Wiggling her fingers into his left pocket, Molly brushed something rigid and hot. “Is that it?” she asked, feeling sexy as only Fox could make her feel.
“That’s for later.” A wicked promise. “Try the other pocket.”
Molly managed to get her fingers inside despite the way the fabric had pulled taut because of his seated position, touched velvet. Working it out, she saw it was a pouch from a high-end jewelry store he must’ve ducked into when he went to get the donuts yesterday.
“…you should know I plan to spoil you. Let me.”
The memory of his words broke her heart as she considered what this gift meant to Fox. And it had nothing to do with money.
“Are you going to open it?” A fine tension to his body, lashes lowered to shade the expression in his eyes.
She could swear her commitment until she was blue in the face, she thought, but it would take him time to accept that she didn’t need enticement to stay. Until then, she’d never turn down a gift, no matter how outrageous, never hurt him with what he’d read as a rejection. “I want you to show me,” she said, handing him the bag.
Lips curving, he tugged open the little gold tie and poured a tumble of glittering gemstones onto his palm before picking up one of the earrings and holding it out. “I don’t want to poke holes in you.”
Aware she was handling thousands of dollars, she carefully hooked it on, then added its twin. “So?” She tucked her hair behind her ears to better show off the precious stones.
“You make them look beautiful.” Sliding one hand under her tee and onto bare skin again, he cupped the back of her head with his other and smiled in the way that always made butterflies take flight in her stomach. “Want to make out?”
Molly had never made out in a car with a boy. Even the idea of it had nauseated her after her father was caught in his luxury sedan with his underage lover. “I might freak out,” she warned, because while she felt fine now, the past had a way of biting when she least expected it.
Fox didn’t ask for explanations; his expression told her he got it. “I can handle a freak-out. Especially if you let me get to third base.”
They steamed up the windows, almost got busted by the cops, and there was no freak-out. It was the best date of her life.
“You look happy,” Thea pronounced a week later when they met up at a sunny little café a couple of minutes’ walk from Thea’s office, the two of them choosing an outdoor table.
Molly took a sip of her passion-orange tea. “I am.” She was starting to believe she and Fox would be okay, even in this hothouse atmosphere. “Is that stubble burn on your cle**age?”
Thea shoved her sunglasses up on top of her head to glance down, groaned. “Damn it. I thought this neckline was high enough.” She pointed a finger at Molly. “’Fess up. You told David to write memos.”
Molly gave her innocent eyes.
Snorting, Thea picked up her phone to check her e-mails.
“So?” Molly prompted, used to the way her sister multitasked.
“So… I guess we’ll see if I can trust him while the band’s on tour.” A whisper of pain, an echo of the brutal blow her fiancé had delivered, the cheating, supercilious piece of crap.
Molly didn’t know if her sister’s heart could take another beating without permanent damage; she truly hoped David was the man she believed him to be. “I thought you’d be traveling with us?”
“No, it’ll be one of my associates. I need to remain at base command for the most part so I can quickly stamp out any fires.” Thea’s eyelashes flicked up. “The other guys, how are they handling what’s happening between David and me?”
“No one’s making a big deal of it,” Molly said, conscious Thea continued to worry about the possible repercussions of being involved with a client, especially if things didn’t work out. “They mess with each other all the time, but not on this topic.” Tight as the four were, it was clear Fox, Abe, and Noah understood exactly how important this relationship was to their bandmate. “We’re all rooting for you.” Smiling, she said, “As your sister, I hope that stubble burn is the first of many.”
Thea laughed, her tension easing. “I’m considering flying in to meet up with the band during some of the tour stops, so you never know.” Spooning up the foam from her cappuccino with one hand while typing a return message with the other, she turned the conversation back to Molly. “Are you looking forward to the tour?”
“Yes and no.” Molly watched a bouncy, tanned woman walk by with two tiny dogs on leashes, each dog pure white with a diamanté collar. It wasn’t until the woman had passed that Molly noticed she was wearing four-inch Perspex heels and had another fluffy white dog in the handbag slung over her elbow, her fingers curved to show off hot-pink talons. “Sometimes I feel like I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole.”
“You’ll be fine.” Thea nibbled at her bran muffin. “Stay grounded, don’t allow all this”—a wave at the flamboyance and wealth around them—“to taint what you have with Fox.” She took a drink of her coffee before saying, “Why yes and no?”
“I’m excited because I get to travel with Fox, watch him perform.” Molly would never get enough of watching him onstage. “But I’m worried about the pressure it might put on us—it’s an intense environment.” Pausing, she admitted, “I’m so possessive of him, Thea. I hate it when he poses with female fans without his T-shirt, even though I know it means nothing to him.”