"What's going on Karen?" Eve questioned with a frown as she looked to her friend in disbelief, "what the hell has happened to you?"

"What do you mean what's happened to me?" Karen shrugged, "I'm fine."

"No, you're not fine and anyone can clearly see that after the way you just stormed out of the board meeting telling Alan to go to hell."

"He was out of line," she stepped across the room to pour herself a mug of coffee, "and I wasn't in the mood for a lecture."

"Karen, Alan wasn't lecturing you, merely asking you a question..."

"Lighten up Eve. What is all this worrying going to do for you?" Karen gave her a look, "you know Eve, I really think that you need to relax, to get some rest perhaps. Maybe take a vacation of sorts."

"Karen, I don't need a vacation. What I need is answers as to what's going on. What is happening with you and Chris? I caught part of your conversation in the hallway."

"Do you really want to know?" Karen asked with a half smile, "Eve, given what you've been through, you may not be able to handle it."

"Try me," Eve frowned.

"I haven't even told Frank," Karen bubbled over with laughter as she looked to Eve, "although you are one of my best friends and well, seeing as Ian has turned out to be a huge disappointment," Karen paused contemplating her thoughts for a moment, "Eve, if I show you what it is that has been happening with me, well you have to promise me that you'll keep this between us."

"Karen, what is going on?"

"You have to swear first," Karen ordered, "and then after you have to promise me something."

"What? Karen, this sounds serious."

"Promise me that when I tell you what's going on, you do what you feel you must with Chris." Karen let out a tiny giggle, "I think he's in need of some kind of punishment for his role in all of this. Let's just say when you hear all he's done, you'll see Chris Ramsey is a very naughty boy in need of some kind of punishment for his actions and maybe just maybe," Karen laughed lightly thinking of the way Chris had been stalking her like crazy, "you might be the one to provide it. To give him what he so richly deserves. Come to think of it Eve, I think you're the only one who can truly reach him, to let him know what happens when he plays god with everyone's lives."

"Karen, what has he done now?"

"You wouldn't believe me..."

"Try me," Eve sighed, "but I'm sure whatever Ramsey's done, he's not meaning to let it go so far."

"Oh it hasn't gone far enough, but once you know the truth Eve," Karen decided, "rest assured that you'll want to have a very private one on one with Chris and get to the heart of the matter. It's just too good of an opportunity not to."

Eve leaned in towards the window sill as the steam began to form tiny droplets in contrast to the warm air upon the chilled glass. She pressed her index finger over the damp ring as she drew a heart with an arrow within it. A pleased smile curled over her lips as she looked down to the world below. Reaching up to rub her neck, she heard a sound from behind her. She closed her eyes taking in his scent, his strength as her pulse raced in her chest.

"I was hoping that you wouldn't make me wait long," Eve began her voice no more than a throaty whisper as she kept her eyes closed imagining the look upon his face as his eyes fell upon the soft, sensual curves of her body, "I was starting to think you'd forgotten all about me."

"Eve," he blinked back in surprise closing the door to his office 
behind him as he watched her closely.

"You should know by now," she began reaching up for the clip in her hair allowing it to cascade around her shoulders as a pleased smile curled over her full, crimson colored lips. She turned to face him offering up a glimpse of her pale, unclothed flesh burning for his undivided attention as she placed her hand upon her breast moving up towards her heart in a slow teasing motion, "I absolutely loathe waiting Chris."

"Eve, what are you doing in here?" Chris questioned blankly as his eyes fell upon her dark nails tracing over her forbidden flesh, showing him so much more in these moments than his fantasies had ever given him. His throat constricted as he struggled to keep his breathing even.

"What does it look like?" she questioned leaning over to seat 
herself upon the corner of his desk as she crossed her legs gingerly offering him a taste of the curves he'd spent many a nights dreaming of having wrapped around him. Her slender thighs dangled in contrast to the darkened tint of the desk's wooden surface as his eyes fell upon the black spiked heels she'd laced up around her ankles. While Chris had the great pleasure of allowing his eyes access to every part of her, there was something about those shoes, about their color, their style, they way that they seemed wild and wicked gave 
him a whole new outlook on Eve, one that he hadn't of imagined, well perhaps he's imagined it, but he'd never imagined she'd give into this kind of naughty temptation.

"I don't understand," Chris admitted at a loss as her toes stretched out towards him beneath their darkened sheath tempting him to move in closer towards her as she tipped her head back allowing her hair to press against her spine as a bout of laughter erupted within her.

