Sealed with a Kiss

CHAPTER NINE

HUNTER PLACED his hands behind his head and leaned back against the propped pillows, staring at the bird who sat quietly in his cage. Edna had instructed him to cover it each night, and it was almost time for him to tuck the bird into bed. Unable to sleep or work, he’d figured avian company was better than no company. He’d hoped the bird would distract him but so far the macaw had remained uselessly quiet. And Hunter couldn’t stop thinking about Molly. His hand nearly inside her, her heat and dampness on his fingertips. He was rock hard just remembering it.

A soft knock startled him. He wasn’t wearing anything but his briefs, and had no time to dive under the sheet on the pullout bed before the object of his fantasies slipped through the door. She shut it behind her and if he wasn’t mistaken, he heard the click of the lock being pushed into the doorknob.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” the bird said.

Hunter rolled his eyes. “Now he speaks.”

Molly smiled. With a gleam in her eye, she walked to the cage and draped the white covering over the bird. “Night, Ollie.”

Then she stepped toward his bed, wearing a long silk robe that covered way too much skin.

“So what are you doing here? Get lost on the way to the kitchen?” he half joked, needing to know her intentions.

She pursed her glossed lips and shook her head. “I’m hungry, but not for food.”

Her meaning couldn’t be clearer and his heart raced rapidly in his chest. “I could definitely go for some dessert,” he said, his voice rough with desire.

He couldn’t hide his erection and at the moment he didn’t want to. One step at a time, he told himself. He already knew Molly could rip his heart out and understood the importance of protecting his emotions, but right now nothing mattered but burying himself in her willing body and sating the pulse-pounding need he held on to by a thread.

Bracing his hand on the mattress, he shifted his weight to one side so she could join him. The pullout dipped beneath their joint weight. But, he noticed, the springs didn’t squeak, which gave him hope they wouldn’t get caught by anyone in her family.

She bent one knee and the bottom of her robe parted, giving him a glimpse of bare skin. Never before had he found a woman’s knee so damn sexy and he placed his palm there. “That robe is much too long and covers way too much,” he told her.

“And if anyone saw me coming down the stairs, they’d think I was getting a cup of tea.”

Molly inclined her head. The ends of her blond hair brushed her shoulders. She looked sexy and tousled, but he wanted her bare beneath him.

She reached down and opened the sash and let the robe part, revealing the sexiest outfit he’d ever seen in yellow lace that complemented her fair skin. The material covered her breasts but pulled up around her shoulders like a halter, revealing a mouthwatering amount of cleavage and he could only tear his gaze away to take in the short, ruffled edge of her nightgown. His imagination grew ripe with images of what lay beneath the barely there lace. And as his eyes traveled lower, he was shocked to see clear stiletto sandals on her feet.

His body stiffened at the sight. “And how would you have explained those to inquiring family members?”

“I was hoping the long robe would cover them,” she explained with a wicked grin. She deliberately stretched her legs and showed him her toenails painted a hot pink.

Hunter ran a hand up one bare leg, from the strap around her ankle to the top of her thigh. Her skin was silky smooth and the lightest fragrance teased his nostrils. One he couldn’t name, but from now on he’d always associate it with Molly and this moment. “I had no idea you were so daring.”

She raised an eyebrow. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

A definite I dare you to find out more if he’d ever heard one. He hooked one leg around hers, intending to move up and on top of her, but she stopped him by pinning his shoulders to the mattress.

“I owe you from this afternoon,” she said and shrugged off her robe, giving him a full view of her sexy body encased in the lace.

A tremor rippled through him and his hand stiffened on her leg. He refused to glance down at his erection, knowing he was rock hard and ready for whatever she had to give.

“Only an idiot would say no.” Hunter barely recognized his own voice.

Before he could blink or steel himself, Molly hooked her fingers into the waistband of his briefs. She slid them over his groin and down his legs. Then she cupped her hand around his shaft and he let out a guttural groan. He gave up trying to watch, ceded control and leaned back against the pillows so he could just enjoy.

Eyes shut, he felt her fingers curl around him, teasing him with just the right movement and he grew and swelled inside her palm. Without warning, her warm, wet mouth replaced her hand. His body bucked and his hips nearly lifted off the bed.

She pulled him deep inside her mouth while her hand slid lower to the base of his erection. The dual movement of her tongue and mouth sucking him deep and the gliding motion of her hand up and down his straining shaft sent his body into sensation overload. He gripped the sheets and groaned, feeling the wave wash over him, bringing him higher and higher still.

