“So do you think Garrett will like my dress, too?”
Molly’s question irritated Julian like a painful snakebite as they drove to Landon and Beth’s gated home. He hesitated before at last answering her with a tender squeeze of her hands, which she’d been nervously wringing on her lap. “No doubt about it, Mopey. Just relax, you look stunning.”
But now it was he, Julian John Gage, who needed to relax.
He felt like drinking hard, but he wasn’t stupid enough to get drunk like the night of the masquerade party, when he’d lost control and acted like some sixteen-year-old dweeb with his first girlfriend.
Oh, no. Tonight he needed all five senses and then some.
Tonight Molly needed him to put on a show and damned if he wasn’t aching to give it to her.
To all of his family.
But he felt like he had a bomb strapped to his rib cage and he wondered if he’d be able to keep his usual cool. His success might depend on it. Keeping cool, biding his time, being patient. Logically, that was what he must do. But Molly was in love with his brother, dammit, and both his head and his cool had left him a week ago when he’d learned of it.
Things he had planned to do his whole life were happening, and precipitously. Regrettably, not in the manner he had intended them to.
Never had he imagined he would experience this much jealousy over the girl he’d always planned to have for himself falling in love with his brother.
God, he still couldn’t believe this was true.
Still, he was trying very hard to screw his head back on and focus on enjoying the parts of the evening he knew would bring him pleasure.
Like showing off his new “girlfriend” to his family. “Mother, have you met Molly?” he could ask while the unspoken words that floated between them would be, The woman you warned me never to touch? I’m tumbling her all night now, and she loves it. We both do. Hey, will you excuse us for a moment? We’re going to go ahead and have sex out by the bushes....
But sadly, not even that thought brought him comfort as he handed his keys over to the valet and strode over to help Molly out of the car.
Her scent dizzied him as she stood up from the low seat.
Creamy legs...silken red hair...the sexy-as-hell curve of her neck just begging to be bitten...
He wasn’t going to think about that now. In silence, he focused on how warm and calm the night breeze was as he led her up the staircase, her hand unsteady in his.
“Molls?”
“Mmm?”
He wanted to tell her she had never looked more beautiful to him. Instead, he lifted her hand and placed a soft kiss on the back of it, tipping her chin encouragingly with his other hand. “We’ve got this,” he murmured, and her instant smile wrapped around his heart.
Hand in hand, they entered the gleaming foyer of the two-story mansion, where a harpist welcomed them with a slow, haunting tune. The gathering consisted of a small group of friends and family and of course Landon’s enormous mastiffs, who were plopped on the rug at the far end of the living room.
Molly had told Julian earlier that Kate and Beth’s business, Catering, Canapés and Curry, was handling tonight’s party.
So at least the food would be good.
As soon as Julian and Molly were spotted, they were split apart. Kate and Beth sequestered Molly for interrogation while his mother, in an evening dress and a pair of bed slippers, flew over to Julian before he could even find a server with a wine selection. “My dear son! My dear, dear son!” she called from afar, crossing the room toward him. “What’s this I hear about you and Molly, JJ?”
“Mother, why did you give me two names if you did not plan to use them?” he said, exasperated.
“All right then, Julian John—answer me now and don’t test me. My nerves are frazzled as it is without any help from you these days!”
A fond smile played on his lips as his mother stopped an arm’s length away, regal and elegant even in slippers and panting for her breath—something only a matron like Eleanor Gage could pull off.
Julian could already taste the satisfaction of watching the “news” affect and disgruntle his overprotective mother. She, who had sent him to Spain, France, Russia and Africa to separate him from his best friend. She, who had warned him if he ever touched the only girl he’d ever truly cared for, he might as well not consider himself a part of the Gage family anymore.
Yeah, it gave him pleasure, perverse pleasure, to see if she would make good on her threats. A part of him savored the fight with her even though he loved her. It had hurt him, incredibly, to be judged and condemned by his entire family for a sin he hadn’t yet committed.
He’d been punished since he was just an adolescent, and he’d been suffering ever since.
Yes. It felt good to rebel against them. To give them the exact thing they were afraid of. Because soon they would see how wrong they’d been about him. Dead. Wrong.
