Lip Lock

by Susanna Carr

  “You are?” He looked at her carefully. “Are they expecting you?”

  Okay, that was her cue to establish her story. She worked on this on the ferry ride over. Not too much information, but just a few clues that she belonged here. “I know Laurie isn’t there,” Molly said, “but she told me where to get the key. Oh, did you hear any news about the baby?”

  The suspicion cleared from the man’s brow. “Yeah, it’s a boy.”

  “Oh, good. I’m sure I’ll hear all about it.” Molly gave the shopkeeper a wink.

  The older man gave a knowing smile in return. “What did you say your name was?”

  “Molly. Molly Connors.” She held out her hand, although she was reluctant to give out her real name. But if she was going to find a job here, she had to be truthful up front. “And you are?”

  “Nice to meet you, I’m Jerry.” He then proceeded to give her directions to Kyle’s place. “If you have any questions, give me a call.”

  “Thanks.” Molly stepped outside and headed off in the direction of the cottage.

  The job search was going to be harder than she anticipated. No restaurants? No hotels? No businesses? How was she going to survive?

  She looked in the direction of the ferry. Stopped in her tracks. Wavered.

  No. She wasn’t going to give up just yet. She had to think outside the box. There were other types of jobs available. Molly knew that she needed to be on the lookout.

  She walked along the unpaved roads, catching glimpses of Puget Sound between the evergreen trees. She tried to remember the address and went completely blank for a minute.

  Don’t panic. You wrote it down somewhere. She opened her backpack and scanned the address. The last thing she wanted to do was break into the wrong house!

  She followed along the path until she found the address advertised. She looked around, surprised that there was no fence. No gates. Nothing.

  Whew. One less thing to worry about.

  She walked down the sloping yard. The lawn was lush and green, but by no means controlled. Plants were grouped together, flaring out and soaking in the weak sunlight.

  Molly abruptly stopped when she saw the cottage. Her mouth fell open. This was not a cottage. Where she came from, the proper term was a freaking mansion!

  Nooo…She looked at the address she had written down. It was the right house. Molly slowly returned her gaze to the place.

  The “cottage” was freshly painted a pale yellow. It rose majestically from the ground about two stories and stretched across the wide yard. The driveway meandered to the stone steps.

  The low slanted roof gave a gracious look to the sturdy house. The window balconies made her think of those movies set in Italy. Tuscany or something.

  She slowly walked along the meandering driveway to the stone steps. Now might be a time to rethink her plan, Molly considered as she approached the massive front door. Taking advantage of an empty beachside cottage was one thing…Molly turned around and found a woman standing right behind her. She screamed and reeled back, colliding into the front door.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to sneak up on you. Jerry at the store called and said you were coming.”

  Molly pressed her hand against her chest and took in a few gulps of air. “Hi, I’m Molly,” she said shakily and stretched out her hand. “And you are?”

  The woman eyed her and didn’t accept the handshake. “The next-door neighbor.”

  Hmm…That doesn’t sound promising. Molly quickly dropped her hand and studied the older woman. She was thin, wrinkled, and looked like she had seen a lot of life. The woman was going to be a hard nut to crack.

  “Laurie didn’t say you were coming.”

  “She didn’t know.”

  “Uh-huh.” She studied Molly with open suspicion. The woman folded her arms across her chest. “You better start talking.”

  Molly eyed the next-door neighbor. Okay. She had better be convincing if she wanted the key. And she really needed the key. The ferry was gone, and she had no truck or office building to sleep at. No way was she going camping in the wild tonight.

  “Well, I’m so glad to meet you,” Molly said with her friendliest smile. “How’s Laurie doing with her grandson?”

  “How do you know Laurie?”

  “Well, I don’t,” Molly admitted. “I’ve only talked to her on the phone on a couple of occasions.”

  The neighbor gave her the evil eye. Molly’s nerves skittered up and down her spine.

