Miriam came over to give her a hug. “Congratulations, Julia—er—Dr. Reynolds. This is quite a surprise, but I’m happy for you.” She leaned in and whispered. “Are you all right? Your aura is bright red.”
“Oh, I’m just fine,” Julia whispered back, between gritted teeth. “I hope you’ll visit me on death row.” She waited until Miriam stepped back then brought the end of her cane down hard on Adam’s foot.
“Ouch! Darling, what—”
“Hello, Sean,” she said brightly, doing the same to Ad am’s other foot. “I’m surprised to see you in Houston.” She felt Adam grab her cane.
“Hi, Julia.” Amusement in his eyes, Sean coughed behind his hand. Obviously, he’d read the situation correctly. “Matt and I are spending a few days here. Thought we’d catch a Texans game and just hang.”
“Maybe Adam can hang with you,” Julia said, glaring up at the man she planned to murder. By the neck until dead.
He smiled back as he discreetly wrenched the cane from her hand, and gave her a warning look. “Darling, I plan to stay by your side all week.”
“Oh, that is so sweet,” Tami cooed, oblivious to the tension. “Why don’t we cut the cake and pour the champagne?” Ever efficient, she hustled over to the table, as Julia struggled for composure. Most of the staff members followed, always ready to eat.
“This is wonderful. Wonderful!” Dr. Moreno positively beamed as he tucked the check into his coat pocket. Since he disliked social events, and people in general, Julia wondered if he’d already been in the champagne. Or maybe he was just giddy over Adam’s second bribe.
“Julia!”
She turned and saw her sister and Luke entering the reception area. Marla, with her protruding belly and a glow of happiness, looked especially pretty in a burnt orange sweater and brown slacks. Luke, as always, drew the eye of every woman there. The man was tall and built, with long blond hair and gorgeous blue eyes.
“What are you doing here?” Julia asked with a sinking feeling. Things were going downhill at high velocity. Thank God her parents were on a trip to California.
“Tami called me.” Marla gave her an awkward hug, her belly bumping Julia. “She said they were having a surprise celebration for you.” She nodded coolly at Adam. “Adam.”
“Marla. You’re looking good. The baby’s due in about four weeks, right?”
“Give or take.” Marla glanced around the room, her mouth falling open when her gaze fixed on the banner. She whirled back to Julia. “What the hell—”
“Trust me, it’s a total surprise to me,” Julia said in a low voice. “One of Adam’s tricks.”
“Hello, Julia,” Luke interrupted smoothly, giving her a hug. “It appears congratulations are in order.”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” she said sweetly. “More like an upcoming funeral.”
“This is outrageous!” Marla said. “Adam, what do you think you’re—”
“Later, babe.” Luke took her arm. “I think we’d better stay out of this.” He winked at Julia. “My money’s on you.”
“But—” Marla sputtered as he pulled her away. He leaned down and said something to her. She clamped her mouth shut, but her expression was mutinous. She glared daggers at Adam.
Julia tried to calm her roiling stomach. This was a disaster. But if she stayed cool, it was salvageable. Engagements got broken all the time. Or she could tell everyone that Adam had met with an unfortunate accident, and been buried beside Aunt Willie—
Whoa! Her gaze had landed on Sean, who was standing very close to Miriam, his hand splayed possessively on her rear. Miriam didn’t seem to mind at all. Smiling at Sean, she casually removed his hand, twining her fingers with his. How had Julia missed that bulletin? She wondered if the world had gone mad while she’d been in some sort of trance state, probably induced by the Devil incarnate, Aka Adam Masters.
Tami came over with flutes of champagne. “First two glasses are for y’all. Have you picked out a ring yet?”
“No,” Julia said. Make that hell no.
“As a matter of fact,” Adam slipped his hand into his coat pocket, “I have a little something for my bride to be.” He pulled out a signature blue Tiffany & Co. jewelry box, and Julia’s anger spiked. The son of a bitch was playing the game all the way.
“Tiffany!” Tami fanned herself. “Oh, my.”