So now that she was narrow-eyed and thrusting her chin out in warning, Julian ducked his head to her height and kissed her cheek smoothly, unperturbed by her bravado. “If you heard that Molly is with me, then you heard the truth, Mother. Now you can finally make good on your threat and disown me.”
Eleanor drew back with a shocked little breath, genuinely traumatized by his suggestion.
Julian wanted to assure her he didn’t need the trust his father had left anymore. He could live lavishly with his savings alone, plus he already had a promising business ready to launch, with several billion-dollar companies lined up as clients for his PR services. Instead, he smiled at her to defuse the tension and tucked a wisp of ebony hair behind her ear.
“You knew this would happen, Mother,” he said softly. “Just as I knew someday I’d have to prove to you how much I want her and how far I’m willing to go.”
Her eyes, the only ones in the family that were green like his own, flared wide with accusation. Julian waited for her comeback, but words seemed to be failing her at the moment.
He really wished that if his mother was staring at him as if he were a monster, it was because sweet, lovely Molly was crazy about him, couldn’t keep her hands off him and was letting him have his way with her in bed, in the shower, in the car, in the kitchen and in every place he could think of. And not because of this idiotic little lie.
He needed her to be his.
He didn’t know how much longer he could wait, or what it would take for her to realize she and Garrett weren’t compatible in any single way that she and Julian were.
“If you think I’m going to let you use that girl like all those Janes you go out with, you’re sorely mistaken, Julian John. I’m like that girl’s mother.”
He nodded in agreement. He had definitely understood the position his mother had been placed in two decades ago when the Devaneys had been brought to the house. She had been a recent widow with three young sons, feeling responsible for the death of an employee who left two young daughters orphaned. His mother, always stern but nonetheless a loving woman, had taken them in, but hardened her position with her sons in the process.
It was too much on her nerves to ever think the boys would harm the girls in any way; after all, they owed them their father. And yet nobody had ever understood that Julian did not want to hurt Molly. Just as he did not want to hurt his mother now. It just was what it was.
He wanted Molly. And no one was going to stop him from having her anymore.
In feigned aloofness, he grasped one of her jeweled hands and indolently patted it between both of his. “Why don’t you have a little more faith in me as well, Mother? And let us be happy together, for once.” Before he left to greet Landon and his wife, he grumbled, “I’d never hurt Molly. Ever. And it hurts me that you even think I would.”
* * *
Molly stood at the other end of the living room with Kate and Beth, who was being brought up to speed on all the excitement.
“I can’t believe this. Landon and I leave for two months, we come back and you and Julian are dating?”
Molly waved a hand excitedly. “We’re actually way past that, Beth. I’ve moved in already.” She nodded proudly, then added, “But you know, that’s exactly how shocked I felt when I emerged from a long creative streak in my studio to find out Landon had remarried. I didn’t even have a clue he’d met someone. Julian should’ve kept me up-to-date all those nights he brought Chinese food!”
Looking past Beth, Molly spotted Landon, another gorgeous Gage specimen. He kept glancing in their direction as he addressed Julian, and although Landon was not a man easily perturbed, even he appeared slightly confused as he spoke to his youngest brother this evening. Garrett joined them within seconds, and Molly could just sigh at the sight of his broad back. She could imagine their next kiss and already knew it would be as hot as the first....
With a wistful smile, she watched the three men, all of whom she adored. The chandelier lights caught on Julian’s streaked golden hair, which sharply contrasted with both of his older brothers’ dark coloring, and she melted with tenderness for him. Just to think Julian might be taking crap from his brothers because he was supposedly dating her only endeared him to her more. Would Garrett do something like this for her?
While Julian lounged around effortlessly, seemingly careless to everything they said, Garrett stood sterner, more tense and, hopefully, already jealous. Landon, however, had never looked so utterly relaxed. Like a man completely satisfied with the state of his life and thoroughly in love, as was evident from the frequent looks he stole in Beth’s direction.
“Landon said he always knew this would happen,” Bethany offered in a private whisper, oblivious to her husband’s attention across the room as she leaned closer to Molly. “When our plane landed, he called his office and heard about you two from Garrett. He wasn’t even surprised about it. He said it was inevitable.”
“He did?”
It was a shock to Molly.
Because who on earth would ever think Julian and Molly could be more than friends?
It was ridiculous. Molly didn’t even like to date. And Julian was a playboy.
