Dark Bites

1

“Could you please tell me what’s wrong with me? I swear if anyone else looks at me and snickers, I might go postal.”

Samantha Parker looked up from her computer monitor to see Adrian Cole standing in her cube. Or rather towering over it. At six foot five, the man reminded her of a giraffe when he moved around the office.

Not that she minded. Personally, she adored his height, just as she adored those gorgeous eyes of his. Deep and a dark chocolate-brown, they made her melt every time he looked at her.

And the sleek, loose-limbed way he walked…

Oooh, just thinking about it was enough to make her burn.

She’d never been particularly fond of blond men, but those dark eyes with his thick mane of tawny curls and lush golden skin just made her ache for a taste. A nervous jitter went over her like it always did when he stood this close to her, and she could smell the clean, spicy scent of him. The man was simply mouth-wateringly scrumptious, and incredibly brilliant.

“Well?” he prompted.

Sam bit her lip as she raked her gaze over his long, lean frame. “Other than the fact you look like your seeing-eye dog dressed you this morning, nothing,” she teased. “What did you do to make Heather mad this time?”

He cursed under his breath. It was common knowledge that Adrian had a rare type of color blindness that rendered him completely incapable of seeing any color whatsoever. As a result, he paid his baby sister to do his laundry, and every time Heather got upset at big brother, she took it out on his wardrobe.

“What did she do to me now?” he asked warily.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know your red plaid shirt is still red, but the splotchy pink Henley really has to go.”

Adrian held his leg out and pulled his jeans up to show her his socks. “What about them?”

“Unlike your shirt, they actually match your Henley.”

Growling low in his throat, he buttoned his plaid shirt all the way to his neck. “One day, I’m going to kill her.”

Sam laughed at the threat he uttered at least twice a week. She’d met Heather a couple of times during lunch, and though Sam liked her, Heather was a bit self-absorbed.

“So, what did you do?” she asked.

“I refused to let her borrow my Vette. The last time she took it out, she hit a pole and cost me three thousand dollars in damage.”

“Yikes.” Sam cringed for him. Adrian loved his vintage 1969 Stingray. “Was she hurt?”

“Thankfully, no, but my car is still sulking over it.”

Sam laughed again, but then, she always did that around him. Adrian had a dry, sharp wit that never missed a beat. “Well, I’m glad you stopped by. My Perforce is acting up again. I can’t get it to integrate my changes.” Which meant that the stupid server had her locked out and every time she tried to update a page on their Web site, it refused to let her.

She hated Perforce, and it hated her. But they were required to use it so that upper management could keep track of who made what changes to the Web site, and out of the entire network services department, Adrian was the only one who really understood the program.

“What’s it doing?” he asked as he came to stand beside her.

Sam couldn’t breathe as he leaned down to read her screen. His face was so close to hers that all she had to do was move a mere two inches and she would be able to place her lips against that strong, sculpted jaw.

“Scroll down.”

She heard Adrian’s words, but they didn’t register. She was too busy watching the way his incredibly broad shoulders hunched as he leaned with one hand against her desk.

He glanced down at her.

Sam blinked and looked back at the screen. “I’m scrolling,” she said as she reached for her mouse.

“There’s your problem,” he said as he read the gobbledy-gook. “You haven’t enabled your baseline merges.”

“And in English that would mean?”

Adrian laughed that rich, deep laugh that made her burn even more. He covered her hand with his on the mouse and showed her how to choose the right options.

He surrounded her with his masculine warmth. Sam swallowed at the disturbing sensation of his hand on hers as fire coursed through her. He had beautiful, strong hands. His long, lean fingers were tapered and perfect. Worse, every time she looked at them, she couldn’t help wondering what they would feel like on her body, touching her, caressing her.

Seducing her.

His cell phone rang. Adrian straightened and pulled the phone from its cradle on his belt. He checked the caller ID, then flipped it open like Captain Kirk. “Yeah, Scott, what’s wrong?”

“Radius is down,” Scott, their network security specialist, said over the speaker phone, “and I can’t get it up and running.”

“Did you reboot?”

“Duh.”

Adrian indicated her chair with his head.

Sam got up and watched as he set the phone aside, took a seat in her chair, and opened a DOS window on her computer. He tapped swiftly on her keyboard, then picked his phone back up. “It’s not cycling.”

“I know, and I can’t fix it.”

“All right,” Adrian said with saintly patience. “I’ll be up there in a few minutes.”

He clicked off his phone, but before he could move his phone rang at the same time his pager went off and the overhead paging system called his name. Adrian answered his cell phone again and checked his pager.

“Did you get the hacker alert?” Scott asked.

“Hang on,” Adrian said, then he reached for her desk phone to answer his page.

“Hi, Randy,” he said as he tucked the phone between his shoulder and cheek and started typing on her keyboard. “I’m in the process of switching the main databases over to my SQL. We should be ready to fly by five.” He paused as he listened and switched her computer from the Windows over to Linux.

Sam watched in awe as he flawlessly entered line after line of stuff she couldn’t even begin to follow or understand.

“No,” Adrian said to Randy, “our customers won’t notice at all, except the searches will take less time.” He entered more lines as he listened to their senior director, Randy Jacobs, on the phone.

Another page went off for him.

Adrian nodded as he listened to Randy. “Yeah, I’ll get to it. Would you mind holding for just a second?”

He picked up his cell phone. “Scott, it’s not a hacker. It’s an invalid SID. Someone is using a bookmark with an old Session ID attached to it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. I’m looking at it right now.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Adrian gave her a sheepish smile as he clicked off his cell phone and picked up the other line on her desk phone.

Biting her lips to keep from smiling at the chaos, Sam felt for him. At twenty-six, Adrian was known to everyone in the company as the boy genius. He had taken a billion-dollar corporation from the 1980s mainframe mentality into the twenty-first century Web-based e-commerce. He had single-handedly built the entire programming side of their million-dollar business retail site, and put together a Web design team that was second to none.

Unfortunately, though, everyone in the company turned to him every time something went wrong with the site. Which meant he was always on call and always rushing from one department to the next, putting out fires and trying his best to explain extremely complicated things to people who had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

Adrian came into the office every morning by five-thirty, and seldom went home before eight at night.

The stress on him had to be excruciating, and yet he was the most easygoing boss she’d ever known. She couldn’t count the number of times a day someone was complaining, if not shouting, about something, or begging him to help them, and yet he never let the strain of it show.

“Scott,” Adrian said at his cell phone, “go get a cup of coffee. I’m headed upstairs as soon as I finish with Randy.” He returned to her phone. “I’m back, Randy.” He listened for a few minutes more, then nodded. “All right,” he said, pulling the Palm Pilot off his belt. “I’ll put it on my schedule.”

Sam watched as he added yet another meeting to his already booked calendar.

“Okay,” he said to Randy. “I’m on it. See you later.”

Adrian left the chair, then hesitated at the opening of Sam’s cube as she resumed her seat. In a rare show of uneasiness, he picked up the wooden medieval knight her brother had given her. “This is new.”

She nodded. “Teddy got it Thanksgiving when he went to Germany.”

“It’s neat,” he said, putting it back on the shelf with the rest of the knights. She had been collecting them for years. She figured they were as close as she’d ever come to having a real knight in shining armor.

He glanced around her cube at the large Santa and snowmen cutouts she had pinned up, the small Christmas tree she had next to her monitor, and the stack of holiday catalogues by her keyboard. “You really love Christmas, don’t you?”

Sam glanced down at her Santa and reindeer sweater and smiled. “My favorite time of year. Don’t you like it?”

He shrugged. “It’s a day off, I guess.”

Still Adrian hesitated, fiddling with her nameplate.

How odd. It was so unlike him to be fidgety. This was a man who made million-dollar decisions and held meetings with the stars of the Fortune 500 without even a minor qualm.

What on earth could he be nervous about?

“Would you mind if I asked a giant favor?”

Her heart pounded. Oh, baby, ask me anything!

“What’cha need?”

He dropped his gaze down to her nameplate as he slid it back and forth in its holder. “Since Heather has totally screwed up my clothes again, I was wondering if you’d mind going shopping with me after work? I’d take Randir, but even I can tell his clothes don’t match.”

“I heard that!” Randir said laughingly from the next cube.

Sam smiled. The guys in her department teased each other mercilessly, and it was what she loved most about her job. Everyone got along well and no one minded the incessant quips and taunts that were hurled about as often as Adrian got paged.

“Anyway,” Adrian said, ignoring Randir’s interruption. “Would you mind? I’ll buy you dinner.”

Yes! Her heart skipped a beat as she did her best to appear calm, while inside, what she really wanted to do was turn cartwheels. “I don’t mind.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

“Great,” he said with a slight smile. “Then I guess I better go to Scott before he hyperventilates.”

“Okay, see you later.”

Adrian took one last look at Sam as she returned her attention to her monitor. He clenched his teeth as he watched her fingers stroking the keys on her keyboard.

That woman had the lightest touch he’d ever seen, and he ached to feel those hands on his body. Ached to take them into his mouth and nibble every inch of them.

Worse, what he really wanted to do was pick her up from that chair, take her into his office, and toss everything on top of his desk onto the floor before laying her down on top of it.

Oh, yeah, he could already taste her lips as he peeled the thick sweater and jeans off her body. Feel her hot and wet for him as he coaxed and teased her body into blind ecstasy.

His groin tightened in pain at the thought.

Stop it! he snapped at himself. He was her team leader, and she was one of his best employees. Company policy stringently forbade dating between management and staff, and violation of that policy meant immediate dismissal.

Yeah, but the woman made him seriously hot.

Dangerously hot.

She always wore her long, dark hair pulled back from her face where it fell in thick waves down to her waist. He’d spent hours at night fantasizing about that hair draped on his chest, or spread out across his pillow.

And she had the palest eyes he’d ever seen. She’d told him once they were green, and it pained him that he had absolutely no idea what that color meant.

But from what he could see, green had to be beautiful.

Her eyes were a bit large for her pixie face, and they were always bright and teasing when she looked at him.

He could stare into those eyes for an eternity.

Adrian ran his gaze over her lush curves, and he hardened even more as raw, demanding desire tore through him. Sam had once complained about her weight, but he couldn’t find any fault with it. After growing up with a skinny, frail mother and sister, he couldn’t stand to see a woman with no meat on her bones.

Her full, voluptuous body made him absolutely crazy with unspent lust. And for the last year, he’d been forced to learn to live with a raging erection every time he got near her, or heard the sound of her smooth Southern drawl.

Sam paused and looked up at him. “Did you need something else?”

Yeah, I need you to smile at me.

Touch me.

Better still, I need you to climb me like a ladder…

“No,” he said as another page sounded for him.

Adrian turned away from her and answered the page with his cell phone as he headed upstairs to tend Scott’s antsy twitters.

Sam clenched her hands as her computer clock showed ten after five. An anxious tremor went through her as she feared Adrian might have changed his mind about going out with her.

Taking a deep breath for courage, she shut down her computer, then walked the short distance to Adrian’s office.

He had his back to her as he typed like lightning on his keyboard while talking on the phone. “It’s switched,” he said. “Everything is clear… No, I ran the logs, and as of yesterday, we’ve cleared seven hundred thousand dollars in orders since the end of October… Yeah,” he said with a light laugh. “Merry Christmas to you, too.”

He hung up the phone, and she saw him rub his hand over his eyes as if he had a headache. His cell phone rang. Without breaking stride, he answered it.

“Hi, Tiffany,” he said to their marketing director. “Yeah, I’ll be here for a few more minutes. I was planning on implementing your changeover after Christmas since there’s a good chance it could slow down site access.” He listened as he worked and Sam shook her head.

The man was simply amazing. She didn’t know how he managed to stay on top of everything, but he did.

