That Thing You Do (A Crystal Lake Novel Book 2) Read online

  Jess wasn’t so bad after all.

  Their dad was covering the clinic for emergencies only, and they were closing up shop Friday and Saturday because of the wedding. So, hectic was the word of the day, which meant she didn’t have to time to eat or scratch an itch or take time to sit.

  Or think about naked Nate.

  And that was fine because the day flew by, and she was more than ready to leave when she told her brother she was heading out an hour before closing. She loaded the puppies into her SUV along with the supplies she needed. Mama wasn’t doing well, battling an infection, so Molly was taking the puppies home to bottle feed them until the foster she’d arranged for picked them up in a couple of hours.

  She raced home, set up the pups in the living room, and hopped in the shower. She took more time than she normally did, shaved all the places that needed to be shaved, and decided that maybe waxing might be a good thing. She used the lotion her mother had given her for Christmas and slathered her body with it, liking how silky her skin felt, and then frowned at the state of her toes.

  Why on earth did she never think to look after them? The blue polish was chipped, and a couple of toes had none at all. She couldn’t find any remover (not surprising) and used her nails to pick all of it off.

  It was chilly for September, with a soft rain falling, so Molly pulled on a pair of jeans and a white button-down top that was cut perfectly to her slender figure. She left a few buttons undone and her hair down because she knew Nathan liked it that way. Normally, she didn’t bother with makeup, but she applied some mascara and soft pink gloss to her lips.

  She took a moment and stared at her reflection, wondering at the cheeks that glowed, the eyes that sparkled, and the generous mouth that glistened. The woman staring back at her was familiar, but not familiar. It was the oddest sensation.

  The doorbell rang just as she was tossing shoes out of her closet onto the floor. She quickly slid on a pair of pink flip-flops she’d never worn before, but they were a better option than her trusted Birks and surprisingly comfortable. She had no idea how they’d ended up in her closet, because she wasn’t a fan of pink.

  She practically ran down the stairs and yanked the door open, her eyes hungrily eating up the man in front of her.

  He was dirty and sweaty and Holy Mary, Mother of God, was he insanely hot.

  A slow smile drifted over his features, and her heart jumped at the sight. “Hey,” she said softly, stepping back. “You look like you need a shower.”

  “I came straight from Beck’s. Hope you don’t mind.”

  “No.” She stood back and let him inside. “I kinda like this look on you.”

  “You do?” he murmured, stepping out of his work boots.

  “Yes,” she said with a slow grin, stepping closer. “I do.” She reached for him and pulled his face down to hers, hungry for more than food. She kissed him slowly, methodically, and when he growled from the back of his throat like an animal, she smiled against his mouth.

  “Happy Wednesday,” she murmured.

  “If this is what Wednesdays feel like, I’ll take Wednesday over any other day of the week all night long.”

  She heard the puppies and tugged Nate’s hand so that he had no choice but to follow her to the living room. “Help me with them before you shower.”

  “What are they doing here? Where’s the mother?”

  She heard his concern and quickly explained the mother’s situation while she got the formula ready along with six bottles. She showed him what to do and handed him a puppy, then sat back and got busy.

  The pups were doing well, all considered, and she smiled when Nate began talking to the little one he held. There was something about a big grown-ass man holding a tiny puppy in his hands that tugged at her heart.

  “He looks like a Leroy, don’t you think?”

  “It’s a girl, actually,” she said, laughing, “so you’d better come up with a better name than Leroy.”

  “Huh.” He held the puppy aloft and stared into its eyes. It was one of the golden puppies with white spots. “The marking on her chest looks like a leaf or a petal.” He grinned at Molly. “That’s what I’ll call her. Petal.”

  Molly cuddled the little pup she’d just finished feeding against her neck. “That’s a good name.”

