Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay #6)(69)

“And technically,” she said. “We weren’t going to have any night stand.”



Molly left work at lunch to hit the gym. She needed an hour to get out the kinks in her back and leg. Normally she went before work, but her second job as an elf was taking up too much brain power and she’d been too tired to get up early.

Bad Santa was really cutting into her life.

As were all the orgasms with Lucas . . .

Okay, truth. She needed out of the office and away from Lucas to think. Think about how she kept doing the opposite with Lucas than she planned. Think about the look on his face this morning when she’d said they weren’t having any night stand.

She made him . . . happy. And hell if he didn’t return the favor. He made her very happy. Which was terrifying.

In the gym, she wasn’t surprised to find Caleb going at a hanging bag, beating the shit out of it with a combination of punches and kicks. And given the look of him, drenched in sweat, face grim, he’d been at it a while.

She didn’t disturb him. Instead she warmed up with stretches and then hit the weights. She was at the bench press when two hands caught the bar and adjusted her arms, pushing it up a little higher.

Caleb.

He watched her, nodding in approval as she finished her set.

“Thanks,” she said. “You done beating up whoever ruined your day?”

He held her gaze, arms crossed over his chest. “I could ask you the same thing.”

She sighed.

“Work?” he asked. “Love life?”

“Both.” She gave him a look. “And you?”

He lifted a broad shoulder. “Same.”

“So we’re both screwed up?”

A very small smile curved his lips. “No doubt.”

She went by her place for a shower, her body humming from the workout. She was feeling pretty good, though she wasn’t sure it was from the exercise or how she’d spent last night. She glanced at the time. She never took a long lunch. But she wanted to today. She told herself she could take another thirty minutes or so if she wanted.

And oh, she wanted. She reached for her phone to send a text.

Molly: I have some research I could use an assist on. Are you anywhere near my place?

Lucas: Please tell me that “research” is a euphemism.

Molly: Of course not.





It totally was a euphemism.

He got there in ten minutes. She was still in just her towel from her shower. “Oh,” she murmured. “I didn’t realize you could get here so quickly. I haven’t had time to get dressed.”

He walked over to her and pulled her up into his arms. His mouth descended on hers, hot and persistent and she felt her nipples bore through the towel into his chest.

He dropped his hands to cup her butt, slipping them beneath the towel to grip bare skin. “Liar,” he said with naughty accusation in his voice. “You’re lying in wait for me. Hoping to seduce me by wearing only this easy access towel.”

She slid her arms around his neck and rocked into his erection with a purr. “Is it working?”

“Molly,” he said on a rough laugh. “All you have to do is look at me.”

She raised her gaze to his and studied him. “I’m glad you were close by.”

“I wasn’t. I broke five laws getting here.”

She snorted and his hold tightened on her. “You have a power over me,” he said. “Use it wisely.”

“I intend to.” She laid her head on his chest. “Are you going to give me what you came here for?”

Eyes dark, he raised an eyebrow and she tried not to blush as she stared back at him. Nothing in the world was sexier than his eyes when they got like that. Except for maybe his abs when he sat up first thing in the morning. Or his shoulders when he reached above his head to stretch. Or his—

They made it as far as the couch. She felt frantic, dragging him down on top of her, reaching for his zipper. “Condom?” she panted.

Swearing, he dug it out of a pocket and ripped it open. He jammed himself into it and reached for her.

It was the best, more erotic lunch break of her entire life.



It was nearly quitting time when her phone vibrated across her desk. A text from Louise saying her elf services weren’t needed tonight. She was still looking at it wondering what that meant when a FaceTime call came in from Mrs. Berkowitz.

Molly swiped to answer and then stared at a pair of crinkled lips painted in matte red.

“Molly?” the lips asked. “Molly, is that you, dear?”

“Yes, it’s me. You don’t have to hold the phone quite so close to your face,” she said. “In fact, I can see you better if you don’t.”

The screen pulled back a little tiny bit, enough that Mrs. Berkowitz’s entire face filled the screen now, not just her lips. She smiled. “There you are, dear. Listen, there’s something rotten in Denmark.” She paused. “Do young people read anymore? That’s a Shakespeare reference, you see, and—”

“I get it,” Molly said. “I’ve read Hamlet. You mentioned something was going down last night. I was there, and I agree, the renovation seems off—”

“Santa just put out the word that since it’s a weeknight and it’ll be slow traffic at the crafts booths, he’s sending us elves to Reno, on him. There’s some sort of Santa convention up there and he’s rented a luxury bus to take us.”