That much, at least, hadn’t died. Whether Molly was happy about it or not remained to be seen.
Not that he was in any way deluding himself that she was his for the taking. She might still have feelings for him—very strong feelings—but they were interwoven with distrust. It was going to take more than a few kisses, no matter how steamy, to win her back, to convince her that she could risk giving him her heart again.
If that was what he wanted, he concluded thoughtfully. This was no time for uncertainty. She’d made that plain when she’d prevented him from glibly saying that he loved her. She wanted proof this time, and words alone—especially words uttered in the heat of passion—weren’t going to do it.
Of course, tonight could have been a fluke. It could have been one of those wildfires that erupted unexpectedly from mostly dying embers and burned itself out just as quickly. If he ever kissed her again, he probably wouldn’t feel a thing.
Not that he intended to find out right away. He’d never been crazy about the out-of-control feelings Molly sparked in him. She was exactly right about his personality. He did like to keep a tight rein on the events in his life and on his emotions. He’d followed a different path when he’d fallen in love with her the first time, and look how that had ended. No, better to chalk this kiss up to a moment of insanity and not try to make anything out of it.
Satisfied that he’d analyzed the situation and reached the only sensible conclusion, he took a very cold shower and went to bed. He was certain he’d have forgotten all about the kiss by morning. He was just as certain that he would bounce out of bed ready to tackle the Kendra problem and solve that, too.
Instead, he awoke with an image of Molly—naked in his arms—taunting him. He was already restless, edgy and in need of coffee—the powerful, caffeinated kind—by the time he reached Jess’s.
Retta met him at the front door. “What did you do to my girl?” she demanded, arms folded across her ample chest as she blocked his way inside.
Daniel was not prepared to go toe-to-toe with Retta, not without his first cup of coffee. “What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything to Molly.” He figured the kissing didn’t count, since she’d been a more than willing participant. Besides, he doubted Molly would have told Retta about the kissing.
“Then why isn’t she here?” she demanded.
Daniel’s heart thumped unsteadily. He grabbed Retta’s shoulders and leveled a look directly into her worried eyes. “What happened? Where’s Molly?”
“Do you think I’d be asking you, if I knew the answer to that?” she snapped impatiently. “What happened here last night after I talked to her?”
He tried to sort through the events of the evening. “Kendra came back. The three of us talked. Then Molly and I talked some more. I left. That’s it,” he said. “Nothing happened that should have sent her scurrying away. Are you sure she’s gone?”
“Her bed hasn’t been slept in.”
“And Kendra’s?”
“Her bed’s a mess, but she’s gone, too.”
“Well, hell,” Daniel said, raking his fingers through his hair. Why was it that whenever Molly was involved in his life, his hair invariably was a mess? Probably because there were too damned many infuriating moments just like this one. “Why would she take off? She knew I was coming back this morning to try to figure something out to help Kendra.”
Retta studied him knowingly. “Maybe this wasn’t about Kendra,” she suggested.
“Then what…?” His voice trailed off. “You think it has something to do with Molly and me.”
“Does it? I told you if you hurt her again, there’d be no stopping me from coming after you.”
“I haven’t hurt her,” he swore.
“Then I’ll ask you again, what happened between you two last night?”
“I kissed her, okay? Satisfied?”
Retta scowled at him. “Now why’d you go and do a dumb thing like that?”
“She was annoying me,” he said, remembering the challenge in her eyes, the dare in her voice. “And before you climb on your high horse, you should know that she kissed me back. In fact, she initiated one whopper of a kiss herself. So, there’s plenty of blame to go around her. She’s messing with my head, too.”
Retta sighed. “That’s it, then. You cut through her defenses, she got scared and she ran. She’s probably telling herself right this minute that she did it for Kendra’s sake, but