by Sabrina York
“So now here you are, footloose and trolling the office for pussy.”
“Hey! Watch it.” Adam bristled. “Kat’s not just pussy. She’s more.”
Tristan snorted. “They’re always more than just pussy, until they are nothing but.”
“Kat is different. This is different. By the way, you can’t tell anyone. She wants to keep this on the QT.”
“Oh. By all means.” Tristan caught the expression that flashed through his brother’s eyes at his snide tone and his belly clenched. Shit. “Don’t tell me you have romantic feelings for her.”
A strange expression flicked through Adam’s eyes. After a second or two, he stood, shook off whatever that had been, threw back his shoulders and snapped, “And how hypocritical is it for you to lecture me when you have your own closet office romance going on?”
Tristan blanched, suppressing the rush of irrational guilt that snaked through him. He had nothing to feel guilty about. Nothing. He propped his fists on his hips and growled, “What are you talking about?”
“Who is it, exactly, that’s had you so hot and bothered for all these years?”
What the hell? “I am not hot and bothered.” This, he spat.
“Really?” Adam smirked. “All these years, I’ve kept myself under strict control because we had an agreement. You said that, less than a minute ago. Who, precisely, were you keeping yourself in check from? I mean, if the rule was a hindrance to your game and all, who did you have your sights on. Sara? Shannon? Jenny?”
Tristan narrowed his eyes. “None of your damn business.”
“I think I hit a nerve.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
“I don’t have to,” Adam said with a smug smile. “I have a girlfriend.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“Wanna talk about it, Tristan? ‘Cause I’m dying to know who you’ve been lusting after.”
“I said, none of your goddamn business, and I meant it.”
“All right. Fair enough.” Adam relaxed his stance. “How about this. I’ll stay out of your private life as long as you stay out of mine.”
Tristan blew out a breath. Hell. He knew when he was beat. But he’d be damned if he’d leave it like this. Live and let live was a great philosophy, just not when it came to his business.
He amended, “I’ll stay out of your private life if you can keep your private life out of my business life.”
Adam stretched out his hand. “Deal.” He beamed like a kid just offered the keys to the candy store but Tristan was far from delighted. With unclouded vision, he could see all kinds of disasters raising their ugly heads in the future.
At least, he comforted himself, Adam hadn’t discovered his dark secret.
That would have been the worst disaster of all.
“Whoa, mama. I’d like to tap that ass.”
Behind the partition, eating his lunch, Adam grimaced. Jack Maris was always pontificating on the prime asses that needed to be tapped and asses he’d like to tap and, well, asses in general. Adam noticed that all those prime asses managed to remain wholly untapped. By Jack, at least.
“Holy cow, yeah,” Kenny, the intern, chimed in. “She’s one hot mama.”
Adam poked his head over the short wall. The interns were seated in their usual gaggle at the lunch table worshiping Jack. Sara—newly returned from her mother’s deathbed and relieved it had been a false alarm—sat with them, shaking her head and muttering under her breath.
“Did you see what she’s wearing today?” Billy wiped his hand dramatically across his brow, like whatever it was, was way too hot to handle.
Sara frowned and bit into her apple. “It’s the same thing she’s always worn,” she muttered.
“Not,” Kenny chirped.
“No.” Jack shook his head. “I mean, technically it’s the same boring blouse but she un-frickin’-buttoned it.”
“Like, two buttons!” Billy moaned and buried his pimply face in his hands.
Kenny swallowed. His long, thin throat undulated. “You could practically see her cleavage.”
Man, thought Adam, these guys really need to get laid.
“Oh. She wants it,” Jack, the arbiter of all things sexual, announced. “I mean, haven’t you noticed a difference?”
“Like, totally.” Billy nodded.
“Oh yeah.” Kenny’s head bobbed as well.
Jack licked his lips. “There’s something about her lately that just, I dunno, sets off all my triggers.”