He knew he wouldn’t last much longer, when he was suddenly deprived of the warm wet heat, and he forced his eyelids open. Molly now held a foil packet in her hand.

“I’d be happy to continue what I was doing or we can finish this another way.” She held up the condom. “Your choice.”

What a woman, he thought, deliberately not saying the words aloud. “Condom. Definitely,” he bit out, knowing there was no way he’d regret this choice.

Her eyes blazed with heat at his reply, and between them, they managed to take care of protection. Then Molly continued to take control, straddling his thighs. “Did I mention that I’m not wearing any underwear?” she asked in a teasing voice.

“You’re kidding.” He reached for the hem of her nightie and she playfully swatted his hand away.

“Actually, I’m not.”

And if he’d moved his hand an inch higher, he’d have realized it earlier. He swallowed a groan.

Then, as he watched, she lifted the gown up and over her head until she was nude but for the sexy heels still strapped to her feet.

Hunter’s eyes opened wide and Molly reveled in his reaction. She didn’t know where her courage came from, but he certainly seemed to enjoy it, which only made her bolder.

From the moment she’d taken Hunter into her mouth, her own desire had been building and now her body craved his in the most intimate, primal way. She inched closer to him, until he was poised directly beneath where she needed him most.

She was hot, she was wet and she was ready, but she was still taken off guard when Hunter reached between them, sliding his finger through her slick heat. She shuddered at the intimate touch, made more so because of how long they’d been building toward this moment. Not days, or months, Molly thought, but years.

She met his gaze as he thrust upward at the same time she took his erection deep into her body. Molly hadn’t been celibate but she was picky and it had been a long time since she’d been with any man-but not so long that she’d forgotten what it felt like. And it had never felt like this. She and Hunter, fully connected, his body swelling inside of hers.

She closed her eyes, needing to break the emotional connection that threatened to overwhelm her, because her emotions were the one thing that could get her in trouble with this man. Instead, she merely felt more of him and more for him.

Thankfully he started to move and she picked up his rhythm, taking her mind off of things she couldn’t control and bringing her focus back to something she could. The sensual feelings overwhelming her body grew with each rapid thrust of his hips and she began to find the movement she liked best.

Molly clenched her inner muscles around him as she slid her body up, feeling his hardness and the ridges of his shaft, then released as she melded their bodies once more. Each time she relaxed, it felt as if she took him harder and impossibly deeper inside her, the thrusts joining them and bringing her closer and closer to a building climax.

Suddenly his hot hands closed over her bare breasts and she opened her eyes just as he slowed them down, stilling her frenzied movements. He circled her nipples with his thumbs, then rubbed the tight peaks between two fingers, causing her to clench her legs tight and whimper aloud.

“That’s it,” he said in a rough voice. “I want you to come-and keep coming until you scream.” In fact, Hunter wanted her to come so hard that she would never ever forget this moment or him. He knew she’d stay with him long after his time here was done.

Her cheeks, already pink, flushed darker at his comment. “We wouldn’t want to wake the house and have company.”

“I’ll take care of that. You just do what comes naturally. Those noises of yours turn me on.” So much so that holding back now took every ounce of effort he had.

But as long he focused on Molly, on her full, luscious breasts in his hand, and not on the point where their bodies connected so perfectly, he was able to prolong her enjoyment and wait her out.

To make his point, he levered himself up onto his elbows and coaxed her to lean forward, so he could lick her breasts and suck one of her nipples into his mouth, pulling and teasing with his tongue.

She uttered a low sound from the back of her throat and started to rock her hips back and forth, thrusting her mound into the base of his shaft.

That did it. Hunter couldn’t hold back another second. He gripped her hips in his hands and began to match her movement and thrust upward at the same time, pumping his hips, rocking his body in and out of hers.

Without warning, she started to come. Before she could scream, he rose and somehow-he’d never know how-he managed to topple her onto her side, then onto her back, switching positions so he could cover her mouth with his and quiet any loud noises she might make-and he hoped she’d try to make plenty.

Securely on top now, he captured her lips with his, and kissed her senseless at the same time he thrust inside her, deeper and harder, now knowing how badly she needed the contact between their bodies.

Her breathing grew ragged but she kissed him back, her nails digging into his shoulders. She milked his body, her muscles tight and wet around him.

Hunter was almost there and swept his mouth over her cheek so he could whisper in her ear, “Come for me, Molly. Now.”

She moaned and wrapped her legs around his waist. He felt the hard ridge of her shoes digging into his lower back, an unlikely turn-on.