He pushed his chair back from his computer desk and swung it around to the desk in front of her. As his gaze fell on her, he smiled that wolfish grin that made her blood race. She felt a vicious stab of desire straight through her middle.

Reaching for a stack of reports, he flipped to one of the middle pages. “Okay,” he said to Tiffany. “I’ll take care of it first thing in the morning.”

He clicked off his phone. “Sorry about that,” he said to Sam. “I didn’t know you were standing there. Just give me a sec, I’ll get this finished, and we can leave.”

Sam let out a relieved breath. Thank goodness, he hadn’t changed his mind. She moved into his office and took a seat against the window as she waited for him. “Have we really done seven hundred thousand dollars off the site since Halloween?”

He nodded. “We should easily hit a million by Christmas.” He flashed her another smile. “Should make for nice bonuses.”

Money, she didn’t care about. So long as she made enough to cover her car and rent, she was completely happy. But she was glad for Adrian’s sake. Their business-to-business e-commerce Web site was his pride and joy, and he took a lot of flak from the higher-ups when the site didn’t perform the way they thought it should.

Sam looked up as Tiffany stalked into Adrian’s office. “Adrian,” Tiffany whined as she glanced at Sam without acknowledging her. Thin, tall, and gorgeous, Tiffany should have been a model. All the leggy blonde had to do was bat her eyelashes, and every guy in the building would drop what he was doing and rush to her side.

And every time Sam got near her, she felt like a warted troll in comparison.

“Adrian,” Tiffany said again. “I got an e-mail from a customer wanting to know why he has to enter in his password every time he wants to order something. He wants us to fix it so that he can just do a one-click order option. What should I tell him?”

Adrian didn’t pause in his typing as he answered. “That it’s a safeguard to save his butt should one of his disgruntled employees get ticked off, and decide to order several thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise and charge it to his account.”

Tiffany rolled her eyes at Adrian’s sarcasm. “Well, he says – ”

“I don’t give a damn what he says,” Adrian said calmly.

Sam bit her lip as Tiffany’s face flushed bright red. That was Adrian’s only flaw. The man didn’t pull punches, and he always spoke his mind, consequences be damned.

“Those safeguards are there for his protection,” he continued, “and I’m not about to change it since he’ll be the first one to whine when he gets burned.”

Tiffany stomped her foot. “Would you look at me when you’re talking to me?”

Sam arched her brow as Adrian turned around with a look on his face that should have sent Tiffany running. To his credit, all he said was a simple, “Yes?”

“I need a more tactful answer for him than that.” She narrowed those blue eyes at him. “Look, I know you think you own this Web site, but the last time I checked, you were just another flunky here like the rest of us.”

He took a deep breath as both his pager and phone went off. “I tell you what,” he said in a self-controlled tone, “since I’m a flunky here like everyone else, why don’t you come in at midnight tonight to post a press release because the man who signs our checks wants it to go live exactly at that time?” He picked his phone off his belt.

He checked the caller ID, flipped it open, and said, “Scott, it’s not a hacker. I’m validating the PHP.”

Adrian hung up the phone. “Now, Miss Klein, if you want a more tactful response, then please forward the e-mail to me and I will respond to it myself.”

Tossing her hair over her shoulder, Tiffany glared at him. “I want a copy of your response.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Tiffany’s nostrils flared. Turning on her red high heels, she stalked out of his office. But as she left, Sam heard her muttering under her breath, “What a friggin’ geek.”

She couldn’t tell if Adrian heard it. He merely checked his pager, then grabbed one of the reports and swung his chair back around to his computer.

“You must get tired of all this,” she said quietly.

“I’m used to it,” he said simply as he started typing again.

Sam shook her head. Poor Adrian. He wasn’t even allowed to get sick. She remembered last summer when he had pneumonia. He’d been forced to drag himself in to work to fix some problem no one else could solve.

The man needed a break.

And how she wished she dared get up from her chair, go over to him and massage those broad, tense shoulders for him. She could just imagine the feel of his lean muscles under her hand, the sight of his handsome features relaxed.

He would be breathtaking.

Sam, you have got to quit fantasizing. Boy-genius doesn’t even know you’re alive.

Even though it was true, she wished things were different between them. Adrian was the first guy she’d ever met whom she really could see herself having kids with. She’d love to have a houseful of tall brainiacs who were fast on a comeback.

It was a full ten minutes before Adrian finally logged off his computer. He got up to shrug on his faded blue ski jacket.

“C’mon,” he said to her. “Let’s make a mad run for the door before someone catches me.”

She laughed, knowing it wasn’t a joke.

He locked his office, then they headed outside to the dimly lit parking lot.

“Why don’t you ride with me?” he asked as she started for her silver Honda. “You’re the only person in the department who hasn’t ridden in the Vette.”

Oh, don’t tempt me, you cruel man. She hadn’t ridden in his Corvette because she couldn’t stand the thought of being so close to him and not being able to touch that wonderful body. “Yeah, but you’ll have to bring me all the way back here.”

“I don’t mind.”

Sam bit her lip as her pulse raced. Don’t do it! Don’t torture yourself.

But one look at his chiseled features in the streetlight and she was hooked. “Okay,” she said with a nonchalance she didn’t feel.

He opened the passenger side door for her, then closed it after she got in. Sam drew a ragged breath at his consideration. She’d never had a man do that for her before.

Adrian got in the other side, and she had to bite back a laugh at the sight of him cramming his long body into the car.

“Don’t say anything,” he said as he put the key in the ignition. “Heather already told me I look like a grasshopper in a peanut shell.”

She couldn’t help laughing at that. “Sorry,” she said, clearing her throat as she caught his sideways glare. “I wouldn’t have laughed if you hadn’t said that.”

Sam leaned back in the black leather seat as she inhaled the warm, spicy scent of him. Good heavens, but that masculine smell made her giddy and hot. She would love nothing more than to lean over, cup the back of his neck with her hand, and kiss the daylights out of those full, sensuous lips.

Adrian started the car and did his best to ignore just how good Sam looked sitting beside him. He ached to reach his hand over to where she had her legs slightly parted and caress her inner thigh.

Oh, yeah, he could already feel the denim and her flesh in his palm. And then, he imagined where he’d like to take his hand next.

Up her thigh to cup her between her legs.

Grinding his teeth, he could see them locked in a kiss, feel her hands sliding over him as he undressed her.

It had been a long time since he’d made out in a car, but for the first time since high school, he found the idea appealing.

A surge of lust ripped through him as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

She’d taken that stupid clip out of her hair and brushed her bangs with her hand so that now her hair fell around her face, framing it to perfection. And it was torturing him.

Pulling out of the lot, he headed toward Hickory Hollow Mall. He hadn’t even gone a mile when he noticed Sam tensing in her seat. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

She flinched as he changed lanes. “You know, Adrian, this isn’t a video game, and cars don’t evaporate if you hit them. Jeez, you drive like you have a death wish.”

He laughed and backed off his speed. “Come on, half the fun of this car is pushing its limits.”

She crossed herself. “I hope you have a good life insurance policy.”

He did, but there wasn’t anyone to reap the benefits of it. And it was one of his biggest regrets. He’d never been the kind of guy to date much. Taking care of his mother, sister, and work left him very little time to socialize.

Not that it mattered. As soon as he opened his mouth and said something, most women got a blank, dazed look on their faces and stared at him like he was speaking a foreign language.

But not Sam. She understood even his most obscure references.

“Adrian!” she snapped as a semi cut them off. “That’s a truck!”

He hit the brakes. “Don’t worry, I don’t dare die before I put the Christmas press release up. And even if I did, I’m sure Randy would be at the funeral home with a laptop asking me to take care of some last-minute thing.”

“You’re not funny,” she said, even though she was smiling. “Do you really have to go in later and do that?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Adrian pulled onto Bell Road. “Want to eat first?”

“Sure.”

“What are you in the mood for?”

“Anything.”

“How about Olive Garden?” he asked, knowing it was one of her favorites.

“Sounds great.”

Adrian pulled into the lot, then went to open the door for her. But by the time he got to her side, she was already getting out. She looked up and smiled. “And they say chivalry is dead.”

“You have a hard time letting anyone do anything for you, don’t you?” he asked.

“What can I say? My brothers broke me in well.”

Adrian shook his head. “I can’t believe your mother didn’t nag them into doing more for you.”

“She might have had she ever been home, but since she had to work all the time after my dad left, it was pretty much just us.”

Adrian tucked his hands into his back pockets to keep himself from subconsciously reaching out to touch her.

God, how he wanted her. She barely reached his shoulders and every time he stood this close to her, he had the worst desire to pick her up in his arms and bury his face in her neck where he could inhale the sweet scent of her skin.

Clenching his teeth, he tried to banish the thought of laying her down on his bed, and spending the rest of the night exploring her body. Slowly. Meticulously.

He opened the door to the restaurant and let her enter first. As she passed him, his gaze trailed down the back of her body and focused on her round hips. His groin instantly hardened. Thank God, he wore baggy jeans.

The hostess led them to a booth in the back. Adrian hesitated as Sam sat down. His first impulse was to sit beside her, but he knew it wouldn’t be appropriate. The only time he got to do that was when all of them went out to lunch, then he always made a point of being the one to sit closest to her.

His gut tightening as another wave of desire hit him, he forced himself into the opposite booth.

“It’s weird to be here without the guys,” she said as she glanced over the menu.

Adrian stared at her as she read the menu. He didn’t know why she bothered since she always ordered the Manicotti Formaggio, and he loved the way she said it. It rolled off her tongue like smooth whisky.

Sam tightened her hands on the menu as she felt Adrian’s gaze on her. Unnerved by its intensity, she tried to cross her legs, but ended up kicking him under the table. “I’m sorry,” she gasped as he grimaced.

“It’s okay,” he said, reaching beneath the table to rub his leg. “I tend to take up a lot of space.”

“Don’t knock it, I’d kill to be tall.”

“I don’t know why. I think you’re a perfect size.”

She glanced up at his unexpected compliment. He cleared his throat and dropped his gaze to his menu.

After they ordered, they sat in awkward silence.

Sam sipped her drink as she tried to think of something to say to him. Normally, they never had a bit of trouble finding things to talk about and laugh over. But tonight, she was just a little too aware of him. A little too nervous about being alone with him, knowing there was no one here to see her if she were to reach over and touch his hand.

No one to see if she…

“Did you decide to call that guy about the programming position?” she asked, remembering the résumé he’d given her to review that morning.

“I did, even though my first impulse was to toss it.”

“Why?”

“Dear Ms. Cole,” he said, curling his lip. “I hate it when someone gets my gender wrong. It’s the reason I called you so fast when you submitted your résumé. You’re the only one who hasn’t made that mistake. I knew you had to be brilliant.”

She smiled. “Yeah, well, I have to say I was stumped, which is why I wrote ‘Dear Adrian.’ I figured you had to be a guy, since there are so few women programmers, but just in case you weren’t I didn’t want to tick you off.”

“Thanks, Mom,” he muttered bitterly. “It wasn’t bad enough she passed along the oh-so-wonderful color-blind genes, but she had to curse me with a godawful name to boot.”

“If you hate it so much, why don’t you use your middle name?”

“Because it’s Lesley.”

Sam felt her jaw go slack. “Your mother named you Adrian Lesley Cole?”

He nodded. “She really wanted a daughter. When the nurse told her she had a son, she told the nurse to check again. ‘That just can’t be right,’ ” he said in a falsetto, mocking a thick Southern accent.

Was he serious?

“You know,” she said. “I really like the name Adrian. I think it suits you.”

He snorted. “Gee, thanks for the affront to my manhood.”

“No,” she said with a laugh. There was absolutely nothing feminine about him, or his features. “You just have a classical, romantic look to you, like the hero from some period movie.”

He looked a bit sheepish at her compliment. Sam dropped her gaze down to his hands again and watched the way he trailed the empty straw wrapper through his long fingers.

