Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay #6)(53)

“Hey,” Lucas said. “That was after Sami broke my nose with her baseball bat and before my surgery to fix the deviated septum. I haven’t snored since.”

“You sure about that?” Laura asked.

Everyone looked at Molly, including Lucas, who seemed to be trying to remind her telepathically about their deal. She was his date. His romantic date. Deciding some payback was necessary, she lifted a shoulder. “You know, I almost don’t hear it anymore. I guess you get used to it.”

Everyone laughed, but Lucas just gave her a slow, devastatingly mischievous smile. “So you want to play it like that, do you?” he murmured.

Conflicting emotions danced through her. The thrill and excitement of what he might do to her in retribution . . . and the worry of what he might do to her in retribution. Not that she was afraid of him. More like she was afraid of how much she might like it.

The conversation shifted, ebbed and flowed, and through it all Molly was incredibly, annoyingly aware of Lucas at her side, his arm brushing hers, the way he dipped his head close when she spoke to him, like whatever she might say was the most important thing to him in that moment, and how his unique, sexy scent teased her every time he did.

He lifted his glass for a drink and caught her staring at him. “You okay?” he asked.

Was she? She wasn’t quite certain . . .

“Honey,” Lucas’s mom said to him. “We’ve been having trouble with the internet connection today. I thought maybe after you finish—”

“No problem,” he said. “I’m finished.” He reached for Molly’s hand. “I’ll just take an assistant—”

Molly choked on her water because in the office, she was the internet wizard. No one but her could ever get their systems running smoothly, including Lucas.

“I mean partner,” Lucas quickly corrected, but by the look on his face he knew he was too late.

Molly smiled at his mom. “I could take a look for you. I’m sure I won’t need an assistant, but Lucas could come along and watch and learn if he’d like.”

His mom laughed in sheer delight and looked at Lucas. “I love this girl.” She stood up, drawing Molly along with her toward the den. “You just stay seated, son, and eat your bread. We’ve got this.”

“Idiot,” Sami said fondly to Lucas, who blew out a breath.

A minute later, Molly was unplugging the router and rebooting their system. “This almost always works.”

“I know,” Lucas’s mom said. “And there’s nothing wrong with our internet. I just wanted to talk to you alone without my nosy son.”

Sami came into the den and shut the door behind her. “He’s doing dishes,” Sami told her mom.

Molly took in the women’s expectant expressions and thought uh-oh . . .

“Oh, don’t be scared,” his mom said. “We’re not looking for you to betray Lucas’s confidence or anything like that.”

“Okay, so what are you looking for?”

The two women looked at each other and then back at Molly. Sami spoke first. “To be honest, we’re just so excited to see him in a relationship at all. What can you tell us?”

“Well, first of all, this is just a date, so—”

His mom and Sami looked at each other and laughed.

“What?” Molly asked.

“Nothing,” Sami said, still smiling. “It’s just nice to see him so comfortable with you. And . . . happy. For so long he’s been totally closed off. You know? And yeah, he’d show up to these family things if we bugged him enough, but he always came alone. The hard part is that he refuses to talk about himself at all, so we have no way of knowing how he’s really doing, how he’s been coping. Recovering.” Her smile faded, to be replaced by worry and concern as she leaned in closer and lowered her voice. “So can you help us by telling us how he’s doing?”

“Coping and recovering?” Molly asked. “Are you referring to when he was shot last month or—”

They all gasped in horrified unison. Okay, so it wasn’t that—

“He was shot?” his mom asked in a small voice.

“In the side, a through and through,” Molly quickly said. “Full recovery.”

His mom let out a shaky breath. “Dear God.”

Sami reached for her aunt’s hand but looked at Molly. “He’s really okay?”

“Yes,” Molly said firmly and apologetically. “I’m sorry, I—”

“Don’t you dare be sorry,” his mom said. “Not for being there for him and not for being so honest.” She swallowed hard. “For a while now, Lucas has pulled inward. Hasn’t let anyone in. Works all the time. But since you’ve been around, we’ve seen him twice in a week. And he’s calling more, checking in. He’s smiling too and he does look happy. We all figured that was your doing.”

Molly shook her head. “I honestly can’t take credit for any of that.”

His mom’s face softened. “Are you sure? Because love’s pretty damn powerful.”

“We’re really not—” Molly shook her head, unable to put words to all she was feeling. “We’re just not,” she finished lamely, and unable to lie to them, this family who loved Lucas so much, she sighed. “Okay, full disclosure. This isn’t really even a date. It’s a favor. We work together and sometimes we help each other out with stuff . . .”