Kate looked into Josh's eyes with undisguised fascination as he threw
her own challenge back to her, upping the stakes in the process. She
couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so freely, or for that
matter, let her guard down with anyone. She could have jumped out of
the way when he'd literally swept her off her feet and held her over
the water, and found some way to turn his actions to her advantage, but
she hadn't wanted to. She had been more interested in seeing just how
far he would go. Too few people in her life had managed to catch her
off guard, but Josh seemed to have a talent for it, and that intrigued
her. He would be expecting some kind of response to the challenge, she
knew, but before she could decide on a course of action, he kissed her
again with more intensity than she had anticipated, and she could only
respond in kind.
After a few moments, Kate pulled back just enough to return her gaze to
his eyes. She had to force down another peal of laughter at the
insanity of it all. From the moment she had walked into his office
that morning, there had been no denying the attraction between them,
but she had not imagined that she could so quickly become spellbound.
"Does that answer *your* question," she asked, quirking an eyebrow at
him.
"I think so," Josh replied. His brow furrowed slightly as he smiled at
her. He couldn't help wondering what she had in mind for the rest of
the evening. "I just wonder who has to watch out for who," he said,
paraphrasing her earlier response.
"That is a very good question," Kate said with mock seriousness and
wiped at the smudge of lipstick on his mouth with her thumb. "It's a
good color on you, but it clashes with the outfit," she teased. Over
Josh's shoulder, she caught sight of some subtle movement in the
shadows of a nearby stand of trees out of the corner of her eye, and
froze instinctively. In the instant it took her to focus on the right
spot, whatever it was had stopped.
"Kate," Josh queried. He followed the direction of her gaze, but there
was nothing to see now.
Kate shook her head. "Nothing. Probably just a stray dog or
something," she said. She smiled reassuringly and shrugged. "I have a
tendency to jump at shadows."
"Paranoia is a professional hazard," Josh agreed. He spared one more
quick glance back at the tree line, wondering just what Kate had seen,
and not fooled for a moment by her apparently casual attitude about it.
"It's always served me well." She brushed his lips with a playful
kiss. "Now, how about that walk?"
*****
He stood fifty yards away, lurking, hiding in the shadows. For a
moment, he thought they had seen him, but of course, that was
impossible. There was no way they could know that he was there. He
was too good at his job, and he had too much to loose to allow himself
to get careless. Still, he sensed that he had nearly been revealed,
and he made a conscious effort to be more stealthy in the future.
He hadn't expected tonight to be any different from any other. Hiding,
watching, waiting, reporting everything he saw, which usually wasn't
much. From this distance, he couldn't hear what they were saying, and
in the beginning that had troubled him. But it proved unimportant. He
had seen enough to make this night's work worthwhile.
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