  “It sounded awful what her daughter went through,” Molly said in a rush, determined to prove a familiarity with Kyle’s life.

  The neighbor’s eyes narrowed.

  “With the water breaking and the…”

  Her eyes went steely.

  “Mucus plug.” Hmm, normal people usually would have tried to stop her and change the subject. “Anyway, Laurie said you would have the key.”

  The woman wasn’t warming up at all. “Like I said, Laurie didn’t tell me you were coming.”

  “I didn’t know myself until this weekend.”

  “Are you a relative of Kyle’s?”

  “Not exactly.” She could lie, but she remembered Kyle’s distance with his family. This woman might know that.

  “Not exactly?” The woman frowned. “Either you are or you aren’t. How do you know Kyle?”

  “I’m a”—Acquaintance? Employee?—“friend.”

  “Friend?” The woman appeared unconvinced.

  “A close friend,” Molly added.

  “How close?”

  Molly’s mouth opened and closed. “Excuse me?”

  “Because I don’t know how a close friend is not exactly related to him.”

  Well, she walked into that one, didn’t she? Molly knew she should give up and leave. She had no idea why she was arguing with this woman on the doorstep of a house that was neither hers nor this woman’s.

  So why wasn’t she leaving? Why was she risking getting caught? Had she passed the point of recognizing a lost cause, or was she willing to do anything to live in this house? She didn’t want to think about that right now. “Okay, here’s the deal, Miss…”

  Nothing.

  Molly tried again. “Mrs….?”

  Still nothing. If she said sir, would she get a reaction? Molly decided not to chance it.

  “Ma’am, I’m not really allowed to say anything because”—because why?—“it’s not…official.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “But Kyle and I are…engaged.” Molly reviewed what she just said. That story might work.

  “Uh-huh.” The woman made a point to look at Molly’s hand.

  “I don’t have a ring yet,” Molly explained, fighting the urge to curl her hands and hide them behind her back. “Because it’s not official.”

  “When did this happen?”

  “This week.” That sounded good. She’d go with that.

  “So why are you here?” The woman shifted back on her heels. “Alone?”

  Hmm. Molly hadn’t considered that a just-engaged couple would stick to each other like glue. “Kyle is talking about selling this house, but I told him I wanted to see it before he decided.”

  The neighbor looked at the house and back at Molly. “Why didn’t he come down with you?”

  Gosh, this woman was nosy! “He’s been so busy at work,” Molly said as if she was confiding something with the neighbor. “I told him he needed to get out more and get some fresh air, but no. The guy is fine with his treadmill. He’s a good runner.”

  “Yes, I know,” the woman said. She glanced at the unpaved road. “He used to run these hills every morning.”

  Aha! She was getting somewhere. Molly tried not to show her relief.

  “Is he coming down soon?” the neighbor asked.

  Oh, don’t wish that on me! “He wants to,” Molly said. “It depends on work.”

  “How long are you going to be here?”

  This line of questioning was beginning to sound promising. “I’m no
t sure. I really like this place,” Molly said in all honesty. “I guess I can wait until Laurie gets back. Did she say when she’ll be back?”

  “No, but her daughter has maternity leave and needed her help.”

  That was probably a couple of weeks at least. She should be able to find a job, break the pretend engagement, and find a place to live by that time.

  “So,” the older woman said, interrupting Molly’s thoughts. “You and Kyle are engaged?”

  Molly nodded. “But no one is supposed to know, so keep it between us.”

  “Why is it a secret?”

  Good question. Why would they keep it secret? Why wouldn’t they announce it right away? Molly leaned forward. “We’re still negotiating the pre-nup.”

  “Really?” She gave Molly another searching glance. “He’s making you sign a prenuptial agreement?”

  Oh, darn it! She walked into that one. She just made herself sound untrustworthy. “No…I’m making him sign one.”

  “You are?” The older woman’s eyelashes fluttered with surprise. “Why?”

  Molly spread her arms out wide and admitted, “I’m a trust fund baby.”

