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.

at the man at the end of her bed, lifted the blankets in a huff, and stomped off towards the bathroom. 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

himself a slight

he'd brought, rummaging through

kicked him sharply in the leg, "Chad, you did

man just grunted in acknowledgment as her

frustration, threw the clothes back

sixteen years, and you've given me plenty of grief. Just consider this me asking

if I've only been a pain these sixteen years," Molly retorted,

in his side for

that doesn't mean I should throw my whole life away over

silent, and Molly waited for

minutes passed, and

bed, crept to the foot, and gently

at a time like

the bed, returned to the bathroom, and wet the

man on the bed, hearing the water running, smiled

stopped,

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

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

it to their parents. Was she trying to manipulate them into intervening in Molly and Chad's relationship? "Even a pig's brain wouldn't come up with such a ridiculous

no going back to the Byrne household

always turn to

in the dead of night, she realized she couldn't

"This is so annoying."

trapped in this hotel by

for a lighter to burn the robe's sash. But as her hand slipped

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for a lighter."

glanced at the sash tied around her waist, "I

on the edge of the bed, "Then you have to