Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay #6)(41)

She was holding several bags from a retail shop nearby and a half-eaten pretzel. “I want the wallet,” she said.

“Are you going to eat that pretzel?”

“Are you going to answer my question?”

“I’m too hungry,” he said and rubbed his belly. “Famished, actually.”

She rolled her eyes and handed him the pretzel.

He moaned as he took his first bite. “Would’ve been better with mustard. Were you shopping?”

“With Elle,” she said. “I was trying to Christmas shop but ended up with new shoes and a pretzel.”

“Worth it,” he said, shoving in the last bite.

“Santa’s wallet,” she repeated and put her hands on his chest and shoved him back, following him in. “I know you took it that night at my place. And you’ve been gone working ever since, but I want it, Lucas. I want to see what name he’s going by and if there’s anything else of use in there before I slip it back to him.”

“You’re going to give it back?”

“I’m not a thief,” she said. “I didn’t mean to keep it from him for this long. Now where is it?” She looked around at his place.

He knew what she saw. A guy’s place with a big couch and coffee table that doubled as a kitchen table and shit collector, an even bigger TV, several pairs of running shoes near the door along with an empty pizza box he hadn’t taken out to the trash yet.

Elle had someone on staff who was in charge of keeping the building clean and neat. Lucas paid her to keep his apartment clean and neat as well, but she only came every two weeks, and in between those two-week visits, he wasn’t especially good at doing it for himself.

“Where is it?” Molly asked, walking to the center of his living room and turning to him, hands on hips.

The skirt on her dress flared out before settling against her thighs. “I’ve gotta admit,” he said. “I’m surprised at your restraint. It’s been three days. I thought you’d have cornered me by now.” He paused, curious as to whether she’d be honest or not. “Or at the very least, broken in and searched the place yourself.”

She bit her lower lip and appeared to have an internal discussion with herself. Then she blew out a sigh. “I already did that.”

“Excuse me?” he asked.

“I broke in to search your apartment,” she admitted, but didn’t look happy about it.

And he knew why. “And . . . ?”

She tossed up her hands. “The minute I did it, I turned to leave. I couldn’t do it, okay? I couldn’t snoop through your things. It felt . . . wrong.” She rolled her eyes. “And also I realized you had a security cam, so don’t play surprised with me. You knew what I did and you knew what I didn’t do.”

“Yeah,” he said, letting his smile escape. “Watching you spend that ten seconds wrestling with your conscience was the most fun I had all week.”

“You’re an ass. Where’s the wallet?”

“I still have it. I haven’t had time to dig in.”

“I have time. Hand it over.”

“You don’t have time,” he said. “I know Archer loaded you down hard with that new project we’re doing in conjunction with the local FBI.”

She sighed and nodded.

“Give me one more day with it,” he said. “I promise I’ll get to it.”

“And you’ll tell me everything you find.”

“Everything,” he vowed, holding up three fingers like the Boy Scout oath.

She rolled her eyes. “You were never a Boy Scout.”

True. Very true.

She shook her head and moved to the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Personal business.”

“Is that a euphemism for another shift at the bingo hall?”

“No, I’m on dad-duty tonight. Turns out, the Christmas Village doesn’t need me again until two nights from now. But Mrs. Berkowitz stopped by today to talk about my progress and I didn’t have much to tell her. I need progress, Lucas.”

“You’re making progress.”

“It doesn’t feel like it.”

“You’re doing the due diligence,” he said. “You’re asking the right questions and following all your leads. Sometimes these things take time.”

“Not when you guys do it,” she said.

Mostly because they were willing to go the unconventional route when needed. At Hunt, they always worked for the morally right side. But that didn’t mean they always followed the letter of the law to the last crossing of the t’s. Sometimes there were . . . gray areas. He was comfortable working in those gray areas. He wasn’t comfortable with Molly doing it, which he realized made him a caveman.

She rolled her eyes at him and turned to leave. He snagged her hand. “I’d like to go with you,” he said. “But I need five minutes.”

“Why?”

“Because I’d like to. Is that okay?”

She just looked at him, clearly not sure if it was okay or not, so he did his best to look like something she couldn’t live without.

“Fine,” she finally said.

He gently squeezed her hand in thanks, pulling her in so that her body just brushed his. He had no idea if she felt the bolt of awareness. Hell, maybe he felt it enough for the both of them, but he waited until she met his gaze. “You’ll wait?” he asked quietly.