Page 37 of The Vegas Rerun
"It doesn’t matter what I believe. It’s just how I do things," she says.
Her expression gives nothing away, but her words do. She didn’t argue with me and insist what happened was a mistake. No, she told me it didn’t matter what she believes, which to me means she doesn’t really believe it’s a mistake any more than I do. A slow smirk curves my lips, even though something about this whole conversation feels like it’s pressing against my ribs, I do still feel like there’s hope for us yet.
"So, what, if we weren’t working together, this would be different?" I ask. I’m half teasing her, but I’m also curious to see what her answer will be.
Molly hesitates for a moment, but then she shakes her head.
"That’s not the point. The point is, I have rules I live by and that’s one of them."
"Rules are meant to be broken," I remind her, echoing her earlier words, but she just crosses her arms and gives me a look that tells me she isn’t budging.
I huff out a breath, then tilt my head, watching her carefully.
"Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to fire you then," I say.
Her eyes widen, genuine panic flickering across her face.
"Joshua, don’t, please …" starts, but she tails off when I break into a grin before she can finish.
"Relax. I’m joking," I tell her.
She scowls, shoving my shoulder.
"You asshole. That wasn’t funny."
"It was a little bit funny."
She glares at me, but I can see the small twitch of her lips. I lean in slightly, my voice lowering.
"I can be patient, you know. I’ll wait for you to come around."
She exhales, shaking her head.
“You don’t give up easily, do you?" she says.
“Nope,” I reply. “Wait until you see what I have planned to make you come around. By the time I’ve finished with you, you’ll be begging me to break the rules with you.”
She gives me a long look, then finally she laughs.
“I look forward to proving you wrong,” she says.
I smirk.
“We’ll see,” I tell her.
And we will, because when I want something, I get it, and I want Molly more than I have ever wanted anyone or anything in my whole life.
CHAPTER 26
MOLLY
The ideal moment totell Joshua about Autumn passes, and I let it. Because what choice do I have? I should have told him earlier, but I also let that opportunity slip through my fingers like sand, and now it’s too late. There’s no way to go back, no way to fix it. If I tell him now, it will change everything, and I can’t risk that.
I want him. Oh my God, how I want him. I want more than a night tangled up in sheets and stolen moments behind office doors. I don’t care that we work together. I don’t care about the rules I swore I’d follow. But I do care about Autumn. And that’s why I can never be with Joshua.
Because I don’t know what Joshua would do if he knew about her. And that uncertainty, that unknown, is enough to keep my mouth shut. Because if I tell him, and he reacts the wrong way and tells me he wants nothing to do with her, or if he only stays because he feels like he has to, and then ends up resenting us both, I will never forgive him. And worse, I will never forgive myself for leaving us open to that kind of heartache.
I know all of this, and I know I’m doing the right thing, but it’s so hard to stick to my so-called rules, especially like this – post coital, naked, and cuddled into Joshua, the smell of our sex still tangy in the air. I have to move, or I’m going to end up blurting out something I will regret.
