The Game Changer by Marie Landry Page B

messy ponytail. She had a sudden thought that he might not even recognize her since she’d looked completely different the last two nights at Atlantis.
    “I like the Cinnamon Toast Crunch myself.”
    Melody bit back a yelp as she jumped and spun around to face Julian. He was grinning broadly at her, his dark eyes alight with humour.
    “What?” she said stupidly.
    Julian pointed at the rows of cereal in front of them. Melody hadn’t realized what aisle she’d chosen; she had just been standing there blindly, waiting until she thought Julian was gone.
    “But I don’t know how well Cinnamon Toast Crunch would go with bacon,” he said, nodding his head toward the package of bacon she was clutching to her chest.
    Melody felt heat creep up her neck and into her face. She realized she must look like a complete idiot, standing there in the cereal aisle gripping the bacon like it was a lifeline. She relaxed and tried to smile, hoping it didn’t look like a grimace.
    “Olivia’s hung over and apparently she’ll die if she doesn’t eat bacon,” Melody told him. She was ridiculously pleased when his smile grew. “Something about the grease. I don’t know, there’s a study about it, I guess.”
    “I think I read about that,” Julian said. Melody could tell he was trying to be serious, but his eyes were still dancing. “You’re all bright and clear-eyed this morning…this afternoon,” he corrected after a quick glance at his watch. “Impervious to the dreaded hangover?”
    “This time, surprisingly,” she said. “Olivia usually is, too, but she fell asleep before I could get water into her.”
    “Ahh, yes, the key is hydration.” Julian nodded wisely. “Most people think coffee, but that’s just not the case.”
    “It doesn’t sober you up, it just makes you a wide-awake drunk,” Melody said. Strangely enough, it had been Olivia’s mother who imparted that little pearl of wisdom to them. They had been thirteen, and far too young to drink, but they’d never forgotten it.
    Julian chuckled. “That’s right. So you two live together?”
    “Yeah, we just live…” She started to point in the direction of the bookstore, but realized she didn’t really know this guy well enough to be revealing where she lived, even if most people weren’t aware there was an apartment above Green Pea’s. “Nearby,” she finished. “I had an extra bedroom, so when Olivia said she wanted to move back to town we decided to live together. It’s something we always wanted to do, but…” Why was she telling him this? He was a virtual stranger, and a playboy to boot; he probably didn’t give a damn why she and Olivia were living together.
    “But…” he prompted.
    Was that genuine interest she saw in his expression? “But she moved away to college and I stayed here, so it never happened. Now the timing’s just sort of right for both of us.”
    “So you’ve been friends a long time then, I take it?”
    “Forever,” Melody said with a small smile. There was a flicker of something in his eyes, like he understood the kind of forever that came with having and being a best friend since childhood. “Or since third grade, anyway.”
    Julian smiled, ducking his head with a little nod. “Long time,” he commented. He seemed to be thinking about something for a minute, then he looked at her again, and those bedroom eyes nearly took her breath away. “Can I buy you a cup of coffee?”
    “Right now?” Melody asked, her voice high from surprise.
    Julian’s mouth twitched. “Yeah. We can walk across the street to Becky’s.” He pointed out the window to the diner with the red and white awning.
    “But…we don’t even know each other,” Melody said, once again feeling stupid. She knew things like this happened, but they had never happened to her, so she didn’t know how to react. Was he being friendly? Did he consider it some weird Sunday afternoon date? Was this his M.O. for getting women to sleep with