When Hearts Collide - By James, Kendra Page 0,57

wanted to capture those lips and devour them.

Right now, she was so close, as close as a person could be without touching, it was driving him crazy. He wanted to kiss her. One little kiss. He lied to himself that one would be enough. But he knew she was like a drug to him and that one little kiss would be disastrous. He would want more—more kisses, longer, deeper, and that would still not be enough. He had to cut himself off, like an addict who knew the consequences.

If she stayed, she might want to get married. He wanted her to stay. He cared about her, needed her, but love? That was a big word, and a bigger concept. He wasn’t ready to say that word again. His luck was not in love.

But when he looked at Molly, and the way she cared for Gracie, it put a chink in his armor. It had almost broken through, almost. But he couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t deny the overwhelming urge to be near her, smell her, touch her, every waking moment, but deny himself, he must. It was better for all of them. Better to hurt her now than to let it continue and the hurt to become more intense.

“Molly, you know how much I appreciate what you have done for me, staying here and looking after us.”

She was afraid to look him in eye, afraid he would see the love for them reflected in her own eyes. Instead, she kept her gaze lowered and nodded her response.

“You have to realize, I can’t love someone else. I loved Rachel. I won’t let myself get hurt like that again, or let Gracie get hurt.” He reached out his hand to her. “I care about you, but we can’t be more than friends.”

But what about me? Their attraction might be mutual, but he didn’t want another wife. He’d been crystal-clear in letting her know that. He didn’t want to risk losing his heart again. Yet, more than that, he wouldn’t risk Gracie becoming attached to a mother figure and have her heart broken.

She’d known her time with Pearce was limited, but she hadn’t expected to feel so deeply for him. Her heart was being ripped out of her chest, like a tree uprooted in a hurricane.

It was as if a stake had been driven into her heart. He still had feelings for his dead wife. He couldn’t let those feelings go, even if they were filled with bitterness and pain. The thought of him pining for another woman was more than she could bear. Molly might be attractive, but his wife had been an international model. She could never compete with Rachel.

The pleasure of the day had vanished as suddenly as a summer storm. A conversation that had started so innocuously. An innocent comment that turned and ignited like the fuse on a stick of dynamite, dispersing lightning sparks, and she was the collateral damage.

The drive home was silent. Luckily, Gracie had worn herself out and slept, unaware of the tension hovering over the two adults. As soon as the car pulled into the driveway, Molly jumped out, grabbed Gracie, and rushed through the door before Pearce was out of the car. She just wanted to get Gracie into bed and escape to the sanctity of her own room.

She slammed the car door behind her and hurried up the stairs. Her body shook with rage. How could he be so arrogant, so selfish, so cruel? And she’d thought she might be falling in love with him.

Fortunately she had found out what she meant to him. But was it too late?

Chapter 14

Molly lay back on the pillow and tried to sleep. This room, this house, this family, they reminded her of so much that was missing in her life, and had been missing for most of her existence. It represented everything she’d been trying to convince herself she really didn’t need.

But she did need it. She needed it so desperately that it became a physical pain in her chest, a weight pressing down on her, preventing her from moving. Tears ran down her cheeks as she looked around the room that brought back all the loneliness and all the hurts she’d ever experienced.

She was torn between her need to get her life back in order and the need to stay and look after this poor defenseless child. It really wasn’t her problem, but now that she was in the middle of