like that in the world.”
“But you’re not one of them,” he said.
“Lord, I hope not. I like surprises.”
His gaze caught hers, held. “Oh, really?” he said, his voice filled with a challenge.
Before Molly realized his intention, he caught her chin in his hand, leaned across the bar and kissed her. It was a glancing kiss that barely touched her lips, but the shock of it sizzled straight through her. Memories tangled with the present, making her knees weak and her resistance weaker.
“That kind of surprise?” he asked, his voice husky, the dare in it still there to taunt her.
“For starters,” she said, reaching for him and settling her mouth on his again.
She swept her tongue across the seam of his lips, heard the low moan deep in his throat, and then the kiss turned dark and dangerous and demanding. It was the kind of kiss she’d been craving since the moment they’d parted, all consuming and so hot it set her on fire. It had surprised her back then that Daniel Devaney could be the one to provide such a devastating kiss. Now it shocked her that he still could. She hadn’t wanted that. She hadn’t wanted the embers of her love for him to flare to life so readily.
Or had she? Wasn’t this the anticipated ending of the dance they’d been doing for days now? Hadn’t she been testing him? Testing herself?
Oh, what the hell, she thought. Enjoy the moment. She made herself stop thinking at all and gave herself completely to the wonder of having Daniel’s mouth on hers again, of having his breath mingling with hers. For this moment the kiss alone was enough, even without its promise of so much more. She didn’t have to have his hands roaming restlessly over her, didn’t need to feel the deliberate caresses that could send her rocketing into another dimension altogether. The kiss brought heat and passion and more memories than she could count.
“Oh, my,” she whispered, when it finally ended.
Daniel said nothing at all. He just sat there looking as if he’d been struck by a bolt of lightning. Molly grinned at him.
“Knocked you speechless at long last, didn’t I?” she taunted happily, pouring his coffee and setting it in front of him as if nothing monumental had just occurred. “Told you, you had control issues.”
He stared at her, his expression troubled. “Why did that happen?”
“Which part? Why did you kiss me? Or why did I kiss you back?”
“Any of it. Molly, this complicates an already complicated situation.”
“Tell me about it,” she agreed, though she was having a hard time mustering up the kind of regret he was obviously feeling.
“It cannot happen again,” he said flatly.
“Okay.”
He frowned at that. “That’s all you’ve got to say? Just ‘Okay’?”
She was beginning to lose patience with his attitude. “Did you want me to scream and holler and pout? It was a kiss, Daniel. I didn’t declare my undying love. Neither did you. I can live without another one. I’ve been doing just fine without any contact at all with you. If it weren’t for Kendra…” Her voice trailed off as she remembered the girl upstairs whose fate was in their hands. “Oh, my God, what about Kendra? Daniel, what are we going to do about her situation? That’s why you’re here. This other is just an untimely distraction.”
He gave her a wry look. “I thought I was here about Kendra when I walked through the door. Now I’m not so sure. Maybe I could have settled the Kendra situation that very first night, if I’d been thinking straight. Instead, I let you play games for days, because it allowed me to keep coming back.”
She scowled at the implication that he had unwittingly come for the kiss, that all of his visits had been about her. “Kendra is the only thing that matters. She has to be. Now, concentrate. Were you able to postpone Joe’s visit in the morning?”
He shook his head. “He’ll be here at nine. He refuses to postpone it even an hour.”
Molly felt panic clawing at her. “We have to do something. He can’t come in here and take her.”
“He can,” Daniel said quietly. “And there won’t be a thing I can do to prevent it.”
“But that’s wrong. She’s scared of going home. There’s a reason for it. Doesn’t that matter at all?”
“It might, if I knew the reason,” he told her.
Molly considered telling him as much as Kendra had told her, but she didn’t feel right betraying the