“I know. Like, since she got back from Vegas.”
Adam’s jaw snapped shut. His left eyelid started to twitch.
“Do you think maybe she got laid in Vegas?” Billy asked. “Like, maybe she got a taste of some man meat and now she’s hungry for more?”
Adam frowned, certain now that the little cretins were, in fact, talking about Kat. No, he thought. She’s not hungry for more man meat. At least not intern man meat. He stood and glared over the partition.
No one noticed him.
“She has a boyfriend,” Sara offered. “She’s not interested in any of you.”
“She has a boyfriend?” Jack spat chunks of a partially masticated sandwich pocket on the table.
Yeah. She does.
“Since when?”
Sara blew out a breath. “Since forever?”
“I never heard she had a boyfriend,” Jack complained.
“Why would she tell you?”
Yeah. Why would she?
Jack’s lip curled. “I bet he’s a limp dick.” He glanced around at the others. “Otherwise, why would she be such an ice queen?”
Adam’s muscles bunched. Suddenly Jack looked like someone who needed a smackdown.
“I bet she got laid in Vegas by some hot stud, like a male stripper or some shit like that, and she got the fever.” Kenny, Adam decided, was delusional.
“She needs a hot beef injection,” Billy suggested and the others—with the exception of Sara—concurred. Sara rolled her eyes in disgust.
It was only by extreme strength of will that Adam refrained from ripping their collective heads off. Granted, the occupants of the lunchroom were the younger crowd at Trillo–Maris—the interns and the morons and Jack—but their comments were unprofessional at best and insulting at worst.
And they were talking about Katherine. His Katherine. That in itself made him want to do damage to their persons. He bristled but before he could make his opinions known, Jack offered the coup de grâce.
“I think maybe I should seduce her.”
Adam’s blood curdled. He opened his mouth to speak but his throat was clogged with rage.
“Man. That would be sweet.”
Sara shook her head. “Impossible.”
“How amazing would that be? Anybody up for a bet?” Jack opened his arms wide, encompassing the group. “The guy who kisses her first wins. Wadda ya say? Kenny? You in?”
“Oh man.” Kenny made a face and shuddered in what Adam could only assume was nerdish delight. “Imagine collecting on that bet.”
Sara blew out a breath and glanced at Adam. “Are we gonna to have to sit through another sexual harassment training? I swear to God. Sometimes I feel like I work in a frat house.”
Billy and Kenny—neither of whom had seen the inside of a frat house—high-fived. “Awesome.”
Jack turned and noticed Adam for the first time. “Hey, buddy. What do you think? Want in on the bet?”
Adam glared at Jack and snarled, “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Dude.” Jack leaned back and threw up his hands. “I was only joking. No need to go all feral on me.”
“Not. Funny.”
“Dude.” Jack collected and crumpled up his trash. “No need to get so intense.”
“This is a business,” Adam said, his voice cold and clipped. “You can’t talk about the female employees like that. You can’t play games or make bets or objectify them. Jesus, Jack!”
“Okay. Okay,” Jack muttered. He
tossed his trash in the can and skulked from the room. The others, warily sidestepping Adam, followed in his wake.
The only one left was Sara. “No worries,” she said as she collected the detritus of her lunch. “Katherine would never succumb to those losers.” She winked. “Katherine’s got much better taste.”
Damn straight, Adam thought. But something gnawed at his gut. He quickly recognized what it was.
The younger men had been mooning over the change in Katherine’s demeanor since her return from Vegas, most specifically the undone second button on her blouse. Trouble was, he was the one who’d ordered her to undo that button. He had wanted to stare at her across the hallway, marinating in sexual tension for the rest of the day, because he was the one who had plans for her come five o’clock.
And—son of a bitch—the other little pissants in the office had noticed.
After he’d assured her no one would notice, they’d noticed.
The little pissants.
Adam frowned. Evidently he was going to have to change his tactics with her. He was going to have to go underground with his seductions.
