a small smile before she took my hand and then led me in the direction of her apartment building. We were only a block away from it. Before long, we were riding the elevator up to the twentieth floor. We walked down the hall to apartment D. She unlocked the door and pulled me inside. She flipped on the lights and I glanced around. Her place was open concept with the living room bleeding into the dining room and the kitchen open to both. There was a hallway through the kitchen that must have led to the rest of the apartment.

“So this is my place, I get it for pretty much a steal. My brother is a real estate agent and he hooked me up,” Melina said while she removed her coat and scarf. I shrugged out of my coat as well and pulled the beanie off of my head.

“It’s really nice. So you live alone?” I asked her and she nodded. I was sure I’d asked her if she had roommates at some point, but I had to admit I was a bit nervous. I knew exactly why I was in her apartment; I knew what she wanted. Melina put our coats away in the closet next to the front door and I walked over to the couch to have a seat.

“Do you want anything? I have water…lemonade…” Melina asked me as she walked over to the couch. I took her hands and pulled her down, she straddled me and then our mouths collided. I brushed her long hair behind her ears and then my hands caressed her face and neck. She shivered against me and then gasped when I slid my hands underneath her sweater to unhook her bra. Her skin was so smooth. My already stiff cock grew rock hard as the realization that I was going to have sex with Melina set in.

That meant she was mine. Not only would I be saving her life, but we’d be together for the long run.

*****

I was just about to slide Melina’s sweater and bra off of her when her cell phone started to ring. Almost instantly she broke the kiss and then looked over at the kitchen counter, where her phone sat. Her expression was anxious, though her pupils were dilated and I knew she wanted me as badly as I did her.

“That’s my friend’s ringtone…I have to take his call,” she said breathlessly and my eyebrows furrowed.

“Right now? He can’t wait until morning?” She got up and walked over to the kitchen.

“No, he’ll just keep calling until I answer,” she said, and then took the phone down the hall. I heard a door open and close and then I was alone staring out of the window. Who was this
friend
? I adjusted my jeans and rearranged my cock that was trying to punch through my fly painfully. I sighed and then ran my fingers through my hair a few times and simply waited for her to come back out.

“I’m sorry, I can’t ignore him…” she said. I turned around to see Melina walking over to me. She looked embarrassed and I softened towards her a little.

“How come you go all the way out to Brooklyn to visit him like every day?” I asked.

“Well he’s…Jayden is an old friend, going back to kindergarten. Truthfully we were like sweethearts up until the tenth grade. That’s when he was diagnosed with cancer. It spread to his brain and he
changed.
He got mean and irritable and then he got so sick that I barely saw him anymore. Visiting him in the hospital was hard. The doctors said his prognosis was grim; that he’d have to get aggressive surgery to cut out all the cancerous tissue…”

Melina paused and her eyes grew misty. I stood up and walked over to her. She clung to my tightly and I wrapped my arms around her securely.