Molly noticed two things when she walked out of the bathroom. The food had arrived and Lucian was holding a single rose in his hand, looking so sexy she could feel wet heat pooling between her thighs once again. She hated her weakness. She should be reading him the riot act right now. “Don’t you remember what just happened?”
“Hell yeah, I do,” he said with conviction. “That was amazing.”
“What’s that for?” She dropped her eyes to the rose.
“It’s for you, beautiful.” Smiling, he held out the rose.
Molly tried to be mad, she really did, but he was so damn sexy. Walking forward, she grabbed the rose from his hand. “Thanks.” She dropped it back on the table.
Lucian frowned. “Something wrong?”
“No. Everything is just peachy.”
“You don’t sound very peachy.” His frown deepened.
“Don’t you remember what you said? Or more accurately, who’s name you called out when you…”
His frown deepened even more. “What are you talking about?” he interrupted.
She took a breath. “You called out another woman’s name when we were… you know.”
A confused look crossed his face as he wracked his brain. “You must have heard me wrong,” he defended. He felt sick. Did he accidentally yell out Cecily’s name?
“Trust me, you did.” Molly sat down in the chair at the table.
“I’m not saying I did, because I don’t remember but if and that is a big, if. If I accidentally did, it was not intentional,” he said. “I would never hurt you like that.”
He looked so sincere. “You really don’t remember?” She wanted to believe him.
“I swear.” He crossed his heart.
“Then why did you do it?” She wanted to let it go but she just couldn’t.
“I don’t know.” He raked his hand through his hair. “Me and Cecily, we dated a long time, maybe it was just habit.”
“It wasn’t Cecily’s name that you called out.”
He stared at her like she had three heads. “Whose name did I call out?”
“Rebecca’s.” All the hurt and pain she had felt reflected in her eyes.
“I did not…” he began but then trailed off.
“Did you think I was her? Is that why you…” She couldn’t finish, she felt like she had something lodged in her throat, choking her.
“No,” he said quietly and then added louder, “NO!”
“Then why did you do it?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even remember doing it.”
Molly took a breath. He really did seem sincere. Maybe she did hear him wrong? Fine, she knew she didn’t but she really wished she had.
Lucian sat down and braced his elbows on the table, threading his hands through his hair. “I don’t know what is going on? I keep seeing her, and maybe …”
Molly’s breath whooshed from her chest. When she spoke again she was barely audible. “You saw her while we…?”
“No. I told you I didn’t. Please,” he begged. “You’ve got to believe me.”
Molly was torn. If he was lying he was really good at it, and if he wasn’t, she wasn’t sure what to feel. She knew that people made mistakes; no one was perfect.
Hell, she was far from perfect and she had also made more than a few mistakes herself. Was she going to ruin what could be between them by becoming judge and jury? Convicting him of a crime he had no knowledge of? What if it was all Rebecca’s doing? She didn’t know a lot about ghosts but she had watched a few specials on them and some were evil, well, they were if one believed that they were real in the first place.
He reached across the table and grabbed hold of her hand. “I really like you,” he said. “And what just happened between us was so far removed from anything I have ever felt. I can’t explain it but I feel like…”
“Like what?”
He took a breath. “I feel like we are kindred spirits, you and me,” he said, not sure if he should continue.
Molly clutched the napkin in her hand.
Lucian decided to throw caution to the wind. “I swore to myself I would never do this…” he lifted his free hand and pointed at Molly and then himself, “I might, I think, I already have…fallen for you.”
Molly blinked stupidly as her heart picked up pace. Was he serious? He certainly looked serious. Granted she did not know him that well but she really wanted to believe him. Was she being stupid? She always jumped the gun in relationships and look where that had gotten her. Dumped, over and over again. But Lucian wasn’t Dan.
Making up her mind, she decided, right then and there, that she didn’t give a damn about a dead woman stealing her thunder at the last minute—well, she did, but she wasn’t going to give up without a fight. And if Molly had her way, she would make sure that bitch got a one-way ticket back to wherever she had come from. And the next time Lucian yelled out a name in the throes of passion, she would make sure it was hers and not Rebecca’s, of that she was certain—at least that is what she told herself.