Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay #6)(73)
But something about the way she said personally had his instincts screaming, but he nodded noncommittally and followed her out, walking like he’d been riding a horse for twelve hours, thanks to the ridiculously too-tight shorts bunching up his goods.
He had no idea if Nick or his brother Tommy Thumbs suspected Molly of anything, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He reached down and searched his pants pockets for his phone to warn her to get the hell out of there, that he had the memory stick, but he had no phone. He’d left it in the car. He looked around. There was a phone and laptop on one of the desks. He didn’t know whose it was and didn’t care. He was just glad that whoever had left it behind didn’t have a security code and he was able to actually use it to call Molly.
Who didn’t answer.
Chapter 23
#SubordinateClause
Molly stood in the back of what had formerly been bingo central, staring in shock at the room. The tarps supposedly covering the renovations were down.
It hadn’t been renovations going on behind them at all. Instead, the area had been transposed into a gaming area and now looked like a casino, complete with high top tables featuring various ongoing card games.
Serious card games by the look of the players and the people in charge of each table.
There was garland and twinkling strings of lights and mistletoe hanging from the rafters and several decorated trees along the walls. Christmas music was blaring out of hidden speakers. There were several elves circling the room with trays of drinks. The place positively hummed with the sound of voices, laughter, and glasses clinking together.
No one even glanced at Molly.
She searched for a glimpse of Janet or Santa. Or Santa’s brother.
Nothing.
From her bra, her phone vibrated an incoming call. She pulled it out and glanced at the screen.
A number she didn’t recognize. Ha. Nice try, unknown number, but she didn’t even answer to people she knew. So she hit ignore and walked through the room. People were gambling in a very big way tonight. Pulling out her phone again, she texted Lucas.
Bingo hall transformed into an underground and very illegal gambling site. Maybe we really do need backup.
Feeling very proud of herself, and like quite the professional, she slid away her phone just as someone came up behind her. Shirley. “You’re not going to make any tips just standing there like that,” the elf said. “Get moving. Go to the bar, get your tray, and start serving.” She gestured with a jerk of her head to the bar off to the side of the large room. “You want the boss to notice you’re not doing your job? Trust me, the answer to that is no.”
“Understood.” Molly started walking toward the bar, sneaking another quick text to Lucas.
Where are you?
At the bar, she nodded to the bartender. He was in an elf costume and looking pissy about it. “Hey,” she said. “How’s it going?”
“How’s it going? My nuts are caught in these stupid short shorts like a vice and the material’s so snug it’s going to give me hemorrhoids. Worse, it makes me look all . . . lumpy, so there goes any chance of getting laid tonight. Here,” he said, thankfully not requiring a response as he shoved a tray at her. “Right now we’re serving free eggnog, heavily spiked. If they want beer or wine, that’s five bucks a glass. A cocktail is eight. Cash only. The boss doesn’t like it when the girls write down their orders. They want you to memorize them, so go do your thing and don’t screw it all up.”
Okay then. She took the tray of eggnogs and turned back to the room. The first table waved her over and took all the drinks from her tray, saving her from worrying about what to do with them. She shifted, heading to the back of the room, planning on making her escape to go find Lucas. But just then she caught sight of Santa’s brother coming out of a narrow hallway, one she knew from bingo nights led to several small rooms, mostly used for storage.
He never even glanced her way as he headed toward one of the gaming tables. She pretended to be busy until he walked away and then she sneaked her way down the hallway he’d just come from.
Two doors. Both locked. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching before pulling two bobby pins from her hair to work the lock.
Sixty seconds later, her tongue between her teeth in concentration, nearly there with the lock, a hand settled on her shoulder. Instinct kicked in, as well as everything Caleb had taught her in the gym, and she whirled and kicked out hard.
Usually, whenever she’d practiced that move on Caleb, he’d let her connect so he could teach her how to not fall into whoever she was fighting.
But she didn’t connect. That was because the person standing there ducked and then straightened faster than the speed of light, whipping her around, holding her back to his chest, his arms pinning hers at her sides.
Before she could so much as draw a breath, he breathed her name in her ear, a whisper of surprise and shock in his low voice.
Lucas.
She sagged into him and he immediately loosened his grip, turning her to face him.
She started to say something, but then she got a good look at him and her mouth fell open in utter delight.
He was in an elf costume, and no one in the history of ever had filled out an elf costume like Lucas. Words failed her.
“What the hell was that?” he whispered with a good amount of shock. “You know martial arts?”