Summer of Love - Carly Phillips Page 0,57

mind-blowing orgasm.

He’d already caught her rhythm with his hips and pelvis, and it wasn’t long before he thrust upward one last time, and she shook, groaned and came, calling out his name.

Only when she finally caught her breath did he step back. He took in her flushed cheeks and the way she attempted to straighten her clothing and grinned.

“I’m sure this isn’t appropriate behavior for a partner,” she said wryly.

He raised an eyebrow. “Who knows? There is a reason we partners have private bathrooms in our offices, you know.” He pointed to the door in the back corner of the room.

She blushed and in a very un-Zoelike way, ran to the restroom to pull herself together. Still, she had a point. He’d never brought a woman he was seeing to his office, let alone made one come behind the closed door.

Shaking his head at how different he was around Zoe, he adjusted himself, and while he waited for his most obvious reaction to Zoe to subside, he seated himself behind his desk.

Zoe stepped out of the bathroom at the same time Sam came barging into the office, barreling through like a tornado.

“Shouldn’t you knock before you just run into Ryan’s office?” Zoe asked. “What if he’d been having an important phone call?”

Zoe’s gaze never met his, but he noticed her non-Mediterranean blush remained.

“Yeah, well this is important.” Sam paused at the foot of his desk, obviously unnerved and out of breath.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m being followed,” Sam said.

Ryan sat up quickly in his seat while Zoe grabbed for Sam’s hand. “What do you mean?”

He had no doubt they were both thinking about the two incidents in New Jersey. Could this be a third?

“The child has an active imagination, Mr. Baldwin,” Ryan’s secretary, Nadine, an attractive brunette, said from where she stood in the doorway. “We went to Burger King, and she kept looking over her shoulder, sure someone was behind us.”

“But you didn’t see anyone?” Ryan asked.

“Not till I went to the bathroom,” Sam said. “When I came out, he was standing outside the men’s room right opposite me.”

Nadine’s mouth dropped open. “I had no idea.”

“Did he touch you? Try to grab you?” Zoe asked.

Sam shook her head. “He didn’t have the chance. A woman was walking out with her kids, and I latched on to the little one’s hand and pretended I was with them. Then as soon as we were out of the hallway, I ran to the table.”

“I didn’t know. She just said she wanted to leave and only mentioned being followed in a general sense.” Nadine glanced down. “I let her go alone,” she admitted. “Sam said it would be okay. I don’t have kids. I didn’t realize.”

Ryan nodded. “It’s okay, Nadine.” Hell, he didn’t know how to handle a teenager yet, either. Both he and Zoe had let her go to the rest stop bathroom alone. “Don’t worry about a thing,” he told the other woman. “Go relax, and I’ll take it from here.”

She nodded. “Thank you.” She left them alone and shut the door behind her.

“What’s going on?” Zoe asked. “Was it the same man who broke into the house back home?”

Sam nodded. “I think so. He had the same dark hair, and his face was familiar. It can’t be my imagination,” she insisted. “And the whole time we were walking down the street, it felt like someone was watching me.”

Ryan exhaled a sharp breath. “You were scared, I bet.”

“Which is completely understandable considering all you’ve been through lately,” Zoe added, exchanging a worried glance with him.

“We’ll call Quinn and see how the investigation’s progressing. In the meantime, how about we go back home for a while before dinner?” he asked, changing the subject.

Sam nodded. “Good idea. What’s on the menu tonight? I was thinking maybe Chinese food.”

“Actually…” Ryan began, then glanced at Zoe for help. After today’s incident, he was sure Sam was even more fragile, although she’d never show it. After all the progress he’d made with her over the last few days, his next announcement could bring back the Arctic chill.

“I asked Ryan if we could meet his family tonight,” Zoe said, unexpectedly taking the heat off him.

Sam narrowed her gaze. “How could you do something like that? I don’t want to meet his stinking parents!”

“Samantha!” Zoe said, clearly appalled.

“Well, I don’t. They hated my mother. I remember her telling me we only had each other because they didn’t want her around. So why would you want to go there?” Her voice rose