Oh, she loved those hands of his.

How she wished for the courage to reach over and cover them with hers. But she was terrified of what he might do. Terrified of him rejecting her, because in her heart, she knew she’d already fallen for him.

She needed to be able to see him every day. Needed to feel his presence even if it was at a distance.

No, she would never chance running him off. He was her boss, and she would have to satisfy herself with just being his friend.

As soon as they finished dinner, Adrian drove them up the street to the mall. Sam led him through the men’s section of Dillard’s, looking for things she thought would be hot on him.

She paused as she found a stack of button-fly jeans. “You know, these would look great on you.”

Adrian didn’t miss the gleam in her eyes. He hated button-fly, but if Sam liked them…

“I need a thirty-two waist and a thirty-six inseam.”

“Oh, my God, you’re tall.”

He laughed. “I know and it’s a bitch to find them. But if you can locate a pair in this mess, I’ll try them on.”

She did. Adrian tucked them under his arm as he followed her around and did his best not to be too obvious in his ogling of her.

“You’re not going to put me in anything weird, are you?” he asked suspiciously as she stopped to look at a rack of V-neck sweaters. “I might not be able to see colors, but I know guys don’t wear pink, or pastels. And please, nothing in bright yellow because I can’t stand light-post jokes.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you. I’m thinking blacks and dark blues. Maybe red. You look really good in red.”

He smiled. “Really? How good?”

“Very good.” She plucked at his shirtsleeve. “But I don’t like your plaid shirts. They make you look like a lumberjack.”

She’d noticed him! Adrian wanted to shout in happiness. He couldn’t believe she’d actually been looking at him.

“So, what do” – he had to bite back the word you – “women want on a guy?”

“Not those baggy jeans,” she said, looking at his rear and making him even hotter. Harder.

His breathing tense, it was all he could do not to pull her to him and find out exactly what those lips of hers tasted like.

“I don’t know who came up with the idea,” she continued, “but ew. Women like to see a man’s…”

He arched a brow.

“Never mind. I’m having a weird case of déjá vu.”

“Why?”

“I used to buy clothes for my brothers and we’d always get into similar discussions.” She ran her gaze over him. “No offense, but you could really use a makeover.”

Adrian hesitated. Maybe if he let her, she might be a little more receptive to his…

You’re her boss.

Yeah, but he liked her more than he had ever liked any other woman. She made him laugh… made him happy every time she looked up at him.

Better still, she made him burn.

“You feel up to it?” he asked before he could stop himself.

“You’d let me?” she asked in disbelief.

“Sure, just so long as you don’t paint my fingernails pale pink.”

She frowned at that. “What?”

“Heather did that to me in high school as a joke. One night while I was sleeping, she sneaked into my room and painted my fingernails. I didn’t notice until I got to school the next day and people started laughing.”

“Why is your sister so mean to you?”

He shrugged. “She doesn’t mean any real harm. She’s just impulsive, and never seems to think before she acts.”

Shaking her head, Sam searched through a rack of black button-down shirts as she thought about what he said. “She really painted your fingernails?”

“Yup.”

“My brothers would have killed me.”

“Yeah, well, she’s my kid sister. My mom always said my one job was to protect her, not pulverize her.”

Affected by his protectiveness, she reached out without thinking and touched his arm.

Her heart stopped.

Holy cow!

Up until now, she’d thought he was on the skinny side like his sister, but there was nothing thin about that arm. His biceps were harder than a brick even while relaxed.

“Okay,” she said, trying to distract herself from that delectable muscle. “Makeover with no nail polish.”

Sam picked out several shirts and more jeans, then sent Adrian to try them on. She was busy looking through another rack when she felt someone behind her.

Turning around, she froze. Adrian was standing at the mirror outside the dressing room with his sweater lifted while he tugged at the back of his jeans. “I don’t know about this,” he said.

She only vaguely registered his words. Because she was captivated by him. The faded denim cupped a rear so tight and well formed that it made her ache to touch it.

He was wearing a thin, black V-neck sweater that clung to his broad shoulders, biceps, and pecs. And worse, the hem of the sweater was lifted up to where she could see his hard, flat stomach and dark brown hairs curling becomingly around his navel.

Oh… My… God. The man had the body of a well-toned gymnast. Why he had kept that yummy body hidden was beyond her.

“Buddy, you got abs!” she said before she could stop herself.

Adrian met her gaze in the mirror. “What?”

She closed the distance between them and lifted the shirt hem a tad higher as she stared in awe at that body. “You got abs! A whole six-pack of them.” She looked up at him. “You didn’t get those on the computer.”

“Well, no. I do other things on occasion.”

No kidding.

And right then, there was a whole series of other things she wanted to do to him. Starting with those hard abs and working her way up and down that luscious, tanned body. “If I were you, I’d burn all those baggy jeans and oversized shirts as soon as I got home.”

“You like these jeans?”

Biting her lip, she nodded.

Suddenly, Adrian liked them, too. But what he liked most was the hunger he saw in her eyes, the feel of her hand against his stomach. It sent chills all over him.

It was all he could do not to kiss her.

Worse, an image of her lying naked beneath him tore through him. He shuttered his eyes as his breathing faltered. He wanted her so badly, he could already taste the moistness of her lips. Feel the softness of those full breasts in his hands.

It was a such a raw, aching need that it sliced through him.

Sam looked up and caught the heated look in his eyes. He had his lips slightly parted. And she became all too aware of the fact she was still holding his shirt in her hand, and was so close to his hard belly that she could feel his body heat.

Her breasts tightened as a wave of lust singed her.

Please kiss me… .

But he didn’t. He swallowed and took a step back.

Sam sighed. What was she thinking? Smart, gorgeous guys like Adrian didn’t date short, fat co-workers. They were friends, plain and simple. There could never be anything between them.

By the time they finished, Adrian was almost a thousand dollars poorer, but he had an entire new wardrobe. And if it would keep Sam staring at him like she was doing, he decided it was worth every penny.

He changed into a new T-shirt, sweater, and jeans before they left.

Their next stop was MasterCuts. “What’s wrong with my hair?” he asked as he sat down in the chair.

“Nothing, Shaggy-Doo,” Sam said playfully as she brushed her hand through his hair. His entire body erupted into fire as he savored her light touch against his scalp. “I love the tawny color and curls. With the right cut, you would stop traffic.”

Sam watched from the side of his chair as the beautician trimmed his silken curls into a shorter cut that looked incredibly sexy and stylish.

Oh, yeah, now he was cooking. She stared in awe as the woman moussed his hair.

“Now that is a great look,” Sam told Adrian. “You get rid of that goatee and watch out.”

“Now you hate my goatee?” he asked, aghast.

“For the record,” Sam said as she met his gaze in the mirror, “all women hate goatees.”

The beautician concurred. “She’s right. They’re nasty.”

Adrian stroked his goatee with his thumb. “Really? You don’t think it’s manly?”

“Do you think a billy goat is manly?”

“Oh, thanks, Heather.”

Sam’s eyes twinkled.

Adrian paid for the cut and for the bottle of mousse Sam insisted he’d better use, but personally, he’d rather stick a pair of tweezers in an electrical outlet.

All too soon, the night was over and he had to drive her back to her car.

“Thanks,” he said as she got into her Honda. “I really appreciate your taking pity on my clothes tonight.”

“It was my pleasure.”

God, he wanted to kiss her. He stared at her lips, trying to imagine what they would taste like. He’d give anything to have a single night with her. To sink himself deep between her soft thighs as she held him close and moaned in his ear.

Then again, one night with her would never be enough.

“You be careful,” he said, his voice hoarse. “How far is Spring Hill from here?”

“A good fifty minutes.”

“Jeez, I shouldn’t have kept you out so long. Do me a favor and call my cell phone and let me know when you get home, okay?”

“Okay.”

Adrian forced himself to close her car door. He stepped away from her car as she started it. The light from the control panel lit her face as she buckled herself in.

In that moment, he ached for something he knew he could never have.

Her.

She looked up and waved. He returned the gesture, then watched as she drove off.

His heart heavy, and feeling twice as lonely as he had before, he got into his car.

Adrian froze as he reached for the ignition. He could still smell her floral scent in the air. Taking a deep breath, he relished it and dreamed of being able to bury his face in her neck where he could just breathe her in all night.

And in that moment, he made a decision.

Right or wrong, company policy be damned, he was going to find some way to make her his.

2

“Hey, Sam, could you come here for a minute?”

Sam cringed as Tiffany waylaid her outside of the breakroom at ten a.m. “What do you need?”

Tiffany huffed in agitation. “Adrian isn’t here yet – ”

“That’s because he was here from eleven-thirty last night until three o’clock this morning. I imagine he’s sleeping in.”

“Whatever. I have to respond to the Waverley Valley customer, and he has yet to send me his e-mail.”

Sam pursed her lips to keep from laughing. Oh, he’d written the e-mail all right. He’d answered the customer’s complaints, point by point, with the most hilarious sarcasm she’d ever read. The last line of it had said, “All hail the goddess Discordia the day we let Lord Bone-Head’s twenty-two teenage employees have unrestricted ordering capacity on our system.”

Adrian was a riot.

And at the bottom of the e-mail, he’d pasted in the much more professional response that he had sent to their customer.

“I know he wrote it,” Sam said seriously. “I’m sure he’ll forward a copy as soon as he gets in.”

“Well, he better, or I’m telling Randy about it.” Tiffany glanced down the hallway, did a double-take, then gaped.

Sam turned her head to see what was going on.

She froze at the sight.

Oh, my.

Like all the other women in the hallway, Sam was transfixed by Adrian and that sexy, loose-limbed swagger of his as he came toward her. Dressed all in black, except for the hint of his white T-shirt peeking out of the V of his tailored black button-down shirt, he was dazzling.

The black leather jacket she had talked him into looked even better on him than she had imagined it would.

His goatee was gone and the new haircut gave a deeply poetic look to his chiseled features. He wore a pair of Wayfarer sunglasses, and when he smiled, she saw deep dimples that had been masked all this time by his thick whiskers.

The man was seriously hot.

Regina, the receptionist, was headed to her desk when she passed him. Turning her head to watch him, she stared so intently at his rear that she walked straight into the wall.

Oblivious to the gaping women around him, Adrian made straight for Sam.

“Good morning,” he said, flashing those dimples as he took his sunglasses off.

“Morning,” Sam said, amazed at how normal her voice sounded given the amount of havoc his new look had on her senses. Now that he was this close, she could smell the leather and his Old Spice aftershave. Yum. Her entire body burned.

“Oh, Adrian!” Tiffany gushed as she twirled a strand of blond hair around her index finger. “We were just talking about you.”

Adrian arched a brow at her. “What did I do now?”

“Oh, it was nothing bad. I was just asking about that silly old e-mail, but I know you’re busy. So, you take your time and when you’re ready, I’ll take care of it for you.”

My, how her tune has changed, Sam thought irritably. Why is it, you find a good man, clean him up, and then the vultures start swooping in?

Life was not fair.

“I sent the e-mail last night,” Adrian said.

“How strange,” Tiffany said with an obviously practiced frown. “I didn’t see it in my in box.”

“Did you forget to change it over from your personal e-mail account to the company servers again?”

“Oh,” Tiffany said, stroking him lightly on the arm as she giggled and preened. “How silly of me. You know, I just can’t keep all this computer stuff straight in my head. I’d really appreciate it if you’d show me how to fix that.”

“I’ll send Scott down.”

His phone rang. Adrian answered it while Tiffany ran a hungry look over his body.

Sam wanted to choke her. “Don’t you have something you need to do?” she asked Tiffany.

Tiffany glared at her until Adrian hung up, then she smiled sweetly at him. “You know, if you’ve got a minute, right now – ”

“Actually, I don’t. I need to talk to Sam. Excuse us?”

