Joe walked into the room.
Molly jumped back a few feet and whirled on her brother. “Why are you always sneaking up on me? Jeez, wear a damn bell, would you?”
Joe gave her an odd look and pointed to his cell phone still lying on the large conference table. “Forgot that.” He gave a half smile to his sister. “I know, I know, I’d forget my head if it wasn’t attached to my neck, right?” His smile faded and he divided a glance between Lucas and Molly. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Molly said quickly.
Lucas shook his head. Nope, nothing wrong here, nothing to see . . .
Archer came back in to grab a doughnut out of the opened box. “Almost left dessert.” He stared at Lucas and then Molly. “What’s up?”
“Nothing,” Molly repeated.
Lucas pleaded the fifth.
Archer didn’t look any more convinced than Joe, which meant it was time to get the hell out of Dodge. Lucas grabbed his laptop and nodded to Joe. “Hand me a kiss.” Shit. Fuck. Damn. Hell. “I mean a doughnut.” God, he was so stupid. “Hand me a doughnut.”
Joe just stared at him as if one of them had lost their mind.
Not Archer. There was no bemusement in his gaze at all. Just a blank, deadpanned stare that probably would’ve had most people running for the hills.
Lucas wasn’t most people and he wasn’t easily intimidated or scared. But he could admit that his balls tightened slightly and not in a good way. Ignoring everyone but Molly, whom he sent a quick glance to and found her cheeks flushed, he grabbed a doughnut for himself, and then on second thought, took a second. Because this was definitely going to be a two doughnut sort of day. Then he turned his back—a risk with both Archer and Joe being excellent marksmen—and walked out of the room.
By the time Molly lifted her head from her laptop at the end of the day, most everyone else had left work. She’d switched over from Hunt work to the file Lucas had sent her. Back aching, she stood and stretched, giving her leg a moment to get under her. When she could straighten it all the way, she went around closing up for the night and found Lucas in his office on his laptop.
“Oh,” she said in surprise, standing in his opened doorway. “I was just about to turn off all the lights on you. What are you still doing here? You came in at five this morning.”
“I could ask the same of you,” he said and rose, stretching as she just had, rolling his broad shoulders. His T-shirt rose a little, giving her a quick peek at some serious rock-hard abs. She had to force her eyes off him because she knew herself. Knew the danger signs. Her entire body softened when she got too close to him now, and she . . . tingled.
It was the memories of their nights together. She kept replaying the sound of his low timbered rough voice in her ear when he’d been over her, deep inside her, taking her to places she hadn’t been in far too long. And then the sound of his sexy triumphant laugh when he’d taken her over the edge for the second time.
And then a third.
If she was being honest, it was about more than just the physical intimacy they’d shared. It was the look in his eyes when he got concerned about her safety—and yet he still let her do what she wanted to do.
Yeah, there was no doubt. She was deep, deep in the danger zone with him. “I had a bunch of work piled up,” she said.
“And not all of it for Hunt Investigations,” he said.
She gave a single nod of agreement.
“Find anything?” he asked.
“I’m working on getting access to financial information on Nick and all his various aliases, along with his brother. And also the workings of the charities that the village supposedly supports. Did you know that there’s a handful of people who win bingo? A lot?”
“What’s a lot?” he asked.
“Just about weekly, near as I can tell. Almost as if they have a deal with the person in charge of bingo.”
He nodded. “So assuming that’s true and that Nick has people planted in bingo, the winners probably get to keep part of the winnings, but have to hand the rest back to him.”
“Bad Santa.”
“Very bad,” he agreed in that voice that never failed to rev her engines. Before she could do something stupid, she looked at the time. “Oops. Gotta go,” she said.
“Hold up.”
“No time,” she said and walked down the hallway, grabbing her purse and laptop. At the front door of the offices, she was halted when a long arm reached past her and held the door closed.
He was right behind her, as in so close she could feel the heat of him through her clothes, seeping into her back. She closed her eyes to take it in as he lowered his head and rubbed his jaw to hers.
“Molly,” he murmured, his mouth at the sweet spot beneath her ear, making her quiver on the inside. On the outside, she locked her knees.
“Hmm?” she managed, her body moving of its own accord, dammit, tipping her head to the side to give him more room in order to drive her crazy with his mouth now at her throat.
“Where are you running off to?” he asked. His breath was warm, the day-old stubble on his jaw prickling her skin in the very best way.
“Home,” she managed. “I’ve got to rest up for tomorrow night’s elf shift. Mrs. Berkowitz and Mrs. White heard rumors that something’s going down tomorrow night.” Dammit! Her eyes flashed open and she whirled to face him, poking her finger in his stupid hard chest. “Stop doing that!”
He lifted his hands, showing her that they weren’t on her in any way. “Doing what?”
“You know what!”
“Breathing?”
“Yes! Especially on my neck.”
“You liked it.”
Way too much . . .
Clearly able to read her mind, he smiled. “Are you going to invite your partner along tomorrow night?”
“No,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m just going to work a shift and you stick out in all your big, alpha, silent badassery. And plus, there’s no way you’d actually wear an elf costume, so . . .”
He’d gone brows up at the badassery comment. “I can’t wear an elf costume,” he said. “No place to put my gun.”
She snorted and wriggled her butt against his “gun.”
He whipped her around to face him and pressed her up against the wall with six feet plus of solid muscle, and her eyes started to drift closed of their own doing. “That’s a pretty big gun,” she said breathlessly.
Laughing, he dropped his forehead to hers. “You’ve been ignoring me since the meeting. You okay?”
“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”
His brown eyes met hers and held.
“Because of last night? Lucas, I think we both know exactly how okay I am after that.” She gave him a small smile. “Nothing’s changed.”
He ran his fingers along her jaw, letting them sink into her hair. “Good. But I’m going with you tomorrow night. Tomorrow night and always.”
“You’ll wear an elf costume?” she asked, teasingly hopeful.
A light of amusement came into his eyes. “In bed I’ll wear whatever you want me to. But out of bed, I’m staying dressed as is—including weapons.”
She ran her gaze over his leanly muscled body. “Exactly how many weapons are you packing anyway?”
A very wicked smile crossed his mouth. “Unless you’re prepared to search me and find out yourself, none of your business.”
This caused a rush of heat to go right through her, but she lifted her chin and gave him a light shove.
He let her have her space, but didn’t go far. “I’m still coming with,” he said.
“Because you think I need backup?”
“Because we’re partners. And if you’re free right now, I could actually use your help with something.”
“Like what?” she asked, eyes narrowed.
He smiled. “Suspicious much?”
“With you, yes.”
“Have I ever steered you wrong or left you hanging?”
“No,” she had to admit. He’d never done anything but be brutally honest, have her back on this case, and respect her abilities.
As for the leaving her hanging thing . . . he’d never left her hanging at all. In fact, he’d refused to leave her behind.
So she supposed it wouldn’t be fair to leave him behind now.
Chapter 16
#AreYouElfingKiddinMe