Need You Now (Love in Unknown) by Taylor M. Lunsford

obscuring his view. It didn’t matter how much she tried to hide, though, because he knew her body, even if the woman in front of him was a mystery.
    “I wanted to check up on you. I know today was a little rough and I was— I was worried.” There was no other way to put it. He and Mel had never minced words with each other. Why start now?
    Mel closed her eyes for a second before opening them again. “That’s really sweet of you, Caine, but I’m fine. You really don’t need to worry about me.”
    Caine braced one hand on the doorframe. “I’ve always worried about you, Mel. Ever since we were little and you insisted you could do everything that Micah, Gage, and I could. You were so little and breakable. I remembered that today.”
    Not waiting for her to invite him in, he pushed past her. All the years he’d known the Carrs, he’d never been up here before. It’d always been rented out. The apartment was cozy. Warm yellow walls, thick blue carpet. A big overstuffed couch and club chair took up most of the living room. The same old tube TV she’d had in college sat on a low table against one wall. Pictures of her family served as the only artwork. He saw a small kitchen off to one side. A low bar with wooden barstools served as the dining table.
    “It’s not the Maddox mansion, but it’s home.” Mel’s voice held a defensive note. Though she rarely vocalized it, she’d always been wary when it came to his family’s money. Ethan and Emma Carr raised their children to value hard, honest work and his parents looked down on the concept.
    “It’s great, Mel. I’m just surprised it feels so homey when you’ve only been here a few weeks.” He smiled, trying to lighten the mood. “I see you still insist on having every single book you ever owned with you.”
    She shrugged. “Books are one thing that never let me down.”
    Ouch. He picked up a well-worn copy of Persuasion from the end table. Unless he was mistaken, it was the same copy he’d bought her in a rare moment of thoughtfulness one rainy afternoon not long after they started sleeping together. “How many times have you read this thing? A million?”
    “Only a few thousand.” She snatched it away from him, a blush flaming in her creamy cheeks. “What are you doing here? And what’s in that bag?”
    Caine looked down at the paper bag from Jackson’s Grocery. “I thought you might need some comfort food, so I stopped at Jackson’s and got this for you.”
    Mel narrowed her eyes and stepped just close enough to take the bag from him. Cautiously, she opened it, looking inside as if she expected to see a bomb or have a spider jump out at her. “Ice cream?”
    “Not just any ice cream. Strawberry cheesecake ice cream.” Specifically, Ben and Jerry’s Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream. HIs ace in the hole.
    Mel’s eyes narrowed, then her shoulders slumped a little. She met his gaze and for a second, all of the years faded away, just as they had that morning when he’d hugged her. Heat and light sparked between them, the air so charged it almost hurt for him to breathe. “You remembered,” she whispered.
    It stung a little that she thought he would forget, but he knew she had every reason to think he hadn’t paid attention back then. “My ice cream deliveries were the only way I could see you some days. You were always so busy with classes, but I knew you’d stop working if I brought you ice cream.”
    Mel’s spine stiffened and her expression shuttered. “I appreciate the gesture, but why are you doing this, Caine? And don’t try to sell me some bullshit story about being concerned for my welfare because it’s your duty as mayor.”
    He leaned against the back of the chair, crossing his arms. He could lie. Say that Gage asked him to stop by or that Doc sent him. But he’d never been able to lie to her. Not successfully, anyway. “Come on, Mel. We’re both adults. Highly intelligent, mature individuals who don’t play games with each