Hot Winter Nights

by Jill Shalvis

  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.

  “What?” Molly asked.

  “Nothing,” Sami said, still smiling. “It’s just nice to see him so comfortable with you. And . . . happy. For so long he’s been totally closed off. You know? And yeah, he’d show up to these family things if we bugged him enough, but he always came alone. The hard part is that he refuses to talk about himself at all, so we have no way of knowing how he’s really doing, how he’s been coping. Recovering.” Her smile faded, to be replaced by worry and concern as she leaned in closer and lowered her voice. “So can you help us by telling us how he’s doing?”

  “Coping and recovering?” Molly asked. “Are you referring to when he was shot last month or—”

  They all gasped in horrified unison. Okay, so it wasn’t that—

  “He was shot?” his mom asked in a small voice.

  “In the side, a through and through,” Molly quickly said. “Full recovery.”

  His mom let out a shaky breath. “Dear God.”

  Sami reached for her aunt’s hand but looked at Molly. “He’s really okay?”

  “Yes,” Molly said firmly and apologetically. “I’m sorry, I—”

  “Don’t you dare be sorry,” his mom said. “Not for being there for him and not for being so honest.” She swallowed hard. “For a while now, Lucas has pulled inward. Hasn’t let anyone in. Works all the time. But since you’ve been around, we’ve seen him twice in a week. And he’s calling more, checking in. He’s smiling too and he does look happy. We all figured that was your doing.”

  Molly shook her head. “I honestly can’t take credit for any of that.”

  His mom’s face softened. “Are you sure? Because love’s pretty damn powerful.”

  “We’re really not—” Molly shook her head, unable to put words to all she was feeling. “We’re just not,” she finished lamely, and unable to lie to them, this family who loved Lucas so much, she sighed. “Okay, full disclosure. This isn’t really even a date. It’s a favor. We work together and sometimes we help each other out with stuff . . .”

  “Like tonight,” Sami said.

  “Yes, like tonight,” she said, but instead of looking disappointed, the Knight women all exchanged another long look.

  “That’s a pretty big favor,” Sami finally said. “W
alking into a family gathering like this can be pretty intimidating, and it suggests a big step.”

  “He’s done the same for me,” Molly said, remembering the way he’d dealt with her dad, with a kindness and understanding she hadn’t expected. “And mine was worse. Way worse,” she added, thinking of her dad’s rifle. “Uh, not to say this was bad or anything.”

  His mom helped her out by laughing, not offended in the least. “Sweet of you to say. And equally sweet of you to try to protect my son—and me—by letting me know you’re not together. But I see something between you two, Molly, something I’m guessing you just don’t yet see.” She smiled. “I used to think that love was all about red roses and expensive dinners. But the truth is, love is letting your mate steal a piece of bread off your plate. It’s being awoken by snoring and refraining from shoving him out of bed. It’s talking in code and trying to embarrass one another in public. It’s going on adventures and making fun of each other. It’s stupid fights and memorable make-ups.” She squeezed Molly’s hand. “Love isn’t pretty and romantic. You know that, right? Love is just stumbling through life with your best friend.”

  Molly’s heart was thumping hard in her chest. Because if she was in love, no good could come of it. So thoroughly convinced of that, she shook her head. “I care about Lucas very much. Maybe even too much. But it’s really not what you think, it’s not what you want it to be.”

  “There you are,” Lucas said from the doorway, making Molly’s heart go from pounding to frozen in place. Had he heard what she’d said?

  I care about Lucas very much. Maybe even too much . . .

  His expression wasn’t giving anything away so she had no idea of knowing. Damn. When would she learn to keep her mouth shut? Before she could obsess over what he’d heard, he took her hand and pulled her to his side. His expression was easy and his usual lighthearted as he smiled at her. “I’ve come to save you from the evil inquisition. Can I interest you in a few s’mores before we make the trip back?”

  “Yes,” she said gratefully, and if for a beat she could see his smile didn’t quite meet his eyes, she told herself that undoubtedly, hers didn’t either.

  Chapter 18

  #SmoresAreLife

  “The fire pit’s down this incline a bit,” Lucas said. He was just in front of Molly, carrying a bag of supplies in one hand and holding onto one of her hands with the other.

  She couldn’t see a damn thing. The cabin and its lights were behind them. All she could see was Lucas and a vast black night all around them. It’d stopped snowing, but the frozen ground crunched beneath her feet. And truth be told, she was having some trouble on the uneven trail. Her leg was hurting, but hell if she’d admit it.

  For the tenth time, Lucas stopped and turned to her.

  “Don’t,” she warned.

  He didn’t sigh, but he gave her a look that spoke volumes. He wanted to help her.

  “I said I’ve got this,” she said. A few minutes ago she’d shooed off Laura’s offer of helping hands. She shooed off Sami’s offer of helping hands. They’d reluctantly gone ahead.

  But apparently Lucas couldn’t be shooed.

  “Here,” he said and, turning his back to her, hunkered down and reached for her. “Hop up.”

  “No way.”

  But apparently he didn’t need her to hop up at all because he simply hoisted her up onto his back. “Piggyback race to the pit,” he called out as he passed his family, and then proceeded to beat them all down the hill with Molly and her weight of one hundred and thirty-five pounds not slowing him down one bit.

