And now he’ll think I’m a who
re.
The sudden thought popped into her mind and she almost wanted to groan in self-pity.
Her cheeks glowed hot as Julian pushed her behind him in a stance that reeked of protectiveness, and she was grateful for that. Taking advantage, she hid against his back and frantically struggled to rearrange her dress and hair.
“We’ll be done as soon as you two dopes leave us alone.”
How Julian could sound so calm and collected, she didn’t know, because panic had gripped Molly by the throat and she could hardly even breathe now.
She’d wanted Garrett to imagine she and Julian had shared a little romp this evening. But she had never, ever expected to be caught while doing it.
What had she been thinking? She had clearly been undone by the strange, tantalizing complexity of Julian’s male scent, the desperate desires his mouth evoked, his kisses always somehow bringing the heartbreaking reminder of her night with Garrett at the masquerade. Every time she kissed Julian, her chest began to ache, and not in a good way.
“We apologize, but Mother sent us,” she heard Landon explain to Jules almost apologetically. “Not a task I was looking forward to.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t summon the whole party to come stop us,” Julian grumbled, and with one of his powerful arms, he slammed the door back shut.
Cursing low in his throat once they were alone, he extended an arm to keep the door closed and glanced past his shoulder.
“You okay?”
“Yes,” she said as she arranged herself frantically, wanting the small room to develop an appetite and suddenly swallow her whole. She couldn’t believe Julian had touched her breasts just now.
“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.