She wasn’t a child any more. Hadn’t she proved that, getting a new job two hundred miles away and moving to the capital, all on her own? So why did she always feel like one, the moment she stepped into this room?
Even Tim treated her like the baby, still. Warning her off unsuitable men, when she could have been sleeping with anyone in London for the last six months. Okay, she hadn’t, but she could have done, and he would never have known.
She sighed. But even that wasn’t as bad as Jake. So desperate to keep her firmly in ‘best friend’s sister’ territory that he couldn’t even admit that if they hadn’t been interrupted last year, things could have been… phenomenal. That was the only word for it.
With a yawn, Molly forced herself to sit up, and rifle through her case for her pyjamas. Mum was right. She needed sleep if she wanted to be on form for tomorrow – and she did.
After all, she only had eight days left to meet Jenna’s challenge and show Jake once and for all she wasn’t a child anymore.
Chapter 7
CHRISTMAS EVE
Despite her best intentions, Molly slept poorly. It didn’t help that every time she shifted in her sleep, some part of her would knock up against the wall, or bang into the bedside table. How had she ever slept in a bed so narrow?
And, of course, once she was awake it was impossible not to think about Jake, asleep just one floor above her. Was he asleep, though? Or was he tormented by thoughts of her, too?
At least he had a proper bed. He and Tim had apparently tossed a coin weeks ago, to see who would get the double and who would have the sofa bed, and Jake had won three times in a row. Even Tim had given up then.
As the illuminated numbers on the alarm clock clicked over to 5.35, the front door slammed and Molly jerked upright. Downstairs, she heard people shushing each other, as if that would make a difference now. Honestly. Never mind sleep – it clearly wasn’t happening anyway. It was Christmas Eve and it sounded like her dad and sister were home.
Jumping out of bed, she padded out of her room towards the stairs, not switching on any lights in case anyone else had managed to sleep through Dory’s not-so-stealthy entrance. Besides, who needed light? She knew this house inside out and backwards. She could find her way around in the dark when blind drunk and half asleep, and still avoid the creaky floorboards on the stairs. God knew she’d had enough practise in her teenage years.
Except… “Ooof.” Molly froze. There wasn’t usually a wall of warm muscle and flesh between her room and the stairs. As she crashed into it, strong arms wrapped around her waist to keep her upright.
“Molly?” Jake’s warm whisper was somehow less of a question, more an incredulous complaint.
She pulled back, just enough to look up at him, but his arms stayed exactly where they were. Molly really wasn’t objecting. Her breasts almost brushed against his chest, driving her crazy.
“Morning,” she whispered back, although forming words in her suddenly dry mouth took a lot more effort than usual. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness and, even with only the faint light of a streetlamp outside the landing window, she could still make out the lines of his face. Of course, it helped that they were standing mere millimetres apart. So close, she could feel the warmth of him through the thin fabric of her pyjamas. “Couldn’t sleep?”
He shook his head. “I thought I heard your dad get home. Thought I’d go and welcome everyone.”
“Same here.” She gave him a half smile, not even sure if he could see it. “Plus, you know, mince pies for breakfast.”
“Yeah. Of course.”
They should move. Dad and Dory and Lucas would be coming upstairs at any moment, and running into her and Jake having a moment on the landing probably wasn’t how any of them wanted to start their Christmas holiday. But how could she pull away, when she finally had Jake exactly where she wanted him?
Molly licked her lips, and Jake made a tiny sound in the back of his throat that hit her straight in the libido. “Jake…”
“Yeah. I know.” His jaw was so tight the words came out clipped. Taking a chance, Molly shifted the mere millimetres it took to press her body up against his, sighing in relief as she felt him against her. If she’d ever needed proof that he wanted this as badly as her, she had it, pushing against her stomach right now.
Stretching up on tiptoes, she trailed her fingers up from his chest to his neck, pulling his lips down to meet hers. For a moment, she felt resistance in the muscles of his throat, but in the space of a heartbeat it was gone, and she was finally, finally kissing Jake Sommers again…
Somewhere, a floorboard creaked.
Jake tore himself from her in a moment, and Molly stumbled back against the wall, her heart beating too fast for her to count, as the landing light flickered on.
