Her eyes were wild again.
He held up his hands, surrender-style.
"You can't keep running," he said gently. "It didn't work the last time."
"I can't just stay here and wait for… wait for…" She sucked in a breath but couldn't get more words past her chattering teeth.
"He isn't going to get close to you. I promise."
She shook her head, her hair flying around her face. "You can't promise that."
He'd never shot anything bigger than a squirrel, but a spiral of violence spun through him at the thought of someone trying to hurt Molly.
Her eyes darted to the side. "We haven't known each other very long. And you don't… you don't need me anymore."
His gut rebelled at the words.
"And you're leaving, too." She crossed her arms and jutted her chin upward.
How could she think he was going to let her walk away? It hit him then. Because she knew him. Knew he'd walked—run—away from Sutter's Hollow. And he would walk away from Mackie's place if he could.
Nausea bubbled in his stomach.
She was studying his face, which made his gut churn worse.
"We kissed. And you panicked." Her voice was more even now.
"I didn't panic." His emerged uneven, and she raised her eyebrows. "I thought we talked about you coming to Houston with me."
"Youtalked about it." She shook her head. "I can't go back to a big city."
"You said you'd stay until the tractors were complete." He was really reaching now. She didn't owe him anything.
"Just let me go," she whispered.
No. The visceral response was immediate and flared through him like a firework bursting on the blackest night.
He nodded. And saw the flare of disappointment in her eyes.
"If you go," he said, "I'm going with you."
He turned and strode across the hall and into his bedroom. Grabbed the worn backpack off the floor of his closet and went to his drawers. He'd only stuffed a couple of T-shirts inside when Molly stormed into the room.
"You can't just walk away from the No Name."
He grabbed a handful of rolled up socks and stuffed them into the backpack. "Sure I can. You need someone to watch your back. And I didnotpanic earlier—"
"You did." She came closer and reached in his backpack to take out the rolled socks. She threw one at his chest. It bounced off.
He dropped the backpack and reached for her. She was still jumpy, so he took both her hands in his instead of pulling her close.
"Since the day we met, you've been teaching me to hold on." Maybe he had experienced a moment of doubt this morning after their powerful kiss. But the moment had passed. The desire to leave was nothing compared to the desire to stay by her side forever.
In her eyes he could see the walls she was struggling to keep between them. Then her chin dropped.
He stepped closer, close enough that he heard the soft catch in her breath when she inhaled. "He said… he said..." Her whisper was almost drowned out by the beating of his heart. "That he'd hurt anyone I got close to. What if…?"
She was shaking again, and this time she let him tug her into her chest.