Suddenly she tilted her pelvis and met his thrust with one last one of her own until he was buried completely, lost inside her, totally gone.

The first loud groan came not from Molly but from him and would have woken the house if not for her quick action. She sealed her lips over his at the same moment his climax hit, at the same instant she came apart, her entire body stiffening before she began to roll her hips into his, seeking deeper contact, harder pressure. He gave her what she wanted and he gave it eagerly because it was what he needed, as well.

His climax was unlike anything he’d ever felt before in his life and Molly’s screams were lost in their kiss along with his own.

AFTER THEY CAME BACK to earth, Hunter pulled Molly tight against him, his exhaustion obvious. Molly fought sleep, knowing she had to tiptoe back upstairs before they were caught together, but she couldn’t resist a few more minutes in his arms. He snuggled into her from behind, his arm around her waist, his face in the crook of her neck, his breathing finally slow and even.

So now she knew. She knew what it was like to make love to Hunter and the experience had exceeded her wildest dreams. She’d been more uninhibited than she’d been with any man in her life, more open, more giving, more concerned about his needs and desires. Everything with Hunter could be summed up in one word.

MORE.

Which also translated into not enough, but Molly knew even a lifetime with this man wouldn’t satisfy her. She’d been offered that lifetime and turned it down.

Hunter had responded by going on with his life in a way Molly had not done. He’d been with other women since his proposal. She’d avoided all men. He’d partied. She’d found family and stability. And now that she wanted a future with Hunter more than anything, now that she could give him her heart with no qualification and no reservation, she understood he’d just shown her the extent of what he was willing to give.

He’d sleep with her again, that much she knew. But no matter how good it was between them, no matter that she’d fall more and more in love with him each time, she wouldn’t delude herself into thinking he’d offer her his heart ever again. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t try to convince him otherwise.

Because, she knew now, she was in love with him. Maybe she always had been, but the depth of that love was finally clear to her.

And if Hunter woke up feeling just a little of what she felt, he’d run far and fast. Today’s birthday party had shown her why his walls were so high and how much damage she’d done. If Molly had held out hope of convincing Hunter she’d changed, that she was ready for everything he had to give if only he’d offer it to her again, his reaction to the party told her how difficult her mission would be.

His past had seen to that. Her rejection had merely compounded his long-held beliefs. His parents had abandoned him, but not before convincing their child that he wasn’t worthy of love. What his parents hadn’t destroyed inside him, foster care had. The celebrations for others, the exclusion from family events, the lack of love and affection, had all bruised Hunter’s heart worse than she’d ever realized.

Her eyes filled with tears, not for herself and all she’d thrown away, but for Hunter and how much he needed the love she could give him. Love he’d never accept or believe she’d give for the long haul. And she had nobody but herself to blame for that.

With regret, Molly lifted Hunter’s arm off her and rolled away from his touch. He groaned, turned to his other side and curled into a ball with his pillow in his arms. Warmth rippled through her. Still watching him, she unhooked the straps on her sandals and slipped off her heels, not wanting to make noise in the hall this late at night.

He muttered something in his sleep. She leaned over and brushed a kiss against his back, still smiling. She was determined to keep smiling, not dwell on the past, but she couldn’t help thinking about how for one brief moment he’d tossed his fears aside and opened his heart to her. And she’d stomped on it.

Somehow, someway, she needed to get around his walls, or else she feared his body was the only thing he’d ever make available to her again. When she wanted so much more.

MOLLY NEEDED the carbs in a bagel like she needed a hole in the head, considering she hadn’t had time to work out lately, but Edna had bought fresh ones and she couldn’t resist. A little cream cheese, the commander’s hazelnut coffee and she was ready to start the day.

She sat down at the table in the quiet kitchen, enjoying the peace, knowing from the creaking noises of movement upstairs that it wouldn’t last long. She took a sip of the delicious brew and let the liquid warm her as it went down. Of course, she didn’t need the heat. Hunter had generated enough inside her to last for a long, long while. Just not enough for the rest of her life; she wondered just how to tackle what had to be her one of her biggest personal challenges.

“So what’s going on between you and the hunk?” Jessie’s voice broke the silence.

“Ooh, I’d like to know that, too.” Edna walked into the room in her long bathrobe and Ollie on her shoulder.

“Spill the beans,” the macaw said.

“Yeah, spill,” Jessie said, laughing at the bird.

Molly glanced at her half sister who embodied another of Molly’s personal challenges. It seemed her life was full of them. She reminded herself she wanted to reach out to the teen and not alienate her further.

