Page 128 of Cash
My heart twists at the naked hurt in her eyes.
It’s a big deal that Mollie Luck is sharing this with me. Sheissuccessful. Sheisa hard worker. Those can be good things.
They’re also things that keep people—feelings—at arm’s length.
They’re things I can certainly relate to.
Mollie trusts me. She sees me, too, same as I see her.
I need to show her Garrett’s pictures. Just gotta figure out the right time and place. I can’t help but feel sharing them with her will be a declaration on Garrett’s part and mine too.
Lord, we are in it.
“Close the laptop.”
Her eyebrows pop up. “Cash?—”
“Don’t make me ask again. Close it and come here, honey.”
Her lips twitch as she does as I tell her. Then I wrap her in my arms and pull her against me, guiding her head into the crook of my neck. My body jumps at the feel of her tits pressed to my chest, her nipples getting hard at the contact.
I do my best to ignore it. I just hold Mollie as I murmur in her ear, “Just because you’re not perfect doesn’t mean you’re broken.”
Her fingers trail through my chest hair. She’s quiet.
“I don’t need perfect. Your parents didn’t need it. World doesn’t need you to be perfect either. We just needyou. You and your messes. You light up a room just by being in it, honey.”
She swallows audibly. “You’re just saying that because you have a hard-on.”
I laugh. “I’m always hard when you’re around. But even if that wasn’t the case, I’d be saying the same thing.” I tip up her chin so she meets my eyes. “There’s nothing about you that needs fixing. Anyone that makes you feel otherwise, they ain’t meant for you.”
She searches my gaze, her eyes wide and wet. “You make it sound so simple.”
“Nothing’s simple unless you make it simple.”
She gives me a watery grin. “So I make it simple.”
“I’m here to help you try, honey.”
CHAPTER 26
Cash
DOWN BAD
September turns into October.Mornings are gloriously chilly, even if the afternoons are still hot.
Mollie is still intent on learning the ropes of being a true cowgirl. She’s with us and the herd almost every day. And every night, she sits in my bed with her computer on her lap, fingers flying over the keyboard as she works on Bellamy Brooks’s approaching launch.
We fuck before and after that, of course. First thing in the morning too. But I’m doggone impressed by how hard this woman works. At the end of the day, I’m beat. Mollie, though, seems to get a second wind when we untack the horses.
I admire her tenacity. Even as part of me knows her cowboy boot company is a big part of what’s ultimately keeping her in Dallas. We talk about everything but the future. I don’t ask, and she doesn’t offer any answers. We just live in the moment.
I try to make my peace with that. I know we get along well. I know she enjoys my company. And the sex is…Jesus, something else.
But that don’t mean she’s in love with me. Definitelydoesn’t mean she’s thinking about moving to the ranch forever. It’d be weird, right, if I brought that up after a few weeks of…well, are we dating? Because we haven’t been on any actual dates. We’re fucking, but our connection is so much more than just physical.
I tie myself in knots trying to figure it out.