“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.
She waited until Lucas turned to say something to his sister on his other side before stealing one of his pieces of cheesy bread. She was on the last bite when he glanced down at his plate and then at her.
Mouth full, she gave her best innocent smile, turned her head away from him, and . . . came gaze to gaze with his mom.
She was grinning.
At the tap on her shoulder, she turned back to Lucas.
“Something you want to tell me?” he asked.
“Well, I was going to wait until we were alone,” she said. “But you’ve got a little something . . .” She pointed to the corner of her mouth.
Lucas brought his fingers up to the same spot on his own mouth and then looked down at them. “Lip gloss.” He smiled at her. “Strawberry, right?”
She flushed. He’d turned that right back on her. Note to self: you can’t outplay a player.
“I think you took something of mine,” he said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He touched the corner of her mouth this time, coming away with a crumb from the bread she’d stolen off his plate.
She tried to blink innocently, but the feel of his finger on her mouth had set her knees wobbling. Good thing she was sitting down.
“Got a question for you, Molly,” Laura said. “Does Lucas still snore like a buzz saw? Because when we were little and we’d come up here, we had to share a room. He’d snore so loud that we’d all want to snuff him out with a pillow.”
“Hey,” Lucas said. “That was after Sami broke my nose with her baseball bat and before my surgery to fix the deviated septum. I haven’t snored since.”
“You sure about that?” Laura asked.
Everyone looked at Molly, including Lucas, who seemed to be trying to remind her telepathically about their deal. She was his date. His romantic date. Deciding some payback was necessary, she lifted a shoulder. “You know, I almost don’t hear it anymore. I guess you get used to it.”
Everyone laughed, but Lucas just gave her a slow, devastatingly mischievous smile. “So you want to play it like that, do you?” he murmured.
Conflicting emotions danced through her. The thrill and excitement of what he might do to her in retribution . . . and the worry of what he might do to her in retribution. Not that she was afraid of him. More like she was afraid of how much she might like it.
The conversation shifted, ebbed and flowed, and through it all Molly was incredibly, annoyingly aware of Lucas at her side, his arm brushing hers, the way he dipped his head close when she spoke to him, like whatever she might say was the most important thing to him in that moment, and how his unique, sexy scent teased her every time he did.
He lifted his glass for a drink and caught her staring at him. “You okay?” he asked.
Was she? She wasn’t quite certain . . .
“Honey,” Lucas’s mom said to him. “We’ve been having trouble with the internet connection today. I thought maybe after you finish—”
“No problem,” he said. “I’m finished.” He reached for Molly’s hand. “I’ll just take an assistant—”
Molly choked on her water because in the office, she was the internet wizard. No one but her could ever get their systems running smoothly, including Lucas.
“I mean partner,” Lucas quickly corrected, but by the look on his face he knew he was too late.
Molly smiled at his mom. “I could take a look for you. I’m sure I won’t need an assistant, but Lucas could come along and watch and learn if he’d like.”
His mom laughed in sheer delight and looked at Lucas. “I love this girl.” She stood up, drawing Molly along with her toward the den. “You just stay seated, son, and eat your bread. We’ve got this.”
“Idiot,” Sami said fondly to Lucas, who blew out a breath.
A minute later, Molly was unplugging the router and rebooting their system. “This almost always works.”
“I know,” Lucas’s mom said. “And there’s nothing wrong with our internet. I just wanted to talk to you alone without my nosy son.”
Sami came into the den and shut the door behind her. “He’s doing dishes,” Sami told her mom.
Molly took in the women’s expectant expressions and thought uh-oh . . .
“Oh, don’t be scared,” his mom said. “We’re not looking for you to betray Lucas’s confidence or anything like that.”
“Okay, so what are you looking for?”
The two women looked at each other and then back at Molly. Sami spoke first. “To be honest, we’re just so excited to see him in a relationship at all. What can you tell us?”
“Well, first of all, this is just a date, so—”
His mom and Sami looked at each other and laughed.