License to Love: Holiday Box Set (Contemporary Romance)

by Kristen James

  Trent’s tool hit the pavement and he strode up to her, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her face close. She expected a hard kiss, but he stopped an inch away and met her mouth like he was tasting honey.

  A semi roared by and she pushed him back, thinking about what the truckers were saying on the CB. “You can’t kiss me like that on the highway.”

  He smiled, more on one side, and said, “Want to get a room?”

  “Ah! Trent Allen Williams, how dare you!” She marched towards the car, but he caught her smile before she turned away. When he announced he was done and the car was ready to go, she slid into the driver’s seat.

  “I’ll drive if you like,” he offered, still smiling. She hit the gas as he buckled his seat belt. “Or not.”

  She ignored his grin, not wanting to talk about what had happened, or what they were both thinking about now. Instead he shared more stories about everyone in Ridge City.

  They switched once more and then Molly drove the last small stretch into Redding because she knew the way. She grew nervous as she pulled into her driveway, wondering what Trent would think of her home here.

  When he remained sitting after the car died, she gave him a questioning look and got out. He followed after hesitating and said, “Kind of bland.”

  Molly looked from the house to Trent without comment.

  “Just not like you,” he rephrased.

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said, unlocking the trunk and pulling her bag out.

  “Hey, Molly!” Justin Atwood’s excited voice called out as he jogged down his front porch steps. Molly sighed. Trent’s right eyebrow rose as he eyed her neighbor. Justin was dressed in a bright green tank top, short spiky blond hair, and running shorts. He looked like the type of guy who spent the majority of his time at home working out while watching himself in the mirror that covered the wall in his weight room.

  Molly noticed Justin slowed his pace the moment he saw Trent.

  “Hi. Justin, this is Trent Williams, from Ridge City.” Knowing the two men were sizing each other up, she stepped closer to Trent and slipped her hand into his. She hoped it reassured Trent while giving Justin the polite ‘take a hike’ she’d been looking for the last few years. Words hadn’t worked. She told Justin more than once she wasn’t looking for a romance, that she needed a good friend. She could tell he thought she’d come around though. Truth was she couldn’t imagine feeling anything for Justin even if she’d considered dating.

  Trent and Justin nodded to each other and Trent said, “Hey, nice to meet you.”

  Justin didn’t respond directly but spoke to Molly. “Met someone that quick?” Justin’s smile wasn’t so friendly.

  “I grew up with him. I grew up in Ridge City it turns out, and left a lot of friends there. People I didn’t know about till I got there.”

  “Well, that’s great,” Justin said without the tone or expression to back it up. “It’s what you’ve been looking for. I guess I’ll let you two be.” He shook Trent’s hand and walked quickly back inside. Molly almost felt bad, but she’d never led him on.

  She felt Trent’s eyes on her as she unlocked the front door, but he waited until they were inside to speak.

  “You described him as an annoying neighbor.”

  “You didn’t think he was?” She set her keys on the table by the door. “I told him countless times I wasn’t going to date. I didn’t tell him this, but I wouldn’t date him anyway.”

  “Annoying, yes, but also built like a body guard.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Didn’t you see his hair? And clothes? He’s looking for a pretty girl for decoration. He’s in love with himself.” She glanced at the window even though she knew it was shut. “I don’t want to hurt his feelings, but he wouldn’t take a hint. More than a hint.”

  His eyes stayed on her a minute. Deep, serious eyes. “You spent a lot of time with him?”

  “A little. I didn’t have people lining up to be my friend, you know.”

  “So do looks matter to you?”

  She gave him a funny look. Didn’t he know how handsome he was? “It’s not about looks. It’s about the feeling you get around a person. You gotta have that feeling, at least to start with. Then things build from there.”

  “Attraction?”

  She breathed out slowly, feeling like he was teasing her with that one word. “I don’t think you can help who you’re attracted to.”

  “Are you saying we’ve each got a soul mate?”