  She put the puppy back down with his brothers, and when Petal joined the rest, she made sure they were nestled together in the blanket that smelled like their mother and stood back. She felt such love for these helpless little creatures. It was overwhelming sometimes. It made her wonder what it would feel like to have a child of her own. That thought quickly bled into others, like what would her child be like? Hers and Nate’s?

  And that thought freaked her the hell out.

  “Why don’t you have one?”

  “A baby?” Startled, she turned to Nate. Was the guy a mind reader now?

  “What? No, not a human baby. A dog or a cat or something with fur or feathers.”

  She shrugged. It was a question she got asked a lot. “I love animals more than I like most people I know. And I work with them nearly every day. When I’m not at the clinic, I’m at the shelter, and I just…I live alone, so it wouldn’t be fair, you know? Until I’m around more or…” She stopped short, unwilling to share her train of thought. But Nate was having none of it. He moved closer.

  “Or what?”

  “Well, until I get married and have a partner, I guess I don’t feel I’d have the time to give to a dog. I see folks who do it to their pets all the time, and it makes me sad. They think all they have to do is fill its water bowl and toss it some food and the animal will be happy. That’s not the way it works. They need love and attention the same as we do.”

  The plain truth was simpler than that. She was lonely as hell and was never home because being here made her feel empty. It amplified the fact that something was missing from her life. And that was something she wasn’t sharing with Nathan. Because, to put it more simply, he was the thing that was missing. She knew that now. There would be no one else.

  His eyes darkened, and he looked at her through the thick lashes that covered them, like he was hiding something. Or maybe it was the shadows creeping in from outside. Whatever it was, she shivered, suddenly cold and not liking the knot that twisted in her stomach.

  “Moll.” The way he said her name made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. A muscle worked its way across his jaw. Something was up. But what? Did she want to know?

  “I don’t want to talk anymore,” she whispered softly.

  A heartbeat passed. Or two. And then his expression relaxed. “What is it that you want to do?”

  She inched closer. “I need to eat.”

  “Eating’s good.”

  “Chinese?”

  “Always been a fan.”

  “Good. I ordered takeout. It should be here in an hour or so.”

  “So I’ve got time to shower.”

  She ran her eyes over all six foot three inches of him, and by the time she met his eyes, the blood was thrumming through her veins, and she was pretty sure the neighbors could hear how madly her heart beat—and they lived at least a mile down the road.

  “Don’t,” she whispered, reaching for him.

  “Don’t what?” Had his voice always made her insides quake?

  “You can shower after.” Her hands were on the hem of his T-shirt, while his found their way to her hips.

  “After what?” Nate dipped his head and kissed the side of her neck.

  The devil was inside Molly, and she was fine with that. She’d never felt this powerful before.

  She dropped her hands and took a step back. “After you bend me over that sofa, you can do whatever the hell you want.”

  That wicked grin was back in place, and she nearly tripped on her heart. She was done for. There was no other way to explain the need inside her.

  But his smiled faltered a bit, and he ran his hands through his hair and exhaled as if he wer
e in pain. Judging from the bulge in his jeans, that scenario was bang on.

  “Moll, last night, we…” He cleared his throat. “We didn’t use protection. And that’s on me. Usually, I’m on top of that kind of stuff. But in that moment, all I could think about was getting you naked and what it would feel like to be inside you.”

  “Oh.” Her cheeks got hot, and, embarrassed, she looked away. “I’m on the pill if you’re worried about pregnancy or…and as far as anything else, I’m…” Oh God, she was stumbling over her words like a fourteen-year-old at the head of the class giving a presentation on sex education.

  “Hey.” He lifted her chin. “I just thought we needed a conversation. An unplanned pregnancy wouldn’t be good for either one of us. As for the other stuff, I’m clean, so no worries there, and if you’re fine with that”—he bent low and kissed her gently—“I’m more than happy to bend you over that sofa and make you scream.”

  Heart nearly jumping out of her chest, Molly undid her jeans and kicked them to the floor while Nate stepped out of his and pulled his shirt off. It joined her blouse, her panties and her underwear, and then he reached for her, hands sliding up her cheeks, his fingers splayed widely so she wasn’t going anywhere.

