“I want to go now, Garrett,” she grumbled, trying to pull her arm free.
He drew her closer. “He’s leaving the Daily, isn’t he?”
Hating herself for having spoken so rashly, Molly dropped her face. “I think you misunderstood,” she hedged.
“No, I didn’t. I know he’s not happy here, Molly. I’ve been suspecting for a time now. But if you aren’t telling me when he’s leaving or where, then at least answer me this. Do you love him?” he asked.
Molly stared up at the man she’d once thought she loved and wondered why her throat closed up in a tight little ball. Why she wanted to wail her heart out to him over that question alone.
Because of course the answer was yes, a thousand times yes.
She loved Julian in so many ways, she hadn’t even begun to discover them all. And she feared that loving him as a friend was only one of them.
* * *
Halting just a few feet from his own office door, Julian saw them. Molly and the “love of her life,” together at last.
He saw them say goodbye. Saw his brother pat her back. Saw her take a little sob and drop her face into his jacket. Saw him put his arm around her.
His blood simmered. His heart caved in on itself. And suddenly red-hot anger coursed through his veins and his eyes blurred with the force of his fury. Maybe this was what Molly had wanted all along. She had practiced with Julian last night so she could get out here and make Garrett jealous, make him see her as the lovely, sexy, grown woman that she was.
Perhaps Julian should’ve stepped back and let his best friend be coddled by the man she wanted to be coddled by.
He should laugh it off, not care. But it mattered very much. Too much.
Body shaking, he was amazed he could speak so calmly, so softly, as he walked up to them. “I hate to break up your tête-à-tête, but if you don’t take your hands off Molly, I’m going to beat your face until our own mother won’t recognize you.”
Garrett stiffened, but his arms instantly dropped as his head whipped toward his. “What the hell is wrong with you, Jules?”
Julian gritted his teeth as Molly swung around in surprise. Ignoring Garrett, he stretched out his hand to her, palm up, and gazed intently into her red-rimmed eyes. She’d been crying, or about to cry. Dammit, why? He pursed his lips in anger. At her, at himself, at this entire mess he’d gotten himself into.
He’d wanted time to let things unfold naturally.
He didn’t want to pull all the stops he used with other women and seduce the hell out of her. Because this was the only girl who knew him, respected him, admired him—he was real with her. He wanted it to be perfectly natural with her. No bull. And it just wasn’t happening that way, dammit. “What day is today, Molly?”
She sniffled, then wiped the corner of her eye with one fingertip. “Um?”
“What day is it?”
She told him the date, and he nodded gravely and bent to whisper in her ear so that nobody would hear his words but Molly. “Exactly. You’re still my girl. Aren’t you? We said a month. Didn’t we?”
She blinked as he drew back to survey her reaction, and when her gaze strayed to Garrett, Julian’s chest tightened with rage.
Garrett, his brother.
Whom he suddenly, profoundly abhorred.
Her tear-streaked blue eyes came back to him, and she nodded and mumbled, “Of course. Take me home, all right?” And to Garrett, she said almost placatingly, “Thanks for the chat. Think about what I told you before I…stepped out, okay?”
Garrett nodded before Julian led Molly by the elbow toward his assistant’s desk. He barked a dozen orders, then led Molly with him to the elevators.
Neither spoke on the drive home.
“So tell me,” Julian finally said as they entered his apartment, his emotions having fermented during the drive. He was close to exploding now. “Tell me what he did to make you cry like this.”
Molly stared at him with wide, shining eyes that made him want to wrap her up in his arms and keep the world from so much as looking at her, she looked so damn lost and so damn vulnerable. Her voice was a soft, puzzled whisper. “What’s wrong with you today?”
He drew a deep breath, then let it all out. “He doesn’t deserve you, Molly! I know a guy who’s so crazy about you, he would do anything to be with you—anything. He’d lie for you, cheat for you, steal for you—”