“Of course I included you. It’s your job.”
“Funny how no one else seems to remember.”
“Like I told you, Merlin doesn’t understand modern stuff like human resources—though he’s probably getting better with all those business books he’s been reading. And you’re doing a great job. Some of those teams have even made up T-shirts and cheers.”
He laughed. “Yeah, and that’s almost scary. We’ve had great results from the secret Santa program, too. Since it started, productivity has gone almost back to normal, after a serious drop from the time word about the spy got out.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
He raised his cup for a toast, and I clinked mine against it. “To fighting the bad guys with whatever tools we’ve got,” he said.
“Hear, hear!”
All of a sudden, the tension I’d felt in the elevator returned with a vengeance, so forcefully that I almost thought I could hear it rush in. His breath caught, and I knew he could feel it, too. Without a word, he set his cup on the coffee table, took my mug from me, and set it beside his. And then we all but fell on each other.
There was nothing cautious or gentle about this kiss. It was an all-out tongue-tangling lip-lock, like we couldn’t get enough of each other. He bent me back so I was lying on the sofa, my head resting on the sofa arm and him lying on top of me. Things were getting very serious very fast, and I was impatient for more.
He trailed his fingers down my neck to my collarbone, then traced the neckline of my blouse. I felt a button open, then another. And then sanity returned. What on God’s green earth was I doing?
I ducked the next kiss by turning my head aside, then I tried to wriggle out from under him. He responded by kissing my neck and tightening his hold on me. That meant I had to escalate. I put my hands against his chest and pushed with all my strength. When he grabbed my wrists with one hand and pinned them out of the way, I got scared. This wasn’t fun anymore, by any definition of the word. It was serious.
That meant I had to get serious. First, a verbal warning. “Rod, no, please. Let’s not do this,” I gasped, but it didn’t slow him down one bit. So I brought one knee up to hit him in a very sensitive place as hard as I could. That got his attention.
He released me enough that I was able to worm out from under him to land on the floor in front of the sofa, even as I mentally blessed the brother who’d taught me that particular move when a friend of his known for his octopus-like arm action had asked me out.
When Rod recovered from the initial impact, he looked at me in shock and horror. “Oh, God, Katie, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened,” he said. I knew he had to be pretty stunned, for his illusion dropped entirely.
My head finally cleared enough for me to realize what had to be going on. “It’s a spell,” I said. “It has to be. Someone’s trying to make you do something you would never do otherwise.”
He closed his eyes and groaned. “That would explain it.”
“I have to get out of here,” I said, scuttling away from him. “For both our sakes.” I grabbed my purse in the entryway, made it to my feet, and ran out of the apartment.
I reached the elevator bank and pushed the DOWN button repeatedly, hoping that this one time it defied logic and called an elevator faster. I’d just stepped onto an elevator when Rod came running out of his apartment after me. I hit the door CLOSE button as he shouted, “Katie!”
“I’ll be okay,” I called out between the closing doors. Only when I got outside did I realize I’d left my coat behind. It wouldn’t be safe for either of us if I went back there, though, even if freezing rain was already falling. At least I had my purse, and therefore my keys. It wasn’t that far to my own apartment, and if I ran I’d keep warm. The tears that insisted on spilling out of my eyes didn’t help. It was cold enough that I was afraid they’d freeze on my face. I was in way over my head, and it was my own fault. If only I’d told someone about my loss of immunity so they’d know how vulnerable I was.
But the low point to my evening hadn’t come yet. I felt the tingle of power that meant magic was in use nearby, but of course I couldn’t see anything to know if I was under attack. Great, I was out in freezing rain without a coat, I was shaken up by a case of spell-induced seduction that had almost gone too far, and I was very possibly being attacked while I was too magically blind to know when to duck or get out of the way.
The only thing I could do was run the other way when I felt a buildup of magic and hope I could make it home in time. I put my head down and took off, then veered to the side when I felt the telltale tingle. I wondered if anyone would oblige me by shouting “Polo” if I yelled “Marco,” but I doubted that people who grew up without ready access to swimming pools would know all the kids’ swimming pool games. The tingle increased, and I spun around, swinging out with my purse and feeling a satisfying contact with something solid. Then I ran in the other direction.