Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay #6)(45)

“Maybe.” She pointed at him. “But no overthinking things.”

“Molly,” he said on a rough laugh. “When I’ve got you in my arms, I can’t think at all.”

She stared at him some more. “And no lights.”

He hesitated at that and she pulled back. “I mean it,” she said.

He reached out and wove his fingers through hers. “How about you give me ten minutes to show you how amazingly beautiful I think you are, and if you still want the lights out—”

“I still want the lights out.”

“Okay,” he said easily. “By Braille it is.”

“And one more thing. No talking.”

“How about dirty talk?” he asked. “That doesn’t count, right?”

She surprised him by laughing and lightened his heart.

“Dirty talk is allowed,” she decided, and right then and there, he fell in love.





Chapter 15





#I’mFine



The next morning, Lucas woke up alone. Not a surprise. Molly didn’t seem fond of morning-afters.

Something they shared.

She’d been in a meeting with Archer when he arrived at the office. At his desk, he eyed the wallet sitting next to his laptop. He’d done a thorough search of the ID in the wallet. Santa’s given name was Nick Russolini but he was going by Nicolas King—which they already knew. The only things in the wallet had been sixty bucks’ cash, a driver’s license, and a Domino’s pizza card.

No signed confession that he was stealing from old ladies.

But digging deeper, Lucas discovered the guy had enough identities to give even the FBI a run for its money. Shaking his head, he brought up a new search screen, planning on running the aliases all together to see if there was any crossover. But his fingers did something he’d avoided doing for a long time now. He typed in Molly Malone instead.

If he hit the enter key, he knew he’d get a crash course in all things Molly. He wanted to know more than what she was willing to tell him, such as what had happened to her, for one.

His mind flashed back to last night, lying in his bed holding a sleeping Molly, her body sated and still against his. He’d been able to feel the soft heat of her breast against his chest, the gentle touch of her hand on the stubble of his cheek . . . There weren’t a lot of things he cherished more than the memory of being with her like that, and how she’d touched him, body and soul.

He was still staring at her name on the screen, his finger hovering over enter when she walked by his office and met his gaze, her own both warm and extremely wary, which tugged at his heart. She wasn’t okay with this, not yet, not even close.

Holding her gaze, he knew. He would never hit enter. Whatever she’d faced, she’d tell him when she was good and ready.

And he was willing to wait for that.

She opened her mouth, but Joe walked into the room and grabbed the file he’d left on the table, and whatever she’d been about to say, she kept to herself.

Joe glanced over at the two of them, narrowing his eyes at Molly. “Something’s different. You do your hair?”

She put a hand to her head and scowled at him. “No.”

Joe cocked his head. “New dress?”

“No!” She tossed up her hands. “I’m just feeling . . . good. Is that so out of the ordinary?”

“Yes,” both Lucas and Joe said at the same time.

She rolled her eyes and tried to walk by Joe, who stopped her and dipped down a little to stare into her face. His smile faded. “Who is he?”

“Excuse me?”

“You clearly . . .” He grimaced. “Got some. Who the hell is he?”

Molly gave him a shove. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Did you vet him?” Joe asked.

Molly shook her head. “We are so not having this conversation.”

“You didn’t,” Joe said, sounding shocked. “Who the hell is he?”

Lucas stood up to try and save her from answering that one. “We’ve got to get going,” he said to Joe. “Meeting with our new clients this morning, right? Archer said they were expecting us this morning at their offices. I’ll drive while you read us the file.”

Joe didn’t budge or take his gaze off Molly. “You’re not on one of those dating apps again, are you? The guys you dated from there were all tools.”

Molly turned to the door. “The only tool in my life is you, Joe.”

“Oh, real mature,” her brother said but Molly had shut the door behind her.

Joe looked over at Lucas. “What’s her problem?”

“She was online dating?”

Joe shook his head. “Not anymore. I went in and changed her profile to make her seventy-five years old, using a picture of one of the Golden Girls. I edited it to say she likes slow rides on her motorized scooter and drinking Metamucil while watching the sunrise, since sleeping gave her indigestion. I’m pretty sure that fixed things.”

Lucas didn’t like the thought of Molly online dating any more than Joe did. But the truth was, he didn’t like the idea of her dating at all. He was just beginning coming to terms with that, the fact that he wanted to be her one and only.