Lip Lock (16 page)

Molly moved. Quickly.

And, now that Kyle thought about it as he followed her up the remaining steps, she never said if Molly Connors was her real name.

She hurried to the master bedroom and got around the door as his foot crossed the threshold. “Good night,” she said sweetly and swung the door shut.

Kyle grabbed the edge before she could shut the door on his foot. He pushed it open without much effort. She backed away as he silently stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she said in a fierce whisper.

“I’m going to bed.” He turned the lock on the door.

“Not here.” She moved her arms wide as if blocking off the area.

“Yes, here.” Kyle kicked off his shoes. “We’re engaged, remember?”

“Not officially.”

Kyle felt his jaw tighten. “Don’t even get me started. If we’re a couple, we sleep together.”

Molly’s expression went completely blank.

“I should warn you,” he said as he pulled off his shirt. “I sleep naked.”

Her gaze darted all over the bedroom suite. Everywhere—anywhere—but at Kyle’s bronzed, sculpted chest. “Then I’m not sleeping here.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I’m going into the other bedroom.” She reached for the door.

“Think again.” He plucked her hand off the doorknob. “I need to keep my eye on you.”

“I promise I won’t make a run for it tonight.” And she meant it. She wanted to wait until the temperature went above the freezing level.

“Oh, well, as long as you give me your word.” He rolled his eyes. “We know how much weight your word carries.”

Well, he had her there. “Then I’ll sleep in this sitting room. On that chair.” She motioned to the cushy leather chair that had a matching ottoman.

She should be very comfortable there. Especially with Kyle staying in the next room. Naked.

Hmm. She should try to forget that last part, or she’d never get any sleep.

“Next to the door?” He pulled her toward the bedroom. “I don’t think so.

“What’s wrong with that?” Molly dragged her heels. She bet she looked undignified, but that was the price to pay to get her way.

“That would mean I have to stay between you and the door.” He pulled her into the bedroom. “And I’m sleeping in a bed tonight.”

“Fine. Sleep there.” She motioned at the huge sleigh bed. “Be my guest.”

Kyle gave her a look of warning.

“I’m sleeping here.” She plopped down onto the floor and crisscrossed her legs. She folded her arms across her chest, just in case he didn’t get the point.

“Go ahead.” He grabbed a pillow and threw it at her.

She caught it before it hit her in the face. “I prefer the other one. It’s softer.”

Kyle ignored her. “Sleep over there.” He motioned to the other side of the room. “Away from the door.”

“Fine.” She got up and walked over there. She tossed the pillow onto the rug and lay down.

Crossing her arms, she looked up at the ceiling. “Just for the record, you’re going to have a hard time getting me arrested. Everyone is going to know that you invited me to stay in your house after finding me here.”

Kyle didn’t say anything. She listened intently and heard the rustle of his clothes.

“In fact,” Molly continued hurriedly, “you’re inviting me into your bedroom, and don’t think I won’t be mentioning that in my statement.”

“I can’t wait to see how you’ll embellish it,” he said dryly.

Molly shivered as a cold draft wafted over her. Maybe it was a good idea that she had already planned to make her escape first thing in the morning.

“And I’m not going to the authorities,” Kyle admitted.

“You’re not?” Her muscles went stiff. Kyle could easily throw her jail and he decided against it? He must have something more diabolical in mind. “Why?” she asked suspiciously.

“Because you’re of more use to me outside a jail cell.” Kyle suddenly stood before her. To Molly’s relief, he was still wearing his trousers. “Are you going to sleep like that?” he asked.

“Yes.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Good night.”

“You know,” he said almost impatiently. “Your virtue is safe with me.”

Molly sighed. “Oh, for crying out loud. Let me repeat myself. I’m not a virgin.”

“I’m not going to jump you.”

Molly clucked her tongue. “Yeah, right.”

“I mean it.”

“Oh?” She peeked at him through one eye. “The attraction wore off the minute I wasn’t working for you?”

