Ian looked at Kate and grinned. “Is that right?”
“Oh, yes. She goes on and on.”
Kate made a mental note to talk to Helena about the importance of keeping certain things to herself.
“Katie? A moment alone, please,” Ian said.
“I’ll be in the back for a second, Helena.”
Ian followed Kate into the back room and waited until she closed the door behind them.
“What is it?” she asked when she turned around. He looked so serious, and she wondered if he was going to tell her he’d decided to leave Minneapolis in favor of the next city. She was surprised by how much that thought bothered her.
He put his arms around her and pulled her close. “Now that you appear to be back to your former, healthy self, I trust that the kissing ban has been lifted?”
She tried her best to look as serious as he did. “I suppose since I haven’t sneezed at all today and my cough is intermittent at best, it would be okay for you to kiss me now.”
“Good. I need to get you out of my system so I can get some work done. For some reason, I’m having trouble concentrating.”
Ian backed her up against the door and tangled his hands in her hair. He kissed her lightly at first and then let his teeth graze Kate’s lower lip. He kissed her again and then tugged down lightly on her lip before pulling it into his mouth. He switched back and forth, nibbling gently and then kissing her more aggressively. It made Kate feel as though she’d fallen into some kind of kissing-induced trance. She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and pulled him closer, delighting in his groan as he kissed her harder. If she and Ian were alone and had access to a bed, she’d gladly spend the rest of the day lying on it with him with their mouths attached.
“There. Is that better?” Kate asked when they stopped to take a breath.
He shook his head in frustration. “No. Not at all.”
“So this romantic interlude has not had the effect you desired?”
“Quite the opposite actually.”
“That’s too bad. Is there anything I can do?”
“I don’t suppose you can take the rest of the day off?” he asked.
“I wish I could, but Helena and I have a lot of work to get done before I leave tomorrow, so I’ll need to stay here.”
“Damn.”
“What about later?”
“Unfortunately, I’m dealing with a cyberattack that will require monitoring throughout the evening and possibly overnight.”
Kate took a step back. “An attack? Are you serious? What does that even mean?”
He pulled her in again. “Nothing you need to worry about. Mostly it’s annoying. They’re very persistent.”
“Who?”
“The hackers.”
“So they’re like you?”
“I’m one of a kind, sweetness,” he said, deftly sidestepping her question.
Kate knew that getting information out of Ian wouldn’t be easy, but it wasn’t in her nature to remain in the dark forever. If their relationship were to progress to a certain stage—and Kate thought she should probably have her head examined for even contemplating such a thing—Ian would have to start opening up to her. But she didn’t need to worry about that right now because she didn’t have strong feelings for him yet.
At least that’s what she told herself.
“Sometimes I just want to crawl inside your head and poke around,” Kate said. “I imagine it would be fascinating.”
“How… unsettling. Although to be fair, I too think about being inside you and poking around.” He rocked his hips forward, thrusting gently. “Poking, poking, poking, poking a little faster. There’s a rhythm I’ve got going, Katie, can you feel it?”
Kate felt something all right, and that something was pressing against her hip. “You’re incorrigible.”
“I believe you started it.”
Kate was the one who rocked her hips forward this time, and Ian groaned.