  Kyle stepped out of the elevator onto the executive floor and stopped at the sight of the new receptionist.

  The chic woman was very different from Molly. Sleek, urban, businesslike. Which didn’t explain his crashing disappointment.

  “Good afternoon, Mr. Ashton.”

  He went blank on the woman’s name and gave a nod of recognition as she took another call, her voice elegant and hushed.

  He walked into his office and found Sara following him in. “Your meeting with marketing has been rescheduled. Check your computer. Nothing urgent in your e-mails, and here are the summaries about Darrell and Bridget.” She placed a file on his glass desk.

  “Who?” he asked as he sat down.

  “The owners of plaza+tag that you invited over the last week of November?”

  “Right.” To show they had nothing to worry about with his company. What a joke.

  “Anything else?”

  “Did you find Molly Connors’s job review file?” Okay, he had no idea why he just asked that.

  Sara seemed equally surprised. She drew her head back. “Excuse me?”

  “It never showed up. I never saw it.”

  “I found it and returned it to human resources,” Sara informed him. “Why do you need it now? Is there a legal matter?” Her expression tightened. “Is there something wrong with Joy?”

  Joy. That was her name. “How’s she doing?”

  “She transitioned into the job smoothly,” Sara said carefully. “Do you have a concern?”

  “No.” How could he? Joy didn’t make any glaring mistakes. Worked independently. No drama.

  And yet he missed seeing Molly. Who wasn’t perfect, but worked hard. Only her presence was a disturbing force of nature.

  Kyle heard a knock and saw Timothy standing at the open door of his office. “Do you have a minute?”

  “Sure.” Kyle nodded at Sara, indicating that they were done. “What’s up?”

  Timothy waited for Sara to leave and shut the door behind her. He silently walked to the desk. Kyle could tell he wasn’t going to like what he was going to hear.

  “Molly is missing.”

  Kyle felt the kick in his stomach. At first he thought it was anger, but then he recognized it for what it was. Panic. Worry.

  He turned and stared at his computer screen as the emotions swirled and crashed inside him. He didn’t want to worry about Molly. This was the woman who stole from him. Lied to him.

  “When did you last see her?” Kyle asked.

  “That’s the problem.” Timothy gripped the edge of the desk with his hands. “The investigators never got a lead on her.”

  Kyle glanced up. “At all?”

  “She no longer lives at the apartment she rented. She hasn’t used any credit cards, and her truck rental has been abandoned.”

  “Abandoned,” Kyle repeated. That didn’t sound right. If she could have left that stuff, she would have done so before she got fired. “Abandoned where? Was there anything in the truck?”

  “Nothing but an orange sofa,” Timothy said. “The trail is cold.”

  Kyle felt cold, too.

  “It’s like the moment she stepped out of this building, she vanished.” Timothy motioned at the window.

  Ice filled his veins.

  “How much do you want to bet Molly isn’t her real name?” His friend shook his head, obviously considering the possibility that they all had been duped so easily.

  Could Molly have lied about something that basic, yet so important?

  “Don’t we have background checks for that?”

  Timothy shrugged. “You can get around that if you know what you’re doing.”

  Which meant Molly might have been one hell of a pro. And he turned out to have been a very easy mark.

  “I’m going to keep the investigators going,” Timothy said as he walked back to the door. “No one hides without a reason.”

  “Good idea,” Kyle agreed. And he definitely wanted the reason.

  Sara all but ran into his office Friday afternoon. “Kyle, big problem.”

  He looked up from the computer screen. “Lay it on me.”

  “We don’t have reservations for Darrell and Bridget.” The executive assistant thrust her hands into her curly red hair and groaned.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You invited the plaza+tag owners to come visit our office,” she reminded him.

  “I did?” He forgot about that.

  “Yes. To show them you have everything under control.” She studied his blank expression. “Strong, united front? Any of this ringing a bell?”

