Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay #6)(51)
With every fiber of his being, Lucas wanted her to tell him that the asshole punk had kept his word.
“But the problem was,” she said, “I wasn’t exactly born with the sit down and shut up gene.” She shook her head. “I tried, but I just couldn’t do it.”
No matter how long ago this had been, if she told him that they’d laid a finger on her, he’d single-handedly hunt every one of them down and break every bone in their bodies without remorse.
“I knew Joe would be looking for me,” she said, “and that he’d find me. But on the third day, I couldn’t wait any more. When Darius came in and tossed me a bottle of water, I picked it up and chucked it at his head. It knocked him over and he hit his head on the way down and was out cold. I stole the handcuff keys from his pocket, unlocked my cuffs and went out the third story window, intending to climb down one of the two trees that were nearly up against the building.”
Lucas felt his chest nearly burst with pride and a nameless emotion, both of which threatened to overcome him. The contrast of Molly’s tough-girl strength and her not completely hidden vulnerability called to something deep inside him. “Nicely done.”
A small smile of pride curved her lips. “Problem was, I was a little weak and off my game, and when I jumped for one of the branches, I missed.” She paused. “I fell about twenty-five feet and broke my back in two places, amongst other things.”
The air slipped right out of his lungs. “Jesus, Molly.”
“Yeah. And I hit the ground right at Joe’s feet. He’d finally narrowed down the location I’d been held. If I’d just stayed quiet and pliant as Darius had asked, Joe would’ve gotten to me.”
Lucas felt sick all the way to his gut on how she’d suffered. And he was certain there was more to this horrific tale, that she’d left out a lot of details. Reaching out, he cupped her face. “Don’t you dare blame yourself. Joe would hate that.”
“Right, because he already blames himself enough,” she said. “We’re really quite the pair.” She stared at him. “Stop.”
“Stop what?”
“Stop looking at me like I’m still broken. I’m not. I’ve had three surgeries, and even though the nerves in my right leg are still damaged, almost everything else is relatively fixed.”
He let out a low laugh. “Molly, I’m not looking at you like you’re broken. I’m looking at you like you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”
She sent him a look of disbelief.
“Amazing and strong and resilient and . . . amazing.”
“You already said that,” she whispered.
“It bears repeating,” he whispered back and then started to lean in, intent on kissing her.
Just as the front door of the cabin opened.
In all their perfection of timing, his family spilled out, because apparently there was some sort of radar in the Knight gene that let them know when the prodigal son returned.
“Oh boy,” Molly whispered. “There’s a lot of them.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re really going to owe me big for this one,” she said, sounding like herself again.
In that moment, Lucas knew he’d do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, wherever she wanted. Because in spite of his determination to hold back from the smartest, most resilient, most resourceful, most incredible woman he’d ever been with, he was in. All in.
Chapter 17
#PassTheEggnog
Realizing Lucas’s family was watching her and Lucas from the well-lit cabin porch, Molly felt the first licks of panic. She knew this was just paying back a favor, that it wasn’t real, but still. If telling him about her past had been an eight on the one-to-ten scale of difficulty, meeting his family was a twelve. Twelve hundred. She drew a deep breath and concentrated on the gently falling snow and the incredible beauty of the flakes floating out of the sky seemingly one by one.
Lucas turned her to face him. “Problem?”
“You guys all spend a lot of time together, right?”
“They spend a lot of time together. I’m not around nearly as much.” He held her gaze. “I’m going to ask you again. Do we have a problem?”
She bit her lower lip. “So I’m pretending to be what exactly, an online hookup? A friend? I want to be prepared for any questions.”
He laughed. “An online hookup?”
She shrugged, fighting an odd defensive feeling deep in her gut, one she didn’t want to examine too closely. “Figured that’s more believable than a date or girlfriend. So which is it going to be?”
“Since they’ve already met you, I think it’s safe to leave the online hookup off the table,” he said dryly. “And if I say girlfriend, you’ll run for the hills. Let’s just go with a date.”
Would she run for the hills? She tried it out in her head, the word girlfriend, and felt a genuine panic ball bounced around in her gut to go with the annoying defensiveness.
Dammit. She hated when he was right.
“Molly.” He cupped her face, his amusement fading. “What’s going on?”
Lie. “I don’t like lying to your family. They’re nice.” And actually, nothing about that was a lie after all.