“Oh, absolutely. I’m sure you guys – no offense, Sam – ” she said, sweeping a hard look to Sam before giving Adrian a worshipful smile, “have computer problems to talk about. I’ll see you” – she punctuated the word by touching Adrian on the chest – “later.”

Sam had to force herself not to clobber Tiffany.

As soon as they were alone, Adrian bent down to whisper in her ear. “I did put the right colors together, didn’t I?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Sam breathed as two women who were staring at Adrian collided behind him.

He let out a relieved sigh. “I was having a bad Heather flashback as I came in the door and three women looked at me and started giggling.”

Sam could well imagine that. She felt giddy herself.

Adrian stroked his chin with his hand. “And I’m not sure about the face. I’ve had a beard or mustache since I turned seventeen. I feel really naked.”

At that moment, she wished he were naked. Naked and in her arms doing the Wild Thing with her. “You shouldn’t.”

“You’re sure I don’t look like a girly-mon? Because I really don’t want the guys up in design to start following me around.”

“Oh, no,” she said with a laugh. “There’s nothing girly about the way you look.”

“All right, but if the guys start harassing me, I might have to fire you.”

She laughed at the empty threat.

His phone rang again and Regina paged him.

“It starts already,” Sam said.

“Already? Hell, it started two hours ago, which is why I came on in,” he mumbled as he flipped open his phone, and headed toward his office.

Sam bit her knuckles as she watched him walk away. She ran a lecherous gaze down his lean back and well-shaped rear. An image of those flat abs tormented her, and it was all she could do not to follow him into his office, lock the door, and keep him there until they were both sweaty and spent.

“Yo, A-dri-an!” Scott called as he passed by Sam’s cube.

Sam cringed, knowing how much Adrian hated for someone to do that to him.

“What?” he snapped as he stuck his head over Randir’s cube.

“Oh,” Scott said. “You’re not in your office. I was wondering what we’re doing for lunch today?”

“We haven’t discussed it.”

“Well, it’s eleven-thirty and I’m starving. Let’s discuss it.”

Adrian peeped over the cube wall to look at her. “Sam, you coming?”

“Depends on where you go.”

“Well,” Scott said to Adrian, “I was wondering if your sister’s working at Chik-Fil-A today. I’m kind of broke, so if she’d spot us again, I’d really appreciate it.”

“You mooch,” Randir said. “I say we take him out back, and shoot him.”

Adrian laughed as he picked up his phone and dialed it. “Hey, Mark? This is Adrian. Is Heather working today?”

“Hey, Sis,” Adrian said after a brief pause. “Scott’s broke and wanted to know if you’d feed him again? Okay, we’ll see you shortly.” Hanging up, he looked at Sam. “Chik-Fil-A?”

“Sure, I’ll go.”

“I’ll drive,” Jack said from the cube opposite her. “I have the minivan today. But I warn you, it’s full of toys.”

The six of them gathered their things and headed for the door. Adrian fell in beside her, then reached an arm toward her.

Sam froze in nervous anticipation as it appeared he was about to put his arm around her, then he bent it up quickly and raked his hand through his hair.

Disappointed, she did all she could do not to pout.

Adrian cursed at himself as he realized what he’d almost done. And at work no less… Jeez. What was wrong with him?

But then, he knew. Sam had been sneaking looks at him all morning.

And he’d loved every minute of it.

Jack unlocked his van. Sam took the seat behind the driver’s and Adrian quickly sat beside her. When she looked up and smiled, he felt like someone had sucker-punched him right in the gut.

“I really like that jacket,” she said to him.

“Oh, Adrian,” Scott teased from the front passenger seat as Jack started the van, then backed up. “You’re just so cute today,” he lisped. “Can I have a ride in your special Love Bytes machine after work?”

“Would you guys leave him alone?” Sam said.

“It’s all right,” Adrian said as he picked up a Game Boy from the seat and turned it on. “I’ll just fire his ass after lunch.”

Adrian played Centipede while Sam and the guys exchanged insults. He listened to them, all the while glancing sideways at Sam. Man, how he loved the way her eyes sparkled when she laughed.

As soon as they reached the mall, they piled out and headed to the food court. They had just entered the area when Sam caught sight of Heather standing beside a table with a guy dressed in a leather motorcycle jacket. He had three days’ worth of black stubble on his face, and a death grip on Heather’s arm.

Sam held her breath.

Rage descended on Adrian’s face as he rushed toward them.

“Josh,” Heather said in a pain-filled voice, trying to pry the man’s hand off her upper arm. “You’re hurting me.”

“I’m going to do more than that if – ”

“Let her go,” Adrian growled as he grabbed Josh’s hand and removed it from Heather’s arm. He shoved the man back.

Josh raked a sneer over Adrian’s body, but there was fear in his eyes as he took in the size of Adrian. “Look, pal, this is between me and my woman.”

“No,” Adrian said. “It’s between you and my baby sister. And if you touch her again, it’s going to be between you and me.”

A wave of apprehension crossed Josh’s face as he looked from Adrian to Heather. “I thought you said Adrian was a geek.”

“He is,” Heather said. “But he’s a really big geek.”

Josh angled a finger at Heather. “You remember what I said.”

“Let me tell you something,” Adrian said with a killing glare. “If I find you near my sister again, I’m going to play Picasso with your body parts.”

Heather postured. “And he can do it too, he has a black belt.”

Josh snarled at the two of them, then stalked off.

“Jeez, Heather,” Adrian said as he turned to face her. “Can’t you ever find a decent guy?”

“He’s not always like that,” Heather said dismissively. “He can be really sweet, sometimes.”

Adrian’s face turned hard, cold. “I better not find you near him again, and I mean it.”

“Back off, Adrian. It’s none of your business. You know, I’m not eleven years old anymore, and I don’t need you coming to my rescue all the time.”

“Fine,” he snapped. “Then stop calling me every time you get into a jam.”

“Fine,” Heather snarled back at him. “Mom’s right, you are just like your father. Worthless and mean.”

Sam held her breath as a dark, angry pain descended over Adrian’s face.

It was then Adrian must have remembered they were there, listening, because he looked to his left, saw them and locked his jaw.

Without a word, he walked off.

The guys stayed in the food court to comfort Heather while Sam ran after Adrian. He was halfway down the mall before she finally caught up to him.

“Hey?” she said as she pulled him to a stop with a gentle hand on his arm. “You okay?”

Adrian stared at her as he felt her soothing touch all the way through his body. “Why does she have to act that way?” he asked rhetorically. “I’ll never understand you women, and why you’re only attracted to pricks who run all over you, then turn on you if you dare open your mouth to defend yourself.”

“Not all women are attracted to men like that.”

“Yeah, right. Prove it.”

Before he knew what she was doing, she stood up on her tiptoes, reached her arm around his neck, and brought his head down for a scorching kiss.

Adrian’s head swam at the softness of her lips, of the feel of her tongue against his. He cupped her face with his hands and closed his eyes to better savor the moment.

She had her hand buried in his hair, sending chills the entire length of his body. He felt himself harden even more as a wave of her sweet feminine scent permeated his senses.

In that moment, he couldn’t think of anything except taking her home, stripping her jeans and sweater from her body, and keeping her that way until breakfast.

Sam didn’t know where she’d found the courage to finally kiss him, but she was glad she had. She’d been dreaming of it all day long. And now that she’d actually done it, it was all she could do not to moan from the incredible taste of his lips. The warm, masculine smell of him.

Until it dawned on her what she was doing. She was kissing her boss less than five miles from work, in the middle of a mall crowded with Christmas shoppers where four of their co-workers could see them any second.

Pulling back, she let go of him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

But Adrian didn’t let her get away. He caught her in his arms and pressed her against the store window behind her. Then, he kissed her so fiercely that she thought she might faint from it.

It was raw, demanding, and it made her so hot that she couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think as she felt his heart pounding rapidly in time with hers.

Good Lord, the man knew how to give a kiss. Every part of her throbbed and ached for him. And when he ran his hands down her back to press her closer to his hips, she felt his hard erection against her stomach.

He wanted her.

In that instant, she felt she could fly.

“Neither should I,” he whispered against her lips. “But the bad thing is, I want to do it again.”

So did she.

He took a step back and put his hands in his jacket pockets.

“What are we going to do about this?” she asked tentatively.

“I don’t know.” He looked around them. “You probably should get back to the guys before someone sees us.”

She took a step toward the food court, then noticed he hadn’t budged. “Are you coming?”

He shook his head. “I’m not hungry. I’ll go play at Radio Shack while you guys eat. Just pick me up on the way out.”

“I’ll stay with you.”

He smiled. “I appreciate the thought, but Ms. Hypoglycemic can’t go without lunch.”

It was so like him to think of her, and that was one of the things she loved best about him. “All right.”

He caught her hand before she left him, then kissed the back of her knuckles. “Thanks for coming after me.”

“You’re very welcome.”

He let go and she felt a strange vacant hole in her stomach. Glancing back at him and the striking image he made smiling at her, she headed to the food court.

Sam waved at the guys as she went over to Chik-Fil-A and ordered a value meal.

“Is Adrian okay?” Heather asked.

“No. You embarrassed him.”

“Well, you know, it’s not my fault. He always has to act like he’s Mr. Macho out to defend my honor all the time. It gets really old.”

“He loves you, Heather. What’s he supposed to do? Sit around and let you get hurt? Jeez, I’d kill for one of my brothers to do the things for me he does for you. I mean damn, girl, you let him go to work, knowing he’s the boss, in ruined clothes while he pays you to embarrass him. I just don’t understand you.”

Heather looked away guiltily. “I do love him, you know. I just wish he’d quit trying to parent me all the time.”

“Well, from what I’ve heard, he was pretty much the only parent you had growing up.”

“I know,” Heather said. “I remember when he was twelve and I was six, Mom couldn’t afford a Christmas tree. I was crying on Christmas Eve because I didn’t think Santa would come without one, so Adrian rode his bicycle down to the supermarket and talked the tree dealer into letting him work for one.”

Heather sighed. “He’s always doing really sweet things like that for me. I guess I really do take him for granted.”

“Personally, I think a whole lot of people do.”

Heather handed Sam her food.

“Wait,” Heather whispered as Sam started to leave. She quickly bagged a sandwich, fries, and brownie. “Would you take this to him and tell him I’m really sorry?”

“Sure.”

Sam made her way over to the guys who were eating. They were back to their usual bantering, but as she ate, she couldn’t get the taste of Adrian’s kiss out of her mind. That kiss had really done something to her.

Worse, she kept imagining him as a kid working on a cold Nashville parking lot so his baby sister would have a Christmas tree. It was such an Adrian thing to do.

And she wondered if anyone had ever done such a thing for him. But in her heart, she knew they hadn’t.

Adrian took care of the world while no one took care of him.

Sam cracked open Adrian’s office door. “Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I was leaving.”

He turned around in his chair to face her. “Is it five already?”

“Five-thirty, actually.”

“Oh.” He rose from his chair and shrugged on his leather jacket. “I’ll walk you out.”

“Okay,” she said, her heart pounding as every hormone in her body instantly fired.

There was an awkward silence between them as they walked down the hallway toward the side door where she parked.

“I, um… I had something I wanted to ask you,” he said as he opened the door for her.

“Sure,” she said in dread as she led the way across the lot to her car. “If you’re worried about what happened this afternoon, don’t be. I’m not going to tell anyone.”

“Oh, I don’t care about that. I mean, I care about that, but… shit,” he breathed. “I never was any good at this. So, I’ll just do what I do best, and blurt it out. Would you like to go to the Christmas party with me?”

Sam smiled as her heart raced even faster. “Yes, I would. But only if you bring the mistletoe.”

His gaze dropped to her lips and she wondered if he was imaging the feel of their kiss like she was.