And Kat?
She was going to have to go underground with him.
“Oh, and Sara?”
“Yes?”
“Better have Shannon schedule that training.”
Chapter Eleven
SAVAGE: I need to see you tonight. Are you free for dinner?
Katherine glanced across the hall and smiled dreamily. He was so handsome, sitting there in his office with his hair all mussed up and his expression steamy.
I need to see you tonight, he’d said. Not I want to or I’d like to. I need to. How…scintillating.
WILDKAT: Of course.
SAVAGE: Would you wear what I ask?
She shivered deep down inside. Her breath hitched in her throat.
WILDKAT: Yes.
His grin was beyond wicked. He stood resolutely. Closing his laptop and grabbing his jacket, he stepped into the hall.
Her view was obscured as Tristan stepped between them. He glanced at Adam’s jacket and frowned. “Where are you going?”
“I, um, have an errand to run.”
“Okay.” Tristan frowned at the printout in his hands. “I guess we can go over the Capillon figures later.”
“Yeah.” Adam slipped on his jacket. “Let’s do that.”
Still staring at the spreadsheet, Tristan meandered back to his office, muttering to himself. As soon as he was out of sight, Adam ducked his head into Katherine’s office.
“I’ll see you tonight.” His eyes drifted lazily over her and she felt the unreasonable urge to fix her hair or straighten her jacket or…something.
His eyes settled on the top of her blouse, the two buttons he’d coerced her to undo. Katherine’s mouth watered at his expression. It had felt awfully naughty to do that but arousing as well. She’d been twitchy all afternoon because of it. Knowing he was ogling her, thinking about her.
And he needed to see her tonight. A little thrill surged at the thought. She sent him a slow, seductive smile.
He frowned. He stepped into her office and closed the door behind him. “Kat?”
“Yes, Adam?” she purred.
His frown deepened. “Would you mind, I mean, while I’m gone…”
“Yes?”
“Would you mind buttoning up again?”
Her heart plummeted. That wasn’t what she’d expected to hear. The blood drained from her face, followed by a hot wave of mortification. She’d gone in a flash from feeling frisky to feeling, well, chastised. And he was the one who’d asked her to unbutton. It wasn’t fair.
“Fine.” Trembling, she quickly rebuttoned her blouse. She would have kept on buttoning if there’d been any more. As it was, she was buttoned all the way up to her chin. She glared at him.
“Don’t be mad.” Damn. He was cute when he was contrite. It made it really hard to maintain her outrage.
“I’m not mad.” She wasn’t…anymore. Just hurt.
“Kat.” He said her name softly, seductively. The word was accompanied by a gentle smile. “It’s just, I can’t stand the thought of anyone else enjoying the view.” He surreptitiously stroked her hand, a mere delicious drift of a touch.
She shivered, both mollified and aroused.
“I told you they wouldn’t notice.” His expression darkened. “But they did.”
Her eyes widened in horror. “Who? Who noticed?”
He frowned. “Jack, for one.”
“Oh, dear. Not Jack.”
Adam leaned in so close their noses were nearly touching. “Stay clear of that little maggot,” he muttered. He kissed her, hard and quick. Then he sketched her a quick wave and with a blithe “see you tonight” was gone.
Katherine stared after Adam even when he’d disappeared from sight. Never in her life had she met a man who could take her to such heights and plunge her to the depths of despair with a word, a look, a touch. She wasn’t sure he was at all good for her. But at the moment, she really didn’t care. Being with him was without a doubt the highlight of her existence. And she wouldn’t give him up for the world.
She could only hope he felt the same.
She could only hope they could continue to keep their affair secret from the other employees. She shuddered to think what Jack and his interns would make of the knowledge that she was sleeping with Adam.
And Sara? Jenny? Shannon? How would they react if they found out? Would she lose her friends as well? She couldn’t bear it if that happened.