So instead of snapping back that her private life was none of Jessie’s business, Molly leaned forward in her seat and smiled. “Hunter’s getting along great. Thanks for caring,” Molly deliberately misinterpreted Jessie’s question and motives.

“I don’t-” The teen snapped her mouth shut. “I mean, I never said I-” She shook her head, let out a growl of frustration and eyed Molly’s breakfast instead. “Where are the bagels?”

“Right there, beside the fridge in the sealed bag. Why don’t you take both and join me.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” the commander said, laughing.

But Jessie, who had to catch the school bus, glanced at the clock on the microwave.

“You have time,” Molly assured her. “Besides, I won’t bite, snap or bitch at you. I promise.”

Obviously stunned into silence, Jessie made her breakfast, choosing margarine instead of cream cheese and OJ instead of coffee.

They didn’t have to like the same foods in order to get along, Molly mused. “So how was the party last night?”

Jessie flopped into the seat farthest from Molly, taking a bite of her bagel, chewing and swallowing before finally answering. “Actually, it wasn’t too bad. At least not for me. Seth had a bad time.” She downed a good amount of orange juice. “But the girls are starting to mellow out a little. Sarah even said she was sorry she’d been such a bitch and asked how Dad was doing.”

Molly paused, her mug halfway to her lips. Would wonders never cease? Jessie had answered her civilly and revealed something about her personal life. Molly tread carefully so as not to cause her to clam up again. “That’s good. I’m sure it hasn’t been easy for you.”

The teen shrugged. “I can handle it.” Her tone was defensive.

“I never said you couldn’t. I just know how mean kids can be. At least you’ve known your friends for a long time. There’s a bond there that you can each fall back on. When I was your age, I rarely stayed in the same place for more than a year or two, three max. So each time my mother did something stupid or embarrassing, the fallout was worse because I was usually already the outsider.”

Molly felt her grandmother’s compassionate gaze on her, while Jessie was uncharacteristically quiet.

Trying not to squirm, Molly wrapped her hands around her warm mug. “I’m sure that was more information than you wanted to know,” she said, forcing a laugh and privately waiting for Jessie’s nasty retort.

“Wow. That must have sucked big-time.”

Molly raised an eyebrow. Commiseration and not sarcasm? “Yeah, it sucked. And I didn’t have a strong family to fall back on like you do. I also didn’t have a best friend like Seth.” The memories of her emotionally deprived teenage years sent a chill racing through her, one not even the warm coffee could cure.

“What about your mother?” Jessie asked through a mouthful of bagel.

Molly wasn’t about to chide her for her manners now. “If I wasn’t at some expensive boarding school while she was off somewhere unable to be reached, then she was living at home doing the things she enjoyed-which was whatever cost the most money. Either way, same difference. She was never there for me in any way that mattered, and she usually screwed up any decent marriage she had by sleeping with someone. There’d be a scandal, the kids at school would get wind of it, and I’d be there dangling in the wind until she remembered she had to come get me because her husband wouldn’t pay the school tuition any longer.”

Jessie’s mouth hung open wide.

At least she’d finished her bagel, Molly thought, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. She didn’t want to ruin the moment between them.

Neither, it seemed, did the commander, who chose to remain silent and let the truce play out.

“What about your father? Or whoever you thought was your father? Was he a good guy?” Jessie asked, her curiosity about Molly’s past apparent.

“I always thought he was a cold, uncaring man. I’d get an occasional holiday card from him, but not much more. And since he never paid for my school or much else, I assumed it was because my mother had done something to make him hate us and that was that. It was only last year that I realized he had no obligation to me, legal or otherwise. He knew all along he wasn’t my biological father. And he claims he thought my mother’s marriages to rich men meant I was taken care of all those years.”

Molly’s throat ached as it usually did when discussing her childhood, but for once she really didn’t mind. Though she was surprised that sharing her past with Jessie came so easily, she was also glad. When Jessie wasn’t being a teenage brat, she was merely a wounded young girl. That Molly could relate to. She wanted to help her half sister and get to know her better.

“When things with my friends are bad, I always know I have my family.” Jessie looked at her through her big eyes. “I guess I’m luckier than I realized.”

Molly smiled. “That doesn’t mean you haven’t had your share of rough breaks. Losing your mom was an awful thing that shouldn’t happen to any kid.”

Jessie bobbed her head up and down, agreeing with Molly for once. “But Grandma came to live with us right away and Dad was always around. I can’t imagine what it was like for you.”

The commander silently sipped her coffee, her warm gaze darting between both granddaughters. Molly could only imagine how happy Edna was to have them talking civilly for once.

