Page 9 of Molly

He laughs. “You’ve got plenty of women who would jump at the chance to go out with you. Why not give one of them a shot?”

I shake my head. “Don’t want them. I want her.”

???

I spot her as soon as I open the door. She’s standing by the counter, looking like the human version of fucking sunshine.

God, she’s beautiful.

Normally, she’s on the lookout for me, and her eyes meet mine as soon as I enter the room, but today, someone else has her attention.

Nope. We can’t have that.

I slowly make my way towards them, sizing up the guy who decided today was the day to hit on my woman. He’s tall, not as tall as me, but still, and he’s got bright fucking red hair. I’m about two steps behind him when Molly spots me over his shoulder. Her eyes go wide, the fake smile she had plastered across her face fades, and I swear she looks relieved. I stop right behind him and wait to see what she’ll do.

A mischievous grin spreads across her face. She slowly raises her hand, cutting him off. “It’s so lovely of you to ask, but I’m actually busy tonight. Maybe another time?”

Fuck. No.

He leans in slightly, putting his mouth to her ear.

Alright. I’ve had enough.

“Back. The. Fuck. Up. Bro,” I snap.

He straightens immediately and turns, looking me up and down before raising an eyebrow. “Do we have a problem?” he asks, calmly.

“We will if you touch my girl again,” I reply, itching to wipe that cocky look off his face.

“Your girl?” he asks, slightly taken aback. He turns to Molly and gives her a questioning look.

She rolls her eyes. “Ryan, you’re being ridiculous. I’m not your girl.”

I scoff. “You’ve been my girl since the day I put my ink on you. Don’t fuck around here, Molly. You want me to chase you for a while? Prove I’m a good guy? I got no issue with that. But you flirt with another man in front of me again just to provoke me, and this whole cat-and-mouse game we’ve got going on is going to go in a whole different direction. Try me,” I warn.

She visibly gulps and looks back at Carrot-top. “Tom, it was really nice of you to ask, but I’m not really dating at the moment.”

“Molly, you’ve been flirting with me for weeks. You’re seriously not going to go out with me? You a prude or something? I’m not good enough for you? You need your men to look like they’ve walked straight out of prison?” he asks, looking at me and then back at her, an edge to his tone.

I don’t like that one bit. I step closer to Molly, putting myself slightly in front of her. “You talk to her like that again, mate, and I’ll rip your tongue out of your fucking mouth and shove it up your ass. She said no, so piss off.”

Molly stifles a giggle from behind me, and Tom must decide that he doesn’t want to get murdered today, because he spins and leaves, without a word, shaking his head on the way out.

I turn to Molly and grin. “Hey, gorgeous.”

She shakes her head slowly, trying not to smile. “Ryan, that was totally unnecessary. It’s a waste of your time stopping by like this every day. It’s been two weeks. Let it go,” she says.

Not a chance.She doesn’t really want me to stop, either. I don’t know why she’s pushing against me so hard, but she’ll give in eventually. We both know there’s something there. She just needs to take the leap and let me show her how good we could be together.

“Not wasting my time, Mol. You’ll agree eventually,” I coo.

“Why are you doing this?” She sighs.

I ignore the question and look around. “How’s your day been, many customers? I see you put out a new Syngonium this morning.”

She sighs again, but her lips slightly tilt up at the corners. “Surely, there is something better you could be doing with your time.”

I shrug. “Nope.”

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