Plus, the Gage family still viewed her as a child, except for Garrett, who seemed to be the only one who’d realized she was now a full-grown woman. A kissable grown woman.
Still reeling at the idea, she looked back at the group of men, intending to admire Garrett from afar and remind herself why she was so in love with him, but her gaze snagged on Julian as he calmly explained something to his brothers.
Already having disposed of both his black jacket and his silver tie, Jules exuded powerful masculinity and self-assurance as he stood there, the cuffs of his shirt rolled up to his elbows to expose his tanned, thick forearms. His stance was so wide and confident, it seemed to say, Yeah, baby, I own me, I own this and I own you.
Before Molly could force her gaze back to the man she loved, Julian seemed to sense her scrutiny, for suddenly, his head turned. The smile he wore gradually vanished. With the glittering lights overhead, his eyes, those eyes that changed from gray-green to gold-green in a moment, right now looked as green as Colombian emeralds. And they blazed at her from across the room—almost proprietarily, as if he also thought he owned the little black dress she wore and the pair of black panties underneath.
Molly! You did not just think of your panties!
Mortified, she jerked her gaze away, her stomach clenching, and then she had to look back at Julian. Because...surely she had hallucinated that he was giving her the Wolf vs. Red Riding Hood stare?
He said something to Garrett and started in her direction, and before Molly could understand why her insides spun in turmoil, she realized he must be putting on a show. A show so that Garrett could see that she was desirable to him. And he would get terribly jealous and feel forced to tear them apart and stake his claim on Molly once and for all.
Yes, of course. It was all part of the plan. And it was brilliant.
But as Julian walked toward her with that slow tiger prowl-walk and his stare held her captive, her legs liquefied. She hadn’t felt this desirable since the night Garrett had kissed her. The way he stared at her made her feel...wanted. Womanly. So, so, womanly.
Wow, this guy was so good at this.
And he was hot.
And tonight, everyone in this room thought he was hers.
“Get over here and dance with me,” he prodded as he reached for her with a strong, long-fingered hand.
Molly grinned. “There’s no dance floor, you dope.”
“Come on, Mo-Mo. There’s music and that’s all we need.”
She smiled and took his hand, and a surprising bolt of electricity shot through her as he clasped her fingers. He spun her into his arms and yanked her effortlessly against him, almost dizzying her with his strength.
She swallowed a small curse, unprepared to feel his powerful body aligning so perfectly with hers. And suddenly Julian had erased all the distance between them. And Molly had seen him in his briefs. And he was so close.
His body warmth enveloped her, causing her muscles to relax while at the same time an odd hyperawareness built inside her midsection. It...disconcerted her.
“You’re so good at this, it’s almost annoying,” she told him with a smile.
And she hardly believed how good he was as she wrapped her arms around his strong nape, trying not to think of how utterly helpless she would feel if Julian was to turn on the charm with her like he did with all of his flings. Not that it would ever happen, or even that it would work. Because there could only be one man for her, and he’d better be watching them.
“Is Garrett looking?” she whispered, desperate to get this fake-lover charade over with. It was becoming dangerous...playing house with Julian. It was too fun and too easy. “Is he looking this way, Jules?”
“I don’t know, Molls, I’m looking at you.”
It was the tone he used, deep and husky as a country love song, that made her insides move in a way that made her supremely uncomfortable. Or maybe the sensation was due to the fact that Garrett must be watching them dance. It had to be. For it felt as if the Earth had stopped and not only Garrett, but the entire world, was watching them dance—or at least sway to the harp tune in the middle of Landon’s living room.
“I’m pretty sure he’s watching,” she whispered, moving closer to Julian’s ear. There, she leaned against his chest and whispered, “I’m thinking we could just stroll off somewhere and return a little disheveled, you know. Or go lock ourselves in a closet for fifteen minutes and let his imagination run wild.”
She could feel the coiled tension in the muscles underneath his shirt as he dropped his head to whisper back into her ear, his lips grazing the lobe. “As you wish.”
Fireflies exploded in her stomach, the words were so unexpected, as unexpected as the caressing bump of his lips against her earlobe. Molly drew back with a start, trying to calm her racing heart, telling herself he couldn’t possibly know what those words did to her. Or how deeply they spoke to her. “Really?” she whispered, shaking her reaction aside. “It’s a good idea?”
