He gave a ghost of a smile. “Just remember, you poured hot coffee into Nick’s lap. He’s not going to be happy with you.”
“Warm coffee,” she corrected. “And what a big baby. Trust me, I can take him again if I have to.”
He knew that. Hell, he was proud of that. She was amazing. But this was more than any of them had thought. “You know we need to bring Archer and the guys in on this,” he said.
“Hell no. They didn’t want this case.”
“It’s not about that, or proving you’re worthy of the work. It’s about your safety.”
Her smile was gone. “If you tell them, they’ll take over.”
“We could use the additional resources.”
“Fine. I’ll think about it,” she said and turned away. “I’m going back to work.”
“Molly—”
“Either watch my back or don’t,” she said without facing him. “Just don’t stop me.”
So he did the only thing he could do. He watched her back.
Two long hours later, she emerged from the bingo hall looking exhausted. “Did you get the memory stick?” she asked in lieu of a greeting.
“No. Janet got a migraine and is crashed out on the couch in the office. A couple of the elves are sitting with her drinking straight out of a bottle of cheap whiskey. They’re not going anywhere tonight.”
“Shit,” she murmured.
That about summed it up. Unable to do anything else, they headed to the car. Inside the dark interior, he looked over at her. “You were incredible tonight.”
“Yeah. So incredible you want to cut me out of this job.”
He shook his head. “I’m not going to do that to you. I’d never do that to you.”
The wariness vanished from her gaze. “No?”
“No. I just said that it’s time to think about backup on this. Backup, Molly. No one’s going to take this from you.”
She sent him a dazzling smile. Losing the battle to keep his hands off of her, he hauled her in close and kissed her.
“What was that for?” she asked breathlessly when he dropped her back into the passenger seat and drove them out of the lot.
“I have no fucking idea,” he said, eyes on the road.
“Maybe it’s because I totally handled myself tonight with Santa,” she teased.
“You did.” He merged them into traffic and slid her a look. “It turned me on.”
She smiled smugly.
“And terrified me.” He shook his head. “Archer and Joe are idiots. If they took you seriously, you’d be our biggest, most impressive asset.”
She stared at him. “That’s the sexiest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
“I’m not kidding. You’re terrifyingly good at this. Archer needs to see you in action.”
Her eyes were dark and luminous in the ambient lighting as she slowly dragged her teeth over her lower lip. “Now you’re just talking dirty to me on purpose. Lucas?”
The husky low whisper of her voice had him already hard. “Yeah?”
“If I say take me home, can we have the same rules as last time?”
“You mean the no talking thing unless it’s dirty talk?”
“Yes.”
He wanted more, so much more, but he’d take what he could get from her and deal with the consequences later.
Seeing the answer in her eyes, she gave a small, heated smile. “Take me home, Lucas,” she whispered.
She didn’t have to say it twice.
Chapter 21
#YouSleighMe
Molly wasn’t all that surprised when Lucas brought them to the Pacific Pier Building and his apartment instead of her place.
He had the bigger bed.
It’d started pouring on the way home. He parked and turned to her, his eyes hotter than sin. They sat and stared for a moment, and then by unspoken agreement they twisted toward each other, kept from complete contact by the console between them.
Lucas slid his hand around to the nape of her neck, pulling her in closer, brushing his lips over hers, lightly at first, small, teasing kisses until it wasn’t enough. She moaned for more, touching her tongue to his bottom lip until he deepened the kiss.
Closing her eyes, she let herself fall into the sensations. The sound of the rain hitting the roof of the car. The taste of Lucas, the feel of his touch, the scent of him, the heat radiating off his body . . . all of it making her feel like this was all that mattered. Screw thinking. All she wanted to do was feel.
As if he could hear her thoughts and he agreed, he made a low sound deep in his throat, tightening his grip on her as he pulled his mouth back a fraction. “Be sure, Molly. Because after last night I didn’t think we’d—”
“Shh.” Not wanting to think about last night, or what would happen later, she brushed her mouth up his jaw toward his ear at the same time as she slid her hand beneath his T-shirt to caress his abs. “I’m sure,” she whispered and nipped his earlobe.
With a low growl, he hauled her over the console and into his lap. Outside, the icy rain and windstorm continued to beat at the car. They’d heated up the interior and fogged all the windows, so the real world was a complete blur. Inside, things went just as wild, but thankfully without the cold. Just the crazy heat and chemistry between them as he aided the already rising hem of her dress northbound until he had a front row view of her pale blue lace panties.
With a rough sound of pure male pleasure, he ran a finger along the lace, making her fist her hands in his hair to hungrily pull his mouth back to hers. When he slipped past the lace barrier and gently stroked her wet flesh, she arched against his hand and cried out.
She’d only meant to tease him out of his famed control so that he’d feel some of what she did, but she was the one she’d teased out of control. She needed him now, and to that end, she reached for the button on his jeans.
He caught her hand. “Not here.”
She rested her forehead against his, her breathing irregular and coming in short gasps. “Why not?”
“Because you deserve a bed.”
“I don’t need a bed.”
“Good to know. But inside at least, where no one can interrupt us, because Molly?”
“Yeah?”
“This is going to take a while.”
She gulped and the bones in her legs melted as he came around for her, grabbing her hand, running with her through the cobblestone courtyard up the stairs to his fourth-floor apartment.
They were drenched and dripping all over the hallway as he pulled out his keys. When he turned to the door, Molly took in the way his shirt clung to the muscles of his shoulders and back, and utterly unable to help herself, she ran a hand down his spine.
He dropped his keys and swore.
Smiling as he straightened, she pressed a kiss to his wet biceps.
With a groan, he shoved the door open, curled an arm around her and pulled her inside. Kicking the door closed, he picked her up and headed with fierce intent toward his bedroom. Setting her down by the bed, he stripped off his wet shirt before backing up a few steps to hit the light switch with a slap of his hand.
Then he came back to her, dropped to his knees and fisted his hands in the material of her dress to tug off of her.
“Wait,” she gasped.
Going still, he met her gaze, his passion in check thanks to his incredible control, but she’d bet by the look in his eyes, he was barely leashed.
She’d felt that way herself only seconds ago, but the light flooding the room had been like a bucket of ice water. “The light . . .”
“Molly.” He cupped her face. “I want to see you.”
“Yeah . . .” She squeezed her hands together and stared down at her white knuckles. “About that. Um . . .”
Holding her gaze, he glided his hands up and down her thighs. “You’re beautiful, Molly. Let me show you how much.”
“See, I was sort of planning to skip the show part.”
He took her chilled hands in his warm ones, a question in his eyes, though he didn’t say speak.
She blew out a breath. “Okay, so I have a . . . thing.”
“A thing.”
“A hang-up thing,” she said.
“Okay, well, that’s better than what I thought you were going to say. A hang-up we can work with.”
“I—Wait,” she said. “What did you think I was going to say?”
“That you didn’t want to get me naked again.”