“No, more like the minute I found out you stole and lied to me.” The skin on his face tightened, emphasizing the harsh angles of his cheekbones. “I’m not into women who are looking for ways to hurt me.”

Molly flinched and rose to a sitting position. “I’m not trying to hurt you.”

“You snuck into my house.”

“You have more than one house,” she pointed out.

“That doesn’t make it any less illegal,” Kyle said as he walked away from her.

“So arrest me.” She wasn’t going to let him keep taunting her with the possibility.

“That doesn’t fit into my plans,” he repeated and looked out the window.

“What does, then?” Impatience clipped her words.

“It sure didn’t include you cavorting around the island as my fiancée.”

“I do not cavort. Cavort.” She tried the word out on her tongue. “What kind of word is that, anyway?”

He looked away from the window. “You wanna be my fiancée?”

“Not particularly.”

“Then that’s what you get. You’re going to be my fiancée.”

“For marriage proposals, that one blew.” She held up her hand. “Just saying.”

“And,” Kyle continued relentlessly, “you have to be the best damn fiancée this world has ever seen.”

Oh, great. There was no way she could meet that kind of expectation. She could knock herself out trying, and it wouldn’t be enough. Kyle would hold it over her head how she didn’t fulfill her side of the bargain.

“I hate to break this to you,” she told him, “but that’s impossible. There’s no job description for a fiancée.”

“Sure there is. You have to be thoughtful and considerate to my needs.”

“Uh…” She held up her hand. “Wait a minute.”

“And be”—the look he gave her was dark and sensual—“
demonstrative
while maintaining a certain…decorum.”

She stared at him, openmouthed.

Kyle obviously was reviewing what he said and gave a sharp nod. “Yeah, that’s about it.”

“Here’s an idea. Why don’t you save us both the aggravation and just ‘fire’ me?” She made quotation marks with her fingers. “You’re real good at that.”

“Because I have to show Darrell and Bridget that I make good decisions and that I can trust the right person.” His tone took on a bitter edge. “My choice in a fiancée reflects that.”

“Basically, I’m the embodiment of your good judgment.” Her mouth reluctantly twitched. She could cause all sorts of trouble.

Kyle must have arrived at the same conclusion. “Mess up on this and you will regret it.”

“Hey, why are you putting all the responsibility on me? You could have blown my story anytime, but you didn’t.”

Kyle ran his hand through his hair, the movement thick with agitation. “Because I can’t afford the chance of you running away again.”

“I do not run away.” She was offended that he would think such a thing. “I never run away.”

“What do you call this?” He gestured around him.

“A change of scenery? A fresh start? Taking control of my future? Take your pick.”

Kyle scoffed at the idea.

“I don’t know why you need to keep tabs on me anyway,” she said as she lay back down.

She heard Kyle’s hesitation. “So you could lead us to your buyer.”

Buyer? What was he talking about? “What buyer?”

“For the trade secrets.”

Why did he think she had stolen that information? What could she do to prove her innocence? “You are wasting your time. I didn’t steal that spec.”

Kyle sliced his hand through the air. “I don’t want to get into it.”

Molly made a face. “Oh, sure, now—”

“Go ahead and change.”

“Very gentlemanly of you, but I’m fine.” Molly burrowed her head deeper into the pillow. She laced her fingers together and rested them demurely on her stomach.

“You can’t sleep in that.”

“Thanks for the advice, but I don’t have anything to sleep in.” And there was no way she would sleep naked. “That bed was warm enough that it didn’t matter.”

Kyle stalked over to the chest of drawers, grumbling unintelligibly the whole way. He pulled open a drawer and tossed a soft white T-shirt at her.

Molly caught it. “Thanks.”
Maybe he could be nice
…

A heavy blanket suddenly landed on her with a thump.

“You better not snore.”

