Her Perfect Stranger

spread her thighs when he buried himself deeply inside her. At the feel of him filling her beyond full, her eyes fluttered closed, her heart raged. Her senses soared. 'Yes.'

Another powerful stroke pounded both her and the door, and she cried out again, completely lost, as always with him. She might have been terrified, even furious, at his mastery over her, but if his hoarse groan and quivering limbs were any indication, he was just as lost as she.

And then he lifted his head, his eyes dark with passion, need and a hunger so fierce it took her breath. Holding her gaze captive within his, he started to take them both right over the edge. 'Look at me,' he all but growled.

'I am. Mike, I am.'

'Don't stop. Don't ever stop seeing me, even after-' He broke off when she tossed her head back and arched against him, already shuddering with another orgasm.

He followed.

They were still damp and trembling, and still quite breathless, when the knock came at the door.

'Corrine?' It was Stephen, and he sounded worried.

And wary.

'We heard some banging,' he called out. 'Just wanted to make sure you were okay. Corrine?'

Horrified, stunned and still wrapped around Mike as if she'd been trying to climb his body-which of course she had!-she went utterly still, staring at Mike. Mike, who'd promised her they were alone.

'Corrine? Is that Mike in there with you?'

'I'll be right with you,' she somehow managed to reply.

Which was worse? Being caught in this compromising position, with Mike still buried deep inside her, or the look on his face? A look that didn't hold surprise so much as acceptance. 'How did this happen?' she whispered. 'My God, Mike, you said they were gone. You didn't do this on purpose, did you?'

He didn't so much as blink, but let go of her thighs so she could slide down his still hard, still hot body.

She stood there, naked and shaking, as fury mounted, along with humiliation. 'You did.'

Turning away, he reached for his pants, the long, leanly muscled lines of his sleek back drawing her even now. 'Is that what you think?' he asked. 'That I would? That I could?'

Where were her panties? Oh perfect, they were hanging off the filing cabinet. 'I don't know. Why don't you just answer the question?'

He left his pants unfastened as he turned to face her. 'Because you should know better.'

11

He felt guilty, no doubt. But not for the reason Corrine seemed to think he should. No matter what she believed, he had not made love to her at work so that they would get caught.

He'd done it because he could no more stop breathing than not take her. That they'd been in her office should have been enough to stop him, to bring him to his senses, but that was just another sign of how far gone he was.

He'd taken her, hard, against the door, for crying out loud, and while he was furious at himself, one look at Corrine's dark face told him she was even more furious.

But damn it, she'd had an equal part in this.

In less than sixty seconds, she put herself together, looking like the commander once more. Mike watched, fascinated in spite of himself by the transformation. When she'd smoothed her hair back, straightened her shoulders and was reaching for the door, he whistled low and long. 'That's amazing,' he said, sounding a little bitter in spite of himself. 'How you do that-go from a warm, hot, loving woman to cold, hard and centered, all in the blink of an eye.'

It was a direct hit-he knew it had to be-and yet it didn't faze her. She glared daggers at him. 'We weren't going to tell anyone.' 'News flash. I think it's too late.' 'I'm not going to forgive you for this.' He nodded, as if she hadn't just stabbed him right in the heart. 'Because you think I did this to you on purpose.' That she could even think it made him sick, but before they could have that particular battle, she pulled open the door and faced what he knew was her greatest fear-exposure. Stephen was standing there, waiting. 'Good news,' Corrine said briskly. 'We've been working our butts off for months now, and given that we're in stall mode until the arrival of the new equipment, not to mention the computer programming glitch, we're all entitled to take a long weekend.' She checked her watch, studied the date, cool as a cucumber, miles from the woman who'd been shuddering in orgasm only moments ago. 'It's Thursday now. I don't want to see either of you again until Monday. I'll call the others.'

Normally this dictate would be greeted with whoops and hollers, and the backs of quickly retreating astronauts as they hightailed it out of the space center, and maybe even Texas.

But no matter how good Corrine was, she couldn't sidetrack Stephen so easily.

'Damn,' he whispered, looking over his shoulder to make sure they were alone. 'Do you guys have any idea how noisy you were?'

Corrine blanched, but otherwise showed no outward sign of emotion. 'Did you hear what I just said?'

'Yeah, time off, whatever. But-'

'What is it you need?' Corrine asked with that famed chilly voice.

'Need?' Blankly, Stephen looked at them. 'Urn…'

'Okay, then. See you on Monday.' Corrine went to close her office door, then seemed to remember Mike was still standing behind her. Turning, she sent him a get-out-of-here look.

He wasn't going anywhere, damn it, not until they talked this out.

'I need a moment,' she said.

He just bet she did. But no matter what she wanted, this moment was not going to go away with a flick of her wrist. Knowing that, he turned to Stephen. 'Look, I'm not sure what you heard, but-'

'You don't want to know.'

Corrine closed her eyes.

'But if you twist my arm,' Stephen said, watching them both with growing amusement as his shock faded, 'I heard the banging first.' He slapped his hand on the wall with a rhythmic sound that could have come from a set of drums…or two adults having wild, unbridled, out-of-control sex against the door. 'Just like that.'

'Okay,' Corrine said quickly. 'Bottom line. I'm human, okay? But it's after hours, and I refuse to apologize for what amounts to my own personal business.' She grabbed Mike's elbow and pulled him out of her office.

Then, before he could so much as blink, she went back in and slammed the door, shutting them out.

The lock clicked into place.

Stephen looked at Mike speculatively. 'I guess that's that, huh?'

'Yes,' Mike said, relieved he wasn't going to press or tease him. 'That's that.'

'Don't worry. It wasn't really all that obvious, anyway.'

'Okay.' Mike sighed. 'Good.'

'I mean, really, you could have been doing anything in there. Copying. Faxing. Computer stuff. Anything.'

That's right, Mike told himself. They could have been doing anything, anything at all.

'Except for the 'Don't stop, Mike, oh, please don't stop' part,' Stephen said. 'That sorta gave you away, big guy.'

'Hey, we could have been working! She really likes her work!'

Stephen just snorted, then looked at Mike for a long moment.

'What? You have something to say, say it.'

'Well, I could tell you how incredibly stupid this is.'

'Yeah.'

'Or I could ask for details.'

Mike frowned. 'You're going to make me hurt you, Stephen.'

'Oh, boy. Tell me you're not in love, man. Tell me you're not that stupid.'

'Why would falling in love be stupid?' Mike asked, far too defensively.

'That's not the stupid part. Unless you're falling in love with the Ice Queen.'