Reclining on his couch with a beer after helping Molly bring her meager belongings up to the apartment, then taking her to the store for food, Max rewound the events of the day. He couldn’t believe he had Molly living just a few feet away, and that he’d threatened to spank her if she didn’t behave.

Sure, he’d been thinking about it for the past few weeks, ever since Keith made an offhand comment a few weeks ago that what Molly really needed was a firm hand willing to give her a sore bottom if she stepped out of line. Of course, that was after almost knocking Max out for hiding his past with Molly from Keith and Sara. Once Keith calmed down, he’d made some good points. But that didn’t mean he should have said those things to Molly.

Molly had never experienced a stable home life or had any structure growing up. Her grandmother tried, but it wasn’t quite enough since Molly wasn’t living with her. Instead, she stayed with her parents, two losers that only worked hard enough to keep a roof over their heads and beer in the fridge. Maybe, Keith had said, she wanted someone to hold her accountable and correct her when she went off course.

Even though Max had known for quite a while how Keith and Sara, and many of their other friends, lived their lives, he’d never considered it for himself. Not that he judged them for their lifestyle choice; as long as no was being coerced or harmed against their will, he had no issues. And from everything he’d seen and been told, everyone involved was happy and healthy.

The more he tossed the idea around in his head, the more he suspected Keith was correct. He just didn’t know how he’d ever get there with Molly. How would he ever be in a position to be the one to provide her with structure and discipline?

He realized he’d been overly harsh with her the first time he was in her apartment. Her actions every day since her release were proof of that. It was his fear for her safety and the confusing emotions swirling in his gut that made him speak that way to her. His assessment of her had been unfair, and not what he truly believed. She was working hard, staying out of trouble, and though he knew she still had a long road ahead of her, he wanted to help her succeed.

The opportunity presented itself perfectly today and Max hadn’t hesitated. Seeing that scumbag try to force Molly into his car made something snap in Max.

Screw his job. Tina and her threats and could take a flying leap. Molly had made so much progress over the last year. He couldn’t sit in his truck and let her be taken by that asshole. Not only was it kidnapping, but he knew if he didn’t do something, she’d be sucked back into that life, whether she wanted to or not.

After that realization, he moved forward on instinct alone. He’d been working on the apartment, hoping to eventually talk her into moving there, but now he wouldn’t take no for an answer, no matter what objections she threw at him. Luckily, she didn’t protest too much, clearly rattled by her narrow escape from Rodney.

He didn’t care that she’d notice he’d recently fixed up the place, or that she’d realize he did it with her in mind.

Max wanted her safe, and if the only way to make that happen was to play on her emotions and make her an offer too good to refuse, then he wasn’t above doing just that.

After she shopped, he drove her around the neighborhood for a bit, so she could get her bearings. He lived on the opposite side of the city from where she’d been staying, in a stable middle-class area only a block from a bus route that would take Molly straight downtown for work, without having to change buses. By the end of the day, she genuinely seemed happy that he’d practically forced her into moving out of her home, such as it was.

When they arrived back at the apartment, Max carried up her groceries then waited while she dug her parole paperwork out of a box. Though her hands shook a bit when she gave him the papers, she didn’t appear scared, more nervous and unsure, and Max didn’t blame her one bit. Hell, he was nervous too. He’d never spanked someone before, and even though he was a cop and used to enforcing rules, it would be different now that it was someone he cared about.

This was new territory for both of them, but that didn’t discourage Max at all. Quite the opposite. Max’s cock grew especially excited every time he thought about Molly baring her bottom in preparation for punishment, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that their relationship wasn’t going to be sexual. The purpose of this was to make sure Molly succeeded, not get romantically involved with her again. Even if he thought she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

Tina didn’t hold a candle to Molly. He’d taken her out on the date she’d blackmailed him into, and regretted every second. Twenty minutes in, he realized that Grayson was correct: no one would care about his friendship with Molly. Plenty of people on the force had friends, and even relatives, with less than stellar backgrounds and no one faulted them. As long as Max stayed true to his morals and on the right side of the law, everything would be fine.

Not to mention Molly was clean and staying out of trouble. So long as Max made sure she stayed that way, all would be well.

Of course, his mid-date revelation didn’t sit so well with Tina, especially since he informed her of his new perspective before dinner even arrived.

