Stories of the ice storm flooded the airwaves all day. However, no thanks to my determination to work with little interruption, I was oblivious to what was going on until the wind turned direction and the ice began pelting the lone window in my office. I pulled my head out of the report I'd been working on at the sound, more because the constant tap-tap-tap was giving me a headache than out of curiosity as to what was going on.
I stepped to the window and groaned as I looked down onto the ice covered city. I moved to Atlanta to avoid things like this, and, yet, here I was, stuck downtown during an ice storm. It would take me hours to get home, if past experience was any indication. The last time we had a little snow here—it was less than an inch—traffic on the roadways slowed to a trickle. This was much worse than a little snow.
"Now what?" I said aloud, not really expecting an answer from the empty office.
"We could chance it, or we could stay here and wait for the road crews to catch up."
My heart sank at the sound of the deep voice I knew almost as well as my own.
Kevin Trower.
"Working late?" I asked, though it was pretty obvious.
"Just you and me," he said.
I wasn't surprised. It was often just Kevin and I catching the elevator hours after everyone else had left. Kevin and I were hired about the same time, both constantly competing for the same assignments, the same accolades from the partners. Who ever said competition was not fierce at an accounting firm never worked at McDonough and Associates.
I wondered what my chances would be if I headed out now. But I could see the cars on the I-285, sitting bumper to bumper as though it were a hot summer day outside the Georgia Dome. There was no way I was going to make it to my suburban house before dawn tomorrow.
"I don't suppose you have a tank—or a snow plow?"
Kevin smiled, his full lips making my heart skip a beat. Kevin had this delicious smile that had always had the ability to make me lose track of...everything. That's why I tried hard not to look at him during meetings. Or outside of meetings.
"We could call someone, I suppose, but I get the impression from the news coverage that all rescue vehicles are pretty much occupied at the moment."
I bit my lip as I tried to think of some other way to get out of here. Kevin, on the other hand, seemed to be making himself comfortable. He'd moved into the room and was lounging full length on the small loveseat stuck in the corner of my office. He looked like a model posing for the cover of GQ, the way he sat back with complete ease even while wearing a very well-tailored suit.
There had always been something about Kevin. He was beautiful—beautiful being the only word appropriate to use with such an Adonis—with these amazing hazel eyes and smooth skin the color of hot chocolate. His arms were bulging with muscle, visible even under the expensive material of his suit. He had a broad chest, narrow waist, and hips that strained against his slacks, making you wonder what he might have hidden there. But it wasn't just his rugged good looks that made every woman he met cream their panties. It was the way he could stare at you across a crowded room and make you feel like you were the only one there. The way he could charm with just a smile and few well-chosen words.
But I had also been on the other side of that charm, when he hung me out to dry a few weeks after we both came to work here, making it clear to the partners that he thought I had screwed up a project when, in reality, he was the one who had screwed up.
He was a devil in a very tone, very sensual body.
Somehow, I found myself unable to keep my eyes off of him. And he was watching me as I paced in front of the window, his eyes burning holes in my wrinkled blouse, my short skirt. I unconsciously ran my hands over my hips, smoothing the fabric of my clothing, as I tried not to give him the satisfaction of knowing his look made me imagine more than his eyes roaming over my body.
"You might as well sit down and relax, Casey," he said, gesturing to an empty spot between his splayed legs on the loveseat. "It's going to be a long night."
"No, thank you," I said.
He shrugged, as though saying: to each their own.
I slid behind my desk and picked up the phone, but there was no dial tone.
"Storm knocked the phones out over an hour ago."
"Gee, thanks," I said.
He shrugged again. "Cell service went out a few minutes ago, too."
"So we're completely cut off?"
"Afraid so."
I bit my lip again. There had to be some way to—
"You should stop doing that."
I looked up. "Excuse me?"
"Stop biting your lip," Kevin said as he leaned forward on the loveseat.
"Why?"
His slow smile made my stomach tighten, made me wish I was sitting so I could squeeze my thighs together. I was not a completely inexperienced nitwit; I knew what he was thinking. But that he was thinking it about me made the sudden dampness in my panties that much more voluminous.
"We have a long night ahead of us..." I began to say, but I don't know exactly where I was heading with it. All thought flew from my head because he stood and was walking toward me.