Shadowed Strength: Shadowed Series Book One by Wendi Wilson Read Free Book Online Page B

up at her face. “Mel, I am
so sorry! I hate the way she treats you and it makes me want to…to strangle
her!”
    Melanie
closed the gap between them and placed one palm on his cheek. He closed his
eyes and leaned his head into her hand. Melanie’s heart skipped a beat and she
started to pull her hand away, but he covered it with his own and held it
there.
    “That
feels nice,” he breathed.
    He
opened his eyes and she got lost in their dark depths. With one last deep
breath, he clasped her fingers and pulled them away from his face. He gave her
fingers a reassuring squeeze and released her hand.
    “Let’s
go to lunch.”
    Melanie
released a pent up breath and smiled. “Let’s.”
    Walking
through the cafeteria doors, Melanie noticed that the lunch line had dwindled
to a few stragglers. The noise level didn’t decrease and she was relieved that
no one seemed to notice their entrance.
    She
scanned the room as they waited in line and found Tara and Chris sitting at
their normal table. Melanie noticed that Tara had saved her a chair, as usual.
    Tara
noticed Jeremy walking beside Melanie, nudged Chris, and whispered in his ear.
He glanced over at the duo and grinned. He got up, found an empty chair at
another table and dragged it over next to Melanie’s reserved seat. Tara shot
Melanie a thumbs up sign and waggled her eyebrows.
    Melanie
stole a quick glance at Jeremy and was relieved to see he was looking at the
lunch selection, and not at the shenanigans going on at the table. They both
chose burgers and fries with chocolate milk. When they reached the register,
Jeremy paid for both lunches. She blushed and thanked him.
    At
the table, Jeremy politely held her chair for her while she sat, then took the
empty seat next to her, his thigh pressed against hers. The contact had her
wound up so tight, she thought she was going to throw up all over her lunch
tray.
    She
knew Jeremy and Chris were talking, with Tara chiming in and trying to draw her
into the conversation, but she couldn’t hear anything above the blood pounding
in her ears. She sat there, not eating, not talking, just thinking about that
moment when her hand was on his cheek and his warm palm covered hers.
    She
analyzed the entire scene in her head, from start to finish. She rationalized
that Jeremy was just upset. He didn’t really want her comfort, anyone
would have sufficed. How could he want her? Plain Jane. Piglet. Gal Pal
Melanie.
    “What?
Huh?” she stammered, as she felt an elbow nudge her in the ribs.
    “You
okay? Why aren’t you eating?” he asked close to her ear.
    She
shivered. “I’m sorry. I just zoned out for a minute. I’m not really that
hungry, I guess.”
    Tara
piped in, “Mel, you had a soda for breakfast. You should eat something.”
    “Yes,
Mother,” Melanie replied sarcastically.
    Melanie
picked at her fries and ate a few so the group would stop staring at her. She
glance down at her belly roll and thought maybe she should have chosen the
salad bar instead of the greasy burger and fries. She peeked from under her
lashes at Jeremy, to find him staring directly into her eyes. He smiled and
nudged his knee against hers under the table. She grinned and nudged him back.
    Her
phoned chimed an incoming text. She checked it to find it was from Tara, from
across the table.
    “ What
is going on w/ u 2?!? I need details, like immediately!”
    Melanie
smiled and glanced over at Tara and silently mouthed the words “after school.”
Tara winked with grin and joined back into the conversation between Jeremy and
Chris.
    The
rest of the school day passed in a blur for Melanie. She didn’t retain any
information from her last three classes because her mind kept wandering back to
that moment with Jeremy. His face was so warm and soft. His dark chocolate eyes
were so deep and beautiful.
    What would it feel like to kiss him?
    She
wouldn’t admit it to anyone but Tara, but she’d never been kissed before. Not a real kiss, anyway. She’d had