Sealed with a Kiss

CHAPTER TWO

MOLLY RAN until she reached her car. Her hands shook as she searched for her keys. Not an easy feat in a bag big enough to carry all the crap she kept with her that normally seemed necessary but wasn’t. Not when all she wanted to do was find her keys and drive far away fast.

Seeing Hunter again, rumpled from sleep yet still so disarming and sexy, had reawakened the woman inside her she’d buried in order to be part of a family instead. She’d looked him over without shame, noticing how he’d left the button on his jeans undone. She’d been torn between staring at his razor-stubbled, handsome face or his bare chest and the light sprinkling of hair running low and disappearing into the waistband of worn denim. The brief glance had set her nerve endings tingling with sensual awareness and her heart pounding with sincere regret.

Yet before she could explain why she’d come or even make an overture of any sort, she’d been smacked in the face with evidence that he’d moved on.

It’s cold in here alone, baby.

Nausea swept through Molly and she shoved her hand into her bag once more, finally stabbing herself in the palm with her keys. She pulled them out and hit the open button on the remote just as she heard Hunter’s voice.

“Molly, wait.”

She shook her head. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d said this trip was a mistake. She’d find another way to save her father. Molly wasn’t a coward but she had no desire to face the man she’d interrupted mid-she-didn’t-want-to-know-what.

She and Hunter shared a history of barely beginning and prematurely ending before they had a chance to see what could blossom between them, but Molly knew that their feelings had been solid and real. She’d been the one to blow any chance they might have had.

She managed to open the car door but Hunter ran up beside her before she could get in.

“Hang on,” he said, his voice a command.

She steeled herself and turned to face him. In harsh daylight, he was still sexy enough to light a fire inside her, but now she saw more. The Hunter she knew was clean shaven, a meticulous dresser and concerned about impressions and what others thought of him. The man standing in front of her appeared as worn down and tired as his apartment had looked.

Still, she had to finish what she’d started. “Go back inside and forget I ever came by.”

He placed a hand on the top of the door window. “I can’t do that. You didn’t show up here for no reason, so what gives? Because I know this wasn’t a social call.”

Her stomach cramped at his cold, distant voice and her eyes filled with angry, frustrated tears. Well, she hadn’t expected him to jump for joy just because she’d decided to resurface. Rationally, she understood that. Emotionally was another story and she hadn’t been prepared for all the feelings seeing him again had stirred up.

Molly cleared her throat and reminded herself she’d come for a reason that had nothing to do with them. “You’re right. It wasn’t a social call. My father’s been arrested for murder and he needs a good lawyer. He needs you.”

Hunter blinked, obviously surprised. “I see.” He paused, then cool as can be, he said, “I don’t have the time right now but I could recommend a colleague who’d be happy to take the case.”

Inside, she winced. Outside, she somehow remained composed. Two seconds ago she’d been willing to climb into her car, drive away and find some other solution to her problem. Now she shook her head, desperation making her temples pound. “I don’t want someone else. I want the best.” She looked into his golden eyes. “I want you.”

She flushed hot as she realized the double meaning in her words but refused to take them back. Seeing him again had made her realize she needed him, too, whether he liked it or not.

He scowled at her. His angry expression masked the thoughts running through his head, beyond the walls he’d erected to keep her out. “I’m not licensed in California. Isn’t that where your father lives?”

“That was the man I thought was my father. My real father is retired army general Frank Addams. He lives in Connecticut and I know you’re licensed there as well as New York.” Maybe, she thought, if she eliminated obstacle by obstacle, he’d have no choice but to represent her innocent father.

“Ah. Apparently a lot’s happened since you left, but then that was the point, wasn’t it?”

She gave him that one and inclined her head, squinting against the glare of the sun. “It looks like your life’s been pretty full, as well.”

Molly figured the brunette wearing his shirt kept him plenty busy.

“For all I knew, you fell off the face of the earth. Did you expect me to sit around and twiddle my thumbs until you decided to return? If you decided to return?” He folded his arms across his chest and propped a shoulder against the still-open car door, his barriers physical, emotional and miles high.