  “I don’t honestly know.” She didn’t want to leave it that open. “I like thinking people have someone out there that suits them perfectly, but I don’t like the idea that we might not be able to find that person.” She turned away from him before she glanced back at his face. She wasn’t sure about soul mates, but somehow she’d found her way back to him. Did they have a chance? She felt unsure about life right now so maybe the big decisions could wait a few days.

  She looked around the house. It felt different now that she’d learned so much about her old life in Ridge City.

  “Glad to be home?” he asked.

  Did this ever feel like home to her? It did before she found the life she used to have. Now it felt empty and like a big lie. She shrugged to his question, averting her eyes. She thought he still saw the loneliness she felt. She struggled here in this house after her parents were gone. The solitude, the quiet. Even though Karen had been there for her, she still had felt alone. She’d been able to forget that feeling while in Ridge City.

  Trent tried to look around the house through detective eyes. It didn’t work too well. He just saw the house where she’d lived without him, not knowing about him or her life. He didn’t like to think about her here alone. They faced stairs with the kitchen off to their left and the living room off to their right. A plain beige couch faced the front window with a coffee table sitting in between. It wasn’t the furniture that stuck out as strange.

  “Sparse.” Trent commented under his breath. “Not many pictures.”

  Molly’s eyebrows creased together as she gave Trent a quick look, one that said she hadn’t noticed before. “No, I guess not.”

  He wanted to, but didn’t, say that seemed odd since pictures might have helped Molly. Instead he mentally logged that thought with all the other information he’d gathered about this case.

  “I’ll take you up to the guest room.”

  Hmm. She did want to take things slow, not that he wanted to be anything but a gentleman to her. On the way up, Trent said, “There’s a guest room? Did you ever have a guest?” That’d tell him a lot and possibly be a lead.

  “It’s really an office with a pull out couch,” she told him. That sounded like a negative. They entered the room and he set his bag down. “I’ll go call Karen and see if she’d like to join us for dinner. It sounded like you had some questions for her.”

  He nodded as she left to return downstairs.

  Dialing Karen’s number, she glanced around again. Boy, he’d visually gone over every detail of the house, and she wondered what he saw that she’d missed. After talking to Karen, she dialed Alicia’s number. David answered.

  “I wanted to let you guys know we made it alright.” She’d called wanting to talk to Alicia but decided it might help the tension between them to talk to David.

  “Good to hear. I’ll let Alicia know.”

  “Thanks…I’m not going to take all of Alicia’s time, if that’s what you think.”

  After a long pause, he said, “Thanks. Bye.”

  Well, at least he hadn’t sounded mad. She heard Trent walk into the room and smiled at feeling so comfortable with him. His arms encircled her waist and he pulled her against his chest. She let her head fall back against him. “It’s hard to believe you’re here. In this house. I never thought I’d have anyone over here that used to know me besides my parents.”

  He rested his head against her temple. She felt so safe, warm, wanted there. They remained still for the longest time
before he whispered, “Do you want to start digging today?”

  Her heart rate picked up before she took a calming breath. “Anxious to get started?”

  “I thought you would be.”

  “Not today,” she said. “I want to know, but not today.”

  “When you’re ready.” He spoke softly, soothingly. “I’m not sure what we’ll find, either.”

  Closing her eyes, she relaxed against him and whispered, “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  When the doorbell rang an hour later, Trent answered since Molly went to freshen up in the bathroom. The early evening air felt warm and comfortable.

  Karen stood outside dressed in her brightly colored scrubs and tennis shoes, her hair pulled back in a French braid, and holding bread and salad makings. Her face struck him as serious, not sad or mean. A matter of fact kind of woman.

  “You must be Trent.”

  “I am, come on in. Nice to meet you in person, Karen.” He took the food from her and offered a hand, giving her a warm welcome.

  Molly gave a soft squeal when she saw Karen, then ran down the rest of the stairs to hug her.

