Molly's Man (Haven, Texas 4)

She sighed. “You know what I lied about. That’s why you’re here to punish me.”

He leaned in, wrapping his arms around her. A feeling of rightness fell over him. This was where she was meant to be.

“Refresh my memory.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” She half-sobbed, and he found himself rubbing her back, soothing her.

“Sh, love, it’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it right now.” But he’d find out eventually. And she was going to learn not to keep things from him. The same went for him.

“I wish that were true.”

“What?”

“That you loved me. I wish you loved me. Only I don’t want to hurt you.”

“How would you hurt me?

” he asked curiously. He needed to get her calmed down and home. He wouldn’t get any sense from her in her condition.

“By leaving you.”

“You already left me. You came here without saying goodbye. You broke our contract.” He tried to keep the growl out of his voice but he wasn’t terrible successful.

She rubbed her face against his chest, her stomach was pressed tightly to his hard cock. “Had to leave. Didn’t want to hurt you. But was coming back. Made a mistake.”

He sighed with frustration. She was making no sense.

“I wanna go home,” she told him, glancing up at him with teary eyes. His stomach clenched.

“Okay, baby. Let’s get you back to your hotel room. I’m staying with you, by the way.” No way was he getting another room. Not only didn’t he trust her not to sneak off, but he couldn’t leave her alone when she was in this state.

“That’s not my home. Haven’s my home.” She sniffled. God, he’d have to watch himself or she’d easily have him wrapped around her little finger. “I felt like I belonged there.”

“You did belong there. Why did you leave? Was it because of me?”

“Yes.”

Guilt filled him. “Baby, no matter what went on between us, you didn’t have to go. I know I was an asshole, not wanting to talk about Rebecca. I cut myself off from you when I’d promised I wouldn’t. I don’t blame you for breaking the contract with me. But that didn’t mean you had to leave.”

“Yes, it did. Because I didn’t want to hurt you like she did.” She sagged against him. “I don’t feel so well.”

He stared down at her in confusion. Something weird was going on. But he wasn’t going to get much sense out of her tonight. Tomorrow he’d get the answers he was looking for. No matter what he had to do to get them.

Oh fuck, I feel like shit.

Her head throbbed. Thump. Thump. Thump. She needed water. Painkillers. Something to numb the hideous pain. But she was pretty certain that if she moved she was going to vomit. She whimpered quietly.

What had she been thinking last night? She winced as the memories surfaced. Heading to the bar. Drinking cocktails, then shots, and then, oh crap, singing bad karaoke. Well, she guessed she could knock that off the list.

She hoped she hadn’t made a complete fool of herself. She sighed. Well, at least she didn’t know anyone here. No reason to be embarrassed. Except there was something tugging at her . . . something important she needed to remember.

“Good morning, sunshine, how are we feeling?”

She stiffened. Nope. She had to be wrong. Couldn’t be. This had to be another one of those dreams. The ones that’d plagued her night after night. She’d had huge problems getting her brain to quieten enough to fall asleep and then when she had, there he was. Tormenting her and making her wish for things she couldn’t have.

“So your plan is to ignore me? Might work for a while. But since I have water, painkillers, and coffee I’m betting you won’t be able to hold out for long.” He was trying to sound relaxed, but she could hear the underlying tension in his voice.

She opened one eye, staring up at him. “Jake.”