His anger hurt as much as a slap in the face. Her palms grew sweaty and she wiped her hands against her thighs. But he was correct. She had no right to utter a word of criticism or complaint. She’d left and stayed away.

He wouldn’t care that she’d written to him and kept the letters in a box beneath her bed. The fact that she’d never mailed them would only be further proof of her rejection. Only she could understand the scars left by her childhood, scars that had just begun to heal thanks to the love of a father who’d never willingly have left her to a coldhearted mother if he’d known the truth.

Obviously her healing came too late to fix them, though. It was a risk she’d had to take, but God how it sliced through her like a knife to know she’d well and truly lost Hunter for good.

She swallowed hard. “I didn’t think you’d want to hear from me. But Lacey knew where I was.” Hunter’s best friend was a woman Molly had met during her time in his hometown. Born Lilly Dumont, she’d changed her name to Lacey and eventually married her childhood sweetheart and Hunter’s other best friend, Tyler Benson. The three had a bond that no one could break.

At one time Molly might have been jealous, but she understood now that they were the only family Hunter had, and Molly liked and respected them for it. “Didn’t Lacey tell you where I was?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I told her not to mention your name.”

“Don’t sugarcoat your feelings.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.”

A sudden chill took hold and she couldn’t blame the March air. Molly did her best not to shiver or show weakness in front of Hunter. He wanted to hurt her and she needed to remain strong. At least until she’d convinced him he had no choice but to come on board with her.

She dug her nails into her palms, wishing she could end this conversation and put herself out of her misery. But she had to give hiring him one more shot.

Finding it hard to face him, she glanced down first and realized he’d run after her in bare feet. His urgency to reach her before she took off said something. Didn’t it? She chose to take heart from the little things. “Whatever you think of me, don’t take it out on my father. He needs you.”

Hunter narrowed his gaze. “I don’t think-”

“Don’t think,” she said, pleading with him now. “Pretend this is any other pro bono case. The general is a person in need, Hunter. The kind you like best. Please help him. Help me.”

He paused for what seemed like forever, his icy stare never leaving hers. Molly searched for a hint of the warm, compassionate, caring man she’d known, but he was nowhere to be found. She thought back to his messy apartment and once again was struck by the difference in his appearance. He’d changed, outwardly not for the better, and she was afraid to consider what role her leaving had played in his transformation.

Then again maybe she was giving herself too much credit. She needed answers from him, not just about whether he’d help her father, but about himself.

“Hunter?” Reaching out, she placed her hand on his bare arm. The spring air around them was warm; his body was even hotter, singeing her fingertips where she touched.

He jerked his arm back as if she’d pinched him. “I’ll think about it,” he said in a roughened tone of voice that didn’t invite further conversation.

She didn’t know whether or not to believe him but she had no choice. “That’s all I can ask,” she said softly and before he could change his mind, she turned and slid into her car.

Their gazes met and held for a long while until finally he slammed the door shut. Neither one of them had discussed how he’d reach her, she thought, her stomach in knots, her hopes for saving her father plummeting.

Molly held back tears as she put the car in drive and hit the gas, refusing to look into the rearview mirror. She didn’t want to see him watching her leave nor did she want to find out he hadn’t stuck around to see it.

Her throat burned painfully. What had happened to the lighthearted guy she knew? The playful sparring partner she’d met during their years at Albany law school. Back then he’d ask her out often and she’d routinely say no. Not because she hadn’t been interested. Only a blind woman wouldn’t be attracted to his rugged good looks and deliberate polish, but Molly had had her eye on a goal and she had no room for distractions, no matter how sexy.

Yet there always had been so much more to Hunter than what he allowed the world to see. Molly had always looked deeper. From the beginning, she’d been drawn in more by what he kept from the world than by his physical appeal. She admired his intellect and the way he’d volunteer in class, coming up with a unique and somewhat controversial answer that still made sense. Like her, he had few friends, preferring to walk the halls and library alone. Perhaps because she could relate, she’d sensed a man with high walls, similar to her own. Walls she might have tried to breach had she not been so focused on graduating at the top of her class.

