“Why didn’t she just walk inside through the hole?” he asked, waving toward the damaged wall, and Molly bit back a laugh, only a tiny snort of amusement escaping.

Giving him a light push toward the corner of the building, she kept her mouth shut, not wanting to get overconfident before they were safely driving away. Who knew what could be heard through the hole in the wall?

Once they were in the car and turning out of the lot, Molly held up her fist. John flinched theatrically, and she gave his shoulder a chiding shove. “Don’t leave me hanging, Carmondy. I’m celebrating our stunning teamwork back there.”

With a grin, he bumped her fist with his giant hand. “Agreed. I knew we’d be great together. Why haven’t you come to work for me yet?”

“Because I’d kill you in a matter of days,” she said matter-of-factly, even as she wondered if her long-held excuse was accurate. After all, she’d spent almost every second with him over the past couple of days and she didn’t have any homicidal urges. In fact, she was feeling almost…warm and mushy inside. Dismissing that as the residual high of getting a potential location for Sonny, she was distracted when John turned south rather than north toward Westpeak Road. “Uh…aren’t we going to pick up Sonny? We’re on a tight schedule if we want to get this wrapped up before noon.” As silly as that had seemed just a half hour earlier, now it felt almost possible that they’d be able to bring Sonny in soon.

“I need to swing by my place and change into some clean clothes,” he said, catching her full attention. Even though he’d just spent the night at her house—in her room—it still seemed like an intimate thing to see where he lived and what his furniture looked like and if he left dishes in the sink. She’d soon find out if he was the kind of man who forgot to put the cap back on the toothpaste. She blinked rapidly several times, trying to come to grips with that knowledge. She must’ve been quiet too long, because he shot her a questioning look. “I’ll be quick.”

If he just ran in, maybe she could stay in the car? The thought was both a relief and a letdown, and she forced her brain to quit obsessing over such a silly thing. “Oh, that’s fine. Sorry. I was just thinking about something else. Someone else. Sonny, to be exact—well, more thinking about what the best plan would be to bring him in, but…yeah.” What was she doing? Molly never babbled—well, hardly ever. Why was she falling to ridiculously jittery pieces at the thought of seeing John’s toilet? “Ugh.” She rubbed her face. “I need more sleep.”

He chuckled, and it sounded so normal that she relaxed, relieved that her weirdness hadn’t fazed him. “I’m feeling you on that. So what have you decided?”

For a paralyzed second, she couldn’t distinguish between her thoughts and what she’d just said aloud, but then she managed to sort out her answer. “Nothing concrete yet. We’ll need to go in quickly, before he can rig up any explosions.”