Hot Winter Nights

The air slipped right out of his lungs. “Jesus, Molly.”

“Yeah. And I hit the ground right at Joe’s feet. He’d finally narrowed down the location I’d been held. If I’d just stayed quiet and pliant as Darius had asked, Joe would’ve gotten to me.”

Lucas felt sick all the way to his gut on how she’d suffered. And he was certain there was more to this horrific tale, that she’d left out a lot of details. Reaching out, he cupped her face. “Don’t you dare blame yourself. Joe would hate that.”

“Right, because he already blames himself enough,” she said. “We’re really quite the pair.” She stared at him. “Stop.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop looking at me like I’m still broken. I’m not. I’ve had three surgeries, and even though the nerves in my right leg are still damaged, almost everything else is relatively fixed.”

He let out a low laugh. “Molly, I’m not looking at you like you’re broken. I’m looking at you like you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”

She sent him a look of disbelief.

“Amazing and strong and resilient and . . . amazing.”

“You already said that,” she whispered.

“It bears repeating,” he whispered back and then started to lean in, intent on kissing her.

Just as the front door of the cabin opened.

In all their perfection of timing, his family spilled out, because apparently there was some sort of radar in the Knight gene that let them know when the prodigal son returned.

“Oh boy,” Molly whispered. “There’s a lot of them.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re really going to owe me big for this one,” she said, sounding like herself again.

In that moment, Lucas knew he’d do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, wherever she wanted. Because in spite of his determination to hold back from the smartest, most resilient, most resourceful, most incredible woman he’d ever been with, he was in. All in.

Chapter 17

#PassTheEggnog

Realizing Lucas’s family was watching her and Lucas from the well-lit cabin porch, Molly felt the first licks of panic. She knew this was just paying back a favor, that it wasn’t real, but still. If telling him about her past had been an eight on the one-to-ten scale of difficulty, meeting his family was a twelve. Twelve hundred. She drew a deep breath and concentrated on the gently falling snow and the incredible beauty of the flakes floating out of the sky seemingly one by one.

Lucas turned her to face him. “Problem?”

“You guys all spend a lot of time together, right?”

“They spend a lot of time together. I’m not around nearly as much.” He held her gaze. “I’m going to ask you again. Do we have a problem?”

She bit her lower lip. “So I’m pretending to be what exactly, an online hookup? A friend? I want to be prepared for any questions.”

He laughed. “An online hookup?”

She shrugged, fighting an odd defensive feeling deep in her gut, one she didn’t want to examine too closely. “Figured that’s more believable than a date or girlfriend. So which is it going to be?”

“Since they’ve already met you, I think it’s safe to leave the online hookup off the table,” he said dryly. “And if I say girlfriend, you’ll run for the hills. Let’s just go with a date.”

Would she run for the hills? She tried it out in her head, the word girlfriend, and felt a genuine panic ball bounced around in her gut to go with the annoying defensiveness.

Dammit. She hated when he was right.

“Molly.” He cupped her face, his amusement fading. “What’s going on?”

Lie. “I don’t like lying to your family. They’re nice.” And actually, nothing about that was a lie after all.

“They’re also insane,” he said. “Listen to me, okay? This has nothing to do with our reality and everything to do with just keeping my family happy and off my back. And like on any covert op that requires a fabricated backstory, you go with the easiest, most natural thing you can come up with. Something close enough to the truth that it rolls off the tongue. We work at the same place and we’re on a date. Just a simple date. Period.”

Yeah. That made the most sense, of course. But she couldn’t deny that a small part of her, a very small part, actually might’ve liked to try girlfriend on for size regardless, just to see how it fit on her.

“Molly?” He let his thumb slightly glide along her jaw.

“Yeah. Got it.” She pulled back. “A simple date. Like our second or third?”

“Sure,” he said.

She nodded. “Fine. But there’s something you should know.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t put out on a second date. Or a third.”

He flashed her a panty melting smile. “Bet I could change your mind,” he said in a voice that matched his smile.

“Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “Once I make up my mind, I can’t be budged. I’m like the Rock of Gibraltar, I—”

He kissed her. Quick, no tongue, just the appetizer on the menu of Lucas Knight’s variety of kisses, but quite effective all the same. When he pulled back, she opened her eyes, dazed, and asked, “What were we talking about?”

With a grin, he got out of the car and came around for her. They headed up the walk and Molly watched as Lucas’s mom broke from the pack and went straight for her son, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tight, whispering something in his ear.

He hugged her back just as tight, closing his eyes for a beat as he nodded, a look of such love and acceptance on his face that Molly just stared. She’d never seen that expression on him before. It softened him, made him seem young and more carefree.

When his mom pulled back, she turned to Molly and gave her the same sort of hug, and it felt so genuine that she found herself returning the hug in kind. Then Laura and Sami did the same before introducing her to a gaggle of others who all seemed to enjoy each other’s company. Aunts. More cousins. Laura’s husband, Will, was there with what looked like a two-ish-year-old in a backpack on his shoulders, and more—although not Lucas’s dad, who apparently had gotten held up in London. And crowded as it was, it was also . . . lovely. And foreign. For as long as she could remember, it’d been just her and Joe and her dad, just the three of them. Yes, supposedly they had some distant relatives back East. Her mom’s cousins. Her dad’s family. But her dad hadn’t liked any of them and had scared them off a long time ago. Joe had brought Kylie into their small fold and that was great. But their little family unit still had nothing on this huge one.

Dinner had been held for their arrival, which consisted of more food than Molly had ever seen. Mindful of the fact that her clothes were already feeling a little too snug thanks to Joe bringing doughnuts into the office too many times last week, she held back, taking one small piece of honey baked ham and a few green beans baked with bacon because, well, bacon. She managed to refrain from what looked like the most perfectly browned cheesy bread she’d ever seen, but then had immediate regret when the bread vanished in two seconds.

Someone asked her about her job at Hunt and she explained she was the office manager, while wishing she could say she worked investigations. She began to eat, but found herself glancing over at Lucas’s plate. He’d snagged three pieces of that cheesy bread. He with the perfectly ridged abs and zero percent body fat. Where did he put it all anyway? She tried to forget about it, tried to let it go, but lunch seemed like so long ago, and suddenly all she could think about was how the bread would melt in her mouth.