Free Wrong Man, Right Kiss by Red Garnier Page A

will!
    He was a hair from hyperventilating by now. “I didn’t sign up to play the part of the freaking fool, Molls. What am I supposed to do while you hold court at the family gathering? You’re supposed to be my girl!”
    Her eyes sparkled in mirth, because she’d probably never seen him worked up to a lather before. “Well, at least you can give your big ‘guns’ a good workout as you fend off my unwanted suitors, huh.”
    He stalked over and grabbed her shoulders, not amused and very freaking jealous about all this. “Damned right I will, and you know why?”
    “Enlighten me.”
    “All the guys in attendance, from Landon’s friends to business associates, are going to swarm you like a pack of starving beasts. They always have, and you don’t even notice. You’re so damned different, Molly…” She had no idea, no idea what she did to him or anyone else. She was not only blind to him, she was blind to all men. The looks she received while she was staring off into space, thinking of a painting, were never even noticed.
    Had she forgotten all the invitations she’d had to prom? She hadn’t even attended, but she goddamned well had been asked.
    “You really think I’m different, Jules? You know, maybe that’s because of my special relationship with my Oster!”
    He laughed and wondered when the hell he would hear the last of that. Never, he thought, then growled in frustration and clenched her shoulders. “You don’t need to change one whit about you to catch a man. If you need to change your identity to make him see something great about you, then Garrett doesn’t deserve you. None of those bastards do.”
    Something he said struck a chord. Molly stopped fiddling with the bag and clutched it firmly to her abdomen. She surveyed him in curious speculation and tilted her head a notch, those sky-blue eyes wide with innocent expectation.
    “So basically,” she said, her lips lifting at the corners, those same lips he wanted to kiss more than anything until they were red and swollen and only his. “So what you’re saying is—I do look good?”
    Julian stood ramrod stiff as he struggled to reply, not wanting her to be seen like this by anyone. Anyone. But he owed her the truth and he had to shove his jealousy aside if it killed him.
    And it was. Killing him.
    Looking at her like this. Killing him.
    Wanting her and having to wait. Killing him.
    He twirled his finger in the air and thickly commanded, “Give a little spin for me.”
    She spun, slowly. Yep, killing him. Her butt was so perky and round he could already feel it in his hands. Needing to do something—touch her, anywhere—he reached out to tuck a loose tendril of red hair behind her ear, then his lips curled ever so slightly on one side as he inclined his head just a fraction, and said in a gruff voice, “Yeah, baby. You look good.” And he gave that rump a little playful pat because he’d been aching to. “Too damned good.”
    Five
     
    “S o 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