Rock Addiction (Rock Kiss #1)(76)

Molly wanted to hug the other woman, hurting for her, but Kathleen wasn’t finished. Her fingers gripping her coffee cup so tight that her bones pushed white against the golden bronze of her skin, she said, “I got the message loud and clear. Fox ran into me as I was leaving, took one look at my face and wrapped me in his arms while I cried.”

Kathleen put down her cup on the small counter that held the coffeemaker, flexed her fingers. “That’s when I knew he was a friend I wouldn’t give up, even if it meant I had to see Noah at times.” Breathing deep, she straightened her shoulders and finished her coffee before shaking her head. “I can’t believe I actually told you that. It was the worst moment of my life.”

“Maybe Maxwell’s voodoo is rubbing off on me,” Molly said, sensing the other woman had had enough of heavy emotion for now.

Kathleen’s laugh was surprised, the strain around her mouth easing. “I think it is.” She held out her empty coffee cup. “Please? I think this is a two-coffee morning.”

Molly had just pulled the second cup from the machine when Fox walked through the door, a bakery box in hand. Pushing off the hood of an old college sweatshirt he hadn’t been wearing when he left the suite, he put the box on the counter and dragged Molly in for an unhurried and thorough kiss that made her toes curl and Kathleen whistle.

Releasing her after a smiling nibble of her lower lip, he went over to hug Kathleen with the familiarity of long friendship. Even knowing there had never been anything sexual between the two, Molly found herself envious, because she and Fox, they were still so young, so new. She wanted the stone, the permanent foundations that’d take them through life.

“You weasel.” Kathleen elbowed Fox in the gut. “You told Noah my room number.”

Fox winced, stepped out of reach. “Jeez, Kit, I know better. He probably charmed it out of a desk clerk.” Returning to Molly, he reached back to pull off the sweatshirt to reveal his white T-shirt.

“Where did you get the sweatshirt?” Molly asked as he threw it over the back of one of the dining chairs. “And where’s your Lakers cap?” He adored that cap, treated it like it was an irreplaceable jewel.

“My extra non-signed Lakers cap is on the head of a busboy who’s around my height, and who is currently riding around in my limo,” Fox said, opening the bakery box. “My real cap is safe and sound in the bedroom. As if I’d ever wear that where someone might try to rip it off for a souvenir.”

“Obviously.” Molly tapped him on the nose. “So silly of me not to realize you had a spare decoy cap.”

“Not one,” Kathleen whispered. “He has a crate full of them.”

Fox shrugged and bit into a powdered donut. “When something becomes a trademark, you can use it to throw the hounds off the scent.” He rubbed his bristled jaw with his free hand. “Though I don’t know where I’m going to find extra Mollys so I can sneak out with my Molly through the service entrance.”

My Molly.

Her heart did a flip. “So I’m going to become a trademark?”

“So much they’ll give us one of those stupid joint names.”

“Folly?” Kathleen suggested, already halfway through a donut of her own, the raspberry silk of her top dusted with sugar.

“Good thing you don’t write lyrics.” Fox scowled. “Folly? Are you serious?”

“You do better.”

Grabbing a chocolate-glazed donut instead, Fox put it to Molly’s lips. “Taste this.”

She did, groaned. “You’re forbidden from bringing these anywhere near my vicinity except on very, very special occasions.”

“Yeah.” Kathleen sighed, fingers waving over the box as she deliberated her next pick. “This’ll cost an extra four hours in the gym with Macho Steve, the Evil Personal Trainer, but oh baby, every minute will be worth it.”

“Four hours?” Molly swallowed her second bite of the delicious treat, Fox taking great pleasure in refusing to give her the donut so he could feed it to her himself. “You’re tiny!” An entire box of donuts wouldn’t make any impact on Kathleen’s sleek frame.

“I live in the land of make-believe, sweetie.” Kathleen licked at the pink glaze of her donut. “You can never be too rich, too skinny, or too famous.”

Thinking of the ugly comments on the elevator photo, Molly knew the other woman wasn’t exaggerating. “You are being healthy though?” she asked, worried. “I don’t want you to get sick.”

Distinctive amber eyes widened. “Yes, I eat a healthy diet and I exercise—I don’t throw up or starve myself.” A strange hesitancy to her, Kathleen said, “Thank you for caring enough to ask. Not many people would.”

It made Molly aware once more of how many layers those around her kept between themselves and others. Kathleen called her a friend, trusted her enough to share some of her past, but didn’t expect Molly to care about so simple and important a thing as her health. True friendship, the kind Molly had with Charlotte, would take far longer to form.

And a lasting relationship, Molly thought, her eyes on the rock star who teased her he’d trade kisses for donuts, would take strength and commitment enough to stand against everything the world would throw at them.