When You Dare - Lori Foster [19]
Used to be, people asked her why she hadn’t been on Oprah, or had her books been made into a movie, as if either was something in her control and easily accomplished. But with the recent movie deal, at least one of those questions had been replaced with another: Can I borrow some money?
Nearly everyone she knew wanted into her pocket. Friends she hadn’t known she had showed up with great regularity. And when they didn’t want money, they wanted an inside edge to meeting a celebrity, to hanging with the “in” crowd.
Molly snorted to herself. She hadn’t changed, but everyone now treated her differently.
Pushing open the window, she let in the fresh air. Their room faced the parking lot, and she saw Dare get into his rented van and drive toward Walmart again.
If she looked to the left, she could just see the turbulent ocean as it teased a sandy beach, sending surfers atop waves, and then crashing them down again. People in Windbreakers strolled with their leashed pets. Lovers walked hand in hand.
Molly sighed and decided she could use another shower while Dare was gone. Maybe with enough shampoo and conditioner, she could ease some of the gnarled snags in her hair.
Sometime later, while she still stood under the warm spray, she heard a knock on the bathroom door.
“Molly?”
He’d returned sooner than she’d expected—or she’d lingered longer than she meant to. “Be right out,” she called through the door.
“I got you some more clothes, so you don’t have to put the same ones on if you want to change.”
She chewed her lip. Yesterday he’d seen her in no more than a towel, but she hadn’t been capable of presenting herself any differently. Today, feeling stronger, she wanted to be less of an imposition on him.
“Just a second.” She stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around herself and cracked open the door. “You didn’t need to do that.”
His gaze dipped from her face to her barely visible right shoulder, and back up again. Handing in the bag, he said, “There’s more out here, but this ought to get you started. I stuck the toothbrush and toothpaste in there that I bought yesterday, too.”
Biting her lips in a long-standing habit, Molly nodded. “Thanks.”
He put a hand on the door, keeping her from closing it. “You sure you’re okay?”
Why her heart thundered that way, she couldn’t say. She did trust him. But now that she wasn’t so debilitated, everything seemed…different. More intimate somehow. “Almost like my old self.”
His eyes narrowed the smallest bit. “You still look shaky to me.”
A little, but that had more to do with talking to a big, powerful man while wearing only a towel than with her past ordeal. “Not at all.”
“You’re pale.”
Odd, since she felt flushed. “My natural coloring?”
He considered her a moment more and must have decided to let it go. “I’ll be here if you need anything.” He released the door and stepped away.
Breathless with some unidentifiable emotion, Molly closed the door, locked it with an audible click that made her wince, and dropped back against it.
From the moment she’d laid eyes on Dare, she’d been aware of his size, his strong shoulders, bulging biceps and broad chest. For her, his strength equaled safety. He’d proved a capable lifeline when she needed one most.
Now that she could think clearly and those awful shakes had mostly subsided…she saw him as a man.
And what a man.
Why hadn’t she noticed before how…how gorgeous he was? She was alone in a small hotel room with over six feet of sexiness. Windblown brown hair, piercing blue eyes, quiet control… Her heart continued to thunder.
She’d slept with him last night, curled tight along his side for comfort and security….
Oh, God.
Heat flooded her face, and she pressed her hands there. On the phone, he’d mentioned “his girls.” Did that mean daughters? Or maybe romantic involvements? And who had he been talking to? If he was in a relationship, had she inadvertently trespassed?
“Molly?”
Startled, she jumped away from the door. “Yes?”
“Are you going to finish your shower or not?”
Her