He arrested her gaze with tender, heavy-lidded eyes that threatened her equilibrium. All she knew was that in her favorite movie of all time, Westley looked at Buttercup in just this manner.
And this was just the way Garrett had to look at her by the end of the evening.
“Yeah.” Julian lightly chucked her chin, then with painstakingly slowness, smoothed his calloused thumb across her lower lip in a way that made her shiver. “I’ve always enjoyed a little closet fun. Let’s get lost.”
Molly didn’t remember moving so fast in her entire life—even though she had to stop several times because she was laughing so hard—than when Julian dragged her down the long hallway. She felt intoxicated with an incredible sense of freedom and mischief and fun—and when she caught a glimpse of Julian’s sexy, curvy smile, she wanted to fling herself into his arms and kiss him from the excitement alone.
Within seconds he came to an abrupt stop and efficiently shoved her inside a small downstairs office.
The instant the door closed after him, Molly’s heart stopped.
Darkness enveloped them. Silence and seclusion spread between them, around them, like a cloak of velvet. But in this closed space, nearly entirely occupied by a big mahogany desk, Julian’s scent suddenly stormed around her like a tornado, and it made her lungs burn. He smelled clean and of spices and within seconds Molly couldn’t seem to stand still. Her mouth watered, and she swallowed.
“Do you have lipstick in your purse?” he asked in a voice roughened with exertion.
Her eyes adjusted to the shadows, and she realized with a start that Julian was undoing the top buttons of his white shirt. Molly could barely organize her thoughts at the sight of his tanned throat being exposed, then the hollow between his collarbones, then a part of his pectorals.
She licked her lips and, without even thinking, she lunged at him.
Going straight for the dirty business, she coiled her arms firmly around his neck and kissed his square jaw, pressing her body against his marble-hard one. Next she trailed her lips down the length of his throat. She’d surprised him, she supposed. For he stood utterly still, maybe not even alive.
Oh, no, but he was definitely alive, very much so. His warmth seeped through his clothes and spread heat all the way to her bone marrow. Intoxicated by the incredible feel of his taut, warm skin under her roaming lips, Molly trailed a path of kisses down to his collarbone, where she crazily wondered if she should just go ahead and trace it with her tongue.
“Molly?”
Julian’s voice was a thick rasp.
“Mmm,” she answered, placing a gentle kiss in that hollow at the base of his throat.
“You could’ve used your lipstick straight on me, baby. You didn’t have to kiss me.”
It took a moment for that guttural whisper to register. She had been happily—maybe too happily—dragging her lips along the thick tendons of his throat so that they ended up smeared peach and no one doubted, not even Julian and especially not Garrett, that Molly had kissed him.
She stopped abruptly and backed off in sudden confusion, all of her body heat concentrating on her cheeks. “What do you mean...? I don’t even remember where I left my purse, I think Beth has it.”
He must have heard the utter embarrassment in her voice, for he gathered her back against him, his voice even thicker and rougher than before. “Shh. Go on then. This works, too.”
But she hesitated, her cheeks now scalding. As though encouraging her, Julian undid another button of his shirt, so leisurely that as she watched she began to focus on details she had never thought of before. How gracefully his fingers moved. How both their breaths ricocheted off the walls of the small space.
How she could feel his eyes burn like lasers through the top of her head as she watched him undo another button.
How a hot little tingle spread across every inch of her skin.
And how this would all be so easy to dismiss if she hadn’t seen him almost naked...
“Now try kissing me a little lower.”
He spread his shirt open, fully open, and Molly’s windpipe clamped shut. Her knees wobbled in place. Jules could be a sculpture, he was so defined and so lean. At such a short distance, he looked even more ripped, like a top athlete. Molly could see every square indentation of his washboard abs, every sharp rise and fall of muscle.
A tremor rushed through her, and when she didn’t move, he slipped his hands onto the back of her head and gently urged her toward him. His fingers were long and felt gentle on her scalp, and as she set her palms on his rib cage and bent her head to his collarbone, she felt his fingertips work on her butterfly clasp and undo her hair.
