Свольн. Путь в воины. Константин Назимов

the elevator doors opened was an enormous white space, with floor-to-ceiling windows in every corner and the smell of fresh paint lingering in the air.

      “Wow. What is this?”

      He met her gaze, and she was mesmerized by the proud gleam in his eyes, could even hear the pride in his gruff voice. “These just so happen to be my future offices.”

      Molly’s eyes rounded in surprise. “You—what do you mean? Is the Daily moving from downtown?”

      The Gage family owned the most thriving and successful newspaper conglomerate in all of Texas, which included several print publications, internet news sites and some cable-TV channels, all working under the umbrella of their first paper, the San Antonio Daily. It was a business of three generations and one that gave the family immense wealth and untold power. Their offices occupied an entire block downtown, so Molly couldn’t quite believe the move would be so easy.

      A second passed before Julian answered, and it was as though he was selecting his words carefully. “No. I’m the only one moving out, Molls.”

      Molly stared at his somber expression, loud warning bells chiming in her head. She immediately sensed this development was not a positive thing for the family. “Do your brothers know about this, Jules?” she asked, treading cautiously.

      “They will.”

      Molly took a couple of minutes to digest this shocking news. Her stomach did weird things at the thought of drama within the family, which had always seemed to revolve around Julian and his rebel ways. She still remembered each one of the times he’d been sent abroad for who knew what kinds of wrongdoing. Molly had missed her friend terribly, like she’d miss a thumb or an arm or a crucial and important part of her. All she remembered about those wretched months was that she’d cried. A lot.

      Now she watched him move lithely across his new office area, easily stepping over plastic tarps while he surveyed the electrical wires that stuck out from the scattered pillars, and she wondered why he’d want to bail out on the family’s extremely successful newspaper and publishing business.

      As the head of PR and chief of advertising for the company, Julian had the best part of the pie, in her humble opinion. He had the same whopping salary, just as many shares in the company as his brothers but the fewest responsibilities, which allowed him to have the most fun, the most women and the most time for hobbies like flying that Cessna plane he so loved and doing all the sports he enjoyed. Why would he leave the San Antonio Daily?

      “I had no idea you were unhappy where you were,” she said as she caught up with him, searching his face.

      He stared out the wide windows and the sunlight caught a dozen golden flecks in his green eyes. “I’m dissatisfied with my life, though not necessarily unhappy. A change was in order.”

      Her heart clenched with a strange emotion; she supposed it might be disappointment, for she’d believed they were close enough for him to share this important information with her sooner. As in, before he signed the lease for the penthouse. But then Julian was very reserved with his emotions, which was why people thought he had none. “So...” She walked through the space with him, taking in each new desk waiting for its worker. “How long have you been planning this?”

      She wanted to know more but also knew Julian disliked being pushed too far, and she sensed that this was all she would get for now.

      “A couple of years. Maybe my whole life.”

      He smiled down at her, a truly honest and content smile, and captivated by it, she returned it in kind, was helpless not to. But while a part of her wanted to clap and say good for you! there was another part, the one that was also loyal to the entire Gage family, that wished he’d reconsider. For Molly’s entire life, she’d sided with Julian about everything, anytime and anywhere, yet now she felt torn. Because she’d given her heart to Garrett two weeks ago and knew for certain that she’d never get it back. And she knew Garrett would fight tooth and claw to keep Julian in the business.

      He was one of their greatest assets and the only Gage brother cocky enough to neither worry nor care about appearances. His suave manner and mysterious ways seemed to both annoy and charm the competition, and made him the best PR person in the state. Molly doubted the Daily would have even half the amount of advertisers it did when Julian no longer had a hand in reeling them in. Maybe he would reconsider in due time?

      Continuing their stroll with a sigh, she nearly bumped into a blank wall. “All this white space could use something, you know,” she suddenly said aloud.

      From a few feet away, Julian chuckled, and the husky sound created a compelling echo in the wide-open room. “Now, why did I know you were going to say that?” he asked as he came over.

      She grinned and wrinkled her nose at him. “Maybe because I don’t like blank walls and you’ve known this for twenty years or more.”

      Stopping just an arm’s length away, he smoothed the wrinkle in her nose with one lone fingertip. “Then make a mural for me. This entire wall—make it yours.”

      Molly held his penetrating stare, her nose itching where he’d touched it. As the wheels in her head started spinning, she turned to the wall and found that her muse had already jumped with an idea. “Are you high? My individual paintings already command five-figure prices. A mural would run at least 150,000 and it would take me months. I need to talk to my gallerist.”

      Her gallerist had once represented Warhol and he was the savviest art dealer around, selling the craziest, most daring and contemporary art in the world. He was also Julian’s friend.

      “Leave Blackstone out of it. A hundred and fifty it is.”

      She gasped. “Jules, I can’t charge you that, it feels like I’m robbing my best friend.”

      “Then it should be fun. A hundred-fifty K, Molls, but make it real pretty for me. As pretty as you.” His smile flashed charmingly, and a bucket of excitement settled in Molly’s stomach until she could hardly stand it. She didn’t know if it was due to the fabulous deal she’d just closed or to being called pretty for once without it being accompanied by an insult to her clothes attached. Perhaps it was both.

      “Of course, Jules!” Pulling herself up by grabbing onto the collar of his shirt, she quickly kissed his hard jaw, then wished she hadn’t, because he totally stiffened. “Thanks. When can I start?”

      He spun for the elevator and cranked his neck as though it had cramped on him. “Tomorrow if you’d like,” he said.

      Molly floated in a cloud of bliss as she followed him. Had she really just landed an enormous work space just upstairs for the time being?

      Had she just been commissioned for her first mural?

      She could hardly believe her good fortune, although she’d always enjoyed a certain share of luck when it came to her art. The sudden interest from a top New York gallery a couple of years before had placed her works in several important collectors’ homes, and before she knew it her name was being piled up next to contemporary artists like David Salle and Sean Scully; big, big, big names in the art world. Now for the first time in her twenty-three years, maybe some of that creative luck would rub off on her sadly lacking love life. Maybe she was close to getting what she wanted with Garrett.

      Thanks to Julian, for sure.

      Because she’d suddenly realized that, just as her canvases did not miraculously paint themselves, her love life wouldn’t happen without some encouragement. And that was where Julian’s help making Garrett jealous fit in.

      Once back in Julian’s spacious apartment, Molly chose the guest bedroom to the left of his room, a space done in a pastel blue-and-green palette that she’d always found soothing. She retrieved her night creams, day creams, moisturizing creams, shampoos and toothbrush and aligned them all on the sink, then peeled out of her still-damp clothes, showered and slipped into her sleep shirt, which was actually an old T-shirt Julian had used in high school and his mother had sent to the Donation Station. Nobody knew Molly had fished