“My sister can’t be bought,” Marla fumed, starting toward Adam. “If you think you can just force yourself—”
“It’s those pregnancy hormones,” Luke commented, pulling her back. “They really get you overheated, don’t they, babe?”
Marla sent him a murderous look, and Julia knew she had to defuse the situation. She wasn’t letting anyone else kill Adam. That would be her pleasure alone. “Marla, it’s fine, really. As a matter of fact, I can’t wait to see what’s in the box.” She gave Adam a feral smile. “In private. Just you and me. Why don’t we go to my office?”
Tami beamed “Why, I think that’s a wonderful idea. Y’all can go be all kissy-kissy and then you can show us your ring. Take your champagne with you.”
Julia didn’t wait for Adam’s agreement; she grabbed her cane from him and limped to the hallway and toward her office. She knew he was following, because she could feel that damned energy. A loud thud sounded behind her, and she turned. Rubbing his shoulder, Adam was staring at Marla, who had the huge Houston phone book gripped tightly in her hands. “You sorry son of a bitch!” She smacked him again, before Luke corralled her. “How dare you jerk my sister around like this!”
At least they were around the corner from the reception area, so no one saw Marla’s assault. The astonished look on Adam’s face was priceless. Despite the situation, Julia had to smile. Trust Marla to always come to her defense. “Thanks, sister,” she said. “But I’ll take it from here. I have a cane, a gun, and pepper foam.”
Adam sent her a pained look; Luke gave her thumbs up. She spun and walked to her office, going behind her desk as Adam came in behind her. He closed the door with a wave of his hand, and she heard the lock click. That only brought home their differences. Bombarded by a plethora of emotions, she tried to calm herself.
She truly didn’t understand any of this. Couldn’t fathom why Adam would suddenly show up after almost eight weeks of no contact, and just when her life was finally settling down. Why would he do this to her, stir up emotions she was working so hard to bury? It was a crappy thing to do.
And still she wanted to know why. Logically, there was no way a man like Adam would be interested in a woman like her, unless it was the thrill of the hunt. Wasn’t it human nature to want what you couldn’t have? Except Adam wasn’t exactly human.
He could at least respect her feelings. She’d made it clear she didn’t want to be with him. Okay, so she’d told him that after they’d had wild monkey sex in the shower, followed by an encore in the bedroom. So maybe that was a mixed message. But still. Being Adam, he would do exactly what he wanted.
“Are you through overanalyzing the situation yet?”
No matter how annoyed she was with him, his raspy voice did wild things to her libido. She looked at him. He was so fine, tall and broad-shouldered in his classy Italian suit, with that incongruous diamond in his ear. So calm as he waited for her to engage, so brilliant, so powerful, so sexy, so . . . everything.
This was crazy. But she needed to be objective and lev elheaded. “Why are you doing this, especially now? You’ve been out of my life for almost eight weeks, and now,” she gestured at the blue Tiffany & Co. box he’d set on her desk, along with his champagne, “this. I don’t understand.”
“You think I’m stringing you along, appearing every so often to ensure you don’t forget me? Staging this elaborate ruse and buying jewelry just to jerk your chain?”
When he put it that way, it didn’t sound like a solid rationale, but nothing was making sense right now. “Well, yes, something like that. It’s the only . . . logical explanation.”
“Juli
a, fate is not always logical. Neither is love.” Adam started toward her, stopped when she raised her cane. He sighed. “All right, then. Let’s start with the eight-week hiatus. I wanted to give you time to recover from the traumas of San Antonio, and from Bennett. I wanted you to have time to heal emotionally and physically, before I pushed the issue of our relationship.”
Damned if that didn’t make perfect sense. And it was actually considerate. Eight weeks ago, she’d have been no match for Adam. Now . . . she still had to harden herself against him. “That still doesn’t answer why. Why are you doing this, Adam?”
“The correct question would be why are you doing this, Julia? Why are you turning away from me, when I know you care? I know you’re affected by this attraction between us. Why are you fighting it?”
