Lucas couldn’t help but smile at the look on Molly’s face. At the moment she was utterly transparent, and he liked where her thoughts had gone. A lot. “My aunt’s having a holiday party,” he said. “And I promised I’d show up.”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head. “No, no, no.”
“And there’s an additional problem,” he went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “I have to bring a date to save me from all the dates my family will have planted at this party for me if I show up single. The fear is real, Molly.”
She was still shaking her head.
He blew out a breath. “Please?”
She looked boggled at that, and he got it. It wasn’t often he asked for help. “You’re not afraid of anything,” she said. “I’ve seen you jump off a fifty-foot bridge to go after a suspect. And only three weeks ago, you threw yourself in front of a bullet to save a client. You’re fearless.”
“Not entirely. Turns out I’m terrified of the meddling, nosy women in my family.”
“Wow.”
“Wow in a good way, right?” he asked.
“No.”
He had to laugh. She was seriously the only woman he’d ever met who could push all his buttons and yet still make him want her. Which solved it. He’d lost his mind. “You going to help me or not?”
“By pretending to be your date?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Okay, whatever. Sure, I’ll save your ass,” she said with a martyr-like sigh. “But it’s going to cost you. Big-time.”
“What’s your price?” he asked as they took the stairs down to the courtyard.
“Oh no, you’re not getting off that easy. The price is a favor, to be named at a later date. And you can’t say no.”
“I don’t think so,” he said.
“Okay then.” She shrugged and shifted, reversing directions. “Have a good night—”
He caught her arm. Damn. She was both terrifying and incredibly impressive. If the guys could see him now, they’d be laughing their asses off. “Fine,” he said. “We’ve got a deal. A favor for a favor. But you have to really sell being my date.”
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Sell? Sell how exactly?”
“Well . . .” He thought about that. “You could brag about me a little bit.” He smiled. “Or a lot. And rub up against me and look at me like I’m a sex god. The whole nine yards.”
She shook her head. “I’m seeing a whole new side of you here, Lucas.”
“A side you like, though, right?”
“Whatever gets you through the day,” she said.
He drove. They were out of the city and on the highway before she straightened and took a good look around, which was a testament to just how exhausted she was, working both her regular day job and moonlighting on the Bad Santa case.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“I told you. My aunt’s holiday party.” He paused and glanced over at her, hoping she wasn’t armed. He was pretty sure she wasn’t, but Joe was always armed to the teeth so he couldn’t be positive without a pat down—and the likelihood of her allowing that was slim to never. “I told you that she lives in the Sierras. On the summit, in fact.”
Molly gaped at him. “As in Donner Summit? Near Tahoe?”
“Well, not quite that far, but yeah.”
“You didn’t say it was outside the city!”
He shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”
“Oh my God.” But she didn’t say anything else, or demand he take her home, both good signs. It was snowing lightly, casting the night in a soft, white glow as they began the climb up the mountains.
“I love the mountains and especially snow,” she admitted softly, staring out the window. “It’s calm and quiet and . . .”
“And . . .”
She didn’t answer.
Romantic. He’d bet that’s what she’d been about to say and he agreed. The snow was deceptively romantic.
All of which added up to nothing but trouble.
“Do you come up here often?” she asked.
“My family loves Tahoe and spends a lot of time up here. We gather at the cabin as often as possible. Less now, though.”
“People too busy?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Josh, my brother, used to handle most of the planning of these trips. He was the perennial middle kid, the peacemaker, the gatherer. The rest of us try, but we’re no match for him.”
He had her attention now; he could feel her gaze on him. Around them, the night was so quiet. The gently falling snow was an insulator, making things very close and intimate.
“Will he be there tonight?” she asked.
“No.” He gave a small smile. “We were a pair growing up, though. A pair of instigators. If there was trouble, we managed to find it. Gave my mom gray hair early.”
She let out a small smile. “I don’t remember much about my mom, but Joe and I were a pair of troublemakers too, though Joe tried to keep me out of it and safe. Only problem was, I was good at being stealth and following him. Used to piss him off big-time.”
He let out a low laugh. “If half the things I’ve heard about Joe’s misspent youth are true, then I can see why he wouldn’t want you tagging along after him.”
Her smile congealed a little bit and he cocked his head. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“I know you now, Molly,” he said. “I know your tells. Plus you’re a shitty liar.”
She shrugged. “You’re right about Joe not wanting me to tag along after him. He hated it and worried about it, for reasons I didn’t understand at the time or I might’ve gotten smarter a lot faster.”
“Something’s happened,” he guessed quietly.
She hesitated. “Remember when I told you I was hurt because of my own stupidity?” she finally asked.
Oh shit. He had a bad feeling about this story. “Yeah.”
“Well, I wasn’t kidding. I was fourteen to Joe’s seventeen when I developed a crush on someone in his crowd, someone I thought was a friend—but wasn’t.” She paused, her breath quickening a little. “I didn’t know, but this guy and a few others were trying to convince Joe to join their gang because he had some pretty impressive . . . skills. Skills he’d been using to keep food on our table and a roof over our head.” She grimaced. “Okay, now I’m making Joe seem like a juvenile delinquent—”
“Hey, no judgment from me,” Lucas said, reaching across the console to take her hand. “I’ve seen Joe’s skills firsthand, and he’s saved my ass on the job more times than I can count. I’m grateful for him, and grateful for you that he could provide for you when you needed it. I’m just sorry it was like that for you guys.”
“My dad really did the best he could,” she said. “He just couldn’t always keep a job. People don’t understand him.”
Lucas nodded, not saying anything else, knowing that by holding his tongue she might keep talking and tell him the part of the story she was stalling with, and he very much wanted, needed, to hear it.
“Joe didn’t want to join the gang,” she said. She paused and then cleared her throat. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sweating. Can you turn down the heat?”
He quickly did so and then handed her one of the bottles of water he had stashed in the driver door pocket.
She cracked it open and drank deeply.
“Better?” he asked.
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“So . . . Joe didn’t want to join the gang,” he said casually, hoping she’d continue.
“No. Or do any of the things they wanted him to. He kept refusing, but I didn’t know any of those things. All I knew was that he got to go out whenever he wanted and not be accountable to anyone for his comings and goings, and it seemed so . . . exciting.” She sighed. “So when one of the guys started paying attention to me, I was flattered.” She closed her eyes.
Yeah, he’d been right. He was really going to hate this story. He pulled into his aunt’s driveway and parked. Leaving the engine on for the defrost, he turned to her. “Can you tell me what happened?”
She put her free hand low on her belly, as if it hurt. The memories appeared to have her every muscle tense and she was indeed clammy. He cracked her window an inch to get her some air and she sent him a grateful look before closing her eyes again.