Page 23 of Love in the Time of Conversation Hearts

My stomach has grown so hollow that when my heart drops into it, the thud reverberates through my whole body. “You didn’t hear what I said to Lauren?”

He pushes off the doorframe and steps into my space. I focus on the cold tile beneath my feet, the fluorescent light flickering overhead. Anything but his face. Or, God forbid, his body.

“Not a word of it. So please, enlighten me.”

There’s true longing in his voice. Raw desperation. Like whatever I may say could hold the key to his deepest desires. I’m not sure if it’s Lauren’s words playing tricks on my mind, but when I dare to meet his gaze at last, she’s fucking right. His eyes are glinting.

“I, uh, may have admitted to being attracted to you. But it’s like a stomach bug. Or too many burritos. You know. It’ll pass.”

He presses his lips together to keep from smiling. I can tell by the way his eyes crinkle at the corners. “I’m not so convinced.”

“She said you like me,” I blurt out. I’m immediately chastising myself internally, but there’s nothing I can do now. The words are out there, echoing against the overly fancy herringbone tile on the shower walls.

“And did you believe her?”

“No,” I say too quickly. After a frantic heartbeat, I add, “Though your lack of rapid denial has me questioning things.”

“Good. I want you to question them.” He lets his gaze rove over me. I feel its path distinctly, from the way my throat burns to the tingles in my toes when he finally makes it there. My olive pantsuit is nowhere near as fancy as the dress I wore last night, but I like to think it hugs my curves in all the right places. From the look on his face, it would seem Adam agrees.

Logic tugs at my brain, holding me back from the brink of a full-blown spiral. “What are you doing? What are we doing? We’re coworkers, for fuck’s sake. This is a very bad idea.”

His spine straightens. He’s cool and calculated when he meets my eyes. Nothing like the inferno of lust filling me inside.

“Cora, I would never ask you to do something you weren’t fully on board with. I’m a lover of enthusiastic consent. But if you want this…” He licks his lips like he can’t help it. Like whatever this is, and I’m beginning to get some ideas, it is irresistibly delectable. “We are two grown adults. We work together, not for each other. There is nothing in the employee handbook that says this is off limits.”

A rush of breath leaves my lungs vacant and yearning. But I don’t want any more air that doesn’t smell of spice and man. That doesn’t taste like Adam. “They made you sign a handbook?”

His laugh is tight. “That’s the part you latched onto?”

I nod. Just a little jut of the chin, but it’s all I can manage.

“If you want me, I need you to say it out loud.” He locks eyes with me, the normally smoky haze of his irises suddenly impenetrable. “If you want me out of this room right this instant, say the word, and I’ll go.”

I draw in a breath so short it barely fuels the words I need to say. “What happens if I want you to stay?”

I watch as the column of his throat works through those words. The corner of his mouth ticks upward in a wicked grin, and he takes a step closer before catching my chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Then I’m going to kiss you.”

“In the bathroom?” I squeak.

His lips bend into a half-smile. “Unless you have any other ideas.”

“No, no. The bathroom’s good.”

“Is that a yes, Cora?”

My lashes flutter. Every inhale is laced with him. The cologne that warms me from the inside out as well as the scent that is all him, all Adam. I want to curl into him like a cat and purr. With the way I’m arching toward him, I already practically am.

Am I really going to do this? Do him? The man I’ve despised since the day we met?

No, not despised. The truth is, Adam challenges me. And I challenge him right back. It’s why, despite our teasing, we work so well together.

I bet we’d work really well together in other ways, too.

“You’re killing me,” he says with a groan.

“It’s a yes,” I let out on a sigh. “An enthusiastic yes.”

A hum vibrates his chest. “My favorite kind.”

And then, without a second more of hesitation, Adam Sullivan sweeps his arms around me and hoists me onto the countertop. Then he captures my gasp with his lips.