to make you feel my love * melanie

"Hmmm. Well, I'm assuming it's what your always thinking." She started, wrapping her arms around him as she did. "And since I do love you..." Letting the thought trail off, Melanie smirked wickedly before kissing him hard on the lips. One of her hands found its way in to his hair as she did so, only pulling away to tug on his free hand. The phone was all but forgotten as she did. She'd catch hell from Fin, maybe Deacon if she ran in to him, but it was worth it.

Braxton slipped his arm from the air and wrapped it around her shoulder tightly, "I..." He whispered before smiling into her kiss. He never did finish that statement. Maybe he never would. A thought occurred to Braxton of how weird it would be to hear his own voice say those three little words that seemed to trivial only a few days before.

== time jump holmes ==

Braxton was laying on his back in the bed, looking at Melanie's sleeping face. He kissed her on the forehead and said in a voice so quiet it was barely a whisper, "Listen up, stupid." He started, hardly able to hear it himself, "I love you, too." Yep. They sounded totally weird coming out of his mouth. Probably wouldn't happen again. At least she was asleep, right?

Braxton's lips on her forehead caused Melanie to wake up, though she wasn't quite sure if she was still dreaming or not, at least at first. Whenever he finished talking, Melanie looked up at him for a long moment. Her heart felt like it was going to burst, but she knew she couldn't push him. Too much too soon could ruin everything, especially if they weren't both ready. So instead of making a smart comment, like she normally would have, or reciprocating the way most people would, she settled for something she hoped would work a little better. Flashing Brax a sleepy half smile, she shifted so that she could kiss him softly on the lips before laying her head back on his shoulder.

However, part of her was afraid to leave it at just that. With her head laying so close to his ear, she whispered two simple words before closing her eyes again and burrowing her face in to his neck. "I know."

Braxton was somewhere between horror and happiness in her response. So she had heard his little confession. He decided to ignore it, knowing there was no way he was saying it again. Over the sound of their breathe, Braxton heard his phone vibrate against the wooden beside table. Reaching his arm over her, he picked it up and answered without looking at the caller ID, "Wyatt." He said in a thick voice full of sleep and lust for Mel. It was Deacon. Shit. They were supposed to be at work hours ago. He could almost hear the son of Athena roll his eyes through the phone and say he covered for them but that there was no way they could pull it again. He finish the conversation with a 'get your shit together, Brax.' and hung up before the son of Enyo could retaliate. Oh well, at this point he might as well take a nap, "Well, work is covered. I just wanna lay here with you all day. Please stay."

She was close enough to him to catch most of his conversation with Deacon,causing her to laugh as it ended. "Well, at least it was Deacon instead of Captain Walker." She teased, sitting up slightly so that she could see him better. Yes, she was definitely happy she had gone with the less is more approach. Brax looked freaked out enough as it was. "I'll stay, but at some point I really do need to acquire clothes. Come back to the house with me tonight? I'll make dinner." While Brax might only be able to cook breakfast, Melanie had actually taken the time to learn how to cook over the years. Nothing pleased her more than to cook dinner for her brothers whenever she could. Now, she would do it for Brax, even though the thought of leaving the island now was already breaking her heart.

Braxton donned a face a hurt and pouted, "Clothes?" He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her on top of him so she was stadling his waist, "Why would you need such a thing? We can just..." He ran his hands up her bare hips and drew small circles on her back with his long fingers, "...stay like this." He raised his eyes brows and sat up so that she was still sitting on his but he was even enough with her to plant a kiss on her mouth.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Melanie leaned in to the kiss for a long minute before pulling away, a breathless grin on her face. "You make a compelling argument." She started, kissing him again, though it was much shorter than the last one. "But we do eventually have to do the work thing, which requires clothes. Otherwise one of us is getting fired, and that's probably me." Still, she was only half serious. Part of her was screaming that she should have been there today, and the day before, but the more predominant part just wanted to kiss Brax again. "On second thought...clothes may in fact be hazardous to my health. We'll go with your plan." Running her hands through his hair, she pulled him as close as she could. Yeah, this is definitely where she wanted to be.

== time jump holmes ==

"Yep." He said breathing heavily, "I think I am officially worn out." He wiped sweat off his brow and turned his head so he could look at Mel who was laying next to him on the bed, tinted red and flushed. She was stunning. He grinned and rolled on his side, propping his head up on his palm, "Maybe we should..." He frowned a little as he said the next words, "...do something besides have amazing sex all the time." Grimacing, he scrunched his nose and continued, "Like maybe I could watch a movie or something."

Pushing a stray strand of hair out of her face, Melanie wrapped the blanket around herself while Braxton spoke. "As much as I hate to admit it...your right. To the living room we go?" She suggested, sitting up as she did so. Spying her phone on the table beside him, Melanie smirked slightly before leaning over as if she was going to kiss him and grabbing it instead. "I swear, I'm just texting my brothers to let them know I'm okay. I'm surprised the search parties haven't come knocking yet. Overprotective little..." Her halfhearted grumblings fell away as she opened the phone and pulled up Ethan's messages, several of them waiting for her from the days before. A couple were even from the day of the battle. Ignoring them in favor of starting a new message, she sent a short and sweet text. I'm okay. I'm with Brax. Handing the phone back over to him she smiled. "See, that wasn't so hard. And now Zane won't form a lynch mob when he finds out I'm here."

Just as he was about to respond, his phone buzzed on the table. Rolling his eyes, Braxton picked ip up and, once again, answered it without looking, "Wyatt." He said in a bored voice. His boredom didn't last, though and soon he was standing and trying to find his work uniform before the conversation was even over, "Right." His voice had gone from playful and sarcastic to quickly cold and demanding. He was in work mode, "I understand." He hung up and pulled him pants on before turning to look at Melanie, "I'm needed at the Garrison. Emergency Officer's meeting for the higher ups." He groaned and leaned in to kiss her hair, "See you later?" He asked, shrugging into his shirt. Finally he picked up a box from his dresser and opened it, "Here. Spare key. So you can leave when you want." He grinned and waved over his shoulder as he rushed out the door, trying to maintain his sex hair before he arrived at the Garrison.