Taming Molly: Heroes of Henderson ~ Book 2.5 A DuVal Cousins Quickie (7 page)

His worry over competition for her attention was short lived. She turned down all comers, and there were plenty. She focused her attention on him completely—unless her cousins were dancing together to some silly song they all needed to scream at the top of their lungs. That’s when he’d leave the dance floor to search out a couple bottles of ice-cold water.

Because they both drove.

And having Molly wind up incarcerated would put a real glitch in his plans to get her back in Henderson for good.

The night wore on. The caterers cleaned up and left. One lone bartender, Harry, in fact, stayed to take care of the fifty or so friends and family who wouldn’t let it end. Josh looked around but couldn’t find Vance to thank him for the invitation. So he went to sit next to one tired-looking Brooks Bennett while Molly circled up with the rest of the crazy DuVals and hangers-on on the dance floor. He handed Brooks a bottle of water, and the man seemed grateful for it.

“So,” Brooks said. “You got a thing for Molly?”

“Molly? Hmm, now which one is she?”

“Save it. It’s plain embarrassing the way you’ve been panting on her heels all night.”

“Says the guy who looks like he wanted to leave hours ago.”

“Touché.” They clinked water bottles.

“I do,” Josh admitted. “I have a thing for Molly. I want her to move back to Henderson.”

“You are preaching to the choir,” Brooks said as he opened the bottle and took a sip. “It’s starting to feel like my life’s mission is to get people to move back to Henderson.”

“How can I help?”

“Says the man from Oxford.”

“Oxford’s not going anywhere. I work here. I want the town to thrive.”

Brooks looked him over, skeptical. Then his face changed, completely. Finally, he leaned in and said, “Can you keep a secret?”

“Sure.”

“No “sure.” I’m asking you man to man. Can you keep a secret? Because this town has a problem with that sort of thing.”

“I’m from Oxford.”

“Well, all right then,” Brooks said, coming alive as he spoke. “Vance Evans and I have formed a team. A team with the sole purpose of brainstorming, researching, evaluating, and then implementing ways to bring more economic prosperity to this town. We’ve got a big idea brewing, but to pull it off, Henderson is probably going to need some Oxford land. Now, it could certainly benefit both towns and the surrounding areas. But Lord knows anything new and innovative, not to mention anything that requires working hand in hand with Oxford, is going to be a hard sell around here. Maybe if you were a part of the team you could shed some insight into the mindset of the key players over there. Help us think through the pros and cons of what we’re trying to do. You’re known to have a hell of a brain and mean computer skills. Hell, if you can make our football team look good, I’m sure there’d be plenty you could help us with.”

“I’m in.”

“You’re in? Just like that? No questions at all?”

“I have discovered I really like being part of a team. And it just so happens to be paying dividends tonight. You got a team—I want to be on it. I’ll do my best to contribute.”

“That’s great,” Brooks said before he was barreled into by a cute, young brunette. He threw his arms around her and regained his balance like the athlete he was. He kissed her quick and turned her around to introduce her to Josh.

“Nice to meet you, Lolly,” Josh said.

Lolly was breathing hard, glistening with sweat, and smiling big. She pulled some hair from her cheek and nodded. “Bring Molly to the pool. A few of us are sticking around for a late night swim.”

Josh bit back a laugh as Brooks shook his head and mouthed the words, “No…we’re…not,” over Lolly’s head.

“Thanks for the invite,” he said, smiling at Lolly. Then he stood up, spying Molly standing off to the side, watching him. He held out his hand, and she moved forward to take it.

That made him feel tall. Real tall.

They started walking toward her shoes, her skirt, her purse, and God only knew what else as the crowd around them hugged and said their good-byes. He was trying to figure out how this night was going to end when a hand landed on his shoulder.

Big Jim DuVal spun him around and held out his hand, saying good night. He looked over at his daughter and gave her a happy smile. “Two o’clock is a little late to be driving all the way back to Raleigh. How ’bout you sleep in your old room tonight? Stay and have some breakfast with the family tomorrow. Talk a few things out.”

“I’d like that,” Molly said. Then father and daughter hugged, and Josh could see that Molly fought to choke back some emotion.

They pulled apart, and Big Jim nodded to both of them before heading off to collect his wife. Molly gave her mom a little wave from afar before turning her full attention on him.

“You moving back?”

“I believe I am,” she said, twisting right and left like a happy little girl.

“I’m glad,” he told her.

She wrapped the fairy princess skirt around her waist and fastened it. But she dangled her shoes from her fingers, along with her purse.

“Walk you to your car?”

“I’d like that,” she said.

The two of them crowded onto one of the last few golf carts, where Josh had the opportunity to meet her sisters Lucy and Lilly along with their dates.

No valets waited, but all cars and keys were accounted for, lined up in the Evans’ circular drive and on out toward the gate. The DuVal clan dispersed quickly, allowing Josh to forgo a trumped-up excuse to get Molly to linger with him. He wanted a few minutes alone.

They slowly walked, hand in hand toward her little truck. As they got close, it was obvious the thing hadn’t been washed in ages. He wondered if she’d mock his spotless Prius, now the lone car waiting off in the distance.

“So,” he said as they reached her door.

“So,” she repeated, turning to face him. Her smile was so big it made him smile right back at her.

