Page 17 of Holly Jolly Heresy
His lip twitched as he fought to contain his smile. “Is that so?”
“Jo says I’m the mom of our friend group.”
“That’s because Jo is a chaos demon.”
Her laugh warmed him far more than the spiked hot chocolate.
They wandered into the living room and took seats on opposite ends of the couch in front of the fireplace. She turned towards him, tucking her foot up under herself, and he did his best not to notice the way her robe shifted, or the tempting glimpses of her skin it offered.
Thankfully her gaze was focused on the windows behind him so she didn’t notice his wandering eyes as they hungrily took in the flash of lace at the edge of her robe before the delicatepattern gave way to shadow. The wind howled outside, a mournful, haunted sound, and the lights flickered.
“It’s really coming down out there,” she said, her voice quiet and small.
He glanced over his shoulder at the snow-covered landscape, then back at Molly, who seemed to be shrinking in on herself. There were so many ways their day trip could have gone wrong today… Without thinking, he reached across the couch and laid his hand on top of hers. “We’re safe. It’s okay.”
She shivered again, her eyes zeroing in on his fingers sweeping comforting arcs over the back of her hand. Her skin was so smooth, so warm. He should stop touching her, but…he didn’t want to.
“I will never let anything bad happen to you, Molly,” he promised. It was the easiest vow he’d ever made.
She nodded, the promise settling between them. “We should play a game,” she said at last, gently pulling her hand away from his and wrapping it around her mug.
“What kind of game?”
“A slumber party game. Like Two Truths and a Lie, or Never Have I Ever.”
“This isn’t exactly a slumber party.”
“Not with that attitude it isn’t.”
He settled back against the arm of the couch, putting a little more distance between them. He should say no, but he had to admit he was intrigued. “Truth or Dare.”
“I’m warning you now, I almost always choose truth.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because you could dare me to do anything! And I’m not about to ask Jenny Barber’s older brother to kiss me twice in one lifetime. Fool me once,” she said, shaking her head.
Something cold congealed in Caleb’s stomach, and he knew he shouldn’t ask, but he couldn’t help it. Now he had to know. “And did he?”
“Did who what?”
“Did Jenny Barber’s brother kiss you?”
She studied him for a moment over the top of her mug as she took a slow sip of her hot chocolate. “He laughed in my face and told me to move so he could see the TV. Though, to be fair, he was in college and I was only thirteen, so in retrospect, not exactly the jerk I thought he was at the time.”
Caleb exhaled harshly through his nose, relief flooding through him. Which was ridiculous, because of course Molly had kissed people before, even if she hadn’t kissed Jenny Barber’s older brother when she was thirteen. “Anyone else you almost-kissed on a dare that I should know about?”
She arched an eyebrow at him as though she saw straight through his irrational jealousy and found it amusing. “No, but I definitely made out with a guy at a party on a dare.”
“Who was he?” He didn’t want to know, and yet he might die if she didn’t tell him.
“It was a long time ago.”
“Can’t have been that long.” She was only twenty-six after all.
“My college boyfriend. Will.”
“Did you love him?” He didn’t know why it mattered. Molly had been single as long as he’d known her, but somehow it mattered very much.
