AdamsObsession (5 page)

Still, Adam was an empirical thinker, a scientist who liked
to—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, as
Savage.

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

She nibbled on her lip, fiddled with her hair. No. She’d
probably just imagined that expression, misconstrued it. They were all a little
excited, frazzled over the coming presentation. There was a lot to do and not
much time. It was going to be brutal.

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

It had affected her so deeply it was dribbling into her real
life, her work life. She could practically feel the wall she’d deliberately
built between herself and Adam crumbling. Which was dangerous.

And it was all Savage’s fault.

Yes. It was probably for the best that they take a little
break.

She glanced down at the screen of her laptop where her
message to him hung, a silent testament to her fascination with him. With
it
.
She couldn’t bear to log off, as if this pathetic little message somehow
provided a connection with him, even though he wasn’t logged on. Wasn’t even
there.

And then suddenly he was.

The chime was soft because she always turned down the volume
when she was in the office. One never knew what might come flickering across
the screen and she didn’t think it professional to share with all and sundry.
Quickly, she hit mute. Ferocious shards of excitement buffeted her at the sight
of his name on the screen.

Oh dear. Had she just been thinking she could blithely waltz
away?

SAVAGE: Wildkat? Are you there?

WILDKAT: Yes.

SAVAGE: You’re canceling on me tonight?

WILDKAT: I can’t help it. Big project. Gotta work.

SAVAGE: I was looking forward to it.

WILDKAT: Me too.

SAVAGE: Maybe we can play a little now.

WILDKAT: I’m working.

SAVAGE: So am I. But it’s lunchtime here. What time is it
there?

She glanced at the clock in the bottom corner of her screen
and chuckled.

WILDKAT: Lunchtime.

SAVAGE: Excellent. We have an hour.

Katherine snorted to herself. She never took an hour for
lunch, much less when there was a steaming project on the docket. But, she
reflected, there was a first time for everything. Besides, if Savage ran true
to form, it wouldn’t take an hour.

SAVAGE: Want to switch over to VoIP?

WILDKAT: No way. I’m at work.

SAVAGE: Ah. No privacy, huh?

WILDKAT: Try a wall of windows. How private is that?

SAVAGE: We’ll just have to be subtle. God, Kat. Last night
was amazing. I’ve been thinking about you.

WILDKAT: I’ve been thinking about you too.

SAVAGE: What are you wearing?

WILDKAT: Oh. Great job, Savage. Whatever happened to subtle?

SAVAGE: LOL. Don’t worry, Kat. I’ll be subtle when I make
you come.

For some reason, she had trouble catching her breath. She
shifted in her seat.

WILDKAT: Will you?

SAVAGE: Maybe. If you’re a good girl. Now, why don’t you
tell me what you’re wearing?

She glanced down at her outfit in disgust. How she’d like to
say she was wearing lace hose and a short leather skirt with a push-up bra and
stiletto heels. But she wasn’t.

WILDKAT: Um. A business suit.

SAVAGE: With a blouse?

WILDKAT: Yes. Silk.

SAVAGE: Mmm. What color?

WILDKAT: Beige.

Across the hall, Adam watched the words appear on his screen
with a dry mouth. His heart beat like a drum as Wildkat described, to a T, the
outfit Katherine was wearing. He watched as she nervously tugged another
tendril from her topknot. She stroked it, dragged it along her lips as she
typed. His cock clenched at the sight.

A demon rode him as he typed.

SAVAGE: Is he there? In the office?

WILDKAT: Who?

SAVAGE: Come on, Kat. You know who. The mystery man who made
you come so hard last night. Is he there? Are you thinking about him?

Katherine’s gaze flicked up, skated across the hall and
landed on him. Adam shivered. He forced a friendly, impersonal smile and
deliberately returned his attention to his screen.

WILDKAT: Yes.

SAVAGE: Can he see you?

There was a painfully long pause—Adam could tell Katherine
was trying not to glance in his direction, lest the heat in her eyes give her
away.

WILDKAT: Yes.

The beating of his heart descended to a dull throb.

It was her.

The exhilaration stole his breath.

SAVAGE: Good. Now, listen closely, Kat. I want you to
unbutton the top button on your blouse.

WILDKAT: I can’t, Savage. I’m at work.

SAVAGE: Do it. Just the top button. No one will notice.

Adam watched breathlessly as her fingers drifted down her
cheek, down her neck. He swallowed heavily as she nimbly undid the top button.
Holy
hell
, he thought. Could his cock get any harder?

SAVAGE: Now, reach down and stroke your nipples.

