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  Her throat tightened, but she didn’t take her eyes off Lucas. “Thanks,” she managed.

  “Right outside,” Sadie repeated, and then Molly and Lucas were alone.

  “Molly,” Lucas started. “I—”

  “You lied to me.”

  “No,” he said. “I omitted.”

  “Same thing.”

  “Not the same thing,” he said. “When Archer realized you were going to take this case regardless of what he’d told you, he asked me to keep you safe.”

  “And you do everything Archer tells you to?”

  He grimaced when she tugged free and took a step back.

  Archer stuck his head back into the cubicle just then and she pointed at him. Clearly everyone was still eavesdropping, not that she was surprised. “I’m not on the clock,” she grated out. “Which means you’re not my boss right now, so when I tell you to get the hell out, you can’t fire me for it.”

  “Molly—”

  “Get the hell out,” she said and then looked at Joe, who’d also stuck his head back in. “You too.”

  “I’ve got this,” Lucas said to the clearly reluctant men.

  Archer ducked out.

  Joe held Lucas’s gaze. “You sure, man?”

  “Oh my God!” Molly yelled.

  Joe skedaddled.

  Lucas held out a hand for Molly, an unspoken request for her to come closer.

  Instead she crossed her arms over her chest, which hurt her hand, not that she intended to admit any such thing.

  “Molly.”

  “You were asked to protect me, which you agreed to,” she said. “And then didn’t tell me.”

  “It wasn’t exactly like that.”

  “Okay, then tell me, Lucas. What was it like exactly?” she asked.

  “Archer tried to tell you that he didn’t want you to take this case.”

  “Because he thought there was no case.”

  “Because he’s booked up for two straight months,” Lucas said. “Whatever he thought of the case, he didn’t want to take it on because he didn’t have the ability to give it his all, and that’s his prerogative.”

  She looked away.

  “And yes,” he said quietly. “I agreed to try and dissuade you from taking the case in the first place. But then I met the elves and realized they were right and something was going on. And plus, you were onboard no matter what anyone said.”

  “So that’s when Joe and Archer put you on the case with me,” she said. “I get that, misguided and stupid as that was. But you . . .” She shook her head, feeling her chest tighten as she realized the horrifying, pathetic truth. “You were working, and I thought we were . . .” She closed her eyes and turned away.

  “Molly. We were.”

  “We weren’t.” She was proud of one thing, that her voice remained even. No way was he going to know how much that hurt. “We were just coworkers, and you know what? That’s what we told everyone anyway, so it’s fine. We’re all on the same page now.”

  “It’s more than work between us, Molly, and you know it.”

  “Do I?” she asked.

  “You love me.”

  She stilled and then whipped back to face him.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I heard you say it, back in that storage room.”

  From the other side of the curtain came a sudden rush of barely there whispers like a bunch of kids in the back of church.

  “She told him she loved him?”

  “What the hell’s been going on when they were working?”

  Molly whipped the curtain open and all the faces that had been up against it pulled back. Everyone bumped into each other and they shifted, trying to look very busy.

  “Go away,” Molly said.

  As a collective whole, they backed up a few feet.

  “Further,” Molly said, then whipped the curtain closed again and stared at Lucas. “You were unconscious.”

  “I was in and out. Okay, mostly out, but I definitely heard you say you love me and ask me not to die so sweetly that I told myself I had to make it just so I could say it back to you. I love you too, Molly.”

  Her heart kicked. “You love me. But you lied to me. Love doesn’t lie, Lucas.”

  He didn’t smile, didn’t blink, just let his dark eyes lock onto hers. His mouth curved into a soft, remorseful smile that made it difficult to remember to keep her distance. So did the white bandage around his head.

  “You know that I’m not good at this,” he said, worry in his expression. Or maybe it was regret. “I’m out of practice.”

  “So am I,” she said. “But I didn’t lie to you. I wouldn’t.” She was aware that she was self-destructing this, but couldn’t seem to stop herself. Maybe because a little tiny part of her was relieved that there was an out.

  “Molly—”

  “I’ve got to go.”

  “Wait,” he said. “What about me—”

  “You do what you want.”

  “No,” he said. “Don’t go. I can’t come after you—”

  “I don’t need you to.” She backed away from him. “Take care of yourself, Lucas.”

  And then she forced herself to walk away.

  Chapter 26

  #IOnlyWantYouForChristmas

  Lucas watched Molly walk out of the small cubicle and—he was afraid—out of his life. He struggled to sit up and had barely made it upright before everyone except the one person he wanted crowded back in.

  “Man,” Archer said. “Even I know that when a woman says ‘Do what you want,’ you don’t do what you want.”

  “What do you do then?” Lucas asked wearily.

  “You go perfectly still. You don’t blink. You don’t even breathe. You just play dead.”

  Lucas closed his eyes. He felt half dead and wondered if that would count . . .

  A harried-looking nurse showed up and gasped at the number of people squeezed into the small space. “Is this a party or a hospital?” she asked tartly.

  “It’s both,” Elle said. “But the party’s really just a pity party for our dumbass friend who just screwed it all up with the love of his life. I know you said only two of us at a time back here, but it’s going to take all of us ganging up on him to make him see the light and rectify his dumbassness.”

  The nurse eyed Lucas. “You screwed up?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Men,” she said with a shake of her head, and started checking his vitals. She pulled the stethoscope from around her neck to have a listen and then gave him a long, hard look at whatever she heard.

  Probably his heart dying.

  “You need to rest,” she said and turned to Elle. “I’m sorry to interrupt The Dumbass Intervention, but—”

  “Hey,” Lucas said, closing his eyes. “Lying right here.”

  “You’ll have to fix his life for him later,” the nurse went on. “He really does need some quiet.”

  When she’d shoved everyone out, Lucas felt relief. Finally, he could hear himself think. But . . . he could hear himself think. Molly was gone, and given the look that had been in her eyes, she was going to stay gone.

  Which meant it was official—he really was a dumbass.

  He woke to an annoying beeping that told him he was still in the hospital. He sat straight up and then went utterly still, fighting both pain and nausea.

  Thanks to an infection in his leg, they’d admitted him instead of letting him go home. That had been two days ago. Two long, restless days and nights of high fever and barely consciousness. He’d dreamed that Molly had been at his side the whole time, alternately holding his hand or stroking his hair from his eyes. He was certain he’d heard her mutter “dumbass” affectionately as well, but every time he managed to wake himself up and crack open his eyes, the chair by his bed remained empty.

  He sat up now, staring at it. Wishful thinking, no doubt.

  “Problem?” Joe asked, coming into the room.

  “I thought I heard . . .” He shook his head.