A hot little shiver rushed from the top of her scalp to the tips of her toes as her hair tumbled to her shoulders. Trembling, she lowered her head and set a dry kiss on the V of his neck. Gingerly at first, holding her breath, trying to suppress another tremor building inside her body. Julian stood utterly still, and she wondered if he held his breath, too. Then she heard him softly say, “Go lower.”
Her eyes drifted shut and she set down another kiss, pressing her lips lightly against the tautly stretched skin above his six-pack. She felt the muscles contract under her fingerprints, and her tummy clenched in response. Why did she feel so shaky? Why was her mind spinning inside her cranium? She felt like a teenager stealing a first kiss, like a bad girl misbehaving, which she’d never been before. Of course it was all due to the excitement of making Garrett jealous. She had to remind herself all these emotions were due to the fact that her and Julian’s plan was so good, it was going to work.
“Lower, baby,” he murmured in a thick, raspy voice.
She was so trusting of Julian that she almost automatically obeyed, following his instructions without hesitation, while in the back of her mind she started to wonder how he would get Garrett to see that Molly had kissed his washboard abs, too. Daydreaming of Garrett’s jealous face while a strange liquid fire simmered through her veins, she let her lips wander lower, Julian’s skin hot and silky under her lips...her heart thundering in her ears as she heard him once again rasp, “Lower.” Feeling like she was dreaming, she went lower, her eyes feeling heavy as a strange tremor tingled along her nerve endings, until she heard him unzip his pants.
Startled, she lifted her head in confusion. He was laughing down at her, his eyes sparkling in the shadows, those sensual lips curled at the corners as he zipped back up.
“You’re so innocent, Molls. I was wondering when you’d catch on,” he said.
She smacked his elbow and straightened, already feeling a rush of color climb up her cheekbones. “You jerk!”
She tried pushing him aside but he seized her wrists and yanked her back to him, his laughter lingering in his voice. “No, no, no, not yet, baby. We need to work on you now.”
He rumpled her hair with those long-fingered hands and Molly felt herself clam up, her throat closing with an unnameable emotion. She felt...unsteady. Vulnerable and open to him. Even those feathery touches on her scalp felt special. Electric. Rushing from the roots of her hair to her brain, charging her with inexplicable adrenaline.
As he worked on her hair, the mist of his breath fanned, warm and minty, across her forehead, and she had to use all her effort to fight the impossible flames flicking through her body. His smell was killing her. Dizzying her.
What was happening to her?
This was Julian, not Garrett. Julian.
She sucked in an unsteady breath, and his hands went still on the crown of her head. Their eyes locked in the dark as his hands slid down to her nape as he slowly ducked toward her. Closer. Closer.
She was frozen in place, her voice a breathless whisper. “Julian...what are you doing...?”
“Shh. I just want some of your lipstick on my mouth. Just a little.” His breathing changed as he secured her cheeks between his big hands, and she became aware of the bite of something incredibly large and rigid against her stomach.
“Julian...” she said, turning her head to the side. Their noses brushed accidentally, but rather than pull back, Julian dipped his head even farther and scraped his mouth purposely across hers.
The contact singed.
Her mouth parted on a gasp.
Julian pulled back, his eyes gleaming in the darkness. Then he lowered his head and repeated the motion, scraping his mouth across hers. Her legs went rubbery, her core melting like lava.
A little quiver rippled through her, followed by a surge of desire so sharp and powerful, her world tilted on its axis. Not even Garrett’s kiss had done this to her. Nothing on this earth had ever done this to her. She shouldn’t feel such blazing need swimming through her veins, shouldn’t want to feel more, feel everything.
But she did, goodness, she did.
His nearness intoxicated her, the brush of his sensual lips fascinated her beyond measure, and she felt weak with wanting, had never wanted anything so much as she wanted to be kissed by him. Right now, in this tiny lightless room, this very instant. Kissed thoroughly and deeply by this sex god everyone wanted but no one could ever have. Least of all Molly.
But Julian did not kiss her. Only teased her with the possibility of it. The delicious scent of his body enveloped and dizzied her. It was incredible; this feeling of flying. He was so familiar and at the same time totally new. As if discovering your body could do something you never expected it to. This was how it felt to awaken to Julian John. And that was the only word she could think of. Awaken.
To Julian John.
He just had to kiss her.
Please kiss me.
Her breathing escalated and her lips parted as he scraped his mouth across hers for the third time. She heard a sound come out of herself and almost collapsed in a puddle on the floor when he released her.
