Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 222(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
“People really do that?” I ask.
He nods. “People are stupid, but I was the idiot who let them goad me. It was easy for my ex to use that in the divorce. My traveling, too, for work… She knew I had no case. I just wish she’d listened to some of my goddamn advice. The man she married after me is a toad. Barely even a man at all. No sort of role model.”
He pauses, then lays his hand gently on my knee. There’s always a subtle undertone of desire whenever we touch, but the pressure has just as much support in it. “When you have kids, Molly, you’ll be an incredible mother. I can see how badly you want it.”
“You can?” I ask, surprised.
“I think you want to fix the past, too.”
“When I have children, they’ll never see me falling over my feet because I’m so wasted. They won’t see me enabling their dad, either. I want a man who’s a parenting teammate, you know?”
He stares at me with that familiar level of attention. I almost expect him to tell me he’s ready to start a family together now. “I know,” he says fiercely. “If I have kids again, I’m going to be upfront about what I want and need from the mother.”
“I’m going to be upfront with the father,” I say. “Then they’ll never have to be scared. That’s the worst part about being a kid and seeing all that stuff—the fear it puts in you. Even when it’s over, it’s still there, a low hum of anxiety. It’s like constantly waiting for something to go wrong.”
“I know the feeling,” he says. “I could only ever get rid of it through training. That’s an idea.” He smirks, a playful spark in his eyes as if we can forget the ugliness and complications. “What were your plans for the rest of the day?”
“Nothing, really,” I say honestly. The truth is, I’ve been moping around, thinking about him, dreaming about him, but I won’t tell him that. “Why?”
“Let me take you to the gym,” I reply.
“Won’t it be awkward if people see us?”
“The gym’s closed to the public right now,” he replies. “Anyway, I don’t give a damn what people think.”
“What about one person, then?”
He swallows and nods. Ryan is the exception. I wonder if the awkwardness will ever fade. Even if we get married and have kids, that wedge will be between us.
He was dropping some heavy hints just now. Or maybe I’m misreading this whole thing.
“Like I said, the gym’s closed to the public. It’ll just be me and you.”
No, I should say. You’re just trying to mess with my head again. Or maybe it’s about sex. Maybe this is all a pickup line. Maybe you don’t really care at all.
Instead, I say, “Okay, Duke. Let’s do it.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Duke
“No, I’m fine,” Molly says into her cell phone. We’re sitting in the parking lot in the gym. Molly drove back to her dorm to get some workout clothes, and then I drove her here. She’s on the phone with her friend Rachael. “I’m fine. Uh, no, nobody was following me. Yeah. Okay. Talk soon.”
Molly hangs up, glancing at me with her cheeks flushing that gorgeous shade of red. She’s tied her hair up, and she’s wearing a tank top that shows the outline of her bra. Her yoga pants are tight, too, showing me the shapeliness of her thick legs. My dick is rock-hard against my underwear already. I’m going to need to control myself.
“I didn’t want to explain about the security,” she murmurs. “She’d probably think it’s another red flag.”
“She sounds like a good friend,” I say. “It sounds like she looks out for you.”
“She does,” Molly replies, “but I don’t want her to look out for me about this. She’d tell me to stop. She’d tell me you already had your chance.”
There isn’t just a chance for us. It feels like a certainty. It feels like we were made for each other, but I don’t let any of this out, not yet, not until… until what? Until I can build a time machine and make it so Ryan and Molly were never in a relationship?
“Let’s go inside,” I say.
We head into the gym together. She walks ahead of me on the stairs, giving me the perfect view of her full ass shifting back and forth. My hands twitch, telling me to reach up, squeeze, massage, own. Leading her into the padded room, I gesture to the corner.
“Find some gloves that fit you.”
She looks at me over her shoulder vivaciously, her eyes alert. “I always thought about doing a self-defense class, but I felt too silly.”
“Silly, how?” I ask.
“Well…” She glances down at the floor.
I look at the floor and look at her. She’s staring at me as if to say, Isn’t it obvious?