Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay #6)(19)

“What’s the occasion?” Elle asked Willa.

She smiled. “Keane and I set a wedding date.”

They all squealed in delight, as Willa and Keane had been engaged for what felt like forever.

“What was the catalyst?” Elle asked.

Willa smiled. “We’re redoing the kitchen and I want new stuff.”

Elle smiled. “Look at you, thinking ahead. I’m so proud.”

Sadie shook her head. “I think when you get married, you should have to give gifts to your guests. I mean you found lifelong love, right? That means I deserve a blender far more than you do.”

Willa grinned. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She took another muffin and sighed. “I wish everything was as easy as getting fat.”

They all agreed on this very sage comment and then went back to their respective jobs. Molly’s afternoon flew by. She put out fires, answered phones, filed reports, and did background and security checks. At five o’clock, with most of the guys still gone on various jobs, she switched gears and pulled out her own personal laptop.

Time for Project Bad Santa.

Another look at the Christmas Village’s website didn’t yield any new information. But she did find ads on Facebook and Craigslist and a few other places advertising the village’s bingo, along with the claim that all profits went to charity. One of the ads noted that additional information for private parties was available upon special request. Hmm. She called the number listed. “I’m interested in a private party,” she said when a man answered.

There was a beat of silence. “Bingo night?”

She had no idea. “Yes. Who do I speak to?”

“Me.”

“Okay,” she said. “And you are?”

“Doesn’t matter. What are you looking for?”

Since she had absolutely zero idea, she hung up. And then researched the number. It was a cell phone registered to a Nicolas King. She wondered if she’d just found Crazy Nick. But when she searched that name, she hit a brick wall.

The guy didn’t exist.

“Well, that’s not suspicious at all,” she said and tried a different angle, searching Tommy Thumbs. His given name was Thomas Russolini. Once she had that, she hit pay dirt. As Lucas had told her, he was indeed presumed dead, but before that he’d been wanted in five different counties for fraud, money laundering, and embezzling.

She leaned back. Think. What do you know? Well, she knew Santa and Tommy were brothers . . . On a hunch, she typed in what she imagined Tommy’s brother’s name might be: Nicolas Russolini.

There was one Nicolas Russolini in San Francisco. The address listed was in Soma, a stone’s throw from the Christmas Village. “You and your brother have been very bad boys,” she murmured, smiling in triumph. “You’re officially on the naughty list.”

“I’d go on the naughty list if it’d make you smile at me like that.”

She jerked around and found Lucas propping up the doorjamb, arms crossed, watching her. “What are you doing here?”

“We’ve got a date, remember?” he asked, voice low and sexy and . . . teasing.

If he only knew. She turned back to her computer and saved everything she’d found, all while incredibly aware of the man watching her every move.

“What did you find?” he asked.

“Crazy Nick’s address. Maybe.”

He pushed off the wall and came over. Reaching out, he opened her laptop and leaned over her to read her screen.

She stilled. He had a hand flat on her desk on either side of hers. If she turned her head, her mouth would brush against his inner biceps, a fact that did something quivery to her belly. And how was it that he’d been working since before the crack of dawn and he still smelled disarmingly delicious?

Long before she could gather herself to push him away, he straightened and looked down at her. “What’s your plan?”

“To go check out the village.”

He nodded. “With me.”

Here was the thing. She knew it was smart, and she really had no intention of going without him. But it rankled that he felt like he had to remind her, like maybe he believed she would be stupid enough to sneak off and go it alone.

“Molly,” he said into her silence. “It’s my way on this, or I hand you over to Archer and Joe and let you all fight it out.”

She refused to be intimidated. “We have a damn deal and I don’t go back on my word, so see that you don’t. You don’t tell them I’m on this case, and I don’t tell anyone we slept together.”

A muscle in his jaw ticked, which was fascinating. She’d never seen it do that until the other night. Clearly she was on his last nerve.

“We didn’t sleep together,” he finally said.

She just smiled. “You keep telling yourself that.”

He dropped his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, I’d rather ‘fess up then have you in danger.”

“Okay,” she said agreeably. “So you’re going to tell them what happened the other night?”

“Nothing happened.”

“Uh-huh. And you’re willing to bet your balls on that?”

He blew out a breath. “I really wish I knew what you have against my balls.”