Page 20 of Rufus

He was silent for several long seconds before nodding. “Okay.”

Molly looked at him searchingly. “Okay, it’s okay for me to want you and you still want me? Or okay, it’s okay to be a virgin, but no, thank you?” She held her breath as she waited for him to answer.

* * *

Rufus had never been confronted with such a dilemma in his life before. He hadn’t been Beth’s first lover, and the few women he had been with since were all older than Molly and experienced. Deliberately so.

A woman’s first time should be memorable.

Could he make it that for Molly?

More to the point, should he make it that for her?

He wanted her, but taking a woman’s virginity was a big deal. A responsibility no man should take lightly.

“Never mind,” she dismissed in a brittle voice as she stepped back. “Take the food with you. I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.”

“Molly—”

“Don’t,” she snapped, looking almost feral as she glared at him with overbright eyes.

“I don’t want you to ever look back on this moment and think I’ve taken advantage of you or the situation here?—”

Her scathing huff cut him off. “I’m a grown woman, and quite frankly, having you question the autonomy of my freedom to choose my own lover is fucking insulting.”

He winced. “I didn’t mean it to be?—”

“Get out.” She turned away to collect her bag, only to turn back again when she realized Rufus hadn’t moved an inch. “I asked you to leave.” Her nostrils flared.

If anyone should be leaving, it wasn’t Rufus. Yes, it was Mia’s business, but he and Darius were silent investors in the shelter, and as such, Rufus had a perfect right to be here.

But maybe not to be in a situation where he was considering making love to one of his daughter’s employees.

Molly looked so fucking beautiful, with that raven-dark hair and pale complexion. Her height of a few inches over five feet meant she was at least fourteen inches shorter than Rufus, and yet, in this moment Molly looked almost regal in her disdain for what she obviously considered his cowardice in being unwilling to explore whatever this was between them.

She was right.

Because Rufus had a deep-rooted reluctance to open himself up to the possibility of being hurt again as he had when Beth and Emily were taken from him all those years ago. In Molly’s case, he believed that hurt would come when she simply up and left one day without so much as saying goodbye, as her history showed she had done many times in the past.

But for all she was now glaring at him so fiercely, there was also an innate vulnerability to Molly. A fragility beneath the outer confidence she chose to present to the world.

Giving Rufus the insight into the reason she always ran: if she was the one to leave, then she couldn’t be abandoned again.

Perfectly understandable behavior with her background.

So, it was up to Rufus now whether he wanted to put himself and his emotions on the line. Which he knew he would have to do if he wanted to be with Molly.

“I don’t have any condoms with me,” he told her huskily.

She drew in a sharp breath at his obviously unexpected reply before she snorted dismissively. “Then it’s as well you aren’t going to be needing one this evening after all, isn’t it? Not with me, at least.”

He chose to ignore the implication he was going to leave here and go to another woman, because he knew she was deliberately trying to antagonize him with her scorn. “Are you on birth control?”

She snorted. “Why would I have needed to be on birth control when I’ve just told you I haven’t ever been with anyone in a sexual way?”

And her derision. “You wouldn’t,” he accepted. “Which is why I intend to drive you out of your mind with only orgasms this evening. I’ll make sure to bring a condom next time.”

“Next time…?” she repeated.

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