Since she’d been the one to strong arm him into the farce of a date, Max didn’t feel an ounce of guilt for getting up and leaving her at the table. After not so gently informing her that she could take her threats with her on a long walk off a short pier. That prompted an un-Tina like outburst that drew the attention of everyone in the packed restaurant.

“What?” Silverware crashed into plates and wine glasses rattled at Tina’s ear-splitting shriek when Max rose and started to walk away. “You can’t leave. I’ll get you fired for helping that little junkie whore.”

Max had taken two steps, but turned abruptly around to face Tina and her verbal vomit.

“I’m a police officer. It’s my job to help people. My friend hit a rough patch in her life, but now she’s recovered and I’m making sure she stays that way.” Max made sure he spoke loud enough that every member of his rapt audience could clearly hear his words. He didn’t need to turn his head to know that every eye in the place was focused on him and Tina. He only hoped that some bit of this public shaming would crack through Tina’s fortress of self-absorption. Maybe she’d realize that trying to force someone into a relationship would not lead to lasting happiness.

“You’re ridiculous, Max. She’s using you and if you keep helping her she’s going to ruin your life.” Her tone went from shrill to sickly sweet in an effort to cajole him into her way of thinking. The result wasn’t what she intended. All it did was convince Max that she needed professional help, and lots of it. “Come on, Max. We could be so good together. You’re hot, I’m hot. Everyone thinks we’d be a gorgeous couple and have beautiful babies.”

Someone across the room gasped, and Max heard a few muttered curses, but the crowd’s reaction didn’t affect Tina. If anything, she tried to turn the wattage on her glaringly fake smile up even more, which only earned her a few more hushed whispers of outrage.

“It’s pretty rich that you’re accusing Molly of using me when that’s all you’re aiming for, too. I’m not a pretty boy toy that’s going to buy you things and look good on your arm while you keep my balls in your purse.” Tina’s face gradually transformed from simpering smile to outraged shock with every word out of Max’s mouth. Around them the silence was broken by giggles and smothered laughter, but Max ignored it all and kept going. “At least Molly’s attempting to improve her life and change. All you’re doing is acting like an entitled bitch who thinks she’s better than everyone else is. Stay away from me, Tina, or else I’ll be filing a report.”

Max once again turned to leave, but this time it wasn’t Tina’s voice that stopped him a few feet away from the table. A round of applause erupted from the patrons surrounding them, making Max stop in his tracks. He sent a quick wave over his shoulder but didn’t acknowledge it further. He had to get out of there before he did something that would lead to actual trouble. Like dump the nearest pitcher of ice water over Tina’s perfectly done hair. That would have been childish and beneath him, but it sure would have been funny.

Tina thinking she could hold a candle to Molly was laughable. Back when they were together, they burned up the sheets on a regular basis. He’d never felt chemistry like that with a woman, before or since.

After he kicked her out, Max tried to convince himself the sex only felt that amazing because Molly had lots of experience, which of course he also held against her in his righteous fury at her perceived deception. Now, with more experience both in bed and in life, he knew that what they felt when they were intimate had nothing at all to do with past experiences, and everything to do with the connection the two of them shared. It was possibly a once in a lifetime connection that he’d carelessly thrown away.

Their first real date alone, after multiple group excursions, had ended with a sweaty night in the honeymoon suite of a shabby hotel, complete with a Jacuzzi steps away from the bed, but despite the tawdry scene, the lovemaking had been intense. Life changing even. Hours passed without either of them noticing, until the rising sun found them wrapped around each other in the center of the king size bed.

Somehow, he needed to work out how to make Molly understand that he wanted to put the past behind them. He knew she didn’t trust his motives for bringing her here, and he couldn’t blame her when he wasn’t quite sure himself, but the vague feelings of guilt were fading, replaced by something much more substantial.

A soft knock on the back door interrupted Max’s thoughts. He jumped up and hurried to answer it, knowing it could only be one person. His friends didn’t usually stop by unannounced, and if they ever did, they’d use the front door.

“Is something wrong?” were the first words of his mouth after opening the door for Molly. She looked impossibly cute, standing in his driveway in leggings and an oversized t-shirt with no makeup on.

“I didn’t know if you’d eaten and wondered if I could buy you a pizza, to thank you for today. I know it doesn’t cover everything you’ve done for me but it’s all I can afford right now.” Max knew she probably couldn’t even afford that, but he understood that she needed to do something.

