She wasn’t even sure she was standing anymore, but trusted that Julian would always catch her fall. The sudden desperate urge to press closer to him flitted through her, burned through her being as he lingered in his kiss for a thrilling, electrifying second, and then he was gone. Leaving her dazed and surprised and scatterbrained as he set her away—thankfully keeping a steady hand on her elbow until she found her ground.
He said something once it was over. She thought it was hello.
Molly pushed her hair back, feeling dazed. “Uh—hi.”
He asked her something, his voice huskier than usual, his eyes at half-mast, and she stared at his mouth. His soft yet strong lips became the center of her attention, for she wondered what exactly it was about those lips that had felt so incredibly good when he’d put them on hers.
Even her knees had taken a hit.
She fought to calm down, but remained so shaken she ended up snapping at him for catching her unaware. “What are you doing here, JJ?” she asked, glaring, using his old kiddie nickname just to punish him.
Julian remained aloof and calmly popped a cookie straight from the baking sheet into his mouth. “Nothing, pumpkin buns. Just wanted to check in on my girl.” He strode over and squeezed her butt, whispering only for her ears, “JJ? You’re going to pay for that, Molls.”
She fake giggled so Kate wouldn’t notice anything strange and pulled away, her buttocks aflame from his touch. How to get back at him? She said the first thing that came to mind when she caught Kate’s confused expression. “JJ loves for me to call him all sorts of pet names when we’re…you know,” she told her.
“JJ?” Kate turned to Julian, hands on hips, spatula held like a sword. “I thought you absolutely loathed that nickname.”
Julian shot Molly a warning look. “I do,” he said, jaw square as a cutting board. “But little Molls calls me JJ exclusively when she wants me to spank her.”
Molly’s satisfaction in getting back at him vanished.
Her cheeks burst into flames. She wanted to die of embarrassment, for now her sister would forever believe her to be into that kind of kinky stuff.
“Baby, its barely afternoon and I still need to make myself sexy and sophisticated for you,” she told him as she went around the kitchen and shot him a scowl from behind Kate’s shoulders. “Not all of us come by it naturally. Now you’ll have to wait for me a bit. I’m sure Kate and her spatula would love to keep you company, though.”
He moved fluidly, nonplussed. “I have a better idea, bun-buns. Why don’t I help you get dressed, hmm?” Before Molly could deny him, he’d followed her into her bedroom and locked them inside while Kate remained in the kitchen, no doubt still wide-eyed.
“Will you puleeze stop provoking me,” Molly hissed, pushing him against the door. “Stop calling me bun-buns.”
He leaned forward with gritted teeth. “Who’s provoking who? You know I freaking hate JJ!”
“And don’t you dare kiss me again without warning like you just did!”
“If you ever call me JJ again, I’m going to kiss you—with tongue. So don’t, otherwise I’ll think you want my tongue inside your mouth!”
He glared at her and she glared back, wishing that a stream of butterflies hadn’t just migrated to her stomach. She couldn’t help but wonder what Julian did with his loathed tongue that drove all women crazy, crazy, crazy….
“Are we clear about this, Molls?” he demanded, using his thumb and forefinger to tip her head back and force her to meet his gaze. She was appalled to realize she had apparently been staring dumbly at his mouth.
She nodded so that he would release her and swallowed, some rebel inside her wanting to test him and say: Yes, JJ.
Then she groaned and thrust him away. “Why, oh, why did you have to tell her you spanked me?” She shook her head and rubbed her temples in complete mortification.
“Because sometimes I swear to God you want me to.” He swatted her butt and strolled to the closet, leaving her to grapple with incredibly strange and powerful emotions and an uncomfortably stinging butt.
“So.” He yanked out a huge suitcase, turned back and cocked a devilish eyebrow at her. “I told the love of your life that you were moving in with me. What do you say about that, my little Picasso?”
“Was he jealous?”
That smile again. “About as close to banging his head on a wall as I’ve seen him.”
Molly yanked her panty drawer open. “Then I’d be delighted.”
Three
“So what else did the love of my life say?” Molly asked as they made a pit stop for food on their way back to Julian’s place. He was always hungry. It seemed that his muscles needed a lot of glucose, all the time. The man had a friends group for every sport he participated in: soccer, basketball, kayaks, zip-lining, even the more extreme hang-gliding gigs.
Those hard, taut muscles on his arms and legs and abs and the magnificent golden hue of his skin obviously didn’t come from being in an office all day.
He was so lean, he could probably tackle a decathlon as easily as he tackled women in bed…. Hmm, she wondered if Garrett would soon tackle her in bed.
“Wait here,” he said as he slid his silver Aston Martin into the only vacant parking slot in front of a frozen yogurt chain.
“Hey will you get me an Oreo milk shake with—”
“Three cherries on top—one for chewing, one for sucking and one to leave at the bottom?”
Molly grinned and nodded, and she could still hear his rumbling chuckle even after he’d closed the door.
Minutes later, he returned, and she found herself scowling down at her milk shake. “Why is there a phone number written on my milk shake cup?”
With an easy flick of his wrist, he turned the key and his car engine roared back to life.
“Julian!”
He flung his hands up in exasperation. “I didn’t ask for it, Molls.”
She shook her head in distaste. But then, could she blame the cashier or whoever had scrambled to write her hopes on Molly’s milk shake? Julian was graced with both a face and body that made women gape, stammer and stutter—then behave like twits. That was a fact. And there was nothing Molly—or even Julian—could do about it.
Still, it rankled, and Molly kept shaking her head. “Honestly. I have no idea who in their right mind would hook up with you.”