Page 65 of In Her Sights
It was hard to believe, but Molly shoved away the thought of all Jane’s husbands and boyfriends who’d been there one day and gone the next. Even Lono, Molly’s own dad, had ended up leaving. Cramming all the bad memories into a back corner of her brain, she smiled at John.
“I’ll hold you to that.”
Chapter 20
Cara walked into the kitchen and stopped so abruptly that Norah bumped into her back.
“Why are you both…damp?”
“We took a shower.” Even though Molly was trying to act nonchalant, she knew her face was red.
“A shower?” Cara looked back and forth between them, a broad smile spreading across her face as Norah’s eyes widened. “Singular shower? Meaning you shared one? Meaning you’re finally doing it?”
“Doing it?” Molly’s lip curled even as John laughed. “Are you ten? What grown woman says that?”
Cara offered a fist to John. After a short pause, he tentatively bumped it. “Finally. I’m happy for you two. If you hurt my sister, I’ll cut you down the middle and make you wear your own entrails as a scarf.”
To his credit, he only blinked once before he gave Cara a serious nod. “Noted.” Sending a quick glance at Molly, the corner of his mouth quirked up as he added, “Sister.”
“Nope.” Molly tried to glare at him, but her usual eye lasers didn’t seem to be working. She felt too soppy inside to get up a good basilisk stare.
From John’s grin, she knew that he was well aware he’d pretty much obliterated her tough outer shell. “Sissy?”
“I’m going to veto that one,” Cara said dryly, leaning on the counter. “Congrats, you two. Now, time’s ticking if we want to crash that meeting.”
Norah was still studying them, and Molly felt a twinge of concern. “You good with this, Norah?”
“Of course. I mean, we all knew it would happen eventually.”
Molly huffed. “Everyone but me, apparently.”
Ignoring her, Norah continued. “I’m happy for you. You’re always so busy taking care of everyone else. It’s good that you have someone to take care of you.”
Molly wasn’t sure how she felt about the thought of John “taking care of” her. On one hand, it was an alluring temptation. On the other, it was terrifying. Deciding to deal with that later, since Cara was right about their deadline fast approaching, she cleared her throat. “Thanks, Norah. We’ll talk more about this later. Maybe. For now, let’s figure out the plan for tonight.”
“The warehouse looked dead, although that isn’t a guarantee no one was in there. Despite what some people think, I wasn’t dumb enough to go inside to check it out.” Cara gave Molly a pointed look before continuing more mildly. “Did you find anyone willing to be your backup?”
Molly shook her head glumly, holding up her phone to show a sad lack of return text messages. “No one responded except for Christian, and he just wanted me to know that he wouldn’t get within fifty feet of Sonny Zarver. Fifi and Charlie are chasing a solid lead, plus they’re a twelve-hour drive away, so they’re out.” She turned toward John. “How about you? Any luck?”
“Nope. Pretty much the same as you, although more people wanted to tell me that I’m an idiot.”
His words made her stomach roil with sudden guilt. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”
Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, John pulled Molly into a side hug that was almost ridiculously comforting. “You’re not. I’m here of my own free will.”
When she didn’t respond, he gave her a gentle shake.
“Hey. Can you see anyone making me do anything I didn’t one hundred percent want to do?” he asked.
“No.” Despite that, she knew that she was the reason he’d been in danger—multiple times. Tonight would be the worst of them all. “But—”
“But nothing. I chose to be here, and I want to do this. You never asked. It’s all on me.”
Unable to come up with an effective counterargument and aware of the ticking clock, Molly let it go. It still ate at her, though, that John was in such danger because of her. She could’ve convinced him at the very beginning to leave her alone, and he would’ve listened. She’d enjoyed his company too much to send him away, however, enjoying that safe feeling having him with her created—and loving just having him around. She jolted at the last thought and then immediately banished the L-word from her mind. This wasn’t the time to be distracted.
“Fine,” she said. “Just…be careful tonight, okay?”
