Hot Winter Nights

Molly had to draw in a careful breath, telling herself she was at work and shouldn’t be ogling Lucas.

“Hey,” Joe said with a frown. “You’re all flushed.”

She put her hands to her cheeks. “I was . . . exercising.”

From behind Joe, Lucas arched a brow. She looked away.

Archer poked his head back in from his office and narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re sick?”

Joe reached out to touch her forehead and she smacked his hand away. “I’m not sick!” she said, maybe yelled.

“She’s hot,” Joe said.

Lucas coughed and she knew it was to hide a damn laugh. She was hot alright; she was hot for him and dammit, he knew it. She went hands on hips and gave her boss and brother each a hard glare. “Listen carefully, you Neanderthals. I’m not sick. I was working out before work and I’m still”—she refused to meet Lucas’s gaze—“overheated.”

“You work out?” Joe asked doubtfully.

She tossed up her hands. “You know what? If I died and went straight to hell, it would still take me a damn week to realize I wasn’t at work anymore! Now go away and leave me to my work. All of you.”

Archer and Joe shifted away with some various muttering. But not Lucas.

She stared at him.

He stared right back. “Are you working out?”

She sighed. “Yes. I’m not exactly the faint of heart, delicate little snowflake you all seem to think I am.”

He gave a low laugh that set butterflies to flight in her belly. “You’re a lot of things,” he said. “Most of them pretty fucking great, but being a faint of heart, delicate little snowflake isn’t one of them.”

Molly let out a reluctant smile. “That might just be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” she admitted.

“So what kind of workouts are you doing?”

Because she was still looking at him, she could see it wasn’t concern or doubt prompting his question, but genuine curiosity. “I go to the gym on Van Ness Avenue,” she said. “I do some weights and take an assortment of classes when I can fit them in.”

“Van Ness? Caleb owns a gym there.”

“I know,” she said. “Sometimes I work out with him.”

There was a beat of surprise from Lucas. “Caleb is a martial arts expert, and badass in his own right.”

She smiled and shrugged. “He’s a good workout buddy.”

Lucas’s gaze slid down her body to her right leg, as if trying to decide if she was yanking his chain or not. “He doesn’t baby me,” she said pointedly.

Something changed in Lucas’s eyes at that, and if she didn’t know better, she’d say it was jealousy.

“What does he do?” he asked, voice flat, eyes just a little bit . . . hot?

“He works me out hard,” she said.

There was that flash again. Good God, it was jealousy. This pleased her way too much. To hide her smug smile, she turned to her computer.

“I wanted to let you know I’m free tonight,” he said to her back, still sounding slightly out of sorts.

Aware that he couldn’t see her face, she let out a small victorious smile. “Sweet of you,” she said lightly. “But I’m not going to date you.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

Yes, she did. And maybe that’s why she was still playing this game, keeping up the ruse instead of letting Lucas know nothing had happened between them. Because deep down, she would have liked for that night to be real and he didn’t return the sentiment. Swiveling in her chair to face him, she affected a hurt expression. “So now that we’ve slept together, you’re done? You don’t want to see me anymore?”

He grimaced and looked behind him to make sure they were alone, seeming to be at about a twelve on the one-to-ten stress scale. “Are you trying to get me killed?”

She laughed and went back to her computer. Yeah, it was mean and she was going to have to let him off the hook and soon, but . . . not today.

He came up behind her, leaning in until his mouth brushed her ear. “Paybacks are a bitch, Molly.”

This gave her an entire body shiver that she ignored and forced herself to get to work. Or at least pretend to get to work. This lasted about three minutes before she caved and took a quick peek.

Lucas was gone.

But there was a steaming mug of coffee waiting for her.

Well played.

Chapter 7

#Pivot

At lunchtime, Molly’s friends came into the office. Elle, Sadie, Pru—whose husband, Finn, ran the downstairs pub—and Haley, the optometrist two doors down from Hunt Investigations. Elle was carrying a tote that smelled like heaven on earth and had Molly’s mouth watering.

“You texted that you were too busy for lunch,” Elle said. “But as the manager of this entire building and the person who sleeps with your boss, I’m overriding him.” She smiled. “Or just riding him.”

Sadie grimaced. “Have a care for those of us not getting any, would ya?”

“We all know you could be getting whoever you want,” Pru told her. “You’re just too picky.”

Sadie shrugged. “I don’t need a guy’s drama.”

“Sorry, but women are just as dramatic,” said Haley, who should know since she dated women.

“Okay, that’s probably true,” Sadie said. “But my point is, without a significant other, I don’t have to wear pants. Although, I do miss cuddling. Sometimes I just need to be kissed and spooned, you know? I deserve that, I’m a decent person, I recycle.”

Everyone agreed that she was a good person and deserved a cuddle.

“I bet you could download an app for that,” Haley said.

“Yeah,” Sadie said. “But I make due with Amazon Prime.”

Molly’s mouth was watering from the scent coming from the bag of food Elle had brought. “What’s for lunch?”

Elle smiled. “You’ll love this. Aged organic milk tossed over seasoned tomato puree spread on baked whole wheat.”

Molly blinked. “You mean pizza?”

“Well, if you want to get technical,” Elle said and pulled out the pizza.

“Oh my God,” Molly moaned, stuffing her face. “I missed breakfast.”

“I don’t get it when people forget to eat,” Pru said. “How in the world does one forget to eat?”

To be fair, Pru looked to be about twenty months pregnant and was hungry all the time. “Stress,” Molly said.

Pru shook her head and refilled her plate with piece number three and four.

Willa, who ran the courtyard pet shop, popped in with a bag of muffins from the coffee shop. They all promptly pounced on these like they were the secret of life.

“What’s the occasion?” Elle asked Willa.

She smiled. “Keane and I set a wedding date.”

They all squealed in delight, as Willa and Keane had been engaged for what felt like forever.

“What was the catalyst?” Elle asked.

Willa smiled. “We’re redoing the kitchen and I want new stuff.”

Elle smiled. “Look at you, thinking ahead. I’m so proud.”

Sadie shook her head. “I think when you get married, you should have to give gifts to your guests. I mean you found lifelong love, right? That means I deserve a blender far more than you do.”