  “Here, let’s take all this to the kitchen.” They chatted while Molly cut up chicken and Karen made the salad, leaving Trent with nothing to do so he sat down at the table and listened. Although he felt awkward, he loved watching Molly’s face light up while she smiled and talked with her friend, telling her about Alicia and the other friends she had re-met.

  “So I guess you really grew up there,” Karen didn’t look convinced. She glanced at Trent.

  “I did. They have pictures and stories and everyone in town knows me.” Molly looked stricken at her friend’s doubt. “Why would they ...?”

  Karen shook her head as if to shake herself out of something. “Oh, that does make more sense.” She stopped right there, leaving both Molly and Trent leaning forward and waiting. Seeing their looks, she explained, “I doubted what I heard before, too, when I first heard it, but you know how it is when you hear a new version of a story.”

  Well, there was no denying that the Andersons had lied. He puzzled over it until Karen turned to him and asked, “So you’re a police officer?” This was the first of many questions about his work, family, lifestyle. He politely answered each, knowing he’d grill other people the same way if they spent time around Molly, plus he was glad someone here was looking out for Molly the way he would.

  Molly finally had to laugh and cut in. “She’s very overprotective.”

  Karen added, “And rightly so.”

  “Well, I don’t mind if you’re thinking about Molly.” He saw the look Karen shot Molly, one that said wow, that’s sweet. Maybe he could win her over. He felt he needed to be on good terms with someone who’d spent the last four years with Molly, because she could help the investigation and because she was important to Molly.

  When they sat down to eat, he asked Karen what she’d thought of Molly’s parents. Her answers surprised him.

  “Both quiet, worried.” She shook her head, looking down at her plate for a minute. “I didn’t get close to them, and they never shared much about their lives. I asked about Molly’s childhood, what happened before her amnesia, but they couldn’t tell me anything helpful. After a while, I found myself wishing I’d written down what they’d told me because I thought some of the details didn’t work out.”

  Trent jumped on that. “Like what?”

  “They said they moved around while Molly grew up, but I asked them separately and the dates and places they gave weren’t exactly the same. That’s why I’m surprised to hear you grew up in Oregon.” Karen glanced at Molly and added, “I wasn’t sure at the time if I should make a big deal out of it because people can get confused, especially when they lived in so many places. I guess now I know why it didn’t make sense.”

  Molly looked thoughtful as she chewed. Didn’t it hurt her to know her parents had hid something? She didn’t comment so he asked Karen, “You felt they were hiding something all along?”

  “They were just vague about things. I sensed that they didn’t want to share.”

  “Hmm,” he murmured, keeping his mouth shut about his opinion. He’d observed in both his line of work and life that people loved talking about themselves until they had something to hide. Of course, that didn’t mean this was something illegal. He held onto the hope that while something bad must have happened, it wasn’t their fault.

  Trent offered his help after the meal, but Molly sent him out of the kitchen, telling him she could handle it.

  “You just want to girl talk without me.” He gave them a knowing smile and stepped out to write down what he’d learned and his thoughts.

  They watched him pull out his notebook as he left the room.

  “The answers aren’t in there.” Molly said quietly. “We just don’t have all the pieces.”

  “I think your parents had all the pieces.” Karen knew better than to repeat old arguments, if you could call them that. She just had a strange feeling about how Molly’s parents never warmed up to anyone in the community. A couple of loners hiding their daughter. “Think he knows?” she asked Molly, “that we wanted to talk about how hot he is?”

  Molly’s cheeks flushed and Karen gave her a nudge. “How could you forget a guy like that?” Karen asked as she carried dishes to the counter.

  “I wish I knew. It’s not his looks. It’s how much he cares about me. How he waited four years, not knowing, but believing he’d find me or I’d come home.”

  “And you did. So are things picking up?”

  Molly shrugged, but knew Karen wouldn’t settle for that. “We’re trying.” She rinsed plates and handed them to Karen.

  “Problems?”

  “No, it’s just hard. He remembers everything. I don’t. I want to jump in, maybe even forget about trying to remember everything, but I don’t know what drove my family out of Ridge City.”

