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

his parents ruin it. Not that they’d physically hurt Molly, but they expected him to come back to his old life, one they wouldn’t think she fit in. However, regardless of if he went back to his old life, he hoped Molly would be at his side. But it was obvious that even without the threat of his parents, she was uncertain about her place in his life as well.

Their conversation yesterday had been productive in cementing the fact that they were at least in something since she was calling Max now, but it had cost him to have it. Normally, he avoided confrontation and when the few attempted relationships he’d had had gotten to that point, he’d walked away. Jealousy was an entirely new emotion for him. He knew he’d pushed her too hard, but he couldn’t handle just being another guy in her life. He needed to know that what was going on between them meant something to her, because it meant a whole hell of a lot to him, and he apparently needed to make that clear to her as well.

She was leaning against the railing now, eyes trained on her feet. He couldn’t hear her conversation but he wished he could. The longer she talked, the more that thread of doubt creeping over him gained traction.

His unease increased as another half hour passed and she was still talking, now sitting on a deck chair, smiling. It was far too chummy for his liking and considering that guy had put her through so much misery. Putting the final touch on the email he’d been writing, he shut the laptop and debated his options. What he wanted to do was go down there and throw her damn phone in the ocean and drag her back to bed, but she’d most likely punch him in the face.

However much of a lovesick idiot he might already be, he truly did want to make sure she was doing all right, so he grabbed two beers from the kitchen on his way down to the main deck and held one out to her when he reached her. She accepted it with a grateful smile and took a long swig, clearly needing a drink and the alcohol.

“You okay?” he mouthed so he didn’t interrupt her.

She nodded with an eye roll but didn’t indicate that she’d be ending the call soon.

Hesitating, he leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek, just so she knew he was here for her.

Trying to put the possibility of Molly’s defection from his boat out of his mind, he went back to the kitchen to start on lunch. He pulled out a bunch of stuff for sandwiches as well as the salad she’d made yesterday, put it all on a tray and took it up to the table on the sky lounge. He waited another half hour before he went ahead and ate lunch without her. It wasn’t until he heard her trill of laughter that his gut clenched and he knew he was a goner because he wanted to be a good support for her, but the idea of her going back to her ex made him crazy. That laugh had him thinking maybe he had things entirely wrong. Just because he’d thought about Molly over the years didn’t mean she’d felt the same way. It’d been highly foolish to assume they could just walk back into a relationship after so many years. She had an entire life he knew nothing about and the more he heard her laugh, the more this sad reality was apparent to him. A miscalculation on his part. He’d been so eager to see her, to touch her, to smell her again, that he hadn’t been smart about it.

He was a mess and very much in trouble with her because while he trusted her, it was already difficult for him to imagine returning to a life without her. The new life he was forging seemed less important if she wasn’t by his side.

Another fifteen minutes passed before she appeared in the doorway, a sheepish smile on her face. But it was fine because he’d composed himself, understood how he needed to proceed now. He needed to get himself together and act like a person who had control over his rampant emotional state. He wasn’t just some guy with a lot of money and so few true friends that he’d created a fantasy life with a woman he’d dated years ago. Of course not.

“Hey,” she said, her voice soft, “sorry that was so long.”

He shrugged as if he didn’t care. “It was a cold lunch anyway. No harm done.”

She met his eyes, obviously reading something in his tone, but he just offered her a benign smile.

“Well, it looks delicious,” she went on as if he gave a damn about what she thought about the lunch. “Thanks for putting it together.”

“Eat up,” he told her. “I thought we’d sail to the other side of the island and maybe go into Freeport and pick up some things.”

“Oh, okay,” she said, surprised. He stood and pulled out a chair for her so she could sit down.

If she expected him to ask questions about her call, she was mistaken. He was cutting himself off before he got in too deep. He liked Molly, he liked the sex, but sitting through the phone call had filled him with resolve. Being just her pal and confidant was a no-go, after all.

“Thanks,” she said, scooting into the table. She took a sip of the water he’d poured earlier, the ice almost completely melted. “I didn’t mean to talk so much.”

“No need to apologize.”

He casually watched as she took a bite of a carrot stick, as if nothing was amiss or his gut wasn’t churning like a washing machine agitator.

“Would you want to take a swim after lunch?” she asked, meeting his eyes. “I was just down there looking at the water all day and thinking how we hadn’t done