The Interview by Caitlin Ricci Read Free Book Online

that? She was Eve to his Adam. Eve, Adam. Adam. Adam . God, she had a bad memory for stuff like that.
    “Running late? I was going to say Tori. Is that a pun?”
    Huh? Oh yeah— running…
    Tori snickered, appreciating his humor. “No, but you’re right. That is pretty funny. And actually I fibbed. I don’t have anywhere I need to be.” He must think I’m a complete moron. “I just don’t want to waste any more of your time.”
    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 realize 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 favor 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 maneuvered amongst the tables with a set look of concentration on her face. There was something sweet and stunningly sexy about her, and her outspoken