Across the hallway, Jake’s eyes were wild, wanting, and he was gripping onto the banister rail with white knuckled hands. His hair looked messier than Molly could ever remember it being. Had she just done that? Or was it just the result of a night spent tossing and turning?
She needed to say something. To address what had happened between them, to ask what happened next. But there were already footsteps on the stairs, and it was too late.
“Hey, guys.” Lucas blinked at them as he lowered his suitcase onto the top step, his eyes red and tired. “Sorry, did we wake you?”
Molly shook her head, stumbling over words in her brain before they could even reach her lips.
Fortunately, Jake had more composure than her. “I thought I heard something, but don’t worry. I’m an early riser.”
“And I… couldn’t sleep.” Molly managed. “Are Dad and Dory downstairs?”
Lucas nodded. “And already getting stuck into the mince pies. Me, I need a little sleep before I can face any more merriment. It’s been a long couple days. See you in a few hours? I’ve got something I need to talk to you about actually, but…”
“Sleep first.” Molly smiled, and let Lucas pass to get to the guest room. “We’ll save you a mince pie. Probably.”
As Lucas’s door shut behind him, Molly stared across at Jake again.
“We’d better get downstairs,” he murmured.
She wanted to object. Wanted to insist that they figured this out at last. But any moment now, she knew Dory might come up or Tim might emerge from the attic. It wasn’t the time or the place.
“Okay. But… we’ll talk? Soon?”
“Sure,” Jake said.
Molly sighed. Maybe she’d believe him more if he wasn’t already halfway down the stairs, getting away from her as fast as possible.
Looked like she still had some work to do. But she smiled as she followed him downstairs. At least she knew now that his body was willing. And clearly, things like this were going to keep happening until they got it out of their systems. Really, the only logical thing to do was sleep together and get it over with.
All Molly needed to do now was appeal to Jake’s common sense. How hard could that be?
-
He was an idiot. Devoid of any sense at all. If he’d had the slightest smidgen of intelligence, he’d have ignored the sound of the front door in the early hours and stayed in bed, safely away from the temptations of Molly Mackenzie, until it was time to leave for his meeting.
But he hadn’t. And so now he was sitting at the kitchen table with Molly, her sister and her father, all eating mince pies with cups of tea for breakfast – and he couldn’t get the scent of her, let alone the feel of her body against his, out of his head.
She smelt like vanilla. He’d thought maybe it was just the mince pies or the mulled wine, the night before, but even in the early morning, with her auburn hair wild around her pale face, and wearing the most ridiculous robin pyjamas he’d ever seen, she still had that sweet, warm smell about her.
Jake risked a glance at Molly across the table, laughing at something Dory had said. She leant forward for another mince pie and the neck of her red top gaped slightly, giving him a perfect glim
pse of creamy curves.
Actually, he was quite fond of the pyjamas, if he was honest.
Dory wiped pastry crumbs from her mouth. “Right. I’m going to go wake Tim up so we can get on with decorating this tree. If we’re lucky, we can get the whole thing done before Mum gets up – and before the jet lag catches up with me and I crash out.”
Glen Mackenzie shook his head at his eldest daughter’s energy. “Well I, for one, am going to follow Lucas’s example and get some shut eye before all hell breaks loose later today.” Standing, he shook his head. “Christmas Eve. I swear, it’s more exhausting than the day itself.”
“And we need you on form for mulled wine making, Dad,” Molly said, grinning. “You know that’s the only reason so many people stop by.”
Glen smiled back. “Extra mince pies for you.” Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he wrapped an arm round Dory’s shoulders as she headed for the door, stopping her. “It’s so good to have both my girls home again.”
As Dory and Glen headed up the stairs, Jake tried very hard to look anywhere except at Molly. Something that proved rather more difficult when she stood, moving to perch herself on the edge of the kitchen table right beside him.
“Dory will be back with Tim any moment,” he pointed out, wishing he could move his chair back without feeling like an utter coward.
“Then we’d better talk quickly, hadn’t we?”
Jake sighed. She always had been persistent. “Look, Moll—”
“Don’t call me that,” she interrupted.
“I’ve always called you that.”