Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay #6)(20)

She had to laugh. “For the record, I was working here at my desk, waiting for you. So you can stand down, soldier.”

He narrowed his eyes and searched hers as if looking for signs of deceit. “We’re doing this together,” she said and a thrum of adrenaline went through her at the thought of her first real case.

At least she told herself that was what her excitement stemmed from.

She stood and then sucked in a breath and shifted her weight to her good leg as her other did its usual frustrating thing where it sent nerve pain screaming up the IT band along the outside of her thigh from knee to hip.

Lucas reached out to steady her; soon as she was good, he let go and backed up.

She’d been prepared for him to hover and coddle, but she should’ve known better. Lucas wasn’t a hoverer or a coddler. In fact, unlike everyone else in her world, he never looked at her like he felt sorry for her, or peppered her with questions she didn’t want to answer.

She liked that.

He trusted her to know when and if she was okay, and she liked that too. Way too much. They’d shared a bed and for her, the sober one, it had felt shockingly intimate, especially given the fact that she hadn’t shared a bed with a man in . . . well, a damn long time. She was attracted to him, and he was attracted to her too, and . . . damn. She wanted what she hadn’t had the other night.

“You’re staring at me funny,” he said.

Probably because she was confused over how badly she wanted him. Okay, not so suddenly, but still, denial had been her friend and now that friend had deserted her. “No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. You’re staring at me like . . .”

She turned her back on him and grimaced to herself, knowing exactly how she’d been staring at him. “Like I’m annoyed by your presence?” she asked.

“Like I’m dinner.”

She closed her eyes. “Oh, please,” she said on a low laugh. “I’ve slept with you now. Trust me, I don’t need a repeat.”

“So you keep saying.”

His voice sounded right in her ear now. He’d moved, shifting close enough that his chest nearly brushed the entire length of her spine. She could feel the heat of him and nearly moaned. Nearly. But she caught herself. It was just that his body heat was soaking into her and she found herself wanting to back into him. He smelled amazing and he was still dressed from his job, and that was a shocking turn-on too. As was the sexy smirk she heard in his voice.

Which didn’t make any sense. From the time she’d come into her sexuality as a teenager, complete with all the baggage of her kidnapping still hanging over her head, she’d only ever felt comfortable when she was the one doing the charming and chasing. She’d dated guys here and there, all very different from her brother and men like Lucas. They’d been . . . beta. Not pushovers, but nonthreatening. Nice and sweet. Emotionally available.

The exact opposite of Lucas.

But the truth was, no one had ever really invested in her, and she wasn’t sure Lucas was the investing type either. In fact, she was fairly positive he wasn’t, but it still felt a little bit like he was chasing her and she wasn’t at all certain what to do with that.

“Tell me about our night,” he said. “You know you want to.”

“Actually, it was over so fast, I can’t really remember.”

He gave a low, rather triumphant laugh and turned her to face him. “You haven’t yet once managed to look me in the eyes and tell me how bad I was. Here’s your chance, Molly. Give it to me.”

See, that was the thing. She did want to give it to him, quite badly. Naked . . . Gah. She really hadn’t seen this coming, but she deserved fun like anyone else, right? She looked at his mouth, desperately wanting it on hers. And then her body somehow mistook the fantasy for reality because she went up on tiptoes and . . . kissed him. Just a soft brush of her lips across his, gently and a little hesitant, but it was most definitely a kiss.

He froze, and she didn’t know if it was horror or shock. Maybe both. To find out, she pulled back slightly and stared at him.

His eyes were closed, but they opened now, the deep brown holding hers prisoner as she held her breath. Beneath the hand she’d set on his chest she could feel his heart steady and sure. And maybe a little too fast.

“Molly,” he breathed and shifted so that his forehead rested against hers. Sliding his hands into her hair, his fingertips against her scalp, he held her in place. “Do that again,” he demanded, his voice soft steel.

Letting out a breath of relief, she leaned back in, but he beat her to it, closing the distance, his mouth taking hers in another heart-stopping kiss that released something wild in her, something she’d kept locked deep inside. But suddenly she couldn’t get close enough to him or enough skin contact.

But he pulled back, one hand still cupping the back of her neck, the other under her long sweater, so low on her spine that he had a palm full of her ass as he stared down at her with a look she couldn’t quite read.

“What?” she whispered.

He gave a single, slow shake of his head. “We didn’t sleep together.”

She blinked. “How do you know?”

“Because I could never have forgotten this.”





Chapter 8