become his favorite color. Just last night he’d had another dream about making love to her while she rode him wearing nothing except those sexy boots.
Today she’d ridden behind him on his bike.
She said she’d never been on a motorcycle before yet she’d settled in like a natural. She’d wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tight, aligning her body with his and pressing herself into him harder with each turn they’d taken. He’d imagined her breasts flattened against his back as he drove. The bike always gave him a rush and an adrenaline high, but with Molly plastered against him, he could add arousal and a surge of sexual energy he desperately needed to work off.
Considering the way she’d kissed him in the hall, Hunter didn’t think getting Molly into bed would be all that difficult. Unfortunately he still wasn’t sure it would be smart. He wasn’t certain sex would be the way to get her out of his system. Instead, he feared he’d want her even more, since that was the state he’d found himself in ever since that kiss.
As she walked ahead of him now, her clothes might indicate a woman who didn’t want to be noticed, but the sexy sway of her hips and the occasional flip of her hair told a different story. Everyone in the store took notice of Molly as she entered, and the farther they walked inside, people recognized her and called out a greeting.
“Hi, Molly.”
“Hey, Molly.”
“How’s your dad?”
The hellos and questions came rapid fire from around the shop and Molly answered each person by name and with a smile. She seemed more at ease and happier here than she had at any time in law school or in his hometown.
She really had found the home she’d been looking for. Could he begrudge her that?
They stepped up to the counter.
“Grande fat-free decaf latte with sugar-free vanilla?” a young guy behind the counter asked.
He had dark brown hair cut short and a roving eye that liked to settle on Molly’s chest. He was young and obviously cocky enough to think he could compete for a woman like Molly.
Hunter gritted his teeth as Molly treated the other guy to a wide smile. “You could have just asked if I was having the usual.”
The barista shrugged and picked up a cup. “But I wanted to impress you.”
Molly placed her hand on top of his. “You always impress me, J.D.”
“I’ll have a large black coffee,” Hunter said, fully aware he was being ignored by the kid who wanted to hit on Molly.
“How’s your father hanging in there?” J.D. asked Molly as he got to work on her drink.
“He’s fine. Confident he’ll be exonerated.”
“Glad to hear it. Once he’s out, you tell him anytime he needs a breather to come by. Coffee’s on me.” J.D. grinned at Molly.
“The way to a woman’s heart is through her father’s stomach?” Hunter asked.
Molly nudged him with her elbow. “Shh. He’s just being friendly.”
Over Molly’s objection, he paid for their drinks, hoping the gesture would make it clear to Romeo that Molly was here with him.
Finally, J.D. handed Hunter his change and turned his attention to the next customer, freeing Hunter and Molly to settle into a small table in the back.
“Don’t you have to be at least sixteen to work?” Hunter asked. “That guy is barely old enough to shave.”
She leaned back in her chair, her eyes glittering with laughter. “You’re jealous of J.D.?” She seemed seriously amused at his expense.
“I’m not jealous of anyone.” He couldn’t believe he’d gotten himself into this kind of discussion. “Now, about your father,” he said, choosing the one subject guaranteed to shift her focus.
“He’s innocent,” Molly declared forcefully.
And Hunter realized this topic wouldn’t be any easier. “It doesn’t matter whether he’s guilty or innocent, he’ll get my best representation anyway. You went to law school. You know that.”
She folded her hands together on the table and leaned closer. “But I need you to believe he’s innocent.” Molly frowned. A cute frown, but a turndown of her lips nonetheless.
He didn’t want to argue over this, but she needed to understand it wasn’t his job to take moral sides. Not as the attorney of record and certainly not as the man who could too easily fall under her spell once again. If he cared about her father’s guilt or innocence, if he cared about Molly’s emotional state, he’d set himself up for a rejection that would take a lot longer than eight months for him to get over.
“Molly-”
She leaned forward. “You’ve read the file, you know the facts, but you don’t know the man and my father. General Addams would not kill his best friend,” she said, imploring him with her voice, begging him with her deep eyes and soulful expression.
Hunter groaned and tried to give her the speech he gave to every client or relative who insisted they needed him to believe in their innocence in order to represent them. “Listen to me. You need me to be your father’s advocate not his champion. There’s a difference.”
She shook her head and he caught a whiff of her fragrant scent. His groin reacted as if she were plastered against him, but his brain somehow managed to function and focus on their conversation.
“He’s my father. My real father. One who cares about me and…” She paused and swallowed hard, fighting what he felt certain were tears.
Shit.
“Look,” he began, “I can’t begin to imagine what you’re feeling right now, but I’ll do my best for him.”
Molly nodded. “I never doubted that or I wouldn’t have called you. So let’s just enjoy. There’ll be time enough to get into details later.” She pushed his cup toward him.
He nodded in appreciation and lifted his cup to take a long, hot sip, burning the roof of his mouth in the process. They sat in surprisingly comfortable silence, sharing their morning coffee and talking about general subjects like the news and the weather. Not in a stilted way that people tended to do, but in a relaxed, understanding one, causing Hunter to remember just how well they’d always gotten along.
He gradually brought the subject back to her current situation. “Do you like living with everyone or do you hate being surrounded by people? After all the years of living on my own, I’m not sure I could move in with strangers.” It reminded him too much of foster care.
She pursed her glossy lips as she thought about his question. “It was uncomfortable at first and there are still things about being on my own that I miss,” she said at last. “I’m definitely not going to stay with them forever. It just seemed like a good way to get to know my family and make up for lost time.”
“Even with Jessie’s hostility?” he asked, seriously wondering how she could handle it day in and day out.
“She’s been the biggest challenge. I just try and put myself in her place. It usually calms me down enough to ignore her, you know?”
He shook his head. “Not really. I was an only child, so I never had to get used to brothers and sisters. At least not until later on.”
“Until foster care.”
At her use of the term, everything inside him froze and he wished he’d never said anything at all. “Right.” His jaw locked tight.
“Was it that bad?” she asked softly.
He never talked about his past. Even when he’d told her he’d grown up in the system, she’d known better than to ask for details. Obviously now that she’d successfully dug into her own roots, she thought she had carte blanche to ask about his.
“Yeah, it was that bad. The nightmare you hear about. Can we leave it at that?” Hunter was deliberately abrupt in the hopes she’d drop the subject.
“No, we can’t.” Molly reached out and covered his hand with hers. She looked at him with a combination of caring and curiosity in her gaze. No pity.
He’d never had the sense that she pitied him. Maybe because her own childhood hadn’t been a picnic, she was so able to understand his.
