Sweet Mischief’s Rollercoaster Romance

Chad kept pushing, "So, care to explain why you took that picture last night with my trench coat after your shower, pretending you were snuggled up with me, and then claimed you wanted to sleep with me?" "That was all staged. I just propped up the coat to look like you were there. Only a tiny bit of it was even visible," Molly clarified.

Chad realized there had been a misunderstanding. "Do you really think that explanation would fly back home? If I tell our folks that the hair on the pillow was actually mine; that I carelessly tossed my pajamas aside in the morning; that we shared a bed at noon; and that we just got intimate, who do you think they'd believe?"

Molly felt like kicking herself, realizing she'd played with fire and got burned.

"Say whatever you want, but I'm not marrying you," she declared, turning her head to give Chad a defiant yet beautiful profile, refusing to look at the man looming over her.

Chad was facing his first real obstacle. He gazed down at her, "So, you'd rather have Vivian marry me?"

"You wouldn't dare!" Molly turned back, her eyes flashing a warning.

Chad asked with a smile, "Then who's going to marry me?"

Taking a deep breath, Molly said, "Stay single for all I care."

Only then did she realize she felt as though a mountain was pressing down on her. "Chad, get off me. Don't make me report you for harassment."

"Do you have any proof?" Chad looked down at her, unfazed, a smirk playing on his lips.

Molly opened her mouth to retort, then realized her phone was out of reach and her hands were pinned down.

"Brother!" she shouted in anger, a cry that seemed to echo in Chad's heart.

He looked at Molly, her eyes red with fury, and could no longer hold her gaze.

Soon after, he rolled off her and lay beside her on the bed.

Molly quickly got up, burrowing into the covers.

Now too agitated to speak, she lay there, Chad resting at the foot of the bed. She glanced sideways at him, "What happened to your face?"

"Your dad did a number on me," Chad confessed.

"You had it coming," Molly retorted mercilessly. "If I was there, I'd slap you twice as hard."

Officer Chad fell silent.

Soon, the sound of running water filled the room. Later, she returned and dropped a cool, damp washcloth on Chad's face. "No ice, so this will have to do. Don't want you being the laughingstock at the precinct tomorrow." Chad didn't respond, the

allowed himself a slight

of clothes he'd brought, rummaging

him sharply in the leg, "Chad, you

just grunted in acknowledgment

in frustration, threw the clothes back

given me plenty of grief. Just consider this me asking you to do

a pain these sixteen years," Molly retorted, suddenly feeling a

in his side for as long

pain for sixteen years, that doesn't mean I

Molly waited for a

passed, and he

foot, and gently lifted the washcloth from Chad's face

sleep at a time like this?" she muttered,

to the bathroom,

on the bed, hearing the water running, smiled to

water stopped, so did

the washcloth on just one side of Chad's swollen cheek. She sat on the

when she hesitated, "Yeah, how am I going to explain this

her into a corner, especially since she had impulsively sent that kiss photo to provoke Vivian. Vivian, unpredictable as ever, had shown it to their parents. Was she trying to manipulate them into intervening in Molly and Chad's relationship? "Even

going back to the

she could always turn to the Cedillo family

preparing to sneak away in the dead of night,

"This is so annoying."

in this hotel by her own

to burn the robe's

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for a lighter."

glanced at the sash tied around

the bed, "Then you have to untie this knot for