Hunter gritted his teeth as Molly treated the other guy to a wide smile. “You could have just asked if I was having the usual.”

The barista shrugged and picked up a cup. “But I wanted to impress you.”

Molly placed her hand on top of his. “You always impress me, J.D.”

“I’ll have a large black coffee,” Hunter said, fully aware he was being ignored by the kid who wanted to hit on Molly.

“How’s your father hanging in there?” J.D. asked Molly as he got to work on her drink.

“He’s fine. Confident he’ll be exonerated.”

“Glad to hear it. Once he’s out, you tell him anytime he needs a breather to come by. Coffee’s on me.” J.D. grinned at Molly.

“The way to a woman’s heart is through her father’s stomach?” Hunter asked.

Molly nudged him with her elbow. “Shh. He’s just being friendly.”

Over Molly’s objection, he paid for their drinks, hoping the gesture would make it clear to Romeo that Molly was here with him.

Finally, J.D. handed Hunter his change and turned his attention to the next customer, freeing Hunter and Molly to settle into a small table in the back.

“Don’t you have to be at least sixteen to work?” Hunter asked. “That guy is barely old enough to shave.”

She leaned back in her chair, her eyes glittering with laughter. “You’re jealous of J.D.?” She seemed seriously amused at his expense.

“I’m not jealous of anyone.” He couldn’t believe he’d gotten himself into this kind of discussion. “Now, about your father,” he said, choosing the one subject guaranteed to shift her focus.

“He’s innocent,” Molly declared forcefully.

And Hunter realized this topic wouldn’t be any easier. “It doesn’t matter whether he’s guilty or innocent, he’ll get my best representation anyway. You went to law school. You know that.”

She folded her hands together on the table and leaned closer. “But I need you to believe he’s innocent.” Molly frowned. A cute frown, but a turndown of her lips nonetheless.

He didn’t want to argue over this, but she needed to understand it wasn’t his job to take moral sides. Not as the attorney of record and certainly not as the man who could too easily fall under her spell once again. If he cared about her father’s guilt or innocence, if he cared about Molly’s emotional state, he’d set himself up for a rejection that would take a lot longer than eight months for him to get over.

“Molly-”

She leaned forward. “You’ve read the file, you know the facts, but you don’t know the man and my father. General Addams would not kill his best friend,” she said, imploring him with her voice, begging him with her deep eyes and soulful expression.

Hunter groaned and tried to give her the speech he gave to every client or relative who insisted they needed him to believe in their innocence in order to represent them. “Listen to me. You need me to be your father’s advocate not his champion. There’s a difference.”

She shook her head and he caught a whiff of her fragrant scent. His groin reacted as if she were plastered against him, but his brain somehow managed to function and focus on their conversation.

“He’s my father. My real father. One who cares about me and…” She paused and swallowed hard, fighting what he felt certain were tears.

Shit.

“Look,” he began, “I can’t begin to imagine what you’re feeling right now, but I’ll do my best for him.”

Molly nodded. “I never doubted that or I wouldn’t have called you. So let’s just enjoy. There’ll be time enough to get into details later.” She pushed his cup toward him.

He nodded in appreciation and lifted his cup to take a long, hot sip, burning the roof of his mouth in the process. They sat in surprisingly comfortable silence, sharing their morning coffee and talking about general subjects like the news and the weather. Not in a stilted way that people tended to do, but in a relaxed, understanding one, causing Hunter to remember just how well they’d always gotten along.

He gradually brought the subject back to her current situation. “Do you like living with everyone or do you hate being surrounded by people? After all the years of living on my own, I’m not sure I could move in with strangers.” It reminded him too much of foster care.

She pursed her glossy lips as she thought about his question. “It was uncomfortable at first and there are still things about being on my own that I miss,” she said at last. “I’m definitely not going to stay with them forever. It just seemed like a good way to get to know my family and make up for lost time.”

“Even with Jessie’s hostility?” he asked, seriously wondering how she could handle it day in and day out.

“She’s been the biggest challenge. I just try and put myself in her place. It usually calms me down enough to ignore her, you know?”

He shook his head. “Not really. I was an only child, so I never had to get used to brothers and sisters. At least not until later on.”

“Until foster care.”

At her use of the term, everything inside him froze and he wished he’d never said anything at all. “Right.” His jaw locked tight.

“Was it that bad?” she asked softly.

He never talked about his past. Even when he’d told her he’d grown up in the system, she’d known better than to ask for details. Obviously now that she’d successfully dug into her own roots, she thought she had carte blanche to ask about his.

“Yeah, it was that bad. The nightmare you hear about. Can we leave it at that?” Hunter was deliberately abrupt in the hopes she’d drop the subject.

“No, we can’t.” Molly reached out and covered his hand with hers. She looked at him with a combination of caring and curiosity in her gaze. No pity.

He’d never had the sense that she pitied him. Maybe because her own childhood hadn’t been a picnic, she was so able to understand his.

“It doesn’t seem like you’ve gotten beyond the past. Maybe talking about it will help.” The hope in her voice implored him to open up.

“Just because you’ve found some freaking fairy tale doesn’t mean I will. Leave it alone.”

He expected a wounded look.

“Do you ever wish you could look up your family?” she asked instead.

