“No, not yet, but I can talk to Forest…” I trail off because she’s shaking her head as she lowers her cup. “What?”
“It’s not like you’re missing anything here,” she explains, setting the cup down and bending to flick the oven light on.
That’s not true. I’m missing so much.
She peeks through the oven window at her cookies, still avoiding my gaze.
Fine… I’ll blink first. “Molly… What’s going on?” I slouch against the counter.
She shrugs uncomfortably before forcing her eyes up to mine. “Is there really a mountain lion?”
“What?” I feel my brows draw in. “You were there when I got the call. Why would you think there’s not?”
“That was days ago, and there could’ve been one then, but…”
“Molly, it’s still out there,” I inform her firmly. “The little asshole has been evading us all week, but we know it’s still close enough to be a threat. This is a recreational area, and this is something we need to monitor closely. Why would you think I’m not telling you the truth?”
She bites the corner of her lip and sighs at the floor. When she looks up again, it’s clear she’s trying to school her emotions. “Did you ever stop to think about what it might’ve looked like on my end?”
I pause a moment. Did I? Nope. Of course I didn’t.
I finally shake my head as I try to go back to that day we got the first alert. And just as Molly starts to explain, everything clicks.
“We… We were finally connecting, Wolf. And I know that first call was real, but I can’t help but wonder if it was a bit of a relief to you to get it so that you could get away from me.”
“Get away from you?” My voice rises slightly because I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “Why the hell would I want to get away from you?”
“Because the last thing I told you before you left was that I haven’t had sex before!”
Shit.
“Oh my god…” I voice my realization out loud. “You did… And then I left, but I had to go, Molly.”
“I know you did, but then you stayed away—all week! What was I supposed to think?”
“Fuck, you’re right.” I let out another harried breath. Leaning over the counter, I let my head drop to examine the stone top. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
“Wolf, I want to believe you.”
I look up. “Why can’t you?”
“It’s not that I can’t, it’s just… I don’t know you enough to believe you.” Ouch. But she’s not wrong, and she’s not done. “At this point we’re supposed to be getting to know each other, and we haven’t. Well, I mean we were.” She’s speaking rapidly, like she’s trying to get all her thoughts out before they retreat back inside her and turn into more pastries. “I thought we were on the right path there for a little while. We got close. I thought we’d turned a corner and then… You found out you married a virgin, and it’s been like ten steps back! So I have to ask… Have you changed your mind?”
“No.” I shake my head, pinning my eyes on hers. “Being a virgin has nothing to do with it at all.”
She scoffs. “Wolf, how can I be so sure about that?”
Before I decide not to, I tell the truth. “Because you married one too!”
Molly freezes, her hazel eyes glassing over as she stares at me. “You’re… You never?”
I stare back, letting her take in my truth. “Nope.” I sigh, ready for the barbs and the probing questions.
“Are you like…against?—”
“No, I’m not asexual or anything like that. I just never felt the need to jump through every hoop to make it happen, unlike my horny brothers.” I shrug, laying it all out and feeling unexpectedly good about it.
“But the other day, you… Wanted to?” she asks, twisting a dish towel in her hands.
