Falling for the Other Brother (14 page)

Adam turned and smoothly took her arm again, urging her into motion by his side. That one point of contact radiated happy tingles straight to every erogenous zone she possessed. She shivered.

“Why would you think you’re wasting my time, Ms…?”

Caught off guard by the question, Tori automatically filled in the implied blank. “Warren. Tori Warren.” Tori shot Alex an admiring glance. “That was pretty slick. Distract me with sex and cryptic questions and get the info you’re looking for. Very double-oh-seven of you.”

His eyebrows had shot upwards when she’d said ‘sex’. A bit satisfied she’d managed to surprise him, she finally relented and walked willingly at his side.

“Sorry, but you must realise you’re a disgustingly hot guy.”

His hand dropped from her elbow. Mourning the loss of contact, Tori was still amused when Adam cleared his throat and a flush crept up his neck.
Oops.
The connection between her brain and her mouth had never had much of a time lag for editing purposes. Which was why she spent most of her time buried in the bowels of research facilities instead of interacting with real, live people.

“Sorry again. They don’t let me out much.”

“Is that why you were running? Did you pull off an escape?”

Laughter bubbled up and she went with it, feeling fantastic as she let it loose. By now her heart rate had come back down to normal, and they were almost at the intersection of the street by the java shop she loved.

The hell with running for today. “Do you want to grab a coffee or something?” she invited impulsively, trying not to care either way about his response.

“Sure.” The low tone of his voice was still doing its nasty stirring thing way down inside, and she repressed an insane and reckless urge to suggest bypassing the coffee shop in favour of her condo.

Tori forcibly reminded herself of her list. The three major things that would make this forced sabbatical worthwhile. She’d vowed everything she did for the next three months would further one of the three goals she’d set for herself—get into the best shape of her life before it was too late, have a no-strings ‘holiday’ affair and the best sex of her life and do new things and have fun, treating this like a vacation at home.

Numbers. Hypotheses. Hard facts. Data. Goals. She always did well with those. Anything unplanned was hard for her to deal with. She had definitely not counted on meeting such a great guy, who seemed to have some sort of interest in her, when she’d decided to start exercising again today. But she couldn’t just ignore her luck. Time to find out just how young was young. If he really was closer to thirty than twenty, she’d go for it. Early twenties, she’d pat him on his darling head and send him safely on his way.

“How old are you?”

He didn’t even look surprised at the question as he continued to meet her gaze. Oh, to have that kind of self-confidence. “Twenty-five,” he answered.

He just had to split the difference and make this difficult.

Figures. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

* * * *

Adam watched Tori return from the counter with the drinks she had insisted upon paying for. She was already enchantingly kooky—he couldn’t wait to see what happened when the extra shot and all the sugar kicked in.

A bit of pink tongue was caught firmly between her lips as she manoeuvred amongst the tables with a set look of concentration on her face. There was something sweet and stunningly sexy about her, and her outspoken quirkiness had him hooked.

Adam had been running on autopilot when he’d seen her cramp up and without hesitation had gone to her rescue. His background as a trainer and sports physiologist, and years of working with the public, had made it easy to peg her as a novice runner who had probably just plunged right into her workout without warming up, something he would have to help her avoid in the future.

He pondered that startling thought for a moment. Yes, he acknowledged, he wanted to see more of Tori.

A
lot
more.

Her question earlier about his age had Adam revising her own upwards a bit. Women in their twenties or even early thirties wouldn’t be concerned with that sort of detail, at least not from the get-go. So he figured her to be at around her mid-thirties, although she hardly looked it. She had an innocent, slightly absent look about her he guessed would have many casual observers dismissing her as a young airhead. But Adam could sense the offbeat, random questions were most likely a sign of a very active mind at work.

She made it safely back to Adam and set the drinks down on the low table with a relieved smile. “Great table, thanks for snagging it.”

The best part was that it was a loveseat all the way in the back of the café, which afforded them some privacy. She sat squarely in the middle of her cushion, and Adam let his leg loll over into neutral territory, prompting a raised eyebrow.

“So what do you do when you’re not out running?” he asked lightly. He was surprised at the scowl his question caused. A cute little line deepened between her eyebrows. “What’s wrong?”

Tori sighed. “Oh, nothing. My career is just a sore spot with me right now.”

Adam grimaced inwardly.
Oops.
With the current economy, maybe making small talk about occupations wasn’t the brightest idea. “Were you laid off?” he asked sympathetically.

A surprised look crossed her face—her mouth making an ‘O’. “Oh. No, nothing like that. I’ve been pretty lucky.” She picked up her mug and sipped from it. “I’ve been working for a pharmaceutical research company for the past, um…” She paused, glancing up at him, and cleared her throat. “Well, a long time. And one of the company perks for my division is that you get a paid sabbatical every five years. Mine have piled up.” She shrugged casually, but her frustration was evident. “So I kind of had to take one.”

