Page 106 of Dirty Temptation

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AFTER REGROUPING WITH my family, we collect our coats and, because I arrived in Knox’s car, Molly and I decide to go for a walk despite the snow and Uber home after.

I take her hand, and we head down the stairs and out into the clear cool night. Letting out a long breath I glance down at her.

“Hello, girlfriend.”

“Hello, boyfriend.” Molly smiles up at me as if I’m her world and I vow in that moment I will make her happy for the rest of my life.

I don’t need to wait for marriage vows until I promise that. It’s already done. But I’ll keep that to myself. She’s already scared enough.

I am going to spend the rest of my life with this woman.

Dad was right. You just know.

There’s something different about your feelings when you meet the one. A solidness that would take an avalanche to shift the way you feel about them.

From the moment Molly walked into my party almost four months ago now, she had my attention.

I’ve never stopped thinking about her.

Never stopped wanting her.

When I imagine my future, it includes her. Living with her in a beautiful big home like the one in the Hamptons, my ring on her finger, our children running around.

Growing old with her.

One step at a time.

I’m a Montgomery, I’m patient (ish) and I always win.

Told you I’d get my girl.

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MOLLY

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ATLAS REACHES OUT his arm as I step out of the elevator into his penthouse apartment.

It feels strange to be here again.

Last time I ran out of here with a post orgasmic flush and triggered by his words.

Now...now I’m his girlfriend.

Now he loves me.

I walk to the living room and place the single most beautiful rose I’ve seen in my life on the coffee table and face him.

“We need to talk, Atlas.”

His face drops. “I thought—”

I shake my head and walk to him, palming my hands on his chest. “I need to tell you my story, so you understand. I need you to know all of it.”

Relief washes over him, and his shoulders drop.

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