Page 38 of In Her Sights
“I do.” He gave her a wink—which should’ve looked stupid, but because it was John, turned out stupid hot instead—and headed to the bathroom.
As soon as he was out of sight, Molly let out a deep breath and started to sink down onto Felicity’s bed. The squishy mattress called to her, tempting her to lie down and close her eyes, just for a moment. With a groan, she forced herself to stand again. Once she was down, she’d be out like a light, and she’d been telling the truth about needing to wash off this terrible night.
She headed out into the hall, figuring that she might as well check on Norah while she was attempting to stay awake. Cracking her sister’s door, she saw that her room was lit by dim blue light from her sister’s computer screen. Molly knocked softly, pushing open the door the rest of the way when Norah made a quiet sound that she took as an invitation to enter. Norah was sitting on her narrow bed, her legs curled underneath her and her laptop open. The rest of her bed was taken up by a snoring Warrant. Norah’s face was bathed in the bluish light from the screen, making her look even paler than usual. Even though Molly knew it was just an illusion, she still couldn’t stand to see her sister look so sickly. It reminded her too vividly of the many emergency-room visits when they were younger and Norah’s asthma wasn’t controlled. Molly flicked on the floor lamp to its lowest setting, bathing the tiny room with warm yellow light, and Norah instantly looked healthier.
“I know we need to find Mom as soon as possible,” Molly said, leaning on the dresser. She was tempted to plop down on the bed next to her sister, but she knew it’d be just as easy to fall asleep here as it would be in Felicity’s bed. Besides, the thought of waking Warrant and getting him to move was too much effort at the moment. “That doesn’t mean you can’t take a few hours off to sleep.”
Norah finally glanced up to meet Molly’s gaze. “I know. I just keep falling down research rabbit holes.”
“I get it. Find out anything interesting?”
“Maybe.” Norah’s voice was hesitant, cautious as always, and Molly knew not to push. Her sister never liked to share information until after she’d confirmed and reconfirmed her facts.
“John’s staying over tonight.”
That caught Norah’s attention. “He is? With you?”
“Uh…no.” She hated that she’d hesitated on her answer, but the mental image that had sprung up in her head had been very distracting—and, despite knowing it was a bad idea, very tempting. “We had to slip away after Dutch’s exploded.”
“Exploded?” Norah stared at her, eyes wide, her ignored laptop tilting to the side.
“No one was hurt.” After pausing, Molly corrected herself. “I’m pretty sure no one was hurt. We were out of the building at that point. You might want to add getting the police and fire department reports to your to-do list, though.”
“Okay. You’re not hurt? What about John?”
“I’m fine. John’s a little banged up, but I did a beautifully executed dive roll. You should’ve seen it.” Now that the sense of urgency and danger had faded, she wished that move had been recorded.
Norah’s small smile disappeared a moment after it touched her lips. “You need to be careful, especially when you’re dealing with Sonny Zarver.”
“I know, and I will.” Molly made the words a solemn promise.
From Norah’s nod, she understood and accepted it as such.
“Don’t forget to sleep.” Straightening from her leaning position, Molly turned off the light and slipped into the hall before sticking her head back in. “All the rabbit holes will still be there tomorrow, and everything will probably make more sense.”
Although Norah made a sound of agreement, it was absentminded, and her attention was completely focused on her screen again.
“Good night.” Molly pulled her sister’s door closed as she withdrew, knowing that all the well-intentioned nagging in the world wouldn’t get Norah in bed any sooner. She’d finish when she was done researching, and then she’d sleep until noon.
Turning away from Norah’s bedroom door, Molly found herself face to bare chest with John. She couldn’t stop herself from taking in the broad, muscular expanse before resolutely tipping her head back to meet his gaze. She wasn’t sure why she’d thought that looking up would be any less distracting. His beautiful face—with his mile-long dark lashes and full mouth and those tempting dimples—was just as drool-worthy as the hard planes of his chest. He, of course, noticed her looking, and his teasing grin was fully in place.
“See something you like?” he asked, flexing.
She’d already given herself away, but she refused to pump up his ego. It was big enough as it was. She couldn’t bring herself to lie outright, though, so she simply raised one of her shoulders in a half shrug. “Eh.”
Despite her put-on indifference, his smile grew wider. “Don’t pretend like all this”—he made circles in front of his body—“doesn’t flip your lust switch.”
“What?” She laughed. How could she not? “That makes absolutely no sense. And you don’t flip any of my switches.” Despite pretending to be completely immune to his hotness, she couldn’t keep her gaze from straying downward. He was just so perfect and so close and so shirtless.
Her amusement disappeared in a second when she noticed a huge bruise blooming along his side. Moving closer, she grasped his wrist and lifted his arm up and out of the way so she could see his injury. Although she felt him go still from surprise, he allowed her to shift his arm and peer at the dark-red contusion. With her free hand, she traced her fingertips very gently over the area. It was hot and swollen, and she knew it had to hurt. As he sucked in an audible breath, his skin jumping under her touch, she quickly pulled her hand away.
“Sorry. That’s a nasty bruise. Are your ribs okay?” The bruise started beneath his lowest rib, but she still pressed against them to make sure.
He cleared his throat, but his voice still came out huskier than normal. “They’re fine, but you’re welcome to continue your examination. I can point out some other painfully swollen spots for you to examine.”
Rolling her eyes, although less dramatically than she usually did, since he was honestly hurt, Molly carefully lowered his arm to his side. Releasing her grip on his wrist, she took a step back, not willing to admit that the idea of running her hands all over him was surprisingly tempting. “If you’re back to flirting, then you’re not going to die.”
“Just feels like it sometimes,” he muttered under his breath.
