Need You Now (Love in Unknown) - By Taylor M. Lunsford Page 0,56

But having a surly, mostly mute five-year-old messes with a guy’s dating life. Now, tell me who he is.” Micah stood, feet apart, arms crossed. So that was what she looked like when she dug her heels in. "I’m not leaving until you tell me. It’s too dangerous for you to be going out without someone knowing where you are.”

Mel opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell when someone knocked on the front door. Shit. Didn't Caine know to be fashionably late in case she wasn't ready yet? She could just imagine the fall-out from this. It might take a bit of poking, but her brother could have a wicked temper when he wanted to.

“Looks like I can find out on my own." Before she could stop him, Micah stalked through the apartment and threw open the door. Mel hurried after him, frantically trying to find some way to prevent a nuclear fall-out when her brother saw who was on the other side.

“Caine?" Micah said. "What are you doing here? If you're here to see Mel, she's just about to leave on a date."

Caine’s eyes widened as he looked over Micah's shoulder to find her. Helpless, she held up her hands in defeat. No way out now. Better to come clean. "He knows I'm about to leave on a date because he...is my date."

Incredulous was the best way to describe the look on her brother's face. For the first time in her life, she'd managed to completely confound him. He looked back and forth between Mel and Caine, trying to process the scene before him. Poor Micah. "Are you serious? Since when?"

“Micah, I would love to get into this with you right now, but I'm a bit busy." Best not to give him any room to maneuver. Bussing a quick kiss across his cheek, she barreled past him to grab Caine's hand. She whispered to him, "Keep walking, don't look back."

Squeezing her hand, he led her to his car and helped her in. God, she loved this car. Growing up around Micah and Gage, she'd learned to appreciate fine cars, and this one was a car lover's wet dream. Sleek body, lush seats. She indulged herself with a quick caress of the buttery leather while Caine jogged around to the driver's side.

He started the engine and pulled away from the curb before speaking. "Your brother still doesn't know about us?"

“Nope." Mel looked straight ahead, refusing to back down. Micah had his own life and she’d kept a lot of hers to herself. “My life is my business. Not his."

“Maybe, but he knows now and I won't lie to him. I just got my best friend back. Lying doesn't exactly help my cause with him as a friend or as the brother of the woman I'm involved with."

She waved her hand dismissively. As much as she appreciated the fact that he valued honesty, she would handle her brother in her own way. Tonight wasn't about Micah. It was about her and him. The rest of the world could wait. "Don't worry. We'll fight it out tomorrow. Now. Where are you taking me? If you don't stop with the mysterious kidnapper vibe, I'm going to start to get suspicious."

“Funny girl. I like that." He winked at her, driving the car through town. "I'll tell you one part of the date. We're going on a picnic."

A picnic. Definitely a new one. Immediately, her brain began to scroll through the different possibilities in and around Unknown for a date-like picnic. They'd already passed the park and the lake. Where else was there? She really needed to get out of the office more.

They drove for ten minutes, soft jazz crooning through the hi-tech stereo system. When he pulled off onto a well-packed dirt road, memory stirred in the back of her mind. "You're not taking me to Race's Drive-In, are you?”

“There’s that genius IQ." He drove through the deserted gates to the spot he'd obviously set up before coming to get her. There was a pile of pillows and blankets. Citronella torches flickered in the gentle breeze. When he helped her out of the car, she saw an old-fashioned picnic hamper off to one side of the pallet.

“Wow. You really don't do anything by half measures, do you?" Mel let him help her settle onto the pallet, just so she could hold his hand a little longer. He'd turned the charm on full blast and she had to admit that it was