  She felt dizzy at his speed. Actually, that wasn’t true. She was dizzy from the feel of being plastered against his back, at the feel of his forearms hooked around her thighs to hold her to him. Unable to help herself, she pressed her lips to the nape of his neck and smiled when she felt the rumble of a rough groan/growl go through him.

  “No fair,” he said.

  Maybe not, but she took a little nibble out of him just because she could and there didn’t seem to be anything he could do about it.

  At the campfire, he controlled her slow slide down his body and then turned to face her before she could swipe the sheer lust from her face.

  She expected him to grin at her. Instead, he let her see that heat and hunger in his face too. It reached her in a place that his sexy humor couldn’t have gotten to.

  Her damn heart.

  Yes, she really was feeling things for him, no matter what she wanted to believe, no matter what she’d tried to tell his family. Big, scary things.

  “Hey,” Laura called out. “We could use Lucas’s superior fire-starting skills before Sami tries to blow us all up again.”

  “Jeez, a girl uses lighter fluid one time and she’s never allowed to forget it,” Sami grumbled.

  “It took a year for your eyebrows to grow back,” Laura said.

  Ignoring them entirely, Lucas didn’t move, just stood there looking deep into Molly’s eyes while his sister and cousin continued to lightly bicker in the background.

  Hell, the woods could have been on fire for all Molly would’ve noticed. She couldn’t see, hear, or think about anything other than the look in Lucas’s eyes as her earlier words seemed to echo between them.

  I care about Lucas, very much. Maybe even too much.

  Then suddenly he flashed her a wicked just-for-her smile that promised all sorts of things before taking her hand and leading her to the fire pit. Crouching in front of it, he began to build a fire, the muscles in his shoulders and back shifting as he worked. By the time he had flames flickering, Molly had answering flames flickering inside her belly.

  And lower.

  Lucas opened the big brown bag with the chocolate, graham crackers, and marshmallows, and everyone pounced on it all like they hadn’t just stuffed their faces with more food than she’d ever seen.

  “So how long have you and Lucas been knocking boots?” one of Lucas’s aunts asked.

  Molly jumped and her marshmallows fell off her stick and into the fire.

  Lucas arched a brow at her and . . . slid two fresh marshmallows on her stick for her. “Aunt Jeanie,” he said. “Just because you turned seventy-five last month doesn’t mean you get to turn off your inner editor.”

  “Actually,” she said, “it does. I don’t have a lot of years left, you know. And the only benefit of being this ancient is that I get to say whatever I want.” Then she looked expectantly at Molly.

  “Don’t answer her,” Lucas said. “She’ll just send out a letter to everyone in the family. And I do mean a letter because she refuses to use that new iPhone in her purse for anything other than taking pictures of her eight cats.”

  “Ten,” Aunt Jeanie said.

  Lucas’s mom put her hand over Jeanie’s. “I love you,” she said to the older woman. “But the only person who gets to grill my son on his love life is me. I pushed for twelve long, brutal hours to bring his big, fat head into this world. I earned that right.”

  Lucas blew out a breath and dropped said big, fat head, muttering something about why he’d ever thought this was a good idea.

  “Remember when we’d come here when we were kids?” Laura asked, clearly trying to help out her brother. “Lucas would tell us scary campfire stories until Sami peed her pants.”

  “Hey,” Sami said. “I was way too young for the Lizzy Borden stories!”

  “And then he’d try to crawl into one of our sleeping bags in the middle of the night because he’d terrified himself,” Laura said to her mom. “Remember?”

  “Oh good,” Lucas muttered. “Childhood stories.”

  “How about the time he blew up the shed?” Sami asked. “He’d secretly stored some fireworks there. The fire department came, and the police too. Who peed their pants then, huh?” she asked Lucas.

  Lucas ignored her, calmly pulling two perfectly toasted marshmallows from off the fire and fitting them between his two waiting graham crackers.

  “How did you get a
hold of fireworks?” Molly asked. “You save up your allowance?”

  “I didn’t pay my kids any allowance,” Lucas’s mom said proudly.

  Lucas met Molly’s gaze, his own ironic. “Our allowance was being allowed to live at home.”

  “How about the time you blew up mom’s mailbox with that cherry bomb,” Laura said helpfully. “The police came that time too, remember?”

  “Which turned out to be a felony,” his mom said helpfully. “Who knew?”

  “I was twelve,” Lucas said, looking pained. “And I wasn’t all hoodlum. I did some good stuff too. How about when I pretended to be Santa Claus for Sami?” He pointed to his cousin. “I climbed onto your roof and made reindeer noises and everything. You bought it hook, line, and sinker.”

  “Yep, right up until you fell off and past my window, breaking your arm. For years I thought I’d killed Santa. It was traumatizing.”

  Molly gasped in horror, reminded of her own fall and the damage it’d done.

  Lucas’s gaze met hers. “It was only one level, I didn’t fall far,” he said quickly, clearly knowing where her mind had gone. He looked at Sami again. “And now surely you can remember something from my past that doesn’t involve trauma, cops, and ERs,” Lucas said.

  Everyone gave that some thought and came up empty.

  “Thanks,” he said dryly. “Thanks for helping me impress Molly.”

  Molly laughed. “Don’t worry. I already knew you were a trouble causer.” Truth was, she enjoyed the stories of his wild youth, and the way his family clearly loved and adored him. Looking around at the group, she felt her heart warm. Lucas had no idea how lucky he was with this big, open, warm family who hadn’t faced anything as devastating as what her own had—several times over now.