“Great,” he said. “Pick you up at three?”

“Sounds good. I’ll give you the directions to my house tomorrow.”

“Okay.” He bent his head down like he was going to kiss her again, then he quickly shot back upright. “We’re still at work.”

Adrian watched as she got in her car, and a chill went up his spine that had nothing to do with the cold winter wind and everything to do with her.

She was something else. And he liked it.

She rolled her car window down.

Adrian leaned down to where he could speak to her without someone overhearing them. “You know, I really want to kiss you right now.”

“Me, too.”

Ask her back to your place. It was on the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t dare.

“You better get back in,” she said. “It’s cold out here.”

No, it wasn’t. Not when he was standing so close to her. “Yeah,” he breathed, “You’re probably freezing.”

She reached out and touched his hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Adrian gave a light squeeze to her hand even though what he wanted to do was hold it tight.

Letting go, he walked away from her, and with every step he took, he cursed himself for the stupidity. Why hadn’t he asked her back to his apartment?

But then, he knew. If he had her alone in his place, his hands would be all over her. It was too soon, and the last thing he wanted was to drive her away from him.

He’d never wanted anything in his life the way he wanted Samantha Parker.

Closing his eyes, he did his best to banish the image in his mind of her naked in his arms. The imagined feel of her breath falling across his neck as he lost himself inside her body.

“I want you, Sam,” he breathed as he watched her pull out of the lot. “And one way or another, I’m going to have you.”

3

“Sam?”

Sam looked up to see Adrian’s head poking out of his office door. “Yeah?”

“In my office. Now.”

She swallowed at his low, even tone. It sounded strangely like the one he used to crawl all over Scott when Scott did something stupid.

Worse, he’d been avoiding her all day. He hadn’t even gone to lunch with them.

Had she done something wrong?

Nervous, she got up and took the five steps that separated her cube from his office.

As soon as she was inside, he closed the door.

Sam’s heart pounded. This wasn’t good. Adrian never closed his door unless it was time for a major performance talk.

Eyes dark and features grim, he turned toward her.

Sam expected him to tell her to sit, so when he cupped her face in his hands, and pressed her back against his wall, she was stunned.

His breathing ragged, he lowered his head down and captured her lips with his.

And it wasn’t just any kiss. It was scorching and demanding. Every hormone in her body jumped to attention. Closing her eyes, she relished the warm scent of him. The masterful feel of his tongue dancing with hers as his hands roamed over her shoulders and back, down to her hips. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and moaned softly as her desire for him tripled.

He separated her legs with his thigh and cupped her buttocks as he set her down on that taut muscle. Sam groaned at the feeling of him between her legs. Her feet barely touched the floor as he surrounded her with warmth.

Her head light, she throbbed and ached for more of him.

Adrian knew he shouldn’t be doing this, but he hadn’t been able to stand it any longer. All day long, he’d been unable to think about anything other than the fact that she was only five feet away.

She was so intelligent, so much fun.

He wanted to devour her.

Adrian pulled back from the kiss to where he could nibble her lips as he buried his hand in her thick, dark hair. He laved a trail from her lips to her neck where he inhaled her.

He skimmed his hand up from her waist to the side of her breast. At the sound of her murmured pleasure, he felt his control slipping.

He ached for her. Burned for her in a way he’d never burned before and all he could think of was being inside her.

“I want you, Sam,” he whispered.

Sam gave him a chiding stare. “I thought I was in trouble.”

Adrian shook his head as he lost himself in those light eyes of hers. “I think I’m the one in trouble. Serious trouble.”

He dipped his head to kiss her again.

His cell phone went off.

Growling, he answered it. “Scott, I’m in the middle of a damn important meeting. Send an e-mail.”

Someone knocked on the door.

“Just a minute,” Adrian snapped, then he brushed her cheek with his fingers, even though what he really wanted to do was lay her down on his desk and alleviate the vicious, throbbing ache in his groin.

Not to mention the one in his heart.

His breathing ragged, he let go of her. “I better let you get back to work.”

She nodded, then kissed him hard on his lips.

The knock sounded again.

She smiled. “Duty calls.”

Sam spent the rest of the day dreaming about that kiss. And as she watched people traipse in and out of Adrian’s office, she felt like cursing. Couldn’t they just leave him in peace?

“Hey!” Randir said as he came around her cube. “It’s snowing really bad outside.”

Sam looked up with a start. “What?”

“Oh, yeah, the roads are freezing.” Randir stuck his head in Adrian’s door. “I’m going home.”

Adrian came out of his office. “Tell everyone to head out.”

Since she lived fifty minutes away, Sam dialed her oldest brother’s cell phone.

“Don’t you dare head home,” Teddy said sternly. “The roads are awful. I had to leave my Blazer at the bottom of the hill and walk home. Is there some place in La Vergne you can bunk for the night?”

“I guess. Thanks.” She hung up.

“Why are you still here?” Adrian asked.

“My brother said the roads are frozen solid. Looks like I’ll be spending the night on the cot in the first-aid room.”

Adrian frowned. “You can’t do that.”

Like she had any choice, she thought wistfully. “Sure I can. I have the vending machines and the security guard for company. I’ll be fine.”

“Why don’t you come home with me?” he asked stoically.

Sam hesitated as her heart pounded. If she did that, she had a really good idea what would happen.

But then, how bad would it be to make love to him all night?

She bit her lip in indecision. “I don’t know.”

At the hurt look on his face, she quickly added, “I bet you get stuck here with me. I’m sure the Corvette isn’t any better in this weather than my Honda.”

“I’m not in the Vette. I drove my Bronco in.”

She arched a brow. “I didn’t know you had another car.”

“Yeah. I love the Vette, but she’s temperamental and she hates snow.” He took her jacket off the peg inside her cube and held it open for her. “C’mon. I promise I’ll behave.”

Her stomach knotted in excitement and fear, she shrugged her coat on. “Okay.”

Adrian led her out of the building, across the virtually empty parking lot to an older-model black Bronco and opened the door for her.

After he got in and started the car, Sam sat beside Adrian with her heart in her throat. She was so nervous, she was actually trembling. It’d been a long time since she’d been with a guy. A long time since she’d gone to a guy’s place.

And she’d never loved a man as much as she did Adrian.

Should I make a move on him? Or should I wait for him to do something?

What if he thinks I’m fat? He was so well toned and she was… well, fleshy. What if it turned him off?

Good grief, her doubts and fears plagued her silly.

Adrian tried to think of something to say as he drove the ten-minute commute to his apartment.

But he couldn’t.

His hands were actually sweating inside his gloves. He hadn’t taken a girl home with him since college.

Should I make a move on her? Or should I wait for her to do something?

Is it too soon?

He didn’t want to scare her off. He really liked her. And the last thing he wanted was for her to bolt for the door.

But he couldn’t stand the thought of not having her.

By the time he pulled up next to his Corvette, his stomach was absolutely knotted.

“Do you have a roommate?” she asked as he walked her to his door.

“With the hours I keep? No one would put up with me.” He unlocked the door and let her in.

Sam entered the living room, then froze. She’d never seen anything like it in her life.

“Good Lord, it looks like a Circuit City showroom,” she said as her gaze darted over the big-screen TV, three leather recliners, DVD player, double-decker VCR, two computers, and a stereo bigger than her car.

His walls were stark white and completely bare. But at least the whole apartment was amazingly clean and well kept.

“Jeez. Adrian, you live like a bear in an electronic cave.”

He laughed as he locked the door, then set his keys, security badge, and wallet in a bowl on the breakfast counter.

He shrugged his coat off and hung it up in a closet to her left. Sam took hers off and handed it to him.

“Should I ask about the three recliners?”

He shrugged. “Sometimes the guys come over to watch a game.”

“So, why don’t you have a couch?”

He looked offended by the very idea. “I’m not sitting my ass down next to another guy. Jeez, Sam, I thought you were raised with five brothers.”

“Oh, yeah, how could I forget?” she said as she rolled her eyes at him. “The male and his territory.”

He laughed as he gave her a brief tour of his place.

“Do you really need a PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, and Nintendo 64?” she asked. But what really amused her was the small TV next to the big one. She arched a questioning brow.

“Sometimes I play games while I’m watching the big TV,” he said as if there were nothing unusual about it.

Sam smiled, until she glanced down at one of the chairs. Then she sobered. “You know, Adrian, you’re quite a guy.”

He gave her a puzzled frown.

“There’s not many men who let their underwear watch TV while they’re at work,” she said, glancing to the pair in the seat of the chair closest to the window.

“Oh, jeez,” he moaned as he grabbed them and rushed to the laundry room in the kitchen.

“I’m sorry,” she said as she followed after him. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I think it’s funny. Besides, I used to have to do my brothers’ laundry, and all I have to say is – ”

He turned around at the same time she took a step forward. They collided.

Adrian’s breath left his chest as soon as her breasts touched his arm. She looked up at him with her lips parted and before he could stop himself, he took advantage of it.

Sam wrapped her arms around his shoulders as she kissed him with all the passion and love flowing through her. And in that moment, she knew what was about to happen between them.

This was the moment she’d spent the last year dreaming of.

Scared and excited, she couldn’t wait.

Adrian deepened his kiss as his hands roamed freely over her back, pressing her closer to him. Growling low in his throat, he pulled back from her lips and buried his mouth against her neck.

Sam hissed in pleasure as his hot tongue, lips, and teeth nibbled and suckled her. Chills swept through her entire body as her breasts tingled in response to his expert, masculine touch. Heat pooled itself into an aching throb between her legs.

The scent of leather and Old Spice tormented her unmercifully. Gracious, how she wanted this man.

No one had ever made her feel the way he did. Desirable. Beautiful.

And best of all, needed.

Tonight, she would show her love to him. Tonight, she would hold nothing back and she would hope for a time when perhaps he might love her in return.

Adrian’s vision dulled as he inhaled the warm, sweet scent of her skin. And he wanted more of her.

He wanted all of her.

That need foremost on his mind, he ran his hand over her breast, and squeezed it gently. He moaned at the softness, and at the feel of her hardened nipple through her Santa sweater.

To his amazement, Sam answered the caress with one of her own as she reached down between their bodies and cupped him in her hand, through his jeans. Adrian growled as she stroked him, teased him, making his entire body quiver and burn for her.

She was bold with her caresses, and more than generous with her lips.

His body on fire, Adrian returned to her mouth as she unbuttoned his jeans, then slid her hand beneath the elastic band of his briefs to take him into her hand.

He sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth as he hardened to the point of pain.

“You are a big man,” she whispered against his lips as she gently stroked his shaft.

“You’re the only one who does that to me,” he whispered. He ran his hands under her sweater, over her smooth, soft skin, to the back of her bra where he released the catch.

His breath caught as her breasts spilled out of the satin bra and into his hands. He reveled in the feel of those taut nipples in his palms and he couldn’t wait to taste them. To run his tongue over the tiny ridges as he breathed her scent in.

Her soft flesh filled his hands past capacity and he loved it.

Then, she untucked his shirt and ran her hands over his chest and back, clutching at him in a way that made him dizzy.

The damned phone rang.

“Do you need to answer it?” she said breathlessly.

“To hell with it.”

“What if it’s work?”

“To hell with it.”

She laughed.

He heard his answering machine pick up.

“Adrian?”

He flinched as he heard his mother’s nasal, Southern drawl.

“Adrian, this is Mom. Are you there? If you are, pick up, honey. I need to talk to you.”

His hormones instantly iced by the sound of his mother’s voice, he pulled back. “I better answer it or she’ll call every ten minutes from now on and start beeping me.”

Devastated by the interruption, Sam licked her lips and tried to pull herself together as Adrian left her and picked up the cordless phone from the counter. He tucked his shirt back in and buttoned his pants.

