Page 21 of Adam’s Obsession

Holy crap, he thought. She’s flirting.

Not flirting flirting—not the way a normal womanwould flirt. She was Katherine flirting. It was subtle and understated,something a man might almost miss. But Adam didn’t miss it. The timid glance,the quick retreat, the tentative parry. It was electrifying.

He sucked in a deep breath as the realization flooded him.

Katherine Hart was hot.

And it was the most alluring kind of hot. Not a flashy,blowsy I’m-so-hot kind of hot. It was a hidden, smolderingcome-and-get-me-if-you-dare kind of hot. And it had him poleaxed. He shifteduncomfortably as a certain restlessness stole over him.

He wanted to fuck her, he realized with surprise. For thefirst time in two years, here was a woman—a real, live, flesh-and-bloodwoman—he desperately wanted to taste. He wanted to throw her to the ground andcover her, spread her legs and plow into her. He wanted…

Hell. He wanted.

“Hey, Adam?” Sara’s cheerful voice shattered his wellingfantasy. Damn. He slid his notebook over the lip of his desk to shield hisraging hard-on, blithely pretending to consult the figures on the page. Itwouldn’t do to frighten the staff with the size of his…staff.

“Yes?”

“Do you have the blurb we wrote up for the Carlsonpresentation last fall? I was thinking we could use that in the PowerPoint.”

Huh? What? Oh. Yeah. Sara was talking about work. Theremaining whiffs of his fantasy drifted away and with them the sharp edge of hisdesire. “Yeah. I think I have it on my laptop. Let me check and I’ll email itto you.”

“’Kay. Thanks.” With a sketchy wave, she was gone.

Her interruption had been fortuitous. Had his errantthoughts been allowed to rove unchecked, he could easily have become carriedaway, stormed over to Katherine’s office and bent her over her desk orsomething.

He could be in her by now.

That quickly, his wilted erection sprang back to life. Hell,he thought, shooting a surreptitious glance across the hall. He was in trouble.

He forced himself to focus on work, to ignore the elegantlittle movements he could see her making out of the corner of his eye. Heflipped open his laptop and switched it on, pretending to study it diligentlyas it sped through its routine. It chimed. Loudly.

Katherine’s head shot up at the sound. She eyed him warilyfrom across the hall, like a cornered rabbit.

Adam merely ignored her and filed this odd reaction away,pressing the mute button on his speakers as he logged online. He was supposed tobe hunting for Sara’s file. He knew that. But for some reason, he was drawninexorably toward his chat room. Toward Wildkat. Somehow he knew, he hoped,there’d be a message from her.

And holy hell, there was.

His hand shook as he clicked open the message box and read.

WILDKAT: Savage, I have to work tonight, so I have to cancelour date. Sorry.

Adam stared at the message. Hope and a hint of certaintyskirled in his gut. What were the odds? He kept asking himself and the answerkept coming back fuzzy. Statistically, it was a billion to one that Katherinecould be Wildkat. The thought was insane.

But the coincidences were piling up. Her “duck on ajune bug” comment, the familiar tenor of Wildkat’s voice and now this? Thatthey both had to work late? On the same night? It could be nothing more than abizarre twist of fate but the odds on that were increasing by the moment. Allin all, it was pretty convincing evidence.

Still, Adam was an empirical thinker, a scientist who likedto—no, needed to—prove theories before he acted on them.

There was only one thing to do.

Run a test.

With steely resolve, he logged in as his alter ego, asSavage.

Katherine shifted in her chair, trying to focus on the piechart she was manipulating in Excel. She was exquisitely aware of Adam sittingthere at his desk across the hall. Their eyes had met—met!—earlier and she’dnearly melted into a puddle when he held her gaze. He hadn’t looked like hisusual reserved, friendly self. He’d looked…hungry.

She nibbled on her lip, fiddled with her hair. No. She’dprobably just imagined that expression, misconstrued it. They were all a littleexcited, frazzled over the coming presentation. There was a lot to do and notmuch time. It was going to be brutal.

As much as she regretted having to cancel with Savagetonight, it was for the best. While she enjoyed their little trysts, thingswere becoming uncomfortably intense. Last night had been incredible. She’d lostall control of her body and mind, became so mired in the fantasy she’d actuallyfelt as though she was whispering naughty, illicit things to Adam and he waswhispering naughty, illicit things right back.