Hot Winter Nights

She laughed. “Dad, it was years ago now, you know that.”

Her dad relaxed when she laughed. “Well, the offer still stands,” he said. “You just let me know. And same goes for this one too,” he said with a chin jerk in Lucas’s direction.

“I told you, he’s just a coworker.”

Her dad looked Lucas right in the eyes. “Gonna call bullshit on that one, sweetheart.”

Molly ignored them both, sitting down at the table to dig in. “I’m hungry enough to eat all of this on my own, so I’d get to it if I were you.”

That got her dad’s attention. He pulled up to the table and dropped his phone in Molly’s lap before starting to load up a plate for himself. “The thing’s broken,” he said. “It says I’m out of memory.”

“How is that even possible?” Molly picked up the phone and began to thumb through it. “Ah. Found the problem.”

“Knew you would.” Her dad glanced at Lucas. “She’s the smartest person in our whole family.”

Lucas smiled. The guy was badass and as tough as they came, but he clearly had a soft spot for his daughter.

And as it turned out, so did Lucas.

Molly held up the phone, opened to photos. “You’ve got like thirteen thousand pics of Buddy in here.”

“He likes having his picture taken.”

“Dad, you don’t need thirteen thousand pics of your dog. Delete all but a few hundred.”

Her dad grumbled and slid Buddy a few scraps under the table.

Molly sighed. “And you’re not supposed to feed him like that either.”

“What, he likes takeout. Hey, can Buddy travel? Like on a plane?”

“Why?” Molly asked suspiciously. “You hate airplanes, and as far as I know you’ve not been on one since you got home from your last tour of duty.”

Her dad shrugged. “It’s too cold here right now. I was thinking of going somewhere warm.”

“Like?”

“Like a deserted island.”

“But then who would you yell at?” Molly asked.

Her dad barked out a low laugh. “Good point. How about just a regular island then, with unlimited dogs and pizza. Come on, name something better than that. I’ll wait.”

Molly shook her head, but her eyes were soft and her mouth was curved. She clearly loved him very much, a feeling that was just as clearly mutual. She didn’t appear to mind taking care of him either, which he knew she’d been doing for a very long time, back to when she should have had someone taking care of her.

When they’d finished eating, Lucas helped Molly clean up and then she grabbed her purse. “It’s getting late and it’s a work night.”

“Uh-huh. Thought he wasn’t your boyfriend,” he said, eyes back on Lucas in a way that said he wished he still had his rifle.

“He’s not,” Molly said. “We’re working a job together—which you can’t tell Joe about.”

“Why not?”

“Because I asked real nice.”

Her dad narrowed his gaze.

“If you tell,” Molly told him, “I’ll stop bringing you those Cuban cigars you’re not supposed to have.”

“You were never even here,” Alan said.

She hugged and kissed him goodbye. “You’re my favorite,” she whispered.

“And you’re mine,” Alan whispered back so easily that Lucas knew it was part of their routine.

Molly laughed, lightening the moment. “You say the same to Joe, right?”

Her dad just smiled.

When they were on the road again, Molly glanced over at Lucas. “You’re quiet. You okay?”

He was lost in thought. And guilt. He hated that he was with her on the pretense of the job because Archer and Joe had asked him to be. Because the truth was, he was in regardless, and now there was a new element too. He wanted her to solve this case and prove herself to her boss and brother so they’d let her be who she was meant to be. She was smart and fun and sexy and easy to talk to, and he enjoyed the hell out of her.

And when that had sneaked up on him, he had no clue.

Half an hour later, they were back at the Pacific Pier Building. “Come up,” he said and she looked across the console at him, silent. Contemplating.

To sway the vote in his favor, he leaned in, palmed the back of her head and kissed her.

When she pulled back, she was looking dazed and breathless. He was no better. “Come up,” he said again.

“Maybe.” She pointed at him. “But no overthinking things.”

“Molly,” he said on a rough laugh. “When I’ve got you in my arms, I can’t think at all.”

She stared at him some more. “And no lights.”

He hesitated at that and she pulled back. “I mean it,” she said.

He reached out and wove his fingers through hers. “How about you give me ten minutes to show you how amazingly beautiful I think you are, and if you still want the lights out—”

“I still want the lights out.”

“Okay,” he said easily. “By Braille it is.”

“And one more thing. No talking.”

“How about dirty talk?” he asked. “That doesn’t count, right?”

She surprised him by laughing and lightened his heart.

“Dirty talk is allowed,” she decided, and right then and there, he fell in love.

Chapter 15

#I’mFine

The next morning, Lucas woke up alone. Not a surprise. Molly didn’t seem fond of morning-afters.

Something they shared.

She’d been in a meeting with Archer when he arrived at the office. At his desk, he eyed the wallet sitting next to his laptop. He’d done a thorough search of the ID in the wallet. Santa’s given name was Nick Russolini but he was going by Nicolas King—which they already knew. The only things in the wallet had been sixty bucks’ cash, a driver’s license, and a Domino’s pizza card.

No signed confession that he was stealing from old ladies.

But digging deeper, Lucas discovered the guy had enough identities to give even the FBI a run for its money. Shaking his head, he brought up a new search screen, planning on running the aliases all together to see if there was any crossover. But his fingers did something he’d avoided doing for a long time now. He typed in Molly Malone instead.

If he hit the enter key, he knew he’d get a crash course in all things Molly. He wanted to know more than what she was willing to tell him, such as what had happened to her, for one.

His mind flashed back to last night, lying in his bed holding a sleeping Molly, her body sated and still against his. He’d been able to feel the soft heat of her breast against his chest, the gentle touch of her hand on the stubble of his cheek . . . There weren’t a lot of things he cherished more than the memory of being with her like that, and how she’d touched him, body and soul.

He was still staring at her name on the screen, his finger hovering over enter when she walked by his office and met his gaze, her own both warm and extremely wary, which tugged at his heart. She wasn’t okay with this, not yet, not even close.

Holding her gaze, he knew. He would never hit enter. Whatever she’d faced, she’d tell him when she was good and ready.

And he was willing to wait for that.

She opened her mouth, but Joe walked into the room and grabbed the file he’d left on the table, and whatever she’d been about to say, she kept to herself.