“Hi, Mom,” he said coolly as he left the kitchen, then went to his bedroom, and closed the door while Sam straightened her own clothes.

“Adrian, where have you been? I’ve been calling for an hour.”

Sam went over to his answering machine to turn it off so that she wouldn’t overhear their conversation, but it had so many unmarked buttons, she didn’t know which one to press.

“I was at work.”

“I wish you’d give me your work number. I need to be able to get a hold of you when something comes up.”

“What do you need now, Mom?”

“I need you to come over and salt my driveway, so that I won’t get stuck here tomorrow.”

“Jesus, Mom, it’s a forty-minute drive and the roads are iced over.”

“I know, that’s why I need you to come over, right now.”

Sam frowned at his mother’s insistence.

“Mom, I can’t. I’m busy.”

His mother gave a dramatic sigh. “Busy doing what? Playing with your stupid computers again? All I ask is a little, tiny favor and this is the thanks I get. Do you know, I was in labor for thirty-six hours with you? I almost died giving birth.”

“Yes, Mom, I know.”

“Don’t you take that tone with me, young man. I gave my life to you kids, and the least you can do is take care of me in my old age.”

“You’re only forty-seven.”

“Don’t you dare get smart with me. It’s not like you have anything better to do. God forbid you should actually date and marry someone, and give me a grandchild.”

“Would you please lay off me, Mom? I’m not in the mood.”

“Fine,” she said in a sarcastic tone that made Sam want to choke her. “You just stay there, and let me fend for myself. You’re just like your worthless father.”

“Would you leave Dad out of this?”

“You’re just like him, you know. Selfish and worthless. It’s a good thing you don’t have a girlfriend. You’d probably just knock her up, and leave her, too.”

Sam’s heart lurched. Poor Adrian. It was a good thing he didn’t have another phone or she’d pick it up and give his mother a piece of her mind.

“Just my luck,” his mother continued. “To get stuck with an ungrateful son. I knew you should have been a girl. That’s fine, though. I’ll just call Heather and get her to do it.”

“Jeez, Mom, Heather can hardly drive when the weather’s clear and she lives farther away than I do.”

“What do you care? At least I can depend on her.”

“All right,” Adrian snapped. “I’m coming, okay? Don’t get her killed because you need your driveway salted.”

“Oh, good.”

Sam gaped at the sudden change in the woman’s voice. Now that she was getting her way, she actually sounded nice.

“Love you, sweetie.”

“Me, too.” By his tone, Sam knew he had his teeth gritted.

The answering machine clicked off. Sam shook her head. She’d never heard anything like that in her life.

Adrian came out of the bedroom with his jaw ticking. “I have to go out for a little bit.”

“Adrian, you can’t do that. What if you have a wreck and get killed?”

“Trust me, I’m not that lucky.”

“You’re not funny.”

He shrugged his heavy ski jacket on. Sam zipped it while he fixed the collar. “You be careful,” she said, standing up on her tiptoes to kiss him.

Adrian nibbled her lips as warmth spread through him. Only Sam had ever said that to him. “I will. Lock the door behind me.”

As soon as he was gone, Sam sighed. Adrian reminded her of a tolerant lion with cubs hanging off him while they nipped his skin. How could he stand it?

Shaking her head, Sam went to get herself a Coke. She opened the fridge and stared in disbelief. It was bare except for an almost-empty gallon of soured milk and a six-pack of beer.

Frowning, she opened his kitchen cabinets, taking inventory. One plate, two mismatched bowls, a cookie sheet, one medium-sized pot, three glasses, two coffee cups, coffee, and two half-empty boxes of cereal. That was it.

Unbelievable. She’d had no idea he lived like this. And now that she thought about it, she realized he didn’t even have a Christmas tree in his apartment.

The phone rang again.

Sam ignored it until the answering machine picked up.

“Adrian?” Heather said. “Hey, I need you to call me back as soon as you hear this, okay? Um, I need you, big brother. And please don’t yell at me. I had to write a check out for tuition today or else they’d cancel my classes. And I don’t have the money to cover it. I’m also two weeks overdue on my rent again. I really need twelve hundred dollars by tomorrow. I swear, I won’t ever again ask you for money. I know I said that last time, but I mean it this time. Anyway, please call me tonight. Love you.”

Sam ached for him. When he had told her he watched out for his sister and mother, she’d had no idea just what a challenge the two of them were.

“That’s it,” she muttered as she grabbed her coat out of the closet. “It’s time someone did something for you.”

It was almost three hours later when Adrian finally got home. His head throbbed from his mother’s incessant criticism. And the woman wondered why no man would ever stay with her for more than a few months.

If he had any sense, he’d take off, too. But he refused to do that to Heather. His sister could barely look after herself, let alone watch after their mother.

Pushing the thoughts out of his mind, he opened the door. He frowned as he caught a whiff of something really good.

Must be his neighbor’s dinner again, he thought as he closed and locked the door. He hung up his coat.

“Sam?” he called, not seeing her in the living room.

“I’m right here,” she said from the kitchen.

Adrian turned, then froze as his breath left his body. Sam was standing at the sink wearing nothing but one of his flannel shirts. It was huge on her, reaching all the way to her knees.

The sight floored him.

“I hope you don’t mind,” she said as she pulled at the collar. “I fell on my way back and got mud all over my clothes.”

“Fell?” It was then he realized the warm, delicious aroma was coming from his stove. Damn, the thing actually worked. Who knew?

He frowned. “What did you do?”

She moved toward him with a coffee cup in her hands. “Here,” she said, handing him hot chocolate. “I’m sure you’re frozen.”

He had been until he saw her half-dressed. Now, he felt as if he were on fire. “Where did this come from?”

She smiled. “I walked down to the market on the corner.”

He was stunned. He’d never in his life come home to such a warm welcome.

And in that moment, he knew he loved her.

Setting the cup down on his breakfast counter, he pulled her into his arms and held her close.

Sam trembled at the contact. He ran his hands down her back, then to her bare hips.

“Oh, God,” he breathed. “You’re naked under there.”

Sam laughed. “I know.”

Adrian’s thoughts scattered as he touched her bare buttocks. Her skin was so incredibly soft while he was harder than he’d ever been before.

Bending down, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom.

Sam wrapped her arms around his neck, amazed he was able to carry her so easily. And when he laid her on the bed, she smiled, knowing this was what she’d wanted since the first time she’d seen him greeting her in the lobby for her interview last year.

She got up on her knees and pulled his shirt over his head. Her gaze feasted on the sight of all that strong, tawny skin as she ran her hands over his delectable flesh.

Good gracious, the man had a gorgeous body, and she couldn’t wait to taste every inch of it.

The way he watched her with his eyes dark and hungry, his breathing ragged, made her burn even more for him. How could a man like this want her?

Sam hesitated as she placed her hands on the top button of his jeans. “I want you to know that I’m not easy,” she whispered.

“It never crossed my mind,” he said as he cupped her face in his hands. He moved to kiss her, but she pulled back.

She met his confused gaze. “I’ve only been with one other guy. My college boyfriend.”

“Okay,” he said, dipping his head toward hers.

She laughed as she dodged his lips again. “Would you listen for a second?”

He arched a brow at her.

“I wanted to let you know that I’m not on the pill or anything.”

Adrian went rigid. Cursing, he took a step back from the bed. “Well, since we’re confessing things, I have to tell you, I haven’t been with a woman since college, either. And I threw out my condoms last year after it occurred to me that they were older than I was.” Adrian retrieved his shirt from the floor.

Damn it, he was so hard it hurt. And all he could think of was taking her, consequences be damned.

But he couldn’t do that. He wasn’t about to take a chance on getting her pregnant. In spite of what his mother thought, he wasn’t his father.

It figures. Whatever made you think you could have a woman like her, anyway?

Sam frowned as he stalked out of the room. She started to call him back, then reconsidered. He needed to eat first.

She went after him. “You hungry?”

Adrian nodded, but by his face she could tell food was the last thing he wanted.

Sam served him a bowl of chili.

Adrian stood at the counter while he ate it.

Bemused, Sam watched as he refused to look at her. And the only words he uttered were a very brief compliment on how good her chili tasted and a simple thank-you.

As soon as he was finished, Adrian placed the bowl in the sink, then went to sit in his recliner.

Picking up his remote for the stereo, he clicked on his CD player. He had to do something to distract himself from those luscious legs peeking out from under her shirt. He rotated the discs to Matchbox 20.

Suddenly, he felt Sam beside his chair. He glanced at her, then did a double-take as he saw her shirt unbuttoned all the way to her navel. Even worse, the swell of one breast was so obvious that it sent a wave of heat straight through his groin.

“Don’t tease me, Sam,” he said hoarsely.

With a tight-lipped smile, she lifted up the hem of the shirt to gift him with a glimpse of the dark curls at the juncture of her thighs before she climbed into his lap.

“Sam,” he groaned as she reached to unbutton his pants. His entire body burned and, worse, her feminine, floral scent was making him insane. If she didn’t get up, he was going to have her regardless of his common sense. “Please don’t.”

She took his hands in hers and led them to her breasts.

Adrian leaned his head back and moaned at the softness of her bare breasts in his hands.

Sam kissed him then, and he felt something strange in her mouth.

Adrian pulled back to see her with a wrapped condom between her teeth.

The smile on her face was devilish as she removed the package. “I bought them at the store, just in case.”

Growling low in his throat, he kissed her fiercely.

Sam gasped as he rose to his feet with her still in his lap. She wrapped her arms and legs around him as he carried her back to his bed with his hands firmly gripping her bare bottom.

He set her on the bed, then pulled his shirt over his head again as she finished unfastening his jeans. She removed his clothes from him.

Sam gaped at the sight of his lean muscles as she saw him naked for the first time. Every single inch of his lean, hard body was toned and perfect. Never had she seen anything like it.

Her face burned as she saw the size of his erection.

She ran her hands over the veins on his forearms, over the strength of a body she’d never dared hope to touch. His skin was so soft, his muscles so hard. It reminded her of velvet stretched over steel.

She’d never imagined her programming genius would have the body of a Greek god. But he truly did.

Adrian hesitated as he stared at her in his bed, wearing his shirt. She was beautiful there. So soft, warm, and giving.

His desire surged through him like lava as he joined her in the bed and laid her back against the mattress. He rained kisses over her face and neck as he did his best to control himself.

His body demanded he get down to business with her, but his heart wanted to savor her for as long as he could. Even if it killed him.

Adrian groaned as she rolled him over onto his back and straddled his waist. He liked her feistiness. But most of all, he liked her on top of him.

She leaned over his chest and ran her tongue along the edge of his jaw, sending a thousand needlelike chills over his body as she rubbed herself against his stomach.

It shook him all the way to his soul.

“I’m so glad you got rid of that goatee,” she whispered in his ear a second before she ran her tongue around the curve of his jaw.

Adrian held her against him. “If I’d known you would do this, I’d have shaved it off the first week you came to work.”

She laughed.

He buried his lips in the curve of her shoulder, inhaling the sweet scent of her skin. His head swam from the moistness of her on his stomach.

Needing her in a way that terrified him, he unbuttoned her shirt and pulled it from her shoulders. “You are so beautiful,” he breathed as he saw her naked.

Her curves were every bit as full and lush as he had imagined. And her breasts…

He could stare at those luscious breasts all night long.

His breathing ragged, he reached up and cupped them in his hands. She trembled in response, delighting him even more.

He dropped his gaze down to the moist curls that were driving him crazy, the moist curls that covered the part of her he couldn’t wait to have.

Sitting up, he kissed her furiously as he skimmed his hand from her breast, down her smooth, soft stomach to the tangled curls and into the sleek, wet cleft.

Sam hissed at the pleasure of his long, lean fingers stroking her intimately. She’d never felt anything better, until he slid them inside her. In and out, and around, those fingers tormented her with a fiery pleasure she feared might actually consume her.