  “But how could it have anything to do with him? You trust him, right?”

  “Yes, I do.” She suddenly felt so grateful to have her friend to talk to in person. “Maybe it’s not directly about him. I have no idea. A tiny part of me is scared that I’ll find out what happened and it’ll change things, even if it’s not about him. I might find out something horrible about myself. I might hurt him all over again. I can tell it broke his heart to lose me before.”

  Karen put the last glass in and shut the dishwasher door. She turned and pulled Molly in for a hug. “He obviously doesn’t care about anything like that.”

  “You never know. He’s a cop.”

  “He loves you.”

  Molly knew Karen had been a good judge of character about her parents, knowing something was going on. So the fact that she trusted Trent gave Molly confidence.

  Karen said, “I think he wants to know what took you away from him.”

  “I do, too.” She wanted to know what went on with her parents – if she had been a part of something wrong. More than anything she wanted to remember her parents the way Trent and Alicia described them. She wanted to remember the Molly that Trent grew up with and knew, the one that made him fall so wildly and completely in love with her.

  “I’m working in the morning, early, but call me for anything. I’ll come over as soon as you want.”

  Molly wiped her eyes and nodded. Karen said goodbye to Trent and left, leaving Molly in the kitchen thinking about the day to come, and then thinking about the man sitting in the living room. Everything between them could change tomorrow if they found something in her parents’ things.

  Trent let the women have time for goodbyes while he reclined on the couch, flipping through the channels. Molly came in and sat by him and asked, “Anything good on TV?”

  “Molly kind of good?”

  “Good drama or romantic comedy. Or something that’s both.”

  “Yup, just movies. You hated my cop shows.” He flipped through and found an oldie but goody they both liked, Overboard. “This was even shot i
n Oregon.” He stopped short as he remembered that the storyline revolved around a case of amnesia. “You probably don’t want to watch this one.”

  “No, I like it. She gets a happy ending.”

  Apparently she could remember movies ... other people’s stories. Trent couldn’t help but think the Annie in the movie met the love of her life due her to amnesia, but Molly was pulled away from hers.

  “It’s really fine,” she said when she saw his face. “I like this movie a lot.” Molly settled in against him but suddenly wanted popcorn.

  He laughed at her, even more so when she said, “I’m not sure I even have any.”

  He went with her into the kitchen and they found a bag of microwave popcorn.

  “Better than nothing,” he said.

  “Hey,” she said. “It’s kettle corn.”

  “You know I hate that stuff.” He realized his slip of tongue too late.

  Molly didn’t seem to catch it, her head in the refrigerator. She popped up to say, “Well, good thing I have chips and salsa. And good beer.”

  She handed him a beer and the salsa, then retrieved the popcorn from the microwave.

  She headed to the other room, carrying her bag of hot popcorn and his bag of chips. Suddenly she turned around. He waited, surprise still on his face. Her mouth fell open. “You always ate chips and salsa while I ate popcorn.”

  They just stared at each other with the shared memory in mind. He walked to her and kissed her lips. Several slow kisses later they went back to the movie, which was about twenty minutes into it now. “It’s a good thing we’ve seen it.”

  She’d watched it herself twice that she remembered and wondered if they’d watched it together before that. Molly loved how the man changed during the movie because of Annie’s love for him, how she grew to love his boys. Maybe she liked it because they became a family, a happy one in the end.

  Halfway through the movie she wandered to the kitchen and found a bottle of white wine in the kitchen and brought them each a glass. Sharing their evening felt so right. They snuggled as the movie progressed. Watching the characters become a family made her think of Alicia and David and their so-far empty minivan. A normal life, a family. She couldn’t stop herself from imagining her with Trent in his house: the roses out front blooming, get togethers in the backyard, and starting a family. There was room. Now she could only see Trent in that empty house, waiting for her. She turned into him, feeling that she couldn’t get close enough. He pulled her even closer, nuzzling her face before kissing her.