Page 51 of Resist

“It’s been a while since I’ve been on a date, so I wouldn’t know.”

“Oh yeah? How long has it been?” Coulton asked, grateful she’d given him an opening. He was curious about her relationship history.

“Just over two years.”

While he hadn’t been in a relationship almost the same amount of time, he’d at least re-entered the dating game. “Thatisa long time. Bad breakup?”

“I…” Ainsley looked around the saloon, shifting on the couch uncomfortably.

Coulton reached out and grasped her hand. “You said you’d trust me,” he reminded her.

“I said I’d try,” she retorted. She was always going to make him work for things, but he didn’t mind at all. In fact, he loved a challenge.

He narrowed his eyes, and it looked like she was going to relent. However, his request for trust seemed to strengthen her resolve in a different direction—an uncomfortable one.

“Maybe it’s better to just get this past-history part over with. Then you’ll see why this thing between us…”

She didn’t finish, didn’t need to. She clearly believed his interest in her was finite, that it was going to wane. And now he was coming to understand itwasher former relationships convincing her of that, more than anything else. It was time to prove to her there was nothing about her past that could drive him away.

“Tell me,” he urged.

Ainsley glanced around at their surroundings and gave him a sheepish look. “We probably shouldn’t do this on a boat.”

“I think it’s the perfect place. You’re a flight risk.”

She laughed, though the mirth didn’t reach her eyes. “Yeah. That’s not the problem. What I meant was,youwon’t have a way to escape. You’ll be stuck on here with me.”

“Ainsley. I like you. I have no idea what you think is so bad that I would walk away from you, but I’m asking you to give me a chance to get to know you. The real you.”

She snorted. “Be careful what you ask for.” Then, she pulled her hand out of his, clasping hers together tightly in her lap. Coulton was tempted to tug her hand back, overwhelmed by the desire to touch her, to find a way to set her at ease, but in the end, he decided only his reaction to whatever she said next would do that.

“I’ve only dated three guys. The first one was in high school. Tiger,” Ainsley started.

“Tiger?”

“That was honestly the name his mother put on his birth certificate,” she clarified. “We went out most of our senior year. He was a cheating asshole throughout, sleeping with God only knew how many other girls, some of whom were my friends.”

Aaaaaand now he was starting to understand her trust issues.

“Worst part is, of the three guys I’ve been in relationships with, Tiger was the best of the bunch.”

“Ouch,” he said, his comment having the desired effect.

Ainsley smirked. “Yeah. Ouch. Second boyfriend was Jagger, an alcoholic who was out of work as much as he was in it. He also made my dad and Eli look like choir boys.”

Coulton scowled, recalling Eli’s comment about Ainsley picking another winner. “He hit you?”

Ainsley shook her head. “Only once. He preferred to inflict his pain with hateful words. If he’d hit me, well, I wouldn’t have stuck around for that. I left Mick’s house and moved in with Jagger to escape that shit, so I refused to jump out of the frying pan into the fire. I’m not stupid. Just…poor, which has always limited my options.”

Ainsley had mentioned that her dad beat her before, but it didn’t make it any easier to hear. Now that he’d met Mick, he was even more determined to get her the hell out of that apartment once and for all. It was apparent Ainsley didn’t want to be there, either, but she couldn’t afford to move out.

He couldn’t begin to imagine how horrible her childhood had been, but rather than tackle that subject, he continued with the current topic. Because he wanted to know more about this asshole, Jagger. Mainly, what his last name was and where Coulton could find the prick.

“But Jagger did hit you?”

She nodded. “During our last fight, he backhanded me. He was drunker than I’d ever seen him. I’d hit my limit on his bullshit. Told him I was leaving him.”

“Good for you.”

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