Free High Stakes Seduction by Lori Wilde Page B

coworker had been watching Eva’s place—he turned his key in the lock, his mind already spinning excuses for his behavior, only to pull up short at what he saw in the living area.
    It wasn’t Tim Rogers seated on the stool beside the telescope; it was his boss, Commander Higgins.



7
    A FTER SHE CLOSED THE DOOR behind Adam, Eva floated into the kitchen. She kicked off her shoes and opened the refrigerator door, then took out a bottle of orange juice, twisted off the top and took a long drink. Her lips still throbbed from where she’d kissed Adam’s cheek, it had been faintly shadowed with beard stubble.
    Why had she kissed him? Resisting the man was difficult enough. She was playing with fire, asking for trouble and yet she couldn’t seem to help herself.
    Eva put the cap back on the orange juice, and headed for the shower. She tried not to think about Adam, but she could still smell him on her skin, masculine and clean. She could still feel the grip of his hand around her elbow, strong and protective.
    She gulped. She was moving too fast, reading too much into the dangerous pull between them. Having naughty sexual fantasies about him.
    Calm down. Take a deep breath. Stabilize yourself. You don’t even know this man.
    Okay, all right. Snap out of it. She was snapping out of it.
    She shed her clothes, dropping them in a trail as she made her way to the bathroom. She wondered what had motivated him to come to yoga class. Was he interested in her? Or was he serious about yoga? Maybe it was both. He did say he’d moved out here to make a fresh start. Try new things in his life. Maybe she was one of those new things.
    You don’t have to be one of his new things. Just because you’re both interested doesn’t mean it has to lead anywhere. You could just be friends.
    What a novel concept. She’d never been just friends with a guy. She wasn’t sure how to go about it.
    She took a shower and then went to the living room to pick up her clothes and stuff them into the laundry basket. She made herself a snack of Wasa crackers and low-fat cheese and perched on the couch to watch television. Her eyes kept straying to the open window.
    From her peripheral vision, she could see the window of Adam’s apartment. What was he doing? Was he thinking of her as she was thinking of him?
    Why was she thinking of him? Sure, he was good-looking with a body to die for, but come on. A lot of guys were good-looking with killer abs.
    What was it about this guy that seemed to have so wholly captured her imagination? She knew nothing about him, but maybe that was part of the appeal. Once she learned more about him, she’d probably grow bored. That’s how it usually happened for her. When a guy no longer held her interest, she dropped him.
    Except for Keith, who’d dropped her before she’d had a chance to drop him. It was the first time that had ever happened.
    Then again, he’d done her a favor. She’d been honestly able to say that they’d broken up when NCIS had shown up at her studio flashing their badges.
    Remembering, Eva gulped. She’d dodged a bullet with Keith.
    She was in the bathroom toweling her hair dry, when she heard her cell phone ringing. She padded to the bedroom where she’d left it on her bureau. Leaning over, wet hair slapping the back of her neck, she took a peek at the caller ID.
    Unknown Caller flashed on the screen and she didn’t recognize the phone number, so she didn’t pick up. She waited a minute and then checked for voice mail. The automated recording told her she had one new message.
    She punched Play but all she heard was a moment of male breathing, followed by a click as he hung up.

    “C OM -C OMMANDER H IGGINS ,” Adam stammered, immediately snapping to attention. “What are you doing here?”
    This was it. He was about to receive disciplinarian action for going against his orders and making contact with Eva. He’d never blatantly disobeyed orders before and he didn’t know why he’d done it