Page 50 of Kiss Me Like You Mean It (Oak Valley)

“No, I vill never move. This is my house. Our house.” She shook her head and scowled.

“I figured, so I could pay it off. If I pay it off I don’t think he’ll find out. He’s never around and you’re the one making the mortgage payments anyway.”

His mom leaned back and crossed her arms. “You vould do that?”

“I will do anything I can to make sure you and the others are okay.”

“You are a good man, my son,” she whispered, “My fierce dragon.” A tear escape, sliding down her cheek. Dragan wiped it with his thumb.

“Don’t cry, Ma. It will be okay. We’ll be okay. We always are. And now you won’t have to work so hard.”

She laughed, a rare melody he wanted to bask in. “Neither vill you.” Wiping her eyes and standing, she turned to him. “Okay. You pay off the house, and ve tell no one.Tak?”

“Yes. I will send you the money, or you can give me the account details and I’ll handle.”

She nodded and started going toward the kitchen. “Okay. Now you stay for dinner.”

He couldn’t help but laugh as she walked away, always forcing food on anyone in the house. It was one of her quirks, but the one he loved the most. It’d taken him ages to see it for what it was, a mother’s need to take care of her kids, and only recently did he start appreciating it.

Dragan looked around the living room, enjoying the sense of relief. Now that the app had sold, he was somebody. He had money, a job, a means to provide. He could be anyone he wanted to be.

He just needed one woman by his side.

And to make sure his dad didn’t find out.

37

The sun was setting as Archer pulled into his garage. Another 24 hour shift, another run-in with the one and only Molly O’Hara.

He couldn’t admit how much he was actually starting to look forward to seeing her.

Last night, she’d thrown the door open with her curls bound in a colored scarf, cheeks rosy and lips pouting. That time, she just groaned and opened the door, stomping into the other room while they looked around to ensure there wasn’t actually a fire.

He didn’t want to admit how not having her jabs replay through his mind actually made the night pass slower.

Walking across the breezeway and into the house, he was greeted with messy dog kisses and a note from Caleb, his police officer friend who was able to look after Chief while Archer worked. He pulled out a Stouffer’s lasagna from the freezer, feeding his dog while his own food heated up, flashing back to the Pad Thai he’d spotted on Molly’s stove.

That woman sure seemed to know how to cook, even if he couldn’t say anything about the taste.

With his food heated up and a cold beer in hand, he sat on the sofa and opened his laptop. Chief laid in his spot on the other end and watched as he typed away and ate.

He knew how to find any information he wanted, and finding the landlord for Molly’s apartment was a cinch. Getting him to unhook the smoke detectors from the monitoring station was another story. Archer pretended to be her boyfriend — a tactic he hated and one of the downsides to being a small town, having the men talk down to women — but even that didn’t bring the results it usually did.

When they hung up, Archer knew what he could do.

He hung his head and looked at Chief. “Guess I need to go back to the lion’s den, bud.”

Getting back in his car, he drove to her apartment.

He knocked, leaning the step stool he brought with him against the wall.

“Who is it?” She called through the door.

“Take a guess.”

The door flew open, Molly dressed for a night out.

“You’ve got to be shitting me.”

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