“The point was to look disheveled, Molls. And you do.”
He sounded calm, almost too calm. When he reached into his pants pocket and handed over her butterfly clasp, Molly reached for it and clipped her hair back as best she could, her hands still trembling when she finished.
She sighed dejectedly.
What Julian had said made sense, of course. But she felt incredibly guilty and maybe still a little aroused. The things he had been saying to her before they were interrupted? The things he had been saying while he was cupping her breasts?
That was major, major stuff he’d been whispering in her ear!
“You’re right,” she said, avoiding his gaze, his all-knowing gaze that would intuitively pick up on just how far past her comfort zone they had gone. “This is perfect, couldn’t be more perfect. You’re a master, Jules. Master of disaster.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and tried to sound businesslike. “Thank you.”
Ducking under his arm, she yanked the door open and swept outside. Determinedly, she walked past both the Gage men, who stood like sentinels down the hall, with their black suits and matching impassive expressions on their faces.
She shot each of them a smile, smiling with her inflamed mouth that had just been kissed like a hussy’s.
She even pretended she was proud of it.
But she could feel Julian’s eyes on her back, sensed he hadn’t moved from the office doorway yet, and as she rounded the corner to the busy and crowded living room, all she wanted was to find a nice spot where she could collapse safely and sort out her out-of-whack emotions.
She heard footsteps and suddenly Garrett loomed at her side, his fingers curling around her elbow. “I’d like to talk to you in private, Molly,” he said. “Do you have time tomorrow?”
Surprised, she looked into her beloved’s eyes while an avalanche of emotions buffeted her from the inside.
He seemed concerned, intense, his obsidian eyes peering into hers so fiercely, she feared he’d be able to see how aroused and guilty she was.
“Of course,” she said with a shaky nod, her voice husky for all the wrong reasons. “I’ll stop by your office at noon, Garrett.”
“Thank you,” he said softly, and placed a kiss on her forehead, his hands lingering on her cheeks for a second.
She was so numb that she couldn’t even enjoy his caress that she’d fantasized about feeling again for days and nights.
She could hardly believe that she’d finally caught his attention.
In a daze, she crossed the living room toward Kate and Beth, her thoughts scattered and unfocused. She should be celebrating, she knew. Garrett wanted to talk to her in private tomorrow, and he was, at the very least, concerned. Maybe he was even hiding his jealousy with grave effort. By all appearances, her plan was succeeding. Wasn’t that what she’d been dreaming of accomplishing?
But no. She couldn’t enjoy her victory because she was too rattled by what she’d done.
What on earth had gotten into her, to tempt Julian the way she had? Were those the actions of a woman in love with another man?
And what if things became awkward with Julian now? What if this stupid charade affected the one relationship in her life she cherished above anything?
“What on earth happened to you?” Kate cried with one startled look at her.
Molly decided she was going to own up to it.
Whatever her sins, whatever her mistake, she was going to own up to it if it killed her.
“Julian and I made out in the dark. You should try it sometime, Kate. It was actually fun before those two idiots interrupted.”
She glared in the direction of Garrett and Landon, then saw Julian stroll from around the corner of the hall, his hands in his pockets, his blond hair mussed. Sexy didn’t begin to describe the man. He looked tousled. Delish. Thoroughly kissed, as he’d put it—and there was no question about it. Streaks of what looked like Molly’s peach lipstick slashed all over his tan skin. Marking his thick throat, up along his jaw, across the side of his plush lips. He looked so rumpled he could’ve just battled a Siberian tiger in a cage, and for some reason, knowing the tiger had been her caused a pool of liquid heat to rush between her thighs.
“Julian, what happened to you?” Beth asked as he approached.
Julian’s green gaze tracked and zeroed in on Molly, and her swollen mouth began to burn under the intimacy of his stare. Between her legs, she burned. Her breasts, the very breasts he had cradled in his enormous hands, pricked hotly in remembrance. Quite simply, and too damn easily, he set her ablaze with his gaze, reminding her of his blatantly sexual words, almost causing her to combust.
“Molls and I had a little fun in the downstairs office. You okay, baby?”
His voice, still husky enough to resemble the timbre he’d used in the dark, did wild things to her overstimulated senses. Awareness had quickly skyrocketed to hyperawareness in that empty office, and now she was frantic to power these sensations off.
While the other women processed his words in stunned silence, Julian made a thorough assessment of Molly’s face with a measured expression on his own.
Was he worried they’d gone too far, too?
Trying to offer some reassurance, Molly let her lips curl upward, loathing this awkwardness between them. But thankfully, a playful light kindled to life in his eyes. When he gave her his wolfish smile, Molly almost sagged in relief.
Visibly relaxing, too, Julian put his arms around her and dragged her to his side, and Molly knew as she snuggled against him that whatever happened, it was all going to be all right.
As long as she had Julian.
“You know I love you, don’t you?” she whispered up at him once again, kissing his hard cheek. It was not the first time she’d said it, not at all. But this time, he drew back and met her gaze, his smile fading. Then he planted a long, hard kiss on her temple, his voice gruff as he told her, in her ear, so nobody else could hear, “So do I.”
Six
So here we are now, Molly thought as she rode the elevator up to the top floor of the San Antonio Daily building the next day.
At last Garrett seemed to be ready to do something about her situation with Julian. The question was: What was he going to do?
And how was Molly going to react to it?
She honestly didn’t know. Whatever happened today, though, she wore her largest earrings and her thickest bangles and her sassiest attitude to the meeting. It was a trick she used when she needed the extra security boost. There was just something about big jewelry that made her feel better no matter how dreary things looked or how anxious she felt. So now it was one minute until noon, and she was every bit the confident lady as she marched down the long hall that led to the executive offices.