Bring the Heat by Margot Radcliffe (13 ebook reader .txt) 📕

stall for time so she could pick and choose the right things to say after her heart had skipped a beat at his words. Something was happening between them but it wasn’t as if they were dating for real; like last time, it was a fling, another yacht romance. Oliver wasn’t going to ask her to marry him and then whisk her away to some Fifth Avenue paradise penthouse as he resumed his life as a billionaire and she went back to building spacecraft. That wasn’t a likely scenario. Nor was she interested in living that life. She liked her life.

So she was happy to continue having fun, but after she left this boat she’d get back to her real life and while she didn’t have plans to get back together with Max, she did know that she needed closure from that relationship before she moved on to another one. Whenever it might be.

“I guess it just feels weird to be hashing things out with him when I’ve already moved on,” Molly told Oliver. “He hasn’t been interested in apologizing and I don’t want to hear more of his excuses, so I guess I’m just wary of what he could possibly still have to say. Maybe I actually am afraid of getting closure and moving on, after all.”

Oliver ran a hand through the side of her hair, shifting her gaze to his. “I hear you. It probably won’t be a super fun conversation, but do you want us to keep sleeping together?”

God help her, that was basically all she wanted right now. To drink him in like he was a magic elixir that, poof, made her life perfect. “Yeah.”

His eyes glinted with satisfaction and she started to feel uneasy. “Good, so all you have to do is call him tomorrow and tell him that I’m the man in your life now and that he can go fuck off. Closure accomplished.”

Was she doing an ice bucket challenge or something? Because cold water had definitely just been dumped on her head at the directive. She liked Oliver, but this was her real life she was dealing with whereas he would eventually leave her behind to return to his life in million-dollar world just like he had before. “Come again?” she asked, her voice deceptively chipper.

His eyes held hers, unwavering even though he’d picked up her change of tone. “You’re sleeping with me now, so I suggested you call your shitty ex and let him know.”

“You’re overstepping, Oliver,” she warned, her voice low but not mean.

His thumb brushed over her jaw. “I overstep, Molly, that’s who I am.”

“You’ve never overstepped with me before,” she pointed out. He’d always been the perfect gentleman with her. From everything to deferring to her on boat matters, loving the grease in random places on her person, admiring how she was able to build and fix things, he’d always made her feel special and like he was proud of her.

But now he was being kind of a dick. He hadn’t even formally asked her to be exclusive, was simply demanding it and also demanding that she announce it to the man she’d been ready to marry.

“Yeah, and then you ended up engaged to some cheating loser. So I’m gonna let it all hang out now, Molly. We’re not kids anymore.”

She didn’t know what “let it all hang out” meant, but if it meant more of him telling her what to do, she was literally not on board for it.

“Being open and honest with each other doesn’t mean we can tell the other person what to do,” she said, setting her empty margarita glass on the table beside her and pulling her chin from the heated grasp of his hand. “Just because we’re sleeping together doesn’t give you ownership of any part of me.”

His eyes deepened to a dark forest as he watched her. She wanted to squirm so badly under that direct, piercing glare but she remained still.

“What does us sleeping together entitle me to, then?” he asked carefully. “Can I ask, please, Molly, that since you want to keep sleeping with me that you also not carry on a relationship with your fiancé?”

Her temper flared. “I told you that I’m not carrying on a relationship with him. You’re the one encouraging the phone call. I’m just seeking closure on what was a very large and important chapter in my life before moving on.”

“If you aren’t still hung up on him, why do you have such a problem telling him that we’re together?” he bit off. And while she wasn’t afraid of him, she felt his irritation. “It sounds like maybe you’re trying to have your cake and eat it, too.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “You think I want to be sleeping with both of you? Is that having my cake and eating it, too? Because that’s ridiculous and something I’d never do, but I’d be willing to bet that you’ve eaten plenty of cakes over the years!”

“Am I the cake or the one eating it in this scenario?”

“How should I know?” she complained, throwing up her hands. “You’re the one who started this!”

Her chest rising, she tried to get a handle on things. It wasn’t like her to raise her voice or lose her temper, and yet with Oliver she found that it was okay to express herself. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

Oliver blew out a breath, the angry expression falling from his face.

“Listen,” he said, bringing her hand back into his, his eyes warm with apology. “I didn’t mean to push you. I’m not saying we need to go headfirst into a relationship after sleeping together for a night, but I also don’t want to be just some guy you sleep with, Molly, to get over your ex. That fucking sucks. I’m not some jerk you can scratch an itch with and then head out to your real life. At the very least you don’t do that to a friend.”

Her gaze skittered away