She’d been determined. Nothing and no one would stop her from becoming independent so she’d never be forced to rely on any man for anything. Like mother, not like daughter had been her motto, even at the expense of a social life.

When she’d met up with Hunter again last year, the sexual awareness had been as potent as ever but this time something bigger stood in their way. Molly had moved to Hunter’s hometown at her mother and soon to be stepfather’s request-she’d been on the verge of finally having the family she’d always wanted and the motherly acceptance she’d always craved. Until Lacey had almost been killed and Molly’s mother’s fiancé had been the best suspect. Only Molly had believed in his innocence, even against Hunter’s insistence to the contrary.

She’d viewed Hunter as a barrier to her oldest dreams. If she’d sided with Hunter, she’d lose her mother’s love. A love she’d never had to begin with, and when she’d been slapped in the face with that painful truth, she’d turned and run away from Hunter instead of to him.

Was it any wonder he’d moved on? With that thought came the memory of the woman who’d obviously shared his bed and this time the tears flowed unchecked.

Molly wiped them with the back of her hand so she could see well enough to drive, reminding herself that she should follow his example. The irony was Molly thought she had moved on with her life.

When she’d shown up uninvited and unexpected on the general’s doorstep, his long-lost daughter, he hadn’t disappointed her. Almost immediately she’d moved into his home so she could get to know him and her family better. But she’d always known that living in her father’s house wasn’t a permanent arrangement. Even before seeing Hunter again, she’d sensed the time was coming when she’d have to make choices and build a new future.

Maybe in the back of her mind she’d hoped she could look Hunter up again one day. Now she never would. But as soon as her father’s name was cleared, she’d find herself a life. Not the transient life she’d lived up until now, but the life she’d told Hunter she had to find before she could commit to a man or a relationship.

A man who wouldn’t be Hunter.

HUNTER WATCHED MOLLY drive away before returning to his apartment. If he thought his head hurt before, man, it pounded like a bass drum now. He strode through the lobby, ignoring the people who stared as if they’d never seen a man walk through barefoot and bare-chested before. Until he was alone, he refused to let himself think about Molly or her request.

When he walked inside, he knew immediately Allison had left. He didn’t blame her. That was one helluva scene and she hadn’t been the one he’d chosen to worry about. He slammed the door shut behind him and checked his room just in case, but her clothes, her bag and anything that had belonged to her were gone. No note, no nothing.

“Hell.” He ran his hand through his hair and lay down on the bed. He’d call her later and apologize, but this affair or whatever it had been was over. Molly had seen to that.

Molly had seen to a lot of things, like stirring up old feelings and messing with his head. But one thing he knew for sure. No way in hell was he going to help her out just because she decided she needed him now. At least that’s what he told himself. But he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Where had she been all this time and how was she getting along? Judging by her appearance, her time away hadn’t been at all difficult on her. Molly looked, in a word, gorgeous.

He growled aloud and continued to think about her. Just how close was she to this newfound father and what were the circumstances leading to his arrest? She hadn’t said much beyond asking him to consider her request. Not that he’d given her an easy opening.

He’d already decided he wasn’t going to be at her sudden beck and call, so there was no point in dwelling on Molly any longer. He showered, dressed and headed to his newly established office in downtown Albany, thanks wholly to Lacey’s generosity. When she’d come into her inheritance, she’d insisted on paying off his student loans. He’d argued, of course, knowing there were better uses for her money but she did it anyway.

In return, he’d decided to focus even more on the pro bono cases, giving those who couldn’t afford representation decent legal counsel. He’d leased larger office space, taken on partners and associates, and unwilling to abandon the people in his hometown of Hawken’s Cove who counted on him, too, he’d maintained his practice here with one attorney covering when he wasn’t around.

After snapping at every paralegal and associate who’d dragged themselves into the office on a Saturday, he knew he’d be no good to anyone and took off to visit his friends in his old hometown. Ty and Lacey had returned for the weekend to visit Ty’s mother and their timing couldn’t be better.

A quick phone call and they agreed to meet at their old hangout, Night Owl’s. He paused at the bar, ordered a beer and carried it over to the table where his friends sat eating dinner. He’d already filled Ty in on Molly’s sudden resurrection in his life. Hunter was certain Lacey knew by default, so there was no need for explanation as he pulled up a chair and joined them.