He cleared his throat, taking up her other hand and raising both as he entwined their fingers, pressing palm against palm. “Molly, Molly, Molly.” He really did not want to let her go. “Tonight certainly ranks up there as one of the fastest nights of my life. It flew by. I don’t feel like I’ve had enough time with you. So, in case I haven’t made myself perfectly clear, I’d like to see you again.”

“Sounds like you’re declaring the evening over.”

“I think you know I’d like nothing better than to string it out, but seeing as your father is waitin’ on you to come home—”

“My father stopped waiting on me to come home a long time ago. Probably before he should have, poor man.”

There was his opening. And he was a smart man. Smart enough to know that when the woman whose hair you wanted to get all tangled up in gives you an opening, you walk through it—without hesitation.

So he stepped in and closed the distance between them, wrapping his hands in her hair. His face directly over hers, his focus solely on her lips. He didn’t know where the words came from, they just came out, quiet and rough.

“Then here’s how it’s going to work,” he told her. “I’ll hold on to your keys and your car stays here. When we get to my place, I’m in charge. Rumor has it you may be pretty quick at shedding your clothes, but tonight your clothes stay on until I take them off. You and I are taking it slow. I’ll get you to your parents before first light and make sure your car is in their driveway by the time you want to head back to Raleigh.”

“One question.”

“Yeah—no. No questions.” He leaned in and kissed her lips, but like she’d done to him earlier, it was just a quick peck. Their first real kiss was yet to come.

“Anything you need out of your car?”

“There’s a bag. In the back. And my flip-flops.” He took the bag while she dropped her flip-flops to the ground and stepped into them, leaving her heels in the truck.

“Keys.”

She reached in, pulled them from the ignition, and handed them to him.

“Ready?”

She nodded. He took her hand and off they went.

“You’re doing it again,” he heard her mumble.

“Doing what?” he asked, dragging her along.

“Making me nervous.”

He stopped dead. “I? Make
you
, nervous?”

She shrugged her shoulders together in a gesture that made her look small, cute, and vulnerable.

“I’m okay with that,” he decided, pulling her along to his car. He swung the passenger door open and seated her inside.

Once he got in, he started the car up and turned the radio down. If he stopped to think about what was going on, he’d be scared to death. The fact that he made Molly DuVal nervous evened the playing field.

He put the car in drive, reached over, and took her hand, holding on to it all the way home.

***

The tiny house Josh rented was stacked with books, CDs, games, game systems, laptops, monitors, computers, and computer parts. Molly took in the lone leather La-Z-Boy chair in front of the huge flat screen TV and said, “I take it you don’t entertain much.”

“Nope. And standing here looking at it through your eyes, I now see why. Probably need a couch. Maybe some bookshelves to store all this crap. Hard to believe I’m lonely when my place looks like this,” he joked.

Molly wandered toward the kitchen. “Trust me. Owning a couch and some bookshelves doesn’t ward off loneliness.”

“Don’t tell me a rock-star party girl like you gets lonely,” he teased, coming up behind her.

“Desperately,” she breathed.

She felt Josh smooth a hand down the back of her head. It soothed her as much as it heightened her awareness of him. She felt his warmth behind her and closed her eyes as he whispered in her ear. “That’s why we’re fast tracking you back to Henderson. Back to your people. Your lonely days are over.”

She let her neck fall to the side as Josh’s fingers combed her hair back off her shoulder. When she felt his lips drift along the side of her throat, she tried to remember if she’d ever been kissed like this. Simply. Slowly. Delicately. She relaxed into the moment. He had said he wanted to take charge, and if this was how he intended to do it, she was going to relish it.

She licked her lips. “What about you?” she asked quietly. “What about your lonely days?”

She felt his hand fist in her hair as he turned her face toward him. “I’m working on it,” he said, right before his lips captured hers. She smiled, parting her lips, and he took advantage by sliding his tongue in between. That first intimate touch—his tongue on hers—made her body sigh. Heat tingled up her cheeks and crept down her chest. She felt his hands pull her around, pressing her up against him in a way that was so much better than they’d managed on the dance floor. His hand splayed wide and possessively against the center of her back. She liked the feel of that. The feel of what it conveyed.

She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, enjoying the slow, languid way he kissed. Like every tantalizing touch counted. Like he was coaxing her along, not rushing anything. Her body responded by letting go of tension, sinking into his torso ever so slightly, allowing his possession to grow. A contented hum slipped out, unbidden, as her mind started to tune itself down, drifting into a state of pleasure.

Josh’s fingers started with a gentle touch at her temple and then combed back through her hair. So sweet, so easy, that tingles drifted after them. She pulled back slightly, a dazed smile on her lips. She drank in those luscious dark-colored eyes, seeing a seriousness that hadn’t been there before.

“I’d like to take this into the bedroom,” he whispered. She gave a brief nod and bit her lip, dropping her gaze to the floor as he took her by the hand and led her down the hallway.

The giddiness just bubbled up out of nowhere. She tried to suppress it, but by the time she was standing before his bed, she couldn’t help but giggle. Hot Poindexter. After all these years.

“What?” Josh asked, sending his own little laugh back at her.

“Can you believe we are doing this? You and I?”

“If you are asking if I can believe that I’ve got Molly DuVal standing in my bedroom, then no. No, that I cannot believe.”