“It’s just chemistry. Pure, ordinary lust, engendered by the Sanctioned/conductor link.”
Frustration flashed in his eyes. “You’re lying to yourself. There’s so much more between us. You belittle what we have when you deny it.”
She felt her own frustration, and a whole set of other emotions. She could deal with mathematical equations, but this emotional flypaper was beyond her.
“I’m not trying to belittle anything. I just—” She raked her hand through her hair. How could she make him understand?
“This whole situation is totally, unequivocally illogical! Consider who you are, Adam. You’re a superhuman being from Atlantis. You can manipulate energy and battle evil beings. You’re responsible for the welfare of dozens of people under your leadership. Your business and your home are in Corpus Christi. You wear designer suits and hobnob with the rich and famous. You slept with Cleopatra, for God’s sake. And I—”
She shook her head, waved a hand toward herself. “I’m a plain, ordinary math professor, and I prefer a quiet, uncomplicated life. We’re not even close to a match.”
“First off, you’re not remotely plain or ordinary. You’re beautiful, inside and out. And you’re gutsy, courageous, brilliant, compassionate, unpredictable, and have a wicked wit.” He gave her a heated look. “And you’re very sexy.”
“That’s the Sanctioned/conductor link and two-hundred-year celibacy talking. We’re from different worlds, Adam. This can’t work.”
“Your own sister is happily married to a Sentinel. Don’t tell me it can’t work.”
“I—” She paused, stumped. He had her there. “But you’re a Sanctioned. You’re far more powerful than a Sentinel, with far more responsibility. It’s not the same.”
“Julia, you have an amazing intellect. But you’re over-thinking this. You’re my soul mate. Just as importantly, I love you. Does there have to be anything beyond that?”
Didn’t there? She was just more confused. She turned and stared blindly out her window. Things had been so much simpler when her sole focus had been teaching and her family.
“Do you know what I think?” Adam said from right behind her, giving her a start. She’d forgotten he was Mr. Stealth.
She turned, finding herself nose to chest with him, and her cane no longer in reach. Then his arms were around her and she was pressed against him. Her knee-jerk reaction was to pull away, but he held her firmly. “Just hear me out,” he said against her hair. “Listen to me.”
“Do I have any choice?” she sniped against his chest. But she’d be lying if she said it wasn’t wonderful to be wrapped in his strength and heat and amazing scent.
“No, you don’t, actually. I have a theory about you, Julia. I think you blamed yourself for what happened with Bennett all those years ago. That you felt responsible because Marla got in the cross fire. You second-guessed yourself, overanalyzed like you tend to do. You wondered if you had somehow led Bennett on, somehow given him the wrong idea.
“You took on the blame and have been punishing yourself ever since. That’s why you withdrew from the outside world and lived like a hermit. You didn’t think you deserved to be happy. You still don’t believe you do, which is why you won’t accept my love.”
The truth in his words slammed into her and cut to the quick. It was hard to argue them when Dr. Jackson had recently suggested the very same thing, when she was coming to that realization on her own. But it didn’t change the facts. The old pain, which was always with her on some level, surfaced and rolled through her. With it came tears, burning as they filled her eyes.
“Maybe it was my fault,” she whispered. “I should have seen Bennett’s unhealthy attachment to me, should have done something about it before it escalated to violence. Marla was almost killed. She shouldn’t have suffered because I was oblivious to Bennett’s fixation on me.”
“You know better than that, at least intellectually,” Adam said. “Let me ask you a question. When Matt was possessed by the Belian, was it his fault?”
The denial rose quickly. “Of course not. The man was grieving and drinking too much, but he didn’t invite the Belian to possess him.”
“Then why would Bennett attacking you be your fault? You weren’t aware of his attraction to you, and you didn’t intentionally lead him on. You didn’t flirt with him, or go out with him. You were simply courteous. Right?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“What happened was out of your control. It’s that simple. It’s time to let it go.”