If that happened, she’d have to leave Trillo–Maris, just like she’d had to leave her last job.
The difference was, this time it would destroy her.
No. There was no two ways about it. Their affair simply had to remain a secret.
The package arrived by special messenger at four, which created a number of problems for Katherine. For one thing, it came with a note—signed only with the letter A—instructing her not to open it until she got home, so she was burning with curiosity. Secondly, it created a furor of speculation in the office. More than one person dropped by to ask about the package, who it was from and most importantly, why didn’t she open it? She told them nothing. She didn’t even let Sara in on her secret. How could she?
The box sat there on her desk though, driving her crazy. Adam hadn’t come back to the office and he wasn’t answering his cell phone so she couldn’t wheedle information out of him or beg or cajole or anything.
Needless to say, she was out the door at five on the dot. She would have trampled an old lady in a walker on her way to the elevator, had there been one. She hitched the box under her arm and strode quickly down the hall, ignoring Jack as he fell in at her side.
“Hey, Kat,” he said as she pressed the button for the ground level.
“Hey.” What could Adam have sent her? Was it clothing? He’d intimated she should wear what he chose… Perhaps he’d spent the entire afternoon shopping for clothes. For her.
She quickly discarded this scenario. She just couldn’t see him trolling the mall. She shot a glance at the box. It was fairly large for lingerie. Or maybe…
“So it’s a date then?”
The elevator dinged and opened as she emerged from her besotted reverie and by chance, she caught Jack’s last words. Had he been talking the entire time? Oh. That’s what the buzzing sound in the back of her head had been.
“What?” She fixed him with an impatient glance.
“It’s a date?” he offered helpfully.
“What’s a date?”
“You. Me. A little vino. Tonight. Honestly, Kat, weren’t you listening to anything I said?”
“Honestly? No. And I have a date tonight, Jack.” She leaned closer to hiss, “With a man. Oh. And quit calling me Kat.”
She left him standing there in the elevator with his mouth agape until the doors closed on him.
She made it home in record time, which was amazing because she didn’t remember a mo
ment of the drive. As she carried the unwieldy box up the stairs to her condo, she was aware of the dampness between her legs. With each step, she could feel her engorged pussy lips rubbing against her swollen clit. And her heartbeat? She felt every pulse in her nipples as they throbbed with an impatient fervor.
Adam certainly knew how to ratchet up the anticipation.
Fumbling with her keys for what seemed an eternity, she finally let herself into her apartment and headed for the couch. She sat and tore into the package. There on the top was an envelope.
Wildkat, it said.
She ripped it open. As she read the note written in his strong, masterful script, she quivered inside and out.
Dear Kat,
Inside this box there are five numbered packages. Open them one at a time, in order. Follow the directions.
Yours, Adam
She trembled as she reached for the first package. Wrapped in plain brown kraft paper and tied with twine, it was small and soft. As she opened the paper, a note as well as some frivolous lace confections tumbled out. She inspected the lingerie first, as any woman would.
Ah. Panties and a bra.
They were exquisite and exceptionally scant. A small shiver skated through her pussy. She knew what the note would say before she read it but still, reading it in his hand made the command all the more captivating.
Strip, it said, and put these on.
She did so. Immediately. She went into the bedroom, where she had a full-length mirror, and quickly divested herself of clothing. Then, reverently, she slipped the panties on first.
Sheer heaven.
Literally.
They were sheer. She could see straight past the lace to the curling hairs beneath the tiny triangle that barely covered her. The lips of her pussy, fat and wet, pressed against the material. When she moved, the tip of the triangle slipped inexorably into her slit.
Without delay, she picked up the bra. Oh my, she thought, holding it up to her chest. It wasn’t going to fit.
She put it on anyway. And yes, it was tight. But she suspected it was meant to be. The band fit her perfectly but the cups were half-moon shaped and skimpy—her nipples kept peeping out. With a start, she realized that was what he intended.
