Every Part of You: Resists Me Read Online Free PDF Page A

tried to tell me what I like or not—”
    “No. Not about what you like. About what I like. I don’t. Like … that,” Elliott said.
    He was lying to himself. She knew it, but wasn’t going to call him on it. Taking a chance, Simone sidled a little closer. “All I’m saying is, maybe we could give it a try.”
    “What? Fucking? You said it yourself. I don’t see women more than once or twice. I’ve already seen you more than that.” His lip still curled in a sneer, but his gaze wouldn’t meet hers.
    Simone’s chin went up. “Fine. Listen, I don’t beg. I don’t chase. I don’t need to.”
    “I’m sure you don’t.” It was a compliment that sounded vaguely like an insult, and it stung her unexpectedly.
    She pushed away from the desk. “Enjoy the scones.”
    He reached to snag her sleeve as she passed. “Wait a minute.”
    She waited without looking at him. Elliott let her wait, but he didn’t say anything. Finally, she turned. “What?”
    “You don’t know me,” he said.
    She gave a pointed look at the scones. The coffee. The napkins. Then at him. She raised a brow.
    “No?”
    His mouth thinned. “No, Simone. You don’t.”
    “Fine,” she said again.
    “I know you think I’m a dick.”
    She laughed then. “Oh. Yeah. Definitely.”
    “I’m sorry,” Elliott said.
    “No, you’re not,” Simone told him as she took up his phone from where he’d left it on the desk. She programmed something into it quickly and put it back. “But when you are, I guess you know where to find me.”
    When she’d gone, he thumbed the screen to check what she’d done. It was easy to see, since she hadn’t closed the address book. She’d left him her phone number.
    *   *   *
    “You’re early.” Molly gave him a questioning smile. Propped up in the bed, her silver hair brushed out around the shoulders of the quilted pink dressing gown he’d bought her, she looked easily ten years younger than she was.
    For the first time in months, her gaze was bright and clear. Her hands shook when she held them up to take the bouquet of wildflowers he’d brought her, but her smile was firm. She breathed in the scent, then handed them to Elliott to put in the vase he always kept filled on her dresser.
    He wasn’t early; he was actually a little late because of the conversation with Simone. Still, he didn’t correct her. “How are you feeling today?”
    “Oh, fine.” She frowned and lowered her voice. “That nurse, though. The one with the outrageous hair. She says I’m not supposed to get out of bed without ringing for her first. How ridiculous.”
    “She doesn’t want you to get hurt, that’s all.” Elliott pulled out the wilting flowers from the vase and dumped them in the trash, then poured the old water down the sink in the bathroom.
    “Hurt? How would I get hurt?” Molly said, gesturing to tell him exactly where to put it. “To the left, so I can see them.”
    “You could fall.” Elliott stepped back, waiting to see if she had other instructions. When she didn’t, he pulled the chair up to the side of the bed.
    “And I could win the lottery.” Molly snorted. “Or the Miss America pageant.”
    “Falling and breaking your hip is a lot more likely to happen than either of those.”
    She scowled. “You act like I’m an old, decrepit lady.”
    She wasn’t that old. She wasn’t decrepit, either. But the brain trauma that had started her slide into early onset dementia had also left her with balance and coordination issues. The same trauma made her forget them.
    “I’m not,” she added, but wistfully, as though she needed him to convince her.
    Elliott took her hand. “No. You’re not.”
    She looked down at her fingers twisted in his. “You’re early.”
    “I couldn’t wait to see you, that’s all.”
    Her smile was worth it. “Charmer. Just like your dad.”
    It wasn’t the first time she’d compared him to the old man, and would likely not be the last, but this time as all the