  He kissed her, and she found she was trembling in his arms. He was soft and gentle, but there was a fire inside Molly that needed more. They could kiss for hours, later if he wanted too, but right now, she needed friction. Skin on skin. She reached down and took his cock in her hand, rubbing his long length and eliciting a low growl as he rested his forehead against hers.

  “I can’t last long,” he muttered hoarsely. “I want you so much, it fucking kills.”

  “Good,” she replied, leading him to the sofa. “That’s exactly what I want to hear.”

  Molly bent over the sofa, her pebbled and sensitive nipples scraping across the fabric as she spread her legs and arched her back.

  “Damn, this is hot,” Nate whispered, moving behind her. He kneaded her cheeks and slipped a hand between them, his long fingers sliding into the slickness there. “I love how wet you are for me.”

  Only for you.

  He lifted her hips and angled her body, and before Molly could say or do anything, he was inside her, moving slowly in and then out. Already, she felt that coil deep inside, and she fought against it, wanting this moment to stretch out as long as she could make it. She looked up and caught sight of them in the large mirror on the wall.

  The look on Nate’s face while he held her, while he made to love her, was something she’d never forget. It was fierce and primal, and it touched that part of her she’d been trying to keep hidden.

  I love you.

  Nathan rocked into her, harder and faster, and she didn’t realize she was crying until he looked up all of a sudden and caught her eyes in the mirror. He didn’t stop the pleasure; he kept thrusting, his body moving with hers in an ancient dance neither one of them could fake. This wasn’t just sex. This was connection. This was belonging. This was everything.

  He reached up and wiped the tear that had fallen down her cheek, and then hunched over her, like an alpha with its mate, his teeth on her shoulder as his body began to shudder.

  “I can’t hold off any longer,” he gripped her hips hard and brought her home, and then collapsed on her, his body still pulsing, her insides still quaking.

  “And I thought last night couldn’t be beat,” he murmured.

  Molly was so spent and shaken, she couldn’t respond, but when he spoke again the gentle lilt to his voice nearly brought her to tears again, which she stopped in their tracks, because that would be ridiculous. Since when was she the weepy Willy?

  “You okay?” he asked softly.

  “Yeah,” she said, turning into his embrace when he backed away from the sofa. “Let’s get you in that shower.”

  “Only if you join me.”

  “You up for that already?” she teased.

  Nate chuckled. “Give me ten minutes, and I’ll let you know.”

  As it turned out, he only needed five.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The boys were in fine form. Nate grinned as he teed up his shot and prepared to drive the eighteenth. He’d had a great game, in fact, he’d probably golfed the game of his life. The rest of them, though? They’d been into the whiskey the moment they arrived, their plan to get Zach rip-roaring drunk well on its way to fruition.

  Considering this was the extent of their bachelor party, it wasn’t surprising. But Nate decided before arriving he was playing it safe and watched the booze intake. He had plans for later, and those plans called for a man who was perfectly sober and in control of all his faculties. The important ones, anyway. The ones Molly liked.

  He grinned again, swung his driver, and watched the ball sail straight down the fairway to land within chipping distance of the green. A chip and a putt and he’d eagle this hole.

  Life was good.

  They finished their round and met up on the patio of the clubhouse. You could smoke out here, and Nate pulled out the Montecristo cigars he’d saved for the guys. The Cuban cigars were his favorite, and he’d been looking forward to this all day.

  Zach took a puff and smiled. “These are damn good.”

  “The best.”

  Zach swayed slightly. “I think I had too much whiskey.”

  “It’s the last kick at the can, my friend. Enjoy it.”

