Wrong Man, Right Kiss by Red Garnier Page B

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