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)
Duke answers after just a couple of rings. “Molly?” His voice is urgent. “Are you okay?”
He knows I wouldn’t call him unless there was a good reason. We haven’t spoken since I stormed from his house. “Somebody’s following me.”
“Explain,” he says shortly. I quickly tell him about the car, noticing the guy in the store. “I… Wait there. I’ll come to you. I’ll explain.”
“Explain what?”
“You’re safe. This isn’t what you think. Just wait there for me, okay? I won’t be long.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I have to tell you something,” he replies, his voice getting passionate. “Please.”
Hearing the desperation in his please pulls a reply out of me. I should tell him to explain right now, but the idea of seeing him in person sends wave after wave of desire through me. It’s not even desire. It’s more like completion, as if seeing him means slotting into my proper place. It feels right. “Okay, I’ll wait here.”
“You don’t have to stay in the clothing store. The food court… I can meet you there.” He pauses, almost like he doesn’t want to say the next bit. “We can finally have our date.”
Talk about screwing with my head. He hangs up before I can reply. Maybe he wanted to hang up quickly because he thought I would try to start a fight with him for his hot-and-cold routine. He can’t be making date comments after everything we’ve been through.
I leave the changing room cautiously. Duke said this isn’t what I think. Then what the heck is it? His confidence is enough for me to go to the food court without freaking out. The man in the suit is gone, leaving me to wonder if he was the same one. How would Duke know anything about it?
Sitting in the corner, I wait. Duke was right when he said he wouldn’t be long. Twenty minutes later, he walks in wearing a tank and shorts. It looks like he’s been at the gym. Every woman looks at him, as they always do, and a couple of guys go over and take photos with him.
As I watch him smile for a photo, I smooth down my hair. I’m suddenly conscious of my frumpy dress and my unwashed hair. It’s messy in the extreme. I’m attempting to tame it when Duke strolls over, looking down at me, chest rising and falling with an intensity that doesn’t match the surroundings.
“Can I sit?” he says with a smirk.
“Isn’t that what people do on dates?” I shoot right back at him. I’m trying to be sassy and confident, but the emphasis on dates sounds desperate more than anything.
He sits, placing his hand on the table near mine. I think he’s going to hold my hand. I want it so badly that I almost snatch onto his and hold on tightly. Instead, I put my hands under the table to not embarrass myself.
“Well?” I ask. “What did you mean when you said this isn’t what I think? Do you know why I’m being followed? Did you cut a deal with those thugs or something?”
“A deal to…” He narrows those intense eyes. He’s got a light silver beard as if he’s found it as difficult to shave as I have to wash my hair. “To have those men follow you?”
I shrug and stick my bottom lip out, trying to look tough. I’m trying to look like I didn’t almost shatter when he said it was over because Rachael is right. This is weird and insane. “Yeah, why’s that so crazy? Maybe you offered me up to them or something.”
He clenches his fists. When he trembles, the table shakes. It’s like he’s going to flip it. Veins push against his neck like he’s struggling to hold himself back, his shoulders tensing like giant boulders in his shirt.
“I’d never do that,” he says, his voice as shaky as his body. “I’d never put you at risk. That’s just sick. The men following you… I hired them just in case those thugs returned and found you. I wanted to make sure you were safe.”
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 already have hope 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 think those men were coming to hurt me.”