“There. I’m probably wearing more lipstick than you are now. Come on, Mo-Mo. Let’s get out of here.”
He went to open the office door, and light from the corridor spilled in, silhouetting his magnificent form. Their eyes met across the gloom while he waited for her to get her bearings. But her knees felt like soup.
Her legs like noodles.
She blinked but couldn’t focus.
She couldn’t even breathe.
She didn’t know what was wrong with her, but her mind was screaming for him to come back, for him to kiss her, for her to kiss him, for her to do anything to be kissed by Julian John. And suddenly when he swung around to leave, she blurted out, “JJ, wait!”
Her heart stopped when he froze, and for a wild instant, all that was audible in the dark room was both their uneven breathing. Their eyes met again—and something electrifying pulsed between them.
He closed the door so slowly her heart almost disintegrated, and then she heard a click as it hit the doorjamb. Darkness swallowed them again, darkness and something wild and untamable. An unbearable intensity charged the air as he took a step forward.
Molly was not thinking right, felt drunk with sensations. With expectation. Anticipation.
“What did you just say?” Julian asked. His voice was very, very soft. Dangerously soft.
Molly held her breath, her lungs near bursting. “I said JJ.”
His eyes shimmered like lanterns in the night, and her heart rattled in her chest and the blood roared in her ears as he took that last step closer.
With slow, deliberate precision, he placed his hands on either side of her head against the back wall and caged her between his arms as he leaned forward. A gravelly sound stole into his voice as he slid his fingers through her loose hair and encircled the back of her head. “Say it to my face, Molly. Say it one more time to my face. I dare you.”
Longing burst open inside her. Hunger. Want. Everything.
She knew this was crazy and wrong and yet she couldn’t help herself, couldn’t stop. Her body was trembling, head-to-toe, trembling. He had been playing a game with her and perhaps she wanted to play back, but this was more than a game.
Maybe?
Was it?
She didn’t know anything anymore, except that maybe she should apologize for calling him by his most loathed nickname and just leave.
Maybe she didn’t really want to be kissed by Julian John, because she wanted Garrett. Or maybe she’d truly lost her head tonight, because as she met his gaze in the shadows, she heard herself speak between panting breaths.
“I said JJ, JJ.”
* * *
The silence was deafening.
Julian’s eyes widened, for he was sure that he hadn’t heard right the first time. But this second time, he just couldn’t believe it.
Molly had called him JJ, and he was going to have to make her pay for that. Stat.
In a whiplash move, he yanked her up against him and hoarsely demanded, in a voice as jagged as torn paper, “Do you remember what I told you I would do if you ever, ever called me JJ again?”
Smiling a smile that was all mischief, Molly tilted her back, her breasts rising and falling fast. She nodded slowly, provocatively—tauntingly.
The little she-cat wanted this!
Almost drugged with the thought of exacting his punishment, Julian caressed his hands up her slender arms, savoring the feel of her smooth skin against his calloused palms. “Well, then, I’m going to have to kiss you now,” he purred, the words acting like foreplay as he leaned closer. He could almost taste the gloss on her lips already.
“O-okay, Jules,” she said, almost a squeak as she gripped the rolled-up sleeves at his elbows as though hanging on to him for dear life.
Swamped with every single emotion in the world and close to exploding with wanting her, he cupped her face between his large hands and lowered his head, his heart going a powerful baboom baboom baboom. “‘Okay, Jules’? Is that all you have to say? All right, then, you asked for it, Moo...now you’re getting it good...”
He started easy, her face framed in his grasp as he lightly set his lips on hers, but with that whisper touch alone, lightning streaked across his veins and seared their mouths like fire. Suddenly, that single, wholly erotic fusion of their bodies lit his entire being on fire. He grabbed her closer, and she slid her hands up his bulging arms, their mouths parting hungrily in unison.
Groaning as her plush lips opened for him, he plowed his tongue into her mouth in a thirsty search for hers. Her soft moan tumbled down his throat as she shyly licked him back.
She tasted like peaches. And he loved peaches.
Deepening their kiss, he trailed his open palms down to the small of her back and conformed her curvy body to his. Her breasts softly pressed against his diaphragm, and it drove him crazy when she rubbed the tips of her nipples up against the wall of his chest.