Hunter closed his eyes and counted to ten before meeting her gaze again. “Do you ever wish your mother would show up and ruin the good thing you’ve got going? No, you don’t. Just like I don’t want my deadbeat, alcoholic father who walked out on me and my mother to knock on my door. And I sure as hell don’t ever want to see the woman who turned me over to foster care showing up for a handout. That’s the beauty of stupid questions. They don’t deserve answers.” He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the hard chair, pulling his hand away from hers.

Molly raised her eyebrows, seemingly unfazed by his outburst. “Actually I’d like to see my mother again because I have a lot of unanswered questions for her. But I wouldn’t expect anything from her this time. Lesson learned on that score.”

He nodded, her calm, quiet answer deflating some of his frustration, which hadn’t been directed at her but at his lousy childhood, at least until the year he’d spent in Ty’s home. But that had been ripped away from him, as well.

She was right. She’d come to terms with her past. He was still powder-keg angry.

He let out a deep breath and exhaled hard. “Not everyone can get things wrapped up in a neat little bow like you did.”

“That’s true, but you’re only hurting yourself by holding on to so much anger. I’m here if you want to talk about it, that’s all.”

But for how long? Hunter wondered. How long was Molly here for him before she walked away the way she did before? The way everyone in his life tended to do.

“Thanks,” he muttered, unwilling to engage in that particular conversation.

“If I ever had kids, I’d never treat them like they were less important than the gum wrapper on my shoe,” Molly said, taking him off guard.

“Or the next drink,” Hunter added without thinking.

A cute smile pulled at her lips. “See, that wasn’t so hard. Joining me in my griping, I mean. It felt good, didn’t it?”

He inclined his head. “I’m sure neither one of us would leave a kid in the restroom of Penn Station without a look back.”

“Is that what your mother did?” she asked, obviously horrified by the prospect.

He’d never admitted it before. “I was there half a day before someone noticed. Eventually she just washed her hands of me and gave me over to the state.”

“That’s an awful thing to do to your own child.” Molly fidgeted in her seat, unable to sit still, wanting to jump up and hold on to Hunter tight, yet not wanting to show him any pity that would force him to build up his walls against her. He was finally talking about himself and she considered it progress.

“I used to lay awake at night in whichever home I was in, thinking she must have known what she was doing by leaving. She must have known some deep dark secret about me that made me unworthy.” He glanced into his half-finished cup of coffee, looking lost.

“Oh, no. She was the one not worthy of having a child. Definitely not worthy of you.” Her stomach twisted in tight knots, her emotions on edge.

He groaned aloud. “Whatever. It’s in the past.”

She only hoped it had helped to talk about it with her now.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

“Definitely.” They’d bonded, whether he’d admit it or not. Molly was grateful for the progress she’d made. “Are you all set?”

“I’ve had enough caffeine to take on the justice system,” he said.

“That’s good enough for me.” She rose and he stood, too.

“I’m going to buy a bottle of water before we go. Want one?”

“No thanks.” She glanced at the line at the register. “How about I just meet you outside, okay?”

He nodded.

“Don’t give J.D. a hard time,” she said teasingly before she walked past Hunter and pushed through the door. After their intense conversation she could use some fresh air. Once outdoors, she breathed in deep. The breeze felt cool and good on her cheeks.

Molly walked to the corner and leaned against the brick wall, taking in the dark buildings. They had character, she thought. She really did love this town and wouldn’t mind putting down roots here.

She wondered when Hunter thought about the future, what he envisioned. All that talk about kids earlier had brought up a longing she’d held on to for a long time. One that had only grown stronger on meeting her own father and his other children. Molly had always wanted a family that belonged to her alone.

“Hey.” Hunter came up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?”

She shivered at his warm touch. “I’m just enjoying some fresh air.”

“No, you’re worrying about your father.”

Her father hadn’t been on her mind at the moment but he was never far from her thoughts. Better Hunter think that than know the truth, that she was longing for a future that was probably out of her reach. “Okay, score one for you.”

He stepped closer. “Everything will be fine, Molly.”

“You can’t promise me that.”

“You’re probably right,” he said, his breath warm against her ear. “But I can promise you have the best lawyer in New York and Connecticut combined.”

“Not to mention the most egotistical.” She chuckled and eased back against him.

Now that he’d dropped his anger, he had a calming effect on her that she desperately needed. And when she remembered their earlier kiss and the vibration of the bike between her thighs, Hunter had another effect on her altogether.

But while she had him here, she might as well push him harder on a subject that was very important to her. “Promise me that once you talk to my father, we’ll revisit the conversation about guilt and innocence?” She needed him to believe in her father as much as she did.

She was putting not just her faith but her entire family’s welfare in his hands.

“We’ll talk,” he promised cryptically. No wonder he was such a good lawyer.

And such a fine man.

They’d been brought back together by her father’s case. Molly hoped she could use that time to strengthen other bonds between them, as well.


***

JESSIE LAY BESIDE Seth on his bed in his room. Her head was at the top on the pillows, his at the foot propped against a load of clothes his mother expected him to put away.

She’d sat with him every day after school, but he wouldn’t talk. About anything. “I know you’re upset about your dad being, um, killed, but you have to talk or you’ll never feel better.”

He rolled his head to the side. “It’s not just that.”

“What is it then?” She wanted to know so badly.