Page 21 of Seductive Secrets

“Angela?”

She jumped again, and sighed. “I’m just…” she bit her lip and lowered her head, looking at her hands on her lap.

“You’re startled at the intensity of your feelings towards me,” he supplied. It wasn’t a question.

She looked at him, but he was focusing on the traffic.

“I feel it too. I felt it back in October, but I also got the feeling that you weren’t ready for the attraction between us.”’ He glanced over at her, then back to the road. “Was I right?”

She took a deep breath and nodded slowly. “Yes. You’re right. I wasn’t ready then.”

“And are you now?”

She thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yes. I think I am.”

She noticed that his fingers tightened on the steering wheel. Then he nodded. “Good. I’m relieved.” He smiled slightly, but his eyes remained on the road as the morning traffic grew more complicated and aggressive.

“We’ll take things slowly,” he promised, as he took the downtown exit that would take them to Mark’s apartment. They found a parking lot several blocks away, then started walking.

Angela needed to stop thinking about…whatever was happening between them. She needed a bit more time to…well, to figure this out. He seemed ready to jump on board with whatever might happen romantically. She was…well, cautious. Her life wasn’t simple and James had no idea how complicated she could be.

“You know,” she paused, changing the subject as she looked around. “Yesterday, we were spotted and someone tried to follow us.”

“Yes?”

She pressed her lips together and looked around surveyed the street. “Well, we’re back where we started yesterday and…”

James understood immediately. “And someone might still be watching.”

“Exactly,” she replied with a nod. “We don’t know if we gained someone’s attention when we came out of Mark’s place, or if someone saw us asking questions around Dr. Abernathy’s house. It might have even been when we dropped off the bluepowder at your friend’s lab that sparked someone’s interest in us.”

He nodded, looking around as well now with an intense concentration before he looked down at her again. “What do you suggest?”

They were in a downtown area with lots of shops on the ground floors of tall buildings. Some of the buildings housed commercial businesses and others were apartments or condominiums.

She tilted her head towards a department store. “Why don’t we go in there and see if we can camouflage ourselves in some way?”

His eyes narrowed as he peered across the street. “You think we need a disguise?”

She shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt.” She lifted a portion of her silk blouse between her thumb and forefinger. “Besides, I need new clothes. As much as I like this outfit, my yellow coat is a bit eye catching, not to mention, heavy since it’s going to be warmer in a couple of hours. Plus, I was wearing it yesterday. It’s not red like a target, but the yellow wool is close enough.”

Even as she said it, she slipped the coat off and folded it over her arm, ignoring the chill from the spring morning.

“You’re right.” He sighed. “Let’s do it.”

She grinned, eager now. She wondered what sort of “disguise” James might come up with.

Inside the department store, he looked around. “Let’s get you kitted out first,” he decided, taking her arm and leading her towards the women’s department. “What kinds of clothes do you like?”

She considered that for a moment. “Well, I normally go for the more elegant, refined sort of clothing. So what do you think about being a bit more adventurous?”

He looked her up and down. Immediately, Angela felt her breasts tingle with awareness. She wanted to tell him to stop staring at her chest, but that would only draw more attention to them. Besides, she doubted that James would obey her anyway. He might just do the opposite.

“I read an article once about a woman who designed outfits for the Central Intelligence Agency,” he started. “She mentioned that spies need to be careful to never draw attention to themselves. The blander the better, she explained. So I think you should go with something more mundane.” He eyeballed the nearest rack, reaching out to touch the fabric with one hand, and holding her wrist in the other. “Maybe we should get a few outfits that would be more interesting for the times when we’re not trying to avoid public scrutiny.”

She tried to laugh, but his grip tightened around her wrist, pulling her closer. So painfully, wonderfully close that she could feel the heat radiating off him. “Right,” she whispered, her lips feeling numb. No, not numb. Just the opposite. They felt tingly, as if her mouth was begging for him to kiss her.

“Mundane,” she parroted, stepping out of his embrace.

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