Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“If you want to make out in private, my car’s right over there.”
She whirls on me. “Enough. What do I have to do to make this stop? It’s bad enough that I’m puking every morning. I’m exhausted, my feet throb, my back hurts, my boobs are so sensitive I could scream—”
My eyebrows raise as I glance at her chest. “Are they?” I murmur as a thousand very filthy ideas flit through my head. “I wonder—”
“No, you don’t wonder, now stop it.” She sighs and rubs her forehead. “How do I get rid of you?”
“Let me take care of you. Or just marry me.”
“No to both.”
“How about I pay for your brother’s medication for the rest of his life?”
That gets her attention. I figured it would. She mentioned medicine before and I caught a glimpse of the stuff in her family’s kitchen. Epilepsy pills, and not the cheap generic ones. She must be spending an enormous amount of money on them, and now I totally understand why she stole my Rolex. For her, it was a matter of life and death. I’m glad she did it, honestly. I’m glad it was me that took her home, fucked her into another timeline, and slept through her little robbery.
“You’d do that?” Her voice is quiet. There’s still some anger, but she’s listening now.
“When I say I want to take care of you, that extends to your entire life. Your brother, Nana, everything. If you marry me and let me be a father to this baby, I’ll make sure you and your brother and your nana never have to worry about money again.” I step closer and watch her chest rise and fall. She’s scared, but tempted. That must make me the devil. I like it. “I’m not fucking with you, Molly. I’m not going to hurt you. Maybe you don’t understand why I want this, and that’s fine. You’ll figure it out eventually. For now, all you need to know is I can give you what you want as long as you give me what I need.”
She doesn’t pull away when I brush her cheek with my knuckles. Her skin’s so soft, silky and lovely, and I want to explore lower, feel more exposed inches of heaven. I want to kiss her, but I don’t want to scare her away. Not when I can tell I’ve got her hooked.
“And you need me to marry you?” she asks, sounding dubious.
“That’s right.”
“You realize normal people don’t get married like this. You’re insane.”
“From your perspective.” I move my hand down her shoulder, down to her hip. She shivers and chews on her mouth. I lick my lips, cock aching for her. The girl drives me wild with pure physical need every time she’s around. It hurts my head like a pent-up release.
“Maybe,” she says, which is the best answer I’ve gotten so far. “I still don’t know you.”
“Then get to know me.”
“How?”
“Tell me what else your family needs. I’ll get it and bring it over tomorrow morning.”
She takes a long breath through her nose. Then blows it out. “Nana smokes Marlboro Lights. Get her two cartons.”
“Enabling your grandmother’s smoking? Naughty girl.”
“She’s seventy-three. If she wants to smoke, she can smoke. You want to fight me on it?”
“Not at all, baby.” I lean down before she can pull away and kiss her cheek. Fuck, it’s like electricity. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Don’t forget to pay your bill.” She skitters away from me like a terrified crab. “And leave a good tip.”
“My pleasure.”
Chapter 11
Molly
Nana squints at me, takes a long drag, blows it into the fan, and goes back to staring. Jason’s sitting at the table, looking pale. I hate the way he keeps fidgeting and not quite meeting my gaze like he’s afraid or ashamed of everything I just said.
I try not to keep secrets from my family. I protect Jason as much as I can—but this decision is too big to hide him from. Besides, it’d be hard to explain why I’m suddenly marrying a total stranger.
“I can’t believe you’re pregnant,” he says and somehow makes it sound like I have a terminal disease.
“That’s not really the big issue at hand, dear,” Nana says. She waves her cigarette. “Right now, the more pressing problem is whether your sister is going to marry that very attractive gangster.”
“Nana,” I scold.
“What? He’s handsome. That’s a consideration.”
“He’s a stranger,” Jason says, shaking his head. “I can’t believe you’re really considering this.”
I lean back against the counter, crossing my arms over my chest. Jason’s a good little brother, but he feels so young sometimes. I think it’s because Nana and I have always gone out of our way to take care of him. He was diagnosed with epilepsy a few years after Mom passed, and things have been really hard on him ever since then. Grieving for a parent plus dealing with a life-threatening disorder isn’t exactly easy for a little kid. Nana and I got used to going out of our way to make sure Jason’s as comfortable and stress-free as possible, because it became pretty obvious to everyone that stress is his main trigger.