Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Molly’s musical voice is next. “Listen, I know you’re sad that I’m leaving. I am too. But you have to take good care of your daddy for me. He’s a really special man.”
This woman thinks she can leave me? Hell no. I’m not letting that happen. Not tonight or any other night. She belongs to me, and it’s time she learns that.
11
MOLLY
It’s only when Trace is snoring that I finally leave the bed. The moment I do, I feel so cold, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I’m still naked.
I search the laundry hamper in the bathroom until I finally find my clothes. I slip into the jeans and t-shirt again.
I arrived here with only the clothes on my back, and I won’t take anything of Trace’s as I leave. He’s already been so kind to me, and after everything we shared tonight, I know I’m in love with him. He’s wrecked me in the best way.
But my father will come for me. Maybe not today or tomorrow but soon and I know Trace. He won’t let me go without a fight. This mountain man would die for me, and that’s not a risk my heart can take.
I’d rather live on the run with these beautiful memories than to watch Trace be gunned down. A world where he doesn’t exist is too horrible for me to contemplate. My heart can survive anything if my man is alive.
When I’m done, I move to the living room and survey the place. It’s already looking so much cleaner and brighter since I arrived. It still needs some pretty throw pillows and maybe a cheerful rug. But it won’t be me that gets to decorate his cabin. Some other woman will do that someday.
Princess meows and I look down to see her staring at me. I didn’t even hear her leave the bed. She must have followed me out here.
“I know, girl,” I whisper and wipe tears from my cheeks. I turn for the door but when she meows again, it’s such a pitiful sound that I face her. Bending down, I take a seat on the floor and stroke her soft fur. “Listen, I know you’re sad that I’m leaving. I am too. But you have to take good care of your daddy for me. He’s a really special man.”
“And he’s mad as hell that his girls aren’t where they belong. In his bed,” Trace answers, his voice booming.
I raise my gaze to see him standing there in the doorway of the living room. He’s thrown on another pair of gray sweatpants, but he didn’t bother with a shirt, showing off his hairy chest that I still want to lick my way down. Fire burns in his eyes. “You think you’re leaving me?”
I swallow down everything I feel for this man, all the love and the lust and the longing. “Trace, this was never supposed to be permanent.”
“Well, it is now.”
“You don’t understand,” I try to explain as the tears start again. “He’s coming for me. I’m not free to be with you.”
He crosses his arms over his broad chest. When he does, I see the scratches from where my nails dug into his flesh only hours ago as he pounded into me, delivering the most delicious orgasm. “Who? Who’s coming for you?”
I shake my head and reach for the door. It’s easier to just go than stand here and explain. Once he knows, he’ll want me gone anyway. Trace loves his peaceful existence here on his mountain and when my world crashes into his, everything will change for him.
He moves so quickly that I don’t even see him. He’s just there one second later with his hand against the door, blocking my exit. “You don’t get how this works. I love you and that means I won’t let you go. You’re mine now.”
I blink, trying to clear away the tears that are blurring my vision. “You love me?”
“I love you,” he repeats. “I love the way you babble when you’re nervous and how you sing in the shower and the way you bite your lip when you’re trying to concentrate on a hard task.”
“We barely know each other,” I answer, shaking my head. You can’t love someone this quickly. We can’t really be in love with each other. Not for real. This is just some fairytale we’ve convinced ourselves we’re living in.
He takes my hand and presses it over his heart. “Feel this? It beats for you now. Just you. I know you’re scared, but your heart and mine—they recognized each other. It’s why we’re so good together.”
His heart beats steady and strong underneath my fingertips. This man means everything to me. But can we really win against my dad?
“I’m scared,” I admit softly.
He gathers me in his arms and carries me back to his bed with Princess trailing after us. “It’s OK to be scared, sweet girl. You lay that fear on me. You put all your burdens on me now. Don’t carry it alone anymore.”