Ty eyed the bottle in Hunter’s hand and frowned. “Beer not vodka.”

“Your point?” Hunter asked.

Ty shrugged. “You already know.”

Hunter answered by taking a swig from the bottle.

Hunter had refined his tastes soon after putting himself through college then law school, straightening out his life. He’d taken to dressing more like an attorney and drinking name-brand vodka instead of cheap brew. But that was back when Hunter cared what people thought. Before he’d learned appearances meant little and he’d always be the same kid who’d gone through a revolving door of foster homes on the wrong side of the tracks. The guy nobody thought would amount to a damn thing. Since his breakup with Molly, if he could call it that, he’d reverted to his old ways.

“Hard living and harder drinking,” Lacey said, shaking her head, her disappointment and concern clear. “I thought you’d get this need to self-destruct out of your system by now. Do you know how worried we’ve been about you?” Lacey reached across the table and placed her hand over his. “Ty, tell him.”

The other man merely shrugged. “I’m not worried. I just think you’re an ass and you need to get your life in order. No woman’s worth-ouch!” he muttered as his wife elbowed him in the ribs.

“You know what I mean,” Ty said, placing an arm around Lacey’s shoulders and kissing her on the cheek before turning back to Hunter. “You’ve been burying yourself in work and women to forget Molly and it hasn’t helped. Now she’s back and she needs your expertise. That’s two things you can’t resist, so-”

“She dumped me and disappeared for almost a year. Not one word-”

“I’ve heard from her,” Lacey reminded him.

He cleared his throat. “Like I said, I haven’t heard from her until now when she needs my help, pro bono I might add, and she calls on me. Hunter, the sucker. Hunter, the one who can’t resist her. Uh-uh. No way, no how. I am not helping her.” He slammed the empty bottle onto the table for emphasis.

“Pro bono is what you do,” Lacey said in her sweetest, most cajoling voice.

Best friend or not, he was going to strangle her, Hunter thought.

“Besides, you owe Molly,” Lacey said.

“I what? ” Hunter hit the side of his head with his palm to clear his hearing.

“You owe her. Last year when everything went down, I thought Uncle Marc was the one who wanted me dead so he could claim my trust fund. And instead of taking Molly’s side, you backed me up. So you owe her, Hunter, you really do.”

Ty leaned closer to Hunter. “It’s a female thing,” he explained. “Just look at her and smile like you agree. Trust me, it’s easier than arguing.”

Hunter opened his mouth, then shut it again. But in the end, he couldn’t resist. “I apologized to Molly,” he reminded his best female friend. “And I proposed to her. Not just marriage, but I said I’d pick up my life and move wherever she wanted so we could have a chance at a real future together. I hardly think I owe her,” he said through clenched teeth.

Just the memory of that time had the power to send him reeling all over again. He’d thought Molly understood and accepted him, past and all, but he’d been wrong. He’d learned then that all the refinement in the world wouldn’t change his destiny. When Molly rejected him, she’d proved that hard work hadn’t altered the fact that he was what his father had claimed, someone who’d never amount to anything. Someone not worth staying around for.

Everyone left Hunter eventually. Molly’s betrayal had just hurt the most because he’d taken a risk and opened his heart.

Never again.

“You’ll help her,” Ty said right before he bit into his burger. “It’s what you do.”

Lacey nodded. “It’s who you are.”

Hunter slid the bottle across the table, his annoyance and frustration growing. “Neither of you listened to a word I said.”

Lacey took a sip of her soda from a straw, and met his gaze. “As long as you don’t listen, that’s all that matters, because Molly needs you.”

Hunter swore and glanced toward the ceiling. “What about what I want and what I need?” he asked.

Ty slapped a brotherly hand on his shoulder. “When it comes to women, it doesn’t matter what we want. It’s all about what they want.”

Lacey grinned. “He learns fast.”

“Married men have no choice,” Ty said.

“But marriage does have its perks, doesn’t it?” she asked, playfully sifting her hand through the back of Ty’s hair.

