That Thing You Do (Crystal Lake 2)

Chapter Thirteen

Molly pretty much floated through her day with a smile on her face, which apparently wasn’t something she normally did, because Lainey commented on it more than once and so did her brother. She didn’t bother with a response; she didn’t have one that was appropriate. It wasn’t as if she could tell her brother that she’d had more orgasms than she could count or that she hurt in places that hadn’t been used in a good long while.

It was the kind of hurt that felt wonderful. The kind that put a smile on your face. The kind that had her buzzing and thinking about things she shouldn’t be thinking about at work. Like Nate inside her and how his face changed when he was about to come. Or how his tongue drove her crazy, how he groaned when she took the long length of him into her mouth.

Hell, they’d done things she’d only read about in the romance novels her mother favored, and she couldn’t wait to do it all over again.

Luckily, she didn’t have a lot of time to ponder all those distracting inappropriate things, because the clinic was busy as hell and her brother was hungover. Why bother coming in if all you were going to do was complain about how much your head hurt? Honestly, she couldn’t wait for all this wedding stuff to be over. They were booked solid because Zach was golfing with his groomsmen on Thursday and she was headed out for a wine and brewery tour with Jess and the other girls in the wedding party. It was the last hurrah for her soon-to-be sister-in-law, and while Molly could think of a lot of other things she’d rather be doing, a part of her was glad she’d agreed to go.

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.”