WILDKAT: I can’t. God, Savage…

SAVAGE: Do it in a way no one will notice.

Heart hitching, he watched as she picked up a pencil and
fiddled with it. It dropped below the desktop so he couldn’t see it but her
expression, the way her eyes slid half shut and her lips parted, made it clear
the slender toy had made contact.

SAVAGE: Are you doing it?

WILDKAT: Yes.

SAVAGE: How does it feel?

WILDKAT: Good. God. I’m so wet.

SAVAGE: I’m so hard I could pound nails.

WILDKAT: Savage, I really have to go.

He shot a glance in her direction. Her cheeks were flushed,
her lips damp. She looked as if she was about to come. Right there. In front of
him. The thought made his cock jerk in a sympathetic reaction. He felt a little
cum try to spurt out so he clenched his muscles to hold it in. They had to end
this soon or he’d be dropping a load right in his Dockers. How awkward would
that be?

SAVAGE: Okay, Wildkat, but before you go diddle your pussy
in the bathroom—and I know that’s what you’re going to do—I have one more
request of you.

WILDKAT: What?

He watched her out of the corner of his eye. She was
undulating in her chair, practically twitching with the hunger he’d instilled
in her. That thought nearly undid him but he resolutely clenched his balls and
typed.

SAVAGE: No more boring beige. Tomorrow I want you to wear
something red.

Abruptly, he logged off. As soon as he did, she threw her
head back with her eyes closed. This allowed him a moment to study her, to see
her as she really was, behind the wall she’d so carefully built. His Katherine.
His Wildkat.

She was a hot little piece of ass.

And she was his.

As soon as she disappeared into the ladies’ room, he leapt
up and made a beeline for the executive washroom he shared with Tristan and
Jack. Just to be sure he had the privacy he knew he was going to need, he
locked the door behind him.

His orgasm was nearly immediate. Glorious. Triumphant.

She was his.

Chapter Six

They worked late into the night, all of them staggering
around the office, bleary eyed, long after midnight. Adam never even went home.
He curled up on the sofa in Tristan’s office and took catnaps when he got too
tired to see the words on his computer. His torment over the recent discovery
about Katherine didn’t make life any easier—especially when, at the moment,
there was nothing he could do about it.

He wasn’t sure he should.

There was that damn rule, after all.

Tristan would have a fit if he broke the rule. Hell, Tristan
would have a fit if he
bent
the rule.

Aw, to hell with Tristan.

It wasn’t his brother’s insistence that they both avoid
romantic relationships in the workplace that had him hesitating. If he was
honest with himself, he had no intention of honoring that stupid rule anyway.
If he could have Katherine splayed before him in carnal bliss right now, he
would.

But he knew instinctively it was better to do it right than
to do it right now. Forcing a face-to-face confrontation with Katherine would
be a disaster.

If he tipped his hand and revealed he was Savage before she
was ready to hear it, she would likely perish from embarrassment and cut off
all contact. He couldn’t bear the thought. He needed to draw her in. Bring her
closer, cement their bond—as Adam and Katherine—before he exposed all his
secrets.

Trouble was, he wasn’t a terribly patient man. At least not
when it came to Kat.

There was no doubt Katherine Hart required a very special
touch. If he wanted to win her, he had to allow her to set the pace. So he, as
Savage, would send out challenges. He would watch carefully to see how she
responded and then plan his next move. When she was ready to come to him the
way a woman comes to a man, he’d know it.

At least he hoped he’d know it.

He’d been deeply gratified when she responded to his dare to
fondle herself in the office yesterday. That was a departure for the
ever-reserved, workaday Katherine. It gave him hope that the siren nestled deep
within her soul—the wild Kat—was eager to emerge.

Today’s challenge was another milestone. An enormous one. If
she complied, it would be the sign he’d been waiting for—absolute confirmation
that she was Wildkat.

Katherine never wore red. Never wore anything but muted
colors, beige and cream and gray, gray, gray. If she wore red today, not only
would it confirm her online alias, it would be a sign to Savage that she was
willing to submit to his demands, that she fully accepted his dominance in the
relationship and understood the rules implicit in their play.

They’d danced around that nuance in their trysts but the
undercurrent was always there. It was as though they were skating on the edge
of a cliff, longing to leap into the chasm but fearing the fall.

But now the urge to nudge her closer to the precipice was rising.
He wanted her. He wanted her beneath him. He wanted her
begging
beneath
him. What’s more, he suspected she craved the same. If she wore red today, he’d
know she wanted him to take the next step.

Please God
, he sent up a silent prayer.
Let her
wear red.