  “I really love her.” Zach chuckled. “Hell, last week, we were in Costco, and she almost convinced me to buy pink sheets.” He looked at Nate, horrified. “Pink sheets, if you can believe it. I almost caved too. She loves pink like she loves margarita pizza, and that’s a hell of a lot.” He took another puff from his cigar and let the smoke whirl around his head in a haze. “I’d do anything for her.” He blew out a long breath. “She wants to start a family right away.”

  “Yeah?”

  Zach nodded. “What do you think about that?”

  Nate leaned on the railing and looked out over the course. From here, he could see all the way down the fairway, past the trees that encircled the course, to the sparkling water of Crystal Lake.

  “I think kids are great,” he replied slowly, kind of surprised because he actually meant it. Heck, Stu’s little guy wasn’t so bad. Sure, he cried a lot, and it seemed like either Stu or his wife were constantly changing diapers, or putting him down to sleep, or changing clothes because the little guy spit up a lot. But the baby would grow out of that eventually, and in a couple of years, Stu would be able to lace him up in a pair of skates and teach him the only game God ever blessed: hockey.

  “Well…” Zach held aloft his tumbler of whiskey. “Here’s to getting hitched and starting a family.” His brow furled. “What about you?”

  “What about me?” Damn, but his buddy was all over the place today. Had to be wedding nerves.

  “You ever think of settling down?”

  “Not really,” Nate admitted. He watched the ash burn off the end of his cigar and wondered what it would be like settling down with Molly. As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he gave himself a mental shake. It would never work. Her life was here and his wasn’t. Plus, all the rules she’d insisted on. That didn’t sound like a woman hell-bent on nabbing herself a guy.

  So what the hell had happened in Vegas? Was it really just a case of her getting so damn drunk she’d done and said things she didn’t mean?

  “You have an aversion to getting hitched?”

  “No, I…” He frowned. “I just haven’t thought about it.” Nate looked at Zach and narrowed his eyes. “What are the twenty questions for? If you’ve got something to say, just say it already. But if it’s got anything to do with Molly, save your breath. She and I are good. We’re better than good, and we’re…” He swore under his breath because he wasn’t sharing shit with Zach, and he’d promised Molly no one would know. “We’re just pals, same as always, Zach. Nothing more than that.”

  Zach set his tumbler on the railing and then u
sed it to steady himself. “She’s different, Nate. Everybody sees it.” He glanced up at Nate. “And so are you.” A sloppy grin crossed his face. “That’s all I’m saying. Nothing more.”

  “Guys, we’re headed to the Coach House. The Blues Band is playing.” Stu poked his head through the door. “Get your ass in gear. The cab is on its way.”

  The ride was boisterous. It was about twenty minutes around the lake and to the other side of town. The music was loud, Mike decided to serenade them all (the guy was tone deaf and wasn’t winning any awards), and Nate was glad that Zach had turned his attention to Brad, who, other than Nate, was the only single guy in the group. Love seemed to have turned his pal into a wannabe love guru.

  By the time they got to the Coach House, it was nearly seven and they were hungry. They grabbed a large table near the stage, and Nash Booker, the owner of this fine establishment, sent over platters of wings, Cajun fries, deep-fried onions and pickles, along with several jugs of beer and a round of tequila shots. All on the house.

  The boys toasted, and Nate loosened up a little, happy to be here with the gang, though there was one missing. He checked his phone for the tenth time, but there was nothing from Molly. The plan was that she’d text him when she got back to town from the wine-and-brew tour, and each of them would come up with an excuse to leave their group and meet up back at her place. It was on the down low exactly as she wanted it.

  Which, if Nate was being honest, kind of bugged him. Why the hell did she want to hide the fact that they were hanging out? It wasn’t a crime. Shit, men and women did it all the time. It wasn’t as if they were seventeen. They were grown-ass adults. Why did she insist on keeping him a secret?

  Restless, he slid off his chair and pushed his way through the crowd gathered on the dance floor. The band was about to start, the guys were shuffling around on stage, but Nate wasn’t interested. He needed some air and some quiet, because, since Molly wasn’t texting him, he was going to call her.