Her nails bit into his shoulders while her mouth eagerly explored his, and when her hips began rocking against his, too, his senses swam with both pain and euphoria. The pain came from his pulsing length pressing against his pants zipper, aching to grind against those luscious hips she taunted him with.
His fingertips dug into her waist as he crushed her tighter to him, and plunged deeper into her mouth, stealing dozens of incredibly sweet and wet tastes of her. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. She tasted pure. And he desperately wanted to make love to her.
Undone by her wildness, he grappled with her hands and lifted them above her head, pinning her against the back wall. This surprised her, and she gasped. He caught the sound and kissed her harder. Wetter. Longer.
His body exploded in chaos as she responded in kind, pulling her arms free and rubbing her hands up his biceps, through his hair, making soft purring sounds against his mouth.
She felt incredible. Incredible.
He had never wanted anything or anyone more in his life. Molly. His tiny, sweet little gypsy. He wanted to hear her come undone for him, to lose control like she made him lose his.
But did she really want this? Did she have any idea how serious he was about this, about her?
“Molly,” he murmured tenderly, then he dived down her neck and twirled a wet path to her delicate collarbone.
“Don’t stop yet,” she mewed in a little helpless plea, her fingertips sliding back into his hair. “Please let me pretend for a little bit.”
His insides twisted with foreboding. “Don’t you dare—” he came back up and shoved his tongue into her mouth, taking all of her taste, taking all that she could give “—pretend that I’m my brother.”
But that tormenting thought now held him back like an iron chain, and he had to rest his forehead against hers with a groan, his breaths jerking in and out as he fought to get a grip. Suddenly, the reminder that Molly was making out with him to make his brother jealous gnawed a hole the size of Texas into his gut.
But her slim arms still clung to him. Her face was still tilted up to his in offering. And he could hardly think straight while she looked up at him as if she adored him.
“You look thoroughly kissed, Molly,” he rasped. He cradled her beautiful face with his big hands, drinking up the dewy desire that softened her features.
She licked her lips, her pupils dilating as her gaze darted from his eyes to his mouth, up and down, up and down. He could barely speak, his voice roughened with painful, dizzying arousal.
“Should we just go out there so my brother gets to see what I’ve been doing to you? He’ll probably think I’ve had my hands all over you this evening.”
She made a little choking sound and dropped her face. “Jules, stop. Please don’t tease.”
Julian’s thighs trembled as he fought for control, fought to keep from doing more, doing everything to her. With her. “I’d just like to know if this kiss was just for Garrett—or because you want me, Molly?”
She kept her head bent, intoxicating him with the smell of raspberry shampoo that wafted to his nostrils. “Everybody wants you, Julian. Everybody. I just can’t believe this. What did we do? This was so insane, so stupid!”
“Shh.” He pinned her against him when she squirmed, his hands firmly curled around her shoulders as he kissed the top of her head and tried to ease her. “If you can’t do this sort of stupid thing with your best friend, then I don’t know who the hell you can do it with.”
She shook her head but nonetheless buried her nose in the crook of his neck. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. All this is your fault! For being such an expert seducer—please don’t let go yet. I just want you to hold me. Jules, you smell so good....”
One two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve...
Not enough. He could count to a million and it was not. Enough. Not enough of her. Not enough time. To hold her. Be with her. Drown in her.
A groan of pent-up desire rumbled up from deep within his throat as his fingers clenched around her waist. “I wasn’t seducing you, Molly—but you shouldn’t have tempted me to kiss you.” Unable to stop himself, he recklessly slid his hands upward to engulf her breasts as he heatedly nibbled on her earlobe. “Now I want to kiss you until you’re weak and pliant in my arms. Until you tell me what it is that you really want, because I don’t think you even know what you’re asking for—”
“So! Are you two finished in here—or do we have to call the fire department?”
* * *
The baritone voice that cut through Julian’s delicious, seductive words yanked Molly to full wakefulness. She jerked in Julian’s arms as if she’d just been dumped into the frigid waters off Alaska and straightened to see Garrett—the man she wanted to marry—standing just outside the open door. Landon stood next to him, and while Landon’s expression verged on amusement, Garrett did not look pleased.
And now he’ll think I’m a whore.
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.
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.”