Besides, the demon inside him chortled, if he could succeed
in getting her to wear red—a color so evocative at its core, so contrary to the
façade she liked to present—who knew what he could convince her to wear? Heels?
A Wonderbra?
No
bra?

Maybe he could get her to wear her hair down. Oh. Now there
was a fantasy. He could see it spilling, falling in thick, glossy ropes around
her shoulders and down her back. How long was it? He had no idea. He’d never
seen it down.

A sudden obsession gripped him—the burning desire to yank
out the pins and watch that honey hair tumble—but he quickly sloughed it off.
Their noon meeting was approaching. The last thing he wanted to do was walk
into the boardroom with his binder shielding his crotch like a kid in junior high
who’d just discovered porn.

He forced those errant thoughts to the back of his mind and
focused on putting the finishing touches on his portion of the presentation.
They would merge everyone’s contribution into a seamless whole during the
meeting. If past experience held true, it would probably be a long one.

Adam was the first one to the boardroom—after
Shannon-of-the-phenomenal-coffee. He set up his laptop at his usual spot,
facing the glass windows and the hallway, and laid out the hard copies of his
presentation in neat little piles. And he waited.

He nodded to each member of the team as they filed into the
room. Tristan and Jack and Jenny. The hands on the clock inched closer and
closer to noon—and still no Katherine. He shifted impatiently. Where was she?

At ten minutes after the hour, Adam was beginning to think
she wasn’t going to make it. Then the door at the end of the hall opened and
Sara and Katherine emerged. His heart set up a mad clatter in his chest.

But when he saw what she was wearing, his heart sank.

It was the same damn suit and blouse she’d been wearing
yesterday, though slightly more rumpled. Obviously, she’d never gone home last
night. Sharp disappointment welled and he fixed his attention on the table. A
dark, heavy, bitter feeling settled in his stomach, an acrid taste filled his
mouth.

Had he imagined everything? Had it just been wishful
thinking?

Or was she really, truly his Wildkat but just not willing to
take the plunge with him? Both prospects were equally disheartening. Both caused
him to castigate himself as a fool. He’d made too much of this. He’d given
it—her—too much meaning, too much importance. He’d sworn he’d never do
something so idiotic again, he’d never let himself want someone again—and
again, he’d stepped right into the gaping maw of biting disillusion.

Steeped in this wash of emotion and fighting for control
over it, Adam didn’t look up as Sara and Katherine came into the room.

“So good of you to join us.” Tristan had never been good at
hiding his sarcasm.

“Sorry we’re late,” Sara said breathlessly. “We stayed up
all night to finish.”

“All right. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Adam’s eyes were drawn to Katherine as she stood to hook her
laptop to the overhead projector. He didn’t mean to glance at her, much less
watch her every move—it was rather painful for him at the moment—but he
couldn’t help it. He studied her every move the way a starving man inspects a
banquet.

She bent over to plug in a cord and his eyes traced the
curve of her ass. She leaned forward to connect the USB and he made note of the
way her jacket molded her breasts. She stretched to adjust the presentation
screen and…and…

Adam froze as he saw it. A tiny flash of red. It peeped out
from beneath her jacket. His heart thumped painfully. His gaze sharpened and
his nostrils twitched but Katherine had settled down in front of the computer
to run the presentation and the flash of red had disappeared.

Elation swelled within him, along with a certain body part.

The minx. She was wearing red, just not where it was visible.

Come hell or high water, he was going to get her to take off
that jacket.

He picked up his coffee mug, stood, stretched and casually
wandered over to the beverage bar. Once there, he surreptitiously flipped the
thermostat to off, effectively killing the air-conditioning. Biting back his
evil grin, he meandered back to the table and resumed his seat.

Sara was in rare form, discussing the various pages of their
presentation. Adam, Jenny and Jack made contributions where their data fit into
the flow. The meeting was animated, spirited and very productive. Before long,
the room became warm. In their zeal, no one noticed—at least not enough to
comment. But Adam-of-the-watchful-eye noticed a trickle of sweat form on
Katherine’s brow and then trace a delicate path down her cheek.

He removed his blazer and like dominos, they all fell.
Jackets and sweaters were removed as their erstwhile wearers hunkered in closer
and focused on the presentation. Katherine was the last to succumb. Adam
watched through veiled lashes as she stood and unbuttoned her jacket. She
slipped it off.

His breath snagged, his pulse leapt, an agonizing ache
swelled in his groin, in his chest. A burning pain roared through him as her
jacket fell to the back of her chair, revealing an elegant damask vest. It was
tight on her, emphasizing her rounded breasts and pinning her tiny waist.
Turning her from a tightly wrapped businesswoman into a tempting seductress.