Molly glanced at Jessie and tipped her head to one side. “Don’t start feeling sorry for me or I’ll have to take your temperature and see what’s wrong with you this morning.” She grinned and silently implored Jessie to laugh, to reach out in a way that would mean she acknowledged they’d just taken a huge step forward in their relationship.

“Get over yourself,” Jessie said. And then she started to laugh hard, at Molly and at herself and her brattiness during the past months.

At least that’s what Molly chose to assume and nobody was going to tell her otherwise. Not when she and Jessie were sharing a laugh together.

“Did I miss something funny?” The general walked into the room, causing the chuckles to come to a halt. “Come on now, what are my girls laughing at?”

Molly prayed her father’s words, lumping Molly and Jessie together as his girls didn’t cause the teenager to remember she hated Molly for intruding on her home.

“You didn’t miss a thing.” Jessie rose from her seat, scooping up her half-eaten bagel and juice glass. “It was just…girl stuff. I have to go or I’ll miss the bus.” She threw out the garbage, and rinsed her glass and put it in the dishwasher. “Bye all.” She ran out of the kitchen without looking back.

Molly exhaled a long stream of air and met her father’s surprised gaze.

“Well,” he said, obviously at a loss.

She blinked at the doorway the tornado had blown through. “Well.”

“I guess what they say is true. You do live to see everything,” the commander said.

Still stunned as well, Molly could only nod. Later she’d mull over this morning’s conversation and even savor the warm fuzzy moments between herself and Jessie. For now, though, she had other things to think about.

Like whether or not to ask her father about being with Sonya last night. “How was your meeting?” she asked instead.

“It was okay. John Perlman was honored for his work for the association.” His answer was vague, his gaze never meeting hers.

She pursed her lips, about to call him on his lie when she heard footsteps.

“Morning, everyone.” Hunter’s deep voice set off instant recall inside Molly.

Every moment of being with him last night came flooding back in living color and detail. His scent, his touch, his gorgeous naked body, she thought, just as he strode into the room.

“Morning.” Molly lifted her mug and pretended to drink her now-cold coffee.

“Morning,” the general said. “I hope you’re sleeping well on that couch. Never used it myself so I don’t know if it’s comfortable.”

Hunter poured his coffee and joined them at the table. “I had an excellent night.”

He spoke to the general, but Molly had no doubt his words were meant for her alone.

“Can I get you something for breakfast?” the commander asked their houseguest. “Bagels, pancakes or eggs.”

Molly rolled her eyes at how solicitous her grandmother was being. “Your choice,” she said to Hunter.

“Condom definitely,” the parrot said.

“What did he just say?” Molly’s father asked.

“Repeat that,” Edna said to her bird.

Ever the trained parrot, Ollie complied. “Condom definitely.”

The commander blinked.

The general laughed through narrowed eyes.

Molly, who remembered that exact exchange between herself and Hunter last night, felt her face flame.

And poor Hunter turned to the refrigerator and began rummaging for food.

Before anyone could recover, Jessie ran back into the room without warning. “Forgot my lunch.” She opened the fridge and grabbed a brown paper bag. “Thanks again for picking up me and Seth last night, Commander. I appreciate it.” She kissed the commander’s cheek and then she was gone.

Molly wondered if her father knew Sonya had run into them at the pizza place and told them she was bringing home dinner for her son. A son who they now had public confirmation was at a party with Jessie. From Frank’s bland expression, he had no idea. Then again he was a military man. Keeping secrets had been part of his job.

One thing for certain, Hunter had picked up on the discrepancy just like Molly had when she’d listened to the answering machine last night. He turned away from his hiding place in the fridge and glanced at the general.

Confusion and curiosity were in his gaze. “I thought Sonya brought pizza home for Seth last night. How could he be out?”

“Well…” Frank shifted in his seat, Ollie’s comment obviously forgotten.

Molly closed her eyes and silently asked for forgiveness for what she was about to do. “Sonya knows that kids don’t usually eat at these parties. I’m sure she got the pizza for when he came home.” She cut off her father’s explanation.

She lied for Sonya and her dad.

She lied to the man she’d begged to help him.

Lied to the man she loved.

Because Molly was afraid if she didn’t cover for him now, Hunter would think Frank was lying about a lot more and decide the whole case wasn’t worth his time.

And if she balanced the case versus lying to Hunter, Molly knew she had no choice. Her father’s freedom won because without it, Molly’s life as she knew it didn’t exist.

She had picked her father over Hunter. Now Molly hoped she didn’t live to regret her choice.