Page 90 of Hold Me Until Morning

“It wasn’t Cody who first showed up here.”

Surprise jarred her features, her dull gray eyes narrowing. “Who was it?”

My tongue darted out to wet my dried lips. “Pruitt.”

Horror heaved from her lungs. A bout of anger rushed in behind it. “Are you kidding me? I can’t believe that man had the nerve to show up at your door. I’d have thought he would have gotten the message that you don’t want anything to do with him by now?”

“Pruitt has never been so good at taking no for an answer.”

Only my grandmother didn’t know how deep that really went. I’d never given her details, and she’d assumed that he’d strayed.

Cheated.

How sad I wished it were true.

“What does he want?”

A haggard laugh rolled up my throat. “What he’s always wanted…me.”

Under his thumb.

Submissive.

Playing the pretty prize to be paraded.

And you could say he’d never been much of a sport when he didn’t get his way.

I should have seen it when he’d set his sights on me all those years ago, but I’d been too blinded by my grief to realize what was happening.

So desperately needing to be loved that I’d allowed him to catch me up in a whirlwind.

“Well, he can’t have you.”

“No. He can’t.” It was a breath.

A heavy chuckle echoed from the kitchen, and Lolly gestured in that direction. “And just how did that cowboy show up here?”

“He must have heard me arguing with Pruitt.”

Except our voices had been so low there was no chance that he had. And he’d appeared from out of nowhere, manifested from thin air as if he’d been summoned by my fear.

“And now he’s staying here?” Her tone drifted into suggestion. She couldn’t help herself.

I rolled my eyes. “He’s staying here because he’s a nice guy. For one night. That’s it.”

Because I couldn’t handle him rambling around under my roof. Especially after what had happened with us last night.

Letting him touch me had been just as big a mistake as letting him stay here was going to be. But honestly, I was shaken enough—worried enough for my daughter—that I didn’t have the strength to disagree with him tonight.

“That’s awful nice of him.” Lolly drew it out.

I found the pillow I was looking for and dragged it out from between the towels where it was wedged. I leaned down to grab the blanket and held the stack against my chest.

“Don’t get any big ideas in that head of yours.”

“And what kind of ideas might those be?” She pressed her hand to her chest, completely innocent.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

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