Page 85 of Breaking Emily's Rules
It didn’t seem possible, but he had nearly smiled. Molly loved Dylan’s smile, a cross between an altar boy who’d snuck a taste of wine and a sailor on leave. The problem was he was downright sexy. He always had been. Too hard to resist. That one factor combined with the failure of birth control at a particularly passionate time had led to Sierra.
Outside her bedroom, Dylan stopped in the hallway and turned to Molly.
“How are we going to do this?”
For one moment, all Molly could think about was all the places they’d made love—the backseat of his truck, the bed of his truck, in a sleeping bag outside under the stars, in the shower. Some of those locations required some creative positioning.How are we going to do this?Dylan had once asked.
“How are we going to do what?”
Molly reached out to touch his beard. The one she didn’t think he’d ever be able to grow. He’d done it. Just like he’d raised their daughter on his own for a year. Without Molly.
Dylan stopped her hand midair. A hot look appeared in his eyes, but it wasn’t sexy. Not by a long shot.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Nothing. I’m sorry.”
Dylan ran a hand through that thick honey-hued hair. “All right. This is what I suggest. For now, you can come over three times a week to watch Molly.”
Three times a week.She was the luckiest woman on the face of the planet. No more park visits. “I can? Thank you.”
“But there’s nothing going on between you and me. You get that, right?”
“Of course I do.” Just for one moment, she’d thought, maybe. She’d been kidding herself, of course. Dylan wasn’t all that forgiving.
Something they had in common.
“Because Sierra has no choice. You’re her mother, right or wrong. But me? I’m a different story. You’re not fooling me, Molly. Never again.”
CHAPTER21
Emily
For the firsttime in my life, I had free rein to decorate. And while Greg had preferred off-white walls and window treatments and every shade of beige on the color wheel, I went for big splashes of color. I hung amethyst drapes in the family room of the duplex I now rented, and burnt orange in the bedroom. Rachel had helped me find the couch—a deep forest green which I accentuated with gold, red and chocolate brown pillows.
When Rachel had come over last week to see the finished look, she’d declared it a “beige-free zone” and wiped away a tear.
“What do you think, Pookie?”
Pookie lifted her head from her new miniature couch on the floor and sighed. I would take that as official doggy-sanctioned approval.
Dad had gone back to Texas after all, but he’d promised to come back sooner this time. I thought maybe my words had had some impact and made him think about the choices he’d made for his family. Molly definitely thought they had.
The only thing left on my list was filling out paperwork for my pilot’s license. I’d been avoiding that. Stone had pulled me into his office yesterday, and while I’d wondered if he wanted to revisit my one-time rule, it seemed I was the only one who wanted a second time.
He’d wanted to talk to me about applying for my pilot’s license. “You’re ready,” he’d said, his blue eyes edgy. He looked tired, a new tightness around the corners of his eyes I hadn’t noticed before. Lack of sleep? Guilt?
Maybe I didn’t want to know.
“I think I need to log in more hours. I’m not sure.”
“You’re ready.” He’d told me to ask Cassie for the paperwork and to get the process started.
I hadn’t. Not yet.
He’d been distant since we’d made love. Or had sex. I wasn’t sure what to call it these days. Not that I’d had any yardstick against which to measure so-called casual sex. Because that’s what it was. What it was supposed to have been. I didn’t know anymore, except that I’d assumed sex with no commitment would feel shameful. Wrong. This, somehow, didn’t. I had to believe it was because of Stone. He’d managed to make it special, despite its temporary nature.
Experience, I assumed.
