Page 53 of Adam’s Obsession

And he needed to see her tonight. A little thrillsurged at the thought. She sent him a slow, seductive smile.

He frowned. He stepped into her office and closed the doorbehind him. “Kat?”

“Yes, Adam?” she purred.

His frown deepened. “Would you mind, I mean, while I’mgone…”

“Yes?”

“Would you mind buttoning up again?”

Her heart plummeted. That wasn’t what she’d expected tohear. 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 hewas the one who’d asked her to unbutton. It wasn’t fair.

“Fine.” Trembling, she quickly rebuttoned her blouse. Shewould have kept on buttoning if there’d been any more. As it was, she wasbuttoned all the way up to her chin. She glared at him.

“Don’t be mad.” Damn. He was cute when he wascontrite. 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 wasaccompanied by a gentle smile. “It’s just, I can’t stand the thought of anyoneelse enjoying the view.” He surreptitiously stroked her hand, a mere deliciousdrift 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 fromsight. Never in her life had she met a man who could take her to such heightsand plunge her to the depths of despair with a word, a look, a touch. Shewasn’t sure he was at all good for her. But at the moment, she really didn’tcare. Being with him was without a doubt the highlight of her existence. Andshe 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 affairsecret from the other employees. She shuddered to think what Jack and hisinterns would make of the knowledge that she was sleeping with Adam.

And Sara? Jenny? Shannon? How would they react if they foundout? 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, justlike 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 hadto remain a secret.

The package arrived by special messenger at four, whichcreated a number of problems for Katherine. For one thing, it came with anote—signed only with the letter A—instructing her not to open it until she gothome, so she was burning with curiosity. Secondly, it created a furor ofspeculation in the office. More than one person dropped by to ask about thepackage, who it was from and most importantly, why didn’t she open it? She toldthem 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 soshe 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, hadthere been one. She hitched the box under her arm and strode quickly down thehall, ignoring Jack as he fell in at her side.

“Hey, Kat,” he said as she pressed the button for the groundlevel.

“Hey.” What could Adam have sent her? Was it clothing? He’dintimated she should wear what he chose… Perhaps he’d spent the entireafternoon shopping for clothes. For her.

She quickly discarded this scenario. She just couldn’t seehim trolling the mall. She shot a glance at the box. It was fairly large forlingerie. Or maybe…