Oh. And it was red.

The vest was red.

Scarlet.

A silence settled on the room and Adam realized with a shock
that everyone, with the exception of Sara, was gawking at Katherine. They had
noticed this blatant departure from her usual style. She glanced around the
room at the astonished faces and twitched a brow in a silent query.

“Um.” Tristan cleared his throat and attempted to wrench his
attention from the sight of her well-bound bounty. “Nice vest.”

“Thanks.” Sara glared at her boss—who never noticed her
fury. “It’s mine.”

Adam found himself glaring as well. At Tristan. At Jack. At
the men in the hallway who stopped to ogle.

Bloody hell. This wasn’t what he wanted. He didn’t want
other men staring at her. No one needed to stare at her but him. No one else
needed to measure those magnificent breasts with his eyes. Imagine his hands
circling that waist. Wonder how those lips would feel on his neck, his belly,
his hard, aching cock… No one.

Clearly the woman needed to stay dressed. Buttoned up.

With a dark frown, he stormed over to the thermostat and
flipped it to frigid.

“Wow.” Sara kicked Katherine’s door shut with her foot.
“That was interesting.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“What?” Katherine busied herself organizing papers into
orderly stacks, pretending she didn’t know what was coming. But the truth was,
she knew. It had surprised her to abruptly attract so much male attention.
Maybe frightened her a little. She’d spent most of her adult life avoiding such
scenes and she’d become very good at it. She didn’t really want men
looking
at her. Not like that.

Well. There was one man whose burning gaze had set her wick
on fire.

Adam.

Adam had
looked
at her. Seen her as a woman. The
arousal in his eyes had been unmistakable.

Dear God, what a moment.

Katherine was certain everyone in the room had noticed the
interaction between them. Sara certainly hadn’t missed it.

She leaned toward Katherine and grumbled, “He was
practically ogling you.”

“He was, wasn’t he?”

“I never should have loaned you that vest.” Sara frowned.

“What?”

Sara put out a lip. “He’s never looked at me like that and
I’ve worn that vest a hundred times.”

“Adam?”

“Adam? Who’s talking about Adam? I’m talking about Tristan.”

“Trillo?”

“Was there another Tristan in that room? He was practically
slavering over you. Like you were dessert.” Sara crossed her arms and frowned.
“He wants you.” An accusation.

Katherine bristled. “Tristan Trillo does not want me.”

“You didn’t see the gleam in his eyes when you took off your
jacket.”

“Don’t be silly.”

“They all got it. The deer in the headlights…staring at
your
headlights. I never should have loaned you that vest.”

“Do you want it back?”

Sara shook her head. “The damage has been done. Now, no
matter what you do or say, or
wear
, they’ve all been primed to see you
as a hot mama wearing a tight red corset.”

“It’s not a corset.” Technically it wasn’t.

“I hope your internet stud is happy. Making you wear
something red has done only one thing.”

“What?”

“It’s thrown you to the wolves.”

“Oh, that’s just ridicu—”

She was interrupted by a knock on the door. Through the
window she could see a coterie of coworkers milling about. All of them male.
They all had notebooks or spreadsheets or printouts. They all wore earnest
expressions. They all had a certain glint in their eyes as they peeped around
the floor-to-ceiling window, waiting for Katherine to usher them in.

“It begins.” Sara snorted. “You want my advice?”

Katherine nodded mutely. Did she have any choice?

“Keep the jacket on.”

Son of a bitch.

There was a fucking line outside her office. At that moment,
no fewer than five idiots waited for an audience with Katherine. Adam wanted to
rip their fucking throats out.

A deep, dark vitriol roiled in his gut. He recognized it as
jealousy but knowing that really didn’t help. What he wanted to do was grab her
and whisk her away. Away from the office. Away from the line of perverts in the
hall, drooling over her.

And yes, away from the computer. He wanted her warm against
him, soft against him. He wanted to touch her body from the inside out. He
wanted more than cold black words against a white screen, more than a
disembodied voice floating through the night.

He glared at his laptop…and inspiration struck.

Quickly, he logged on, hoping against hope this would work.
His computer chimed softly as he logged in to his chat room, typed his message
and hit send. He heard a corresponding chime from her office. He watched
surreptitiously as she glanced at her screen and shook her head. His belly took
a nosedive but rebounded when he heard her say, “Sorry, guys. I have to deal
with this right away. Can we finish later?”

Like disappointed puppies, the men nodded and drifted from
her office, the last one to depart magnanimously closing the door.

Adam could barely contain himself. Anticipation hummed in
his veins.