Then again
…

Molly’s teeth chattered and she cautiously opened one eye. Oh, thank goodness! She opened the other eye and breathed a sigh of relief. For a second there she thought she was back in the DIY truck and the island cottage had been a dream.

Molly sat up and looked around the dark bedroom. She couldn’t see the bedside clock from here. It looked like it was the middle of the night and far away from dawn.

She untangled her legs from the blanket. It wasn’t doing much good anyway. Kyle had the good comforter. The warm bed.

She wanted to crawl into the bed.

And not just for the warmth.

Molly sighed and lay back down on the pillow. She was staying put. On this hard floor that apparently was the crossroad of two cold drafts.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t slept on a floor before.

And she had slept in worse places.

Molly darted a quick glance at the bed and immediately looked away. She was not going to crawl into that bed. Even though she
knew
nothing would happen. Kyle had made it perfectly clear.

“I’m not into women who are looking for ways to hurt me.”

Molly winced, the words “hurt me” circling in her mind. That statement nearly destroyed her. Double over with searing pain.

Kyle had seemed so invincible. So strong. She never thought…

Well, maybe that was the problem. She honestly didn’t think it would harm him if she stayed at his place. If she said she was his unofficial fiancée.

Not to say that he should be proud and flattered by her declaration, she thought wryly. She didn’t think her lies would affect him.

But they did. Who knew how much power her lies held, or how they would ripple into other people’s lives. Well, she thought with a slow sigh, she had to make it right. Make good on every white lie and every whopper.

Where did she start?

The task was almost too overwhelming. She almost didn’t want to start. But she would.

There was nothing she could do about the lies she told at work. At least, she didn’t think so. It was difficult to remember what she had lied about.

Okay, she knew how to handle that problem. If one of her lies slapped her back in the face, she would own up to it and make up for it.

Molly rolled her eyes in self-disgust. That was so easy for her to think right now. What were the chances something work-related would come up this week?

What about the lies she told while on the island? Molly chewed on her bottom lip, considering the problem. If she told the truth now, it would hurt Kyle.

Or was she copping out? Was it easier for her to think it couldn’t be fixed? Couldn’t she find a better solution? Something that would make everyone happy.

But Kyle said he wanted her to act as the best damn fiancée. Not exactly truthful, but it would temporarily fix the lie she told. Molly rubbed her hand over her forehead. All of this virtue and ethics were confusing her.

Okay, new rule. And she had to make this one stick. She would act like the best damn fiancée for Kyle. That was the only way—as far as she could tell—to repair the damage her lie caused.

From this moment on she would only speak the truth. No matter what. Molly winced. That resolution already sounded painful.

And she was going to be honest with herself. She wanted to be in that bed. With Kyle. And the only reason she wasn’t there was because she was afraid.

Not because of what might happen.

But what might
not
happen.

She had fallen from Kyle’s good standing. The trade secrets fiasco wasn’t her fault, but maybe it just hurried the process up. Because her world of lies would have unraveled and it would have revealed who she really was.

She denied herself a taste of Kyle, saying it was because he was her boss. And that was one of the reasons. She wasn’t willing to lose her job over any reason or any guy.

But now she wondered if there had been something more than the fear of losing her job.

It didn’t matter anymore. He wasn’t interested in her anymore. She ruined that. It was time to stop dancing around it and move on.

Was she going sleep on the floor for the rest of the week because he didn’t like her? Forget that! If he had a problem sharing a bed, he was more than welcome to the excruciatingly hard and cold floor.

Molly kicked off the blanket and rose from the floor. She grabbed her pillow and hurried to the bed.

Doing her best not to wake Kyle, Molly gently raised the corner of the comforter and slowly eased onto the mattress. She found herself holding her breath as she laid her head down on her pillow with agonizingly slowness. Only until she was fully resting on the bed did she slowly exhale.

Made it.
And if she was still in bed when Kyle woke up, she’d deal with his annoyance. At least she’d have had a few hours of solid sleep.

Molly allowed her eyes to drift shut.