  “It’s coming back to me.” That was before he found out just how little control he had over his empire. Bringing over the people with whom he wanted to align forces was not a good idea at this time. But it was too late to call off the plans.

  “I gave Molly the task of making the arrangements,” Sara went on. “I mean, how hard could it be? In fact, Molly volunteered to do it. And guess what?”

  He made a guess. “She didn’t do it.”

  Sara tossed her hands in the air. “She didn’t do it!”

  “We’ll come up with something.” He shrugged a shoulder, ready to return to his computer.

  “I’ve tried everything.” Sara put her hands on her hips. “I’ve called in favors. I looked into rental apartments. We have nothing.”

  “Nothing?” That couldn’t be possible.

  Sara rolled her eyes. “Nothing that would make a good impression. Next time, don’t invite clients over for Thanksgiving week.”

  “It’s going to be Thanksgiving next week?” Wow, the year went by fast.

  “The holiday falls on the fourth Thursday of every November. No reason to change it this year.”

  Kyle felt his eyebrow rise. It wasn’t like Sara to talk back like this. She must be really rattled by the turn of events. “These guys accepted on Thanksgiving?”

  “Maybe they are just like you and don’t keep track.”

  He recalled what he knew about the guests. “The summaries you gave me said they were a married couple. Outdoorsy.”

  “Are you suggesting I go buy a tent for them?” Sara rubbed her hand across her forehead. “Maybe a kerosene lamp?”

  Kyle ignored her as he tried to remember the guests’ interests. “Hiking, kayaking, rock climbing…”

  “What about it?”

  “I bet that’s why they accepted,” he said as he leaned back in his chair. “They want a taste of the Pacific Northwest.”

  Sara considered what he said. “Possible.”

  “And we are going to give it to them.”

  “Okay, let me repeat myself.” She put her hands on the glass desktop and leaned in to gain his full attention. “We have no hotel room for them.”

  “We don’t need one. I’ll take th
em to my place.”

  She looked at him as if he had lost his mind. “You don’t even know them and they’re going to stay with you?”

  “Well, if they try to steal the family silver then I’ll know I don’t want to business with them.”

  Sara rose to her full height. “And which place are you talking about?”

  Wasn’t it obvious? “My island cottage.”

  “That’s a little out of the way.”

  Which was why it would work. “I’ll give them a tour of the company and then take them there. No interruptions, no distractions.”

  Sara’s hand went back to her forehead. “I thought the whole point was to show them around.”

  “The whole point is to get the deal. And we’ll get it done there.”

  “You’re going, too?” Sara took a step back from the desk. “You’re leaving the office?”

  He slid a sideways glance at her. “It’s been known to happen.”

  “Not lately.”

  Kyle couldn’t argue with that. “Then I’ll do my best to make the most out of it.”

  “How long are you going to be gone?”

  “For the week. Think you can manage without me?” he asked with a big grin.

  “I’ll try.”

  “You better call Laurie and let her know I’m coming with two guests,” Kyle said, returning his attention to the computer. “She’ll be ecstatic.”

  Sara whirled on her heel and stopped. “The redecorating!” she exclaimed and smacked her hand on her forehead.

  “What?”

  She turned around. “You’re redecorating. I have no idea if it’s done.”

  “Not a big deal. From the sounds of it, we will be mostly outside.” He looked out his window and felt the lick of anticipation. “You know, I’m kind of looking forward to it.”

  Chapter 10

  Kyle pulled his car off of the ferry and looked around the island. It was unchanged from the last time he visited. Untamed. Serene. Private.

  Taking this break might just be what he needed. Clear his head. Get Molly Connors—or whoever she really was—out of his mind.

  “Wow,” Darrell said under his breath as he looked out the car window.

  Kyle nodded in silent agreement and knew it was a good choice to bring them to the island. Darrell and Bridget seemed to be full of ideas and bursting with positive energy, but if he had tried to contain them in his corporate offices, they would have been miserable.