He opened the door wider and stepped aside so she could enter, even though he knew he probably shouldn’t. Not if he wanted to keep them strictly friends. But, they had some more talking to do so why not do it over pizza.

“Sure, pizza sounds good. Did you order already?” He went to the fridge, pulled out two bottles of water, and set them on the counter. Molly didn’t notice at first; she was too busy taking in his kitchen.

The prior owners had just remodeled when the husband was transferred out of town, so Max ended up with a brand new, top of the line kitchen. Stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and gray cabinets gave it a modern feel even though the house was seventy years old.

“This is really nice, Max,” she said in awe.

“It came like this.” He shrugged like it was no big deal, mostly because he hardly ever spent any time in here. He handed her a water and gestured to the other room. “Let’s go sit in the living room until the food gets here.”

“Sounds good.” She followed him and let out a laugh when she saw his television. “Wow. When you said big screen you really meant it.”

“It’s good for when I watch sports,” Max defended, though in hindsight the thing really was too big for the room.

“I’m sure it is.” She gave him a smirk and sat down on the opposite end of the brown sectional sofa. “So how’s work?”

“It’s good. Busy. There’s always druggies that need to be put away,” Max said without thinking, immediately wishing the words back when Molly flinched. “Shit, I didn’t mean you, Molly.”

“No, it’s fine. And yes, you did.” She took a deep breath but wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I know how you feel about people who break the law, Max.”

“How do you like your job?” He felt like they were strangers sitting next to each other on an airplane making inane small talk.

“It’s good. Keeps me busy. They offer lots of overtime if I want it, so I’m able to make some extra money.” She fiddled with a throw pillow she’d picked up and still wouldn’t look at him. “I, uh, wanted to say thanks again. I know you’re just doing this because you feel sorry for me, but it’s really the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

Her words twisted his insides and gave him shooting pains in his chest. Even though many of her troubles were brought on by her own bad choices, he knew that if she’d had different opportunities things may not have turned out the way they did.

He also knew he couldn’t let her think that pity motivated him today. “I don’t feel sorry for you, Molly. I care about you. I want you to succeed and I want to be close to you when you do it.”

That made her look at him. “What does that mean?”

Max wasn’t entirely sure himself since he hadn’t planned to say that, exactly. But now the words were out there and he needed to own them. “I know I made mistakes in the past when it came to our relationship, but I would like an opportunity for us to get to know each other again.”

“Like date?”

Max couldn’t tell if she thought that was a good idea, or a bad one, but he wasn’t hesitating now that he was on a roll. “Yes, like date, but take it slow.” He paused, waiting for her to process that before he continued. “And I want to be in charge, like how Keith is with Sara.”

Her nose scrunched up in confusion. “I already said you could enforce the terms of my parole.”

“I want to be in charge forever, and able to enforce any rules we establish.” He held in a breath, waiting for her answer. The old Molly would have jumped up, ranting and refusing, before storming out the door without a backward glance. He didn’t quite know what new Molly would do.

“Like, what kind of rules?”

He let out the breath he was holding. At least it wasn’t an outright no. “No lying, ever.”

She colored a bit at that one.

“No raising our voices at each other or being rude or nasty.”

“Wait, so you have to follow the rules too? Do I have to spank you if you don’t?”

It didn’t seem like that appealed to her, thank goodness. “Yes, I would follow the same rules, and no, you’re not spanking me.” That would never be happening.

“Good, ‘cause that would be weird.”

Max couldn’t believe she was considering this and his heart raced in anticipation, but he didn’t want to rush her. “You don’t have to give me an answer right now. After we eat, go home and look up domestic discipline. There’s lots of information online.”

For some reason his statement made Molly withdraw and she started picking at the pillow again.

“What’s wrong, Molly?” He didn’t understand what he’d said wrong.

“I don’t have any way to look things up online.” It took him a minute to make sense of her mumbled words, but when he did, he felt like an ass.

“Shit, I wasn’t thinking. You can use my computer if you want.”

Molly nodded but didn’t say anything. Thankfully, the doorbell rang, saving him from the uncomfortable situation he’d created. He jumped up and went to get the pizza. The only good thing about his stupid comment was that Molly was too upset to notice that he was paying for the food.