Page 55 of In Her Sights
“Sorry.” She grimaced. “Just going over the huge grab bag of possibilities in my head. Why couldn’t he have just given us an address? Easy-peasy, Sonny-handcuffy.”
Huffing a laugh, John shook his head with mock sadness. “That doesn’t flow at all. Really, Pax?”
If she was closer, she would’ve pinched his arm. Instead, she settled for a frosty look before turning to Desmond with a polite smile. “Sorry to grab you and drag you into the house just now. Thanks for coming so quickly.”
“No problem.” Desmond’s wide smile was almost as appealing as John’s. “It’s not the strangest greeting I’ve ever gotten.”
Her eyebrows shot up, and Molly instantly wanted to hear stories about the even-weirder situations he’d walked in on. Before she could ask, though, John strode over and threw one of his monster arms over her shoulders, distracting her.
“What are you doing?” she asked, baffled by the action and by the fact that she didn’t hate being tucked against John Carmondy’s side.
“Showing affection.” He cuddled her closer, sending pleasure zinging through her nerve endings. “To you.”
“Why?”
The puzzled look he gave her made her feel like she was the one out of sync. “I’m an affectionate guy?”
Desmond must’ve understood something that she was missing, because he was laughing behind his hand.
Wriggling free, she threw her arms up. “Okay! Today is only half over, and I have a shady business transaction to attend late tonight. I can’t afford to have my brain explode before then, so I’m going to go see if Norah’s having any luck. You guys”—she sketched circles in the air that encompassed the entire house—“do your security-system thing. I trust your judgment.” She paused as she headed for the stairs, glancing back at John. “Just don’t make it too expensive. I’d rather not have to sell this house to pay you for it, not after all the effort we’re going through to keep it in the family.”
“We’ll get you set up,” Desmond said as John fixed her with a wry look that told her he was well aware she was running away. Feeling her cheeks warm, she turned around before he could see the telltale redness. As she climbed the stairs, she could feel his gaze on her back, reminding her of a predator patiently settling in to wait for his prey.
Telling herself that sleep deprivation and an overdose of adrenaline were taking a toll on her, leaving her a victim of a too-active imagination, she shook off the sensation and hurried to Norah’s bedroom door. She knocked and, after waiting for the invitation to come in, slipped inside, closing the door behind her.
“Any luck so far?” she asked.
Norah gave her a really? glance before refocusing on what she was doing with the SIM card. “It’s been, what? Three minutes?”
“Five.” Molly paused. “Maybe. Anyway, it’s a measure of your skill that I believe you could have discovered something by now.”
“Mmm-mmm.” Norah didn’t sound like she fully believed Molly’s excuse.
“Fine. John was weirding me out.”
That caught her sister’s attention. “What do you mean? I thought the two of you were…you know.”
Molly fixed Norah with her best basilisk stare. “Why did you think that? Have you been listening to Fifi’s gossip again?”
“No.” Norah—sweet, innocent Norah—rolled her eyes so hard that Molly thought they would roll out of their sockets. “Anyone who’s around the two of you for five seconds knows that you’re banging. It’s obvious.”
“Banging?” This was so much worse than she’d expected. Maybe she should’ve stuck with the guys. At least then she would’ve been spared this discussion. “We’re not banging.”
“Right.”
“We’re not. At all.” Molly tried to ignore the twinge of disappointment at that fact. “There’s no banging. There isn’t even any kissing and hardly any cuddling.”
Norah’s attention, which had drifted toward the SIM card again, snapped back to Molly. “But there’s some cuddling?”
“Minor cuddling. Extremely minor cuddling.”
Norah studied her face. “You sound disappointed. Do you want there to be more cuddling?”
“No.” That felt like a lie. “Maybe. How can I tell when we keep getting almost blown up all the time?” Her brain was spinning again, this time with her very confused feelings about a certain rival bounty hunter. She flopped down next to Norah, forced to curl around her sister in order to fit on the narrow bed. “Let’s stop talking about that. How do you manage to sleep when Warrant’s on the bed? This is so tiny.”
“Just used to it, I guess,” Norah said absently, already immersed in her project again. “I’m a deep sleeper, so that helps.” After a pause, she lifted her head and looked around her small room. “Where is he, anyway?”
“Still with his crush.” At Norah’s confused look, Molly clarified, “Carmondy. Warrant’s in looove. I suspect that there were sneaky, secret bacon treats involved, but I don’t have any evidence.”