Shamelessly, she rubbed herself against him, wanting him in a way that went beyond the physical.

Her body on fire, she pushed him back against the bed, then moved to kiss a trail down his chest.

Adrian hissed as Sam brushed her lips against his taut nipple and when she drew it into her mouth he thought he would die from the pleasure of her tongue on his skin.

He buried his hands in her hair, cupping her face gently as he let the love he felt for her wash over him. She was so giving, so kind. Never in his life had anyone taken care of him. Never had anyone cared.

But Sam did, and it rocked him all the way to his heart.

“Touch me, Sam,” he breathed, wanting to feel her hand against him again.

She moved herself lower, trailing her tongue and lips down his abdomen, to his navel, his hip, where she tormented him mercilessly with little nibbles that rocked his entire body.

Delirious from her touch, he closed his eyes in painful anticipation as she finally brushed her hand through the curls at the center of his body. She cupped him in her hand.

Adrian arched his back, growling at the softness of her fingers stroking his shaft.

“Yes,” he moaned, writhing from the unbelievable sensations that ripped through him.

And before he knew what she was doing, she moved her head lower and licked a slow, torturous path from the base of his shaft, all the way to the tip.

Adrian hissed at the unexpected, blind ecstasy that tore through him.

Sam smiled as she felt him shivering around her. Her only thought to give him more pleasure, she took him into her mouth.

She knew she was making him crazy, and she loved every minute of it. Adrian deserved to be loved by someone who wouldn’t take him for granted, and she wanted to show him just how much he meant to her. Just how much she needed him.

Adrian clenched his fists in the sheets at the incredible sensation of her tongue and lips covering him. No one had ever done that to him before, and he couldn’t believe just how good it felt.

His body trembling, he couldn’t stand not tasting her in return.

He had to have her. Now!

Sam lifted her head as Adrian sat up. His eyes dark and shuttered, he moved until his body was lying in the opposite direction of hers. He ran his mouth and tongue over her stomach as he skimmed a hand down her hips, blazing a scorching trail of heat.

His touch literally burned her from the inside out as he trailed it up her inner thigh, urging her to open her legs for him.

He nudged her legs farther apart, then buried his lips at the center of her body.

“Adrian!” she breathed as he tormented her.

Sam moaned at the sensation of his mouth on her as he nibbled and licked. His tongue and fingers swirled around her, intensifying her pleasure.

Trembling, she returned to torment him the same way.

She writhed as he continued and as she tasted him.

There was such fire and magic in his touch. It scorched her in a way that was indescribable. No wonder she loved this man.

She gave herself to him without reservations or fear. There was something so special in this equal sharing, equal giving. It touched her profoundly and she knew in her heart that she would never be the same.

Sam’s head was light as he gave careful consideration to her, and when he slid two fingers inside her body and stroked her, she moaned in ecstasy.

Biting her lip, she closed her eyes as his fingers delved deep and hard inside her, swirling around with the promise of what was to come while he laved her even faster.

Sam’s entire body shivered and jerked involuntarily in response to his touch.

Her head spun from the intense sensations. The pleasure was so incredible, so extreme, as it built inside her until she could stand no more.

Suddenly, her entire body exploded as white-hot ecstasy tore through her in ever-increasing waves. Sam cried out as her release came.

Panting, she couldn’t move.

“That’s it,” he said, his skin covered in sweat. “I have to be inside you.”

Sam pulled back from him and reached for the condom a few inches from her.

Adrian tensed as she gently slid the cool condom over his hot, swollen shaft. Then she cupped him in her hand. Her touch singed him as his body quivered in response.

How could such tiny hands wreak so much havoc on him?

Needing to feel her more than he needed to breathe, Adrian pressed her back against the mattress, then separated her thighs with his knees.

You are about to violate your Web designer.

He didn’t know where that thought came from, but it ripped through his mind as he pressed the tip of his shaft against her core.

What was he doing?

“Adrian?” she asked as she looked up at him with a frown. “Is something wrong?”

“Are you sure you want this?” he asked as he looked down at her. “If anyone finds out, we could get fired.”

“Then I’ll find another job,” she said, lifting her hips toward his.

Joy ripped through him. Taking her hand into his, he stared into her eyes, then drove himself deep inside her body.

They moaned together.

Sam couldn’t believe the fullness of him as he rocked his hips against hers. He went so deep inside her, she could swear he touched her womb as fierce, hot stabs of pleasure tormented her.

She wrapped her legs around his lean waist and savored the feel of his muscles flexing in and around her. She ran her hands down his back, over the chills that covered his body as she met him stroke for stroke.

He was spectacular.

“You feel so good,” he breathed in her ear as he rocked his hips, hard and fierce, against hers. “I could stay inside you forever.”

She was sure she didn’t feel half as good to him as he felt to her. He lowered his upper body to where she could nuzzle his neck as he thrust into her.

Sam wrapped her legs tight about his hips, then she rolled over with him.

Adrian looked up, startled, as he found himself beneath her. She took his hands in hers and placed them on her hips. Then, holding them in hers, she lifted herself up to the tip of his shaft, before she lowered herself onto him.

He growled at the feel of her body on his as she rode him fast and furiously. He’d never felt anything like it.

“You’re making my toes curl,” she breathed.

“I plan to make more than that curl before the night is over,” he said as she released his hands and leaned forward.

Adrian ran his hands over her breasts, cupping them gently as she continued to stroke him with her body.

Why had he waited a year before kissing her?

It terrified him when he thought of how close he’d come to never acting on his desire. What if he had let her get away without ever having tasted her lips? Her body?

And in that instant, a wave of possessiveness washed over him. He would never let her go.

She belonged to him.

Sam watched Adrian watch her. His dark eyes were shuttered, but the look of pleasure on his face tore through her.

She ran her hand over his stubbled cheeks, grateful that she had finally kissed him. This moment far exceeded any fantasy she’d ever had about him.

Her body aching with bliss, she could feel her pleasure mounting again with every forceful stroke she delivered to him. She moved her hips faster as Adrian lifted his hips to drive himself even deeper.

“Oh, my goodness,” she breathed as her body became even hotter as massive, wrenching stabs of pleasure tore through her.

Adrian rolled over with her then, and placed her beneath him. His eyes wild, he quickened his pace.

Sam moaned at the feel of him sliding in and out, fast, deep, hard.

And then suddenly, an indefinable ecstasy exploded through her body in resounding ripples. Sam gasped at the same time Adrian threw his head back and roared as he delivered two more long, deep thrusts to her. His entire body convulsed around her as he released himself.

He collapsed on top of her and buried his face in her neck.

Sam held him there, cradled in her arms and legs as she just listened to him breathe. She felt his heart pounding against her chest and sweat covered them both.

This was a perfect, peaceful moment that she wished she could hold on to forever.

“That was the most incredible experience I’ve ever had,” he whispered in her ear as he cradled her gently in his strong arms.

“No kidding,” she said as she ran her hands over his hard biceps, then kissed him tenderly on his chest. “You know, I’ve never done that before.”

“Done what?”

“Orgasmed.”

Adrian smiled. He was glad he’d been the man who had shown her the full depth of her sexuality. Cupping her head in his hand, he pulled her lips to his for a scorching kiss.

The phone rang.

“I swear, I hate those things,” he snarled.

“Oh,” Sam said as she let go of him. “I forgot to tell you Heather called.”

Carefully, he withdrew from her. “Then I’m sure that’s her,” he said, reaching for the cordless phone on his nightstand.

“Hi, Heather,” he said in a tone that was half a growl.

Sam could hear just a hint of Heather’s chattering on the other end.

“Damn, Heather. What do you do with your money? I pay you two hundred and fifty dollars a week to do my laundry and buy groceries for me, and half the time you don’t even do it.”

She heard Heather chattering again as Adrian ran his hand through his hair and clenched it tight.

Adrian got out of bed and reached for his pants as he listened to her. Biting her lip, Sam admired the perfect shape of his buttocks and rear as he stooped over.

“Give me a break,” he said as he fastened his jeans. “I worked three jobs in college and no one ever…”

He went rigid. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Just stop crying, okay? Heather, please stop crying.”

Sam sat up as he walked out of the room.

Frowning, she pulled her shirt on and followed after him.

He wiggled his mouse at his computer. “I’m doing it right now,” he said in a gentle voice. He cursed again. “You only have two dollars in your account, did you know that? What are you living on?”

His jaw ticked, but his voice was patient. “All right, I’m transferring two grand over to you, but this is it, Heather. I work too damned hard just to give it away to you because you decide you need a Christmas vacation in Daytona for a week.”

He clicked the phone off and tossed it on his desk.

Sam moved to stand behind him. She ran her hand over his back. “You are a wonderful man.”

“I’m an idiot,” he said under his breath. “I don’t know why I put up with them.”

“You love them.”

“I wonder sometimes. God, I’m just so tired of everyone needing me all the time.”

Sam went cold at his words. His dependability was what she loved about him most, and in truth that was what she wanted. Someone she could depend on who wouldn’t disappoint her. She was tired of unkept promises.

Sam, you fool. No one is ever going to put you first. When are you going to realize that?

Her father had done what Adrian’s had, he’d abandoned them. And her worst fear was to fall in love with some thoughtless, woman-chasing jerk who dumped her for a trophy girlfriend the minute she passed the age of thirty.

She didn’t want a little boy, she wanted a man.

And she had hoped Adrian would be that man.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

She shook her head, then brushed her hand over his whiskered cheek.

Please don’t disappoint me, too. The words were on the tip of her tongue. But she didn’t dare utter them aloud. Didn’t dare give him any more ways to hurt her. He already held a place in her heart where only he could destroy it.

“Why don’t we go back to bed?” she whispered.

He looked up at her with those dimples flashing. Then, he scooped her up in his arms and ran with her back to the bedroom.

4

“Hi, Adrian,” Sam said as soon as he answered his cell phone.

“Hey, sweet, what’s wrong? You sound upset.”

God, how she loved the sound of his deep, caring voice. It comforted her on a level that defied explanation.

“My brother forgot to pick up my mom’s Christmas tree and she’s having a hissy fit. I’m over here at the lot and there’s no way I can make it back home and get ready in time. Is it okay if we just hook up at the hotel?”

“Sure. Is there anything I can do for you?”

She felt tears well at his offer. This last week had been the best of her life. After they had returned to work, they had kept quiet about their relationship, but it hadn’t been easy. More nights than not, she’d left work first, then gone over to his apartment to fix dinner and wait for him.

He’d even given her a key.

“Thanks,” she said, “but I’ve got it. I’ll see you at the hotel.”

“I’ll be waiting for you in the lobby.”

Worried, Adrian paced the hotel lobby. The temperature outside was steadily falling, and the news had been calling for a bad snowstorm later that evening. He’d tried to call Sam a dozen times to warn her not to come out this far, but she’d turned her cell phone off.

The door opened.

Adrian looked up and felt his jaw drop as Sam swept in.

She was wearing a Renaissance-style dress with a high waist, long flowing sleeves, and ballerina slippers. Her hair was down around her face and she had a light ribbon braided across the top of her hair with flowers. She looked just like Guinevere.

And he loved it.

No, he corrected himself, he loved her.

Sam paused as she caught sight of Adrian staring at her. He looked gorgeous in his black jeans and sweater. He’d even gone to the trouble of fixing his hair and she knew how much he hated doing that.

Better still, his entire face lit up as his gaze met hers.

“My lady, you are beautiful,” he said as she drew near him. He took her hand in his and kissed the back of her knuckles.

The warmth of his hand startled her. He took her coat from her hands and offered her his arm.

Feeling like a heroine in a romance novel, Sam took his arm and allowed him to lead her into the party.

“Wow, Sam,” Randir said as he saw them. “You clean up good.”