“As thrilled as I am that the two of you are disgustingly happy, I have to get back to work.” In truth he was thrilled that his best friends had found the happiness they deserved, but he couldn’t stand to be around their marital bliss.

He pushed his chair back and rose. “I’m out of here.”

Lacey frowned. “Don’t go running away just because we’re hitting a nerve. Stay for dessert.”

He shook his head. “Can’t.”

“Won’t,” Ty countered. “PDA isn’t his thing. He’d rather bring home women who don’t mean anything to him and make sure they leave before the sun rises.”

Lacey winced. “Do you have to be so blunt?”

“Did I mention last night’s didn’t leave before Molly showed up?” Ty asked.

Lacey’s eyes opened wide. “Tell me he’s joking,” she said as she met Hunter’s gaze.

He shook his head. He could still vividly recall how the color drained from Molly’s face when she’d realized he wasn’t alone, and he let out a slow groan. “I wish he was kidding, but it’s the truth.”

In the condemning silence that followed, Hunter wished he’d left when he’d had the chance. “It’s not like I knew she was coming,” he muttered, wondering why he’d become the guilty party.

“He’s got a point,” Lacey said.

“It’s time to give you a kick in the ass. Get your life together,” Ty said to Hunter. He then turned to his wife. “And do you always have to take his side even when he’s wrong?” he asked, disgusted.

Lacey merely laughed and hugged him until he relented, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Hunter, Ty and Lacey had played out similar scenes before. The three friends went back a long way. Ty’s mother was Hunter’s last and best foster parent, taking in Hunter and Lacey both. From the beginning, Lacey had sensed Hunter needed a friend and heaven forbid Ty ganged up on Hunter, Lacey jumped in as his defender. She’d always been someone who believed in him when no one else would. Just as Ty always ended up doing the same.

Lacey had a big heart, which had been the reason Hunter had fallen in love with her when they were kids. Through the years, he’d realized those feelings had morphed into brotherly affection. A good thing since Lacey had always been head over heels for Ty, the dark-haired rebel, as she used to describe him to Hunter.

And Hunter had known the difference between caring and love the day he’d met boldly dressed, outspoken Molly Gifford. Hunter and Molly’s chemistry was undeniable, but from the beginning there’d been so much more between them. In Molly, he’d found his intellectual equal. Hell, she’d beat him out for valedictorian of their law-school graduating class and he’d admired her for it. He’d also sensed an emptiness inside her that he understood because he felt the same way. He believed they’d fill those needs for each other.

He’d been wrong. Thinking like a character from Jerry Maguire had cost Hunter emotionally.

He was still suffering the aftershocks, but he couldn’t say that Lacey and Ty were incorrect. They’d made some valid points, damn them, and their words crowded his brain, outweighing his selfish emotions.

“I really need to get out of here,” Hunter said and turned to leave.

“Take this before you go,” Ty said.

Hunter swerved back and grabbed the paper his friend held out to him. “What is it?”

“The address of one General Frank Addams. He lives in Dentonville, Connecticut. I just figured I’d save you the cell minutes. You know damn well you’d have called me to find the man eventually,” Ty said helpfully.

His knowing grin really pissed Hunter off, mostly because he was right. At some point during this aggravating meeting, he’d decided to book the next flight from Albany to Connecticut and find out what was really going on in Molly’s life that had caused her to turn to him for help.

Lacey was right about something else, too. Not that he’d give her the satisfaction of admitting it. He had put Lacey and their shared past before his trust in Molly. Ty and Lacey were the only family he had, the only ones who cared enough to stand by him. He hadn’t been willing to risk that, even for Molly.

So, yeah, he owed her. But obligation wasn’t the only reason he’d go. Tonight Lacey and Ty had looked at him with the same disgusted expression he viewed in the mirror each morning. He was tired of it.

Hunter was finished sleeping with women he didn’t give a shit about, and he was done drinking himself into a stupor only to wake up with the mother of all hangovers. He’d worked too hard to achieve success only to throw it all away now.

To prove it, he’d help Molly without getting sucked in again. He’d show himself he was over her once and for all by winning her father’s case, and then moving on without looking back.