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He reaches even farther across the table as if waiting for me to take his hand. I can’t because then I’ll let hope back into my heart. Heck, who am I kidding? I alreadyhavehope in my heart, but I can’t let it expand anymore.
When I don’t hold his hand, he pulls it away, squeezing the table’s edge. “They’re my men, so you don’t have to worry.”
“So you hired people to follow me without telling me I was being followed,” I say. “Just so we’re clear.”
He winces as if hearing it laid out like that is borderline painful to him. “Yeah, I guess that’s exactly what I did.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? You could’ve texted,Hey, Molly, just so you know, you’ll be seeing suspicious men and cars everywhere you go.You know, so I didn’t thinkthosemen were coming to hurt me.”
“I know,” he says, “but I thought it’d be easier if we didn’t talk.”
“Easier, how?” I ask.
He leans forward again and looks at me with his intense gaze. Despite knowing better, I feel myself getting drawn in, lost in his eyes. My lit teachers always call that a cliché, getting lost in somebody’s eyes, but maybe they haven’t ever experienced it. They’ve never felt this magnetism, this deep need to lean close, to kiss him.
I force my hands to stay under the table and sit still. This man is having mefollowed. Sure, he saved my life, but I should be way angrier at him, shouldn’t I? The truth is, the main emotion rising within me is gratitude.
“How?” I press when he doesn’t respond.
“You stormed out. I didn’t think you’d want to he—”
“You’re lying,” I say, almost certain I’m right by how his eyes flit all over the place. He stared at me like I was the only person who existed before. “Tell me, Duke. I deserve that much.”
He leans even closer. His hands move right to the edge of the table. It’s almost like he’s pleading with me to take them. I try to resist a moment longer, but there’s too much desire deep inside, screaming at me to stop fighting him.
When I finally take his hands, that familiar spark sizzles between us. It shivers up my arms and through my body. It’s like finding safety after days of roaming alone, lost in the dark. The warm tingle spreads all around me like a blanket of pure relief. I know better not to trust him, but I can’t help but lean into the feeling.
“So?” I say when he keeps staring at me with that hard-to-read expression on his face.
He swallows and squeezes my hands tightly.
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
Duke
She wants to know why I chose her. She said she deserves the truth, and she’s right. However, the idea of saying the words aloud scares the shit out of me. It’ll mean nothing can ever happen between us again. My young, inexperienced virgin will recoil from me like she’s slipping a punch.
She squeezes my hands. “Why wouldn’t you justcall?”
I swallow. I almost say it. I almost tell her it’s because I knew if I saw her again, I’d feel exactly how I’m feeling now. All the desire, the certainty, would burst out of me. I couldn’t hold myself back, and I have to do that for Ryan.
“R-Ryan,” I say, stuttering for the first time in who knows how long.
She pulls her hands away from me. “Ah.”
“Iwantyou, Molly.”
“But,” she says. “Go on. I know there’s abutin there.”
“I have to put my son first. I have to…” I stop, my voice getting louder, looking around the crowded food court. “Shall we go someplace else?”
She bites her lip, reminding me of how she looked when my hand was between her legs. I’m so high and mighty, talking about doing the best by my son, but I touched her sweet, hot pussyafterI learned the truth. Now, I want to do it again.
I can read the message in her eyes.Why do you want to be alone?
She bites her lip as if she doesn’t know how it affects me, and maybe she doesn’t. Perhaps she has no clue how attractive she is. Even after her relationship with my son, Ryan didn’t show her the attention she deserved. Sentiments like that remind me of how messed up this is, but now I’m here with her in person. I can’t stop. I don’twantto stop.
“We could go to a quieter café or something,” she says. “Or maybe the parking lot. Somewhere like that.”