She laughed. “Thanks, I think.”

While Adrian went to get her something to drink, she took a seat at the large, round table with the guys from her department.

“Oh, Adrian,” Scott teased as soon as he returned. “You’re just so thoughtful. Want to go get me a Coke?”

“No,” Adrian said as he sat down beside her.

Sam did her best to appear nonchalant and distanced from Adrian, but it wasn’t easy when all she wanted to do was lean back into his arms and have him hold her like he did in the early morning hours.

How she loved curling up with him in his favorite recliner, watching TV or listening to music while they fed each other popcorn. Naked.

She’d never been overly comfortable with her body, but Adrian seemed to love it and she loved him for it.

He gave her a meaningful look, then slid his gaze toward the lobby. “I need to go make a call.”

Sam waited until he was out of sight before she excused herself to go to the bathroom.

She met Adrian in the lobby where he pulled her into a hidden, dark corner. “Why are we here?” he asked as he pressed her back against the wall.

She trembled at the strength of his chest against her breasts as he cupped her face in his hands and stared down at her with heat in his eyes. “Because it’s a free meal?” she asked impishly.

“I’d rather be at home, making love to you.”

“Mmm, me, too.”

He kissed her then.

“Hey, Adrian!”

They both went tense at hearing Randy’s voice.

Adrian stepped out of the corner while Sam pressed herself against the wall, hopefully out of Randy’s sight.

“Hi, Randy. How’s it going?”

“Great. I meant to tell you that Greg Wilson is going to applaud your team tonight after dinner. We hit the million-dollar mark for the Christmas season this morning. Congratulations. Greg says he’s going to double your bonus and give you a raise.”

“Thanks.”

“So, what are you doing out here?” Randy asked. “C’mon, let’s go say hi to Greg. I know he wants to shake your hand.”

Sam listened with pride. Greg Wilson was on the pompous side, but he owned one of the largest privately held corporations in the country. For him to want to spend six seconds in your company was a big compliment.

As soon as the coast was clear, she went to the ladies’ room.

She had barely closed the door on her stall when she heard Tiffany and a gaggle of her girlfriends sweep into the bathroom.

“Did you see Adrian?” Tiffany said to them.

“Are you kidding?” Barbara Mason said breathlessly. “How could anyone miss such a baby doll?”

“I heard that.” Sam didn’t recognize that voice.

“Yeah, well,” Tiffany said in a loud whisper, “I’m going to nail that boy tonight.”

Her friends laughed as Sam saw red. Tiffany better lay off Adrian, if she wanted to keep that perfect nose of hers.

“Right,” Barbara said in disbelief.

“I am,” Tiffany bragged. “I rented a room upstairs and as soon as I see him, I’m going to get him up there and have my wicked way with him.”

They left the bathroom.

Sam clenched her fists. How dare she.

Her eyes narrowed, she left the bathroom and went after Adrian to warn him.

There was no need.

Tiffany had him cornered outside the ballroom. Worse, they were locked in a fiery kiss with Tiffany’s hands on his waist and neck.

Sam froze at the sight as pain tore through her.

Her first impulse was to tear them apart and slug Tiffany. And if she wasn’t so stunned, she might have actually done it.

But she couldn’t move.

Not while her heart was slowly splintering into a million pieces.

And what hurt her most was the fact that Adrian would kiss Tiffany out in front of everyone while he wouldn’t even so much as touch her hand when anyone was around.

Her tears swelled, but she blinked them back. She wouldn’t give either one of them the satisfaction of seeing just how much damage they had done to her.

God, she was such a stupid fool. How could she have thought Adrian was any different than her own father?

Tiffany pulled away, and handed him a card key. “It’s room 316,” she said seductively. “I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”

Sam went numb as even more pain washed over her. How could he?

He’s a man! Look at Tiffany.

How on earth could you ever compete with that?

Heartsick and aching, Sam rushed back to her table. She gathered her purse and coat.

“You okay?” Randir asked.

“No,” she said, swallowing her tears. “I need to go home. I’ll see you guys Monday.”

Adrian waited and waited for Sam. Where was she? Had she gone back in when he wasn’t looking?

He went to check, and as soon as he saw her coat was missing, a feeling of dread washed over him. “Where’s Sam?”

Randir shrugged. “She went home.”

“What?”

“She said she didn’t feel well.”

Adrian pulled his phone out of its cradle and dialed her cell phone.

No answer.

Cursing, he ran after her.

A heavy snowfall had started as he reached his Bronco, got in, and went to find her.

Sam wept the whole way to Spring Hill. She didn’t really notice the icy roads until she had to turn onto Nashville Highway to reach her house. Her car started skidding.

Terrified, she held her breath until she landed safely in a ditch.

Her heart pounding, she was glad she hadn’t been physically hurt. She picked up her cell phone to call her brothers, then saw the battery was dead.

“Damn it!” she snarled as she slammed her fist against the steering wheel. “What next?”

Angry and hurt, she wiped her eyes, then shoved open her door and started the five-mile walk to her rented house.

Adrian’s heart raced as he realized how hazardous the roads were becoming. Sam’s little Honda was about as safe in weather like this as his Corvette.

Why had she left? It didn’t make any sense to him.

He turned onto Nashville Highway and saw her car in the ditch. Terrified at the sight, Adrian pulled to the side of the road and got out. Running up to her car, he saw it was empty.

She was out walking in 26 degrees?

He shook his head as he remembered her thin shoes and dress. She would freeze to death. Damn her independence. Couldn’t she ever let anyone do anything for her?

He ran back to his Bronco. Getting in, he tried to start it.

“No!” he snarled as the starter clicked without firing the engine. He tried again, but still the car refused to start.

Pulling out his cell phone, he called the only other person he knew who lived in Spring Hill.

“Hey, Trey,” he said as his friend picked up. “I need a huge favor from you.”

Sam was absolutely freezing. Her shoes were soaking wet and she had all but lost the feeling in her feet.

Worse, she still had a mile to go to get home. And over and over again, all she could see was Adrian kissing Tiffany.

“Why, Adrian?” she breathed, clutching her coat tighter around her. “Why wasn’t I good enough?”

Suddenly, she heard a strange clip-clopping sound coming from behind her.

What on earth?

It sounded vaguely like hooves. Turning around, she saw…

No, it couldn’t be.

Sam blinked, not trusting her eyes.

The image only got clearer as the snowfall became heavier.

It was a knight. A knight in black leather.

Frowning, she watched as Adrian rode up to her on the back of a white stallion. Her mouth wide open, she looked at him as he reined to a stop by her side.

“Methinks milady damsel doth be in distress.”

She shook her head at his fake medieval English way of speaking. Those deep, dark, chocolate-brown eyes stared at her with a heat that instantly warmed her freezing bones.

“Adrian?” she gasped.

“Sir Adrian,” he corrected with a smile. He reached his hand down to her.

Without thinking, she took it and allowed him to pull her up to sit before him on the medieval-style saddle. He wrapped her up in two blankets as he adjusted her in front of him.

“What are you doing here?” she asked in disbelief. “I thought you were with Tiffany.” As she said the name, her rage ignited.

“Tiffany?” he asked with a frown. “Why would you…”

She saw the color darken his cheeks.

“Yes,” she snarled at him. “I saw you two. And you took her room key.”

“Didn’t you see me give it back?”

Sam hesitated. “You gave it back?”

“Yes. A few minutes after she left.”

“You kept it a few minutes?” she snarled. “You skunk. How could you do – ”

He stopped her words with a heated kiss.

“Don’t yell at me, Sam,” he said as he pulled back. “It wasn’t my fault. I was waiting for you when she grabbed me from behind. At first, I thought it was you. Then she swept around me and put a lip-lock on me so fast I didn’t know what to do. In case you haven’t noticed, women don’t usually do things like that to me. She caught me off guard.”

“You looked like you were enjoying it to me.”

“I was too stunned to move. And when she handed me the key, it took a full minute before it dawned on me what it was.”

“A full minute?”

“I know you don’t believe me, but if I wanted Tiffany, then why am I out here on a horse, freezing?”

“I don’t know. Why are you here on a horse, freezing?”

“Because I love you, and I wanted to come to your rescue.”

Sam choked on a sob. “Really?”

He tilted her chin up to look at him. “Don’t ever doubt me, Sam. You’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted to take care of.”

Coming from him, that meant something.

She smiled as he kicked the horse forward toward the setting sun.

And in that moment, Sam knew she had the best Christmas present ever. She had her knight in shining leather.

Epilogue

Christmas day

Adrian let out a tired sigh as he pulled up to his apartment, just after noon. He’d spent most of the morning at work, alone, doing his best not to call and disturb Sam. She was spending the day with her family, while his had fled. Heather had gone to Daytona, and his mother was on a cruise in Alaska with her latest boyfriend.

But then, there was nothing unusual about that. He hadn’t had a family Christmas since he was fifteen.

For the last eleven years, Christmas had meant nothing more than a heated TV dinner eaten in front of bad television shows.

“I hate Christmas,” he muttered as he got out of his car, and went to his apartment.

He opened his door. Then, he froze dead in his tracks.

Someone had put a small Christmas tree in his living room and decorated it.

Frowning, Adrian closed the door and took his coat off, then went to the tree where a medieval-looking note card was tied with a ribbon to a branch.

He flipped it open.

Milord, Knight in Shining Armor, methinks thou hast a present in thy chamber.

He smiled at Sam’s writing. She must have stopped by while he’d been at work. How he wished she’d called him. He’d love to see her today.

Oh, well, she’d be at work tomorrow.

Holding the card to his heart, he went to see what she’d left for him. He opened the door to his bedroom and went stock-still as his jaw fell open.

Sam was lying on his bed dressed in a teddy that made his mouth water, and she had a bow tied around her neck.

“Where have you been?” she asked with a seductive smile as she closed the book she’d been reading and put it on his nightstand.

Adrian couldn’t speak, since his tongue was hanging on the floor.

Her smile widened as she left the bed and moved to stand in front of him. “Carpet got your tongue?” she asked.

He smiled.

Cupping her face in his hands, he stared in awe. “I thought you were going over to your mom’s.”

“I am for dinner. But I wanted to surprise you.”

Adrian pulled her to him and kissed her until he couldn’t stand it anymore. He wanted her in a way he had never wanted anything else.

And that flimsy outfit that barely covered her and left nothing to his imagination, was making him way too hard for comfort.

Growling, he pulled his clothes off in record time, then tossed her over his shoulder and deposited her gently on the bed.

Sam laughed.

Adrian ran his hand down the curve of her thigh, amazed at how much he loved her.

Sam kissed Adrian’s bare shoulder as he reached into his nightstand for a condom.

He turned to her then, but instead of handing the condom to her as he normally did, he kissed her.

She felt something strange in his mouth.

Pulling back, she frowned as he pulled a ring out from between his teeth and handed it to her.

“I was going to give this to you tomorrow at dinner,” he said, looking a bit sheepish. “But since you’re here…”

Completely stunned, Sam couldn’t breathe as she stared at the ring. It was a one-carat, heart-shaped diamond engagement ring in a medieval-style setting that made her heart pound.

Tears welled in her eyes as she blinked in disbelief. “Are you sure about this?”

He ran his hand down her arm. “You’re the only thing in my life I’ve ever been sure about,” he whispered before he took the ring back.

He left the bed and went down on one knee beside it, then took her hand into his.

Tears fell down her cheeks at the sight of Adrian naked on the floor.

“Samantha Jane Parker, will you marry me?”

She launched herself at him and knocked him flat against the floor. “Of course I will.”

He laughed as she straddled his bare stomach.

Adrian placed the ring on her left hand, then he kissed it. “I love you, Sam.”

“I love you, Adrian,” she whispered, knowing in her heart that she had finally found her one, true knight in shining armor. And she was never, ever going to let him go.