So Into You by S. L. Carpenter, Sahara Kelly Page A

wheels in the sex department and had
rung her bells with finesse and enthusiasm. In fact she blushed just thinking
about that damn couch.
    But on the heels of these lovely
reminiscences came a slight twinge of guilt. What about Dominic? Was she being
unfaithful to her memories? Should she just end it because right now everything
was good but will eventually crash to the ground?
    And above all, what was that
god-awful smell coming from LuAnn's cubicle right next to hers?
    She wrinkled her nose and tried to
ignore it. Asking would only result in knowing what the woman had had for
breakfast. That fell into the Too Much Information category, since it was
probably something like egg, sausage and jalapeno burritos. Her stomach lurched
at the thought.
    As she tapped away at her keyboard
she heard the chime for an incoming email. Opening the window, she saw it was
from Phil and titled "Thinking of you". She couldn't help a giggle
when she read it, because it included a photo he had taken of a teddy bear with
her underwear over its head.
    The intriguing little photo was
captioned.
    It was either this or a photo of a
man with elephantitus of the nuts. Since we're at work I figured this was more
appropriate.
    Good God. Was elephantitus even
a word? She blinked and barely stopped herself from Googling it.
    Then she realized something. Phil
was sitting only a few offices away, but not hanging over her cubicle. He'd done
little more over the past few days than his usual good morning. He certainly
wasn't stalking her, or finding excuses to talk to her. He was, somewhat to her
surprise, being respectful of her wishes. It seemed that he understood her
fears about inter-office relationships, and that was a major point in his
favor.
    Her thoughts were interrupted by the
sound of sharp clicking heels approaching her desk. Hurriedly she killed the
email and looked around to see Joan from the reception desk staring at her.
"Morning. Anything I can do for you?"
    Joan tilted her head to one side,
motioning to the doorway.
    Casey rolled her chair backward and
looked the way Joan had indicated. There was Phil peeking over his cubicle with
binoculars pointed at her and a shit-eating grin on his face. She couldn't help
but smile.
    However, the tiny spark of heat that
leaped to life low in her belly was immediately suppressed. She had company.
"What a pervert." She shook her head casually and rolled back to her
desk.
    Joan raised one eyebrow. "You
do know he really has a serious thing for you, Casey. " She paused,
sniffed, and then looked at LuAnn's cubicle. "What in the world is that
dreadful smell, LuAnn? Did you have those crappy burritos again for
breakfast?"
    There was a mutter that Casey
couldn't catch.
    Clearly Joan wasn't as interested in
LuAnn's dining habits as she was with Casey's love life, since she pretty much
ignored the mutter and turned back to the subject uppermost in her mind.
"If Phil wasn't so cute and obviously hung up on you, there are more than
a few girls here that wouldn't mind him poking them, if you know what I mean.
Shame he and I didn't work out, but we didn't and I knew I had to move on. I
hated dumping him, of course. I reckon it took him a while to get over me."
She idly studied her fingernails. "If he has. You never know with men like
him."
    Casey played it cool as well.
"He's harmless. It's no secret I don't have time for that kind of thing.
He's good at picking up coffee now and again, but hey. You know how it is. I
have other commitments. If he likes doing me favors, who am I to argue?"
    "You should be nicer to him.
Maybe you don't realize the advantages of having a good-looking guy at your
beck and call. Just because he's under your thumb doesn't mean you can squash
him like some bug."
    Joan's tone roughened from playful
to something approaching anger. She glared at Casey with a look that was two
degrees away from vicious. Clearly there was more to her comments than just be
nice to Phil —she was seething with