Adam laughed at the disgruntled look. “They made you take a sabbatical against your will?” An image popped into his head of Secret Service-looking men in suits and dark glasses, their arms crossed, refusing her entry into her office. “So you’re here on vacation?”

She looked a bit sheepish. “Well, no. I live near here.”

Adam tried to puzzle out the reason for her hesitation. “So are you going anywhere exciting? How long is your sabbatical?”

“Three months. And no, I didn’t plan anything.” She shifted uncomfortably. “I’m just going to hang around here.”

He leaned closer until he could almost see himself reflected in her amber eyes. “Why?” She had a face he could read like a book even on short acquaintance, and she was definitely hiding something.

“Why what?” she evaded.

“Why didn’t you plan anything?”

Her lips compressed, and suddenly she burst out, “Because I didn’t think they’d actually do it! Okay? They locked me out, revoked my codes. I can’t even get into my own lab or office, much less access my work online. I still can’t believe it.” She hopped to her feet, and for a moment, Adam thought she was going to storm out, but she only walked over to the caddy and grabbed some napkins before coming back. Throwing all but one down on the table, she started methodically shredding one into long strips.

“Mental health break. Ha! Said I’d reached ‘maximum capacity’ when I accrued my fourth sabbatical, and I hadn’t used vacation time in years and… Oh shit, well, I guess you just figured out how old I am.” She threw him a disgusted look that Adam had a hard time keeping a straight face through. “They actually locked me out! For my ‘own good’, what a crock!” she fumed.

“Twenty years without a break is a long time, Tori,” he ventured calmly, making sure no sign of his amusement was visible. “I’m sure they were just thinking about the long term.”

Tori refused to meet his eyes, grabbing another napkin to torment.

Adam felt an upwelling of sympathy for Tori. He had the feeling she’d most likely just ignored every conversation or communication from her superiors on the topic, so it really had caught her by surprise. He could easily see her being that focused.

“Hey.” He took the mass of mangled paper from her hands and replaced it with her mug. “It sounds like they didn’t handle it very well, and I’m sorry about that.”

She blinked at him, disbelief in every line of her face. “Really?”

“Really.”

Tori searched his eyes. “You know, you’re the first person to say that. Everyone else I know has told me that I’m crazy to be upset about a summer-long paid vacation.”

She took a long drink and set the mug down decisively, turning back to him with a bounce. “So, are you doing anything tonight?”

“Um.” Startled at the abrupt change of subject, Adam quickly searched his memory. “Nothing I can think of.”

“Great. Would you like to have dinner at my place? Say seven o’clock?” She stroked a finger down his bare forearm, causing goosebumps to rise all along that side of his body.

Okay, now he was really confused. The switch to seductress was a bit startling after her demeanour thus far. But hey, he was flexible. “Dinner at seven sounds great.”

Before the words finished leaving his mouth, she was on her feet again, heading to the counter. Tori returned with a pen and wrote on one of the remaining napkins.

“Here’s my cell number and address. I’ll see you tonight.” She took a last gulp of coffee without sitting back down. “Sorry to drink and run. Well, run and drink and run.” She chuckled and Adam grinned. “I’ve got a lot to do all of a sudden, so I’d better, uh, run.” She winked and headed towards the door.

“Wait…” Adam stood and Tori spun back, arching an eyebrow at him, seemingly daring him to interrupt her plan. The sudden tension in her body language had him swallowing his suggestion they go out to dinner instead of causing her too much work. He settled on, “White or red wine?”

Tori visibly relaxed as she answered, “White. See you tonight.”

Get your copy now

About the Author

After living all over the US while growing up, I’ve settled into the beautiful Pacific Northwest and can’t see myself living anywhere else. I’m a mom to two girls, who—to my pride and gratification—love to read and want to make a living with words themselves someday.

Even when I’m not writing, I find myself storing up experiences and people for future reference. I had decades of potential material at my mental fingertips by the time I started putting my stories into words.

I believe that passion is to be treasured, stepping out of the box should be encouraged, and forever can come from the most unlikely of beginnings. So find a story, step inside and immerse yourself in the magic of love. I’ll meet you there…

Email:
[email protected]

Stacey loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at
http://www.total-e-bound.com
.

Also by Stacey Lynn Rhodes

Seasoned Women: Sex on Summer Sabbatical

Total-E-Bound Publishing

www.total-e-bound.com

Take a look at our exciting range of literagasmic™

erotic romance titles and discover pure quality

at Total-E-Bound.