Was it really that easy? But even if she could rationalize blame, it wouldn’t change anything. All she could do was embrace life from this point forward. She felt a weight lifting from her soul. Maybe this thing with Adam could work. Maybe she could stop paying Dr. Jackson the big bucks now, since she had her own personal psychoanalyst.
She swiped at her eyes. “What is it about you that makes me cry so much?”
“It’s our soul bond.” He slid his hand beneath her chin and tilted her face up, gently blotted her tears with his handkerchief. “We feel stronger emotions when we’re together.”
“So we’re back to that.”
“We never left it.” He pressed a kiss to her lips. “There are two things that should help you feel better.”
“And what would those two things be?”
He picked up the blue box. “The first would be for you to put on this ring and agree to marry me.”
Panic swept through her. She wasn’t ready for a ring, much less a commitment. She was just coming to grips with the fact that she was dating a god, if you could call her activities with Adam dating. “Oh, I don’t think we should rush into anything—” The words froze in her throat as he opened the box. Oh, my.
Nestled in the satin was a beautiful square-cut diamond in a simple, four-prong gold setting. The band was wider and more contemporary than a traditional engagement setting, and it set off the square stone perfectly. It was simple enough to suit Julia’s nonfrilly taste, yet it was elegant. Stunning.
She touched the stone, which had to be at least two carats. Okay, so she was weak. So it was ridiculous that she could be so affected by a large chunk of carbon, that it could so easily weaken her emotional defenses. She’d never been big on jewelry, but getting a ring like this thrilled her down to her staid toes. What a shock to discover she still had girly genes.
“Are you trying to bribe me?” she asked, resisting the urge to rip the box out of his hands.
“Whatever it takes.” He removed the ring, took her left hand, and slid it on her finger. Of course it fit perfectly. “Is it working?”
Even though she adored the ring, and—if she were being totally honest with herself—she loved the man, she decided a little payback might be in order. “Oh, I don’t know.”
“Well, then. Maybe we should move on to the second thing.”
She tore her gaze away from the diamond to look up at him. “What’s that?”
His eyes took on a heated glow. “Consummating the deal. Right now.”
Shock punched through her. “Now? Here? Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea at all.”
He waved his hand and her suit jacket opened. How had that gotten un
buttoned? She felt her bra unhook. “Adam—”
Her slacks, mysteriously unzipped, slid down her legs, followed by her panties. “Adam Masters, stop right now!”
She tried to move away, but he had her pinned against the desk, and her pants were tangled around her ankles. He slipped one hand beneath her bra and stroked her breast, while his other hand cupped her rear. “You’ll be calling me a deity shortly.”
“We can’t do this in here,” she gasped as he lifted her onto her desk, took off his coat, and unzipped his pants.
Hearing thuds, she looked around and saw books, papers, telephone, and her calculator levitating off the desk and to the floor. She heard her shoes hit the floor, lost her slacks and panties completely. “Whoa! Wait a minute! This is not a good idea—Oh!”
His hand slipping between her legs sent her thoughts spinning into space. She found herself arching back as he lowered his mouth to her exposed breast. This was crazy. Insane. Irresponsible, undignified. What if they got caught? And—
“Oh, God,” she moaned as he lifted her hips off the desk and slid inside her. Of their own accord, her legs wrapped around him, and he leaned over her.
“Darling, you’re deifying me again.” He was way too smug, and she was going to give him hell . . . as soon as they were finished.
She dropped her head back as the sexual link between them swamped her, obliterating everything but the sensation of Adam moving inside her, of the building crescendo that was rapidly approaching.
“I’ve really missed this,” he gasped, sounding a little swamped himself. “We only did it four times—not that I’m counting, or anything—but it’s highly addictive.”
“Typical male,” she managed. “Go without nooky for two hundred years, and you think you’re deprived. . . . Oh, do that again.”
The phone intercom buzzed from the floor, and Tami’s honeyed Southern voice floated out. “Dr. Julia, what are y’all doing in there? Not too much kissy-kissy, you hear? Come on out and join the party.”
“We’ll be there in a few moments,” Adam said, sounding almost normal. And he hadn’t missed a stroke. Impressive.
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