"What's to understand Chris?" Eve questioned with a slight shrug, "you needed me and here I am, yours for the taking."

"Eve, I appreciate the gesture, but I don't understand how," Chris started as she held up a tiny syringe in her left hand.

Her eyes pressed over it for a moment before she tossed it across his office with a flirtatious bout of laughter, "You know Chris, I had no idea on just how much you'd been holding out on me. If it wasn't for Karen telling me about the wonders of..."

"Karen," Chris blinked back, "what about Karen?"

"She told me everything," Eve stepped down from his desk, "I know all about your little experiment, all about your so called power juice," she stood taller as she moved towards him her fingers pressing over the lapels of his jacket, "and while I was reluctant to take Karen's word about things, I had to admit that I like what I see," Eve pressed her lips in just over his as her hands slithered beneath the lapels of his jacket seeking out the warmth of his chest beneath his powder blue button down shirt as she pressed feathery light kisses over the base of his neck skimming the tender flesh above his collar, "and right now all I can see is you."

"But what about Ian," Chris began his voice shaky as her fingers skimmed the hair on the back of his neck causing a chill to rush through him followed by a heat unlike anything that he had ever known as he noted the playful smile upon her lips. As she pressed in forward, she closed her eyes taking in a breath, inhaling the intoxicating scent of his masculinity that had tempted her senses. Parting her lips slightly, she traced the tip of her tongue over her bottom lip thinking about what it would be like to taste him as he'd found a way to rouse a primal desire within her, beckoning her unlike 
anything that she'd ever felt before.

"Ian who?" she questioned in a heated whisper brushing her tongue over his lower lip in a soft, moist sweep before darting within teasing him, tempting him for a brief moment before taking a step back. Chris watched her intently as her eyes gingerly scrutinized him from head to toe, "Right now you're the only man I see, Chris."

"Eve, if you're doing this because of what Karen gave you," Chris started feeling a heat rise from within him as he adjusted his tie uneasily.

"Chris, this isn't about Karen," Eve explained stepping towards him, her eyes taunting him with her silent touch, her body tempting him to give in to the desire that he'd harbored for her all this time, "this is about you and me, just the two of us," she reached out to him pressing herself against him, "together as one."

"Together," he couldn't help but smile at the notion as her eyes spoke of a desire that had only existed in his dreams up until this moment in time.

"Lost in each other," she promised capturing his mouth with a hungry urgency as she pushed him back towards the cot set up in his office, "I want to feel you, to know your body," Eve kissed him again her hands wandering over his muscled form as a smile pressed over her lips, "let me touch you Chris. Let me make love to you like nothing you've ever known. Let's make love."

"Right here," Chris questioned his hands pressing over her slender waist squeezing her body to him as she kissed him again in a more voracious invitation.

"Right now," she instructed pushing him once more as he tumbled over the cot haphazardly. Using the moment's advantage she'd given herself, she moved in over him placing herself upon his abdomen as her lips carssed over him sensually in a provocatively long, drugging kiss overtaking all of his senses. He could taste nothing but her, feel only the warmth her body provided him with as her fingers danced over his shirt savagely tearing at the tiny buttons before she slid her fingers over the strength of his forearms upwards towards his shoulders before interlacing their fingers together and squeezing his hand in hers, "give yourself to me," she instructed unable to quench her thirst for him as her lips parted pulsing with the inflow of warm, sensual blood begging of him to give in to the temptations she'd offered to him.

"Yes," Chris agreed, lost in his own desperate ache as her slender fingers slipped over his wrists drawing tightly over him before urging them over his head. He watched her with mild amusement as she reached out over the side of the bed before leaning down to kiss him. He was lost in the taste of her, in the pleasures she'd provided him until he'd suddenly felt the cold, hard snap of metal over his wrists. He'd watched her pull away from him, a smile curled over her dark lips as he reached out towards her, only to find himself thwarted by the metal restraints she'd managed to place over 
his wrists. He tugged forward once more to Eve in a rather puzzled fashion, a frown fell over his features, "What are you doing?"

"What does it feel like," Eve questioned her fingers traveling over the hair dusted muscles of his chest playing over his skin before she pinched at the hardened nipple causing a surge of air to press forward from his throat, "I thought you might like to play," she explained leaning down to close her mouth over the hair encircled nipple before her, already a hard heated bud before her lips pressed over him. Sucking him teasingly, she traced the delectable tip of his hardened flesh feeling another moan erupt from within him as her fingers pressed over the strength and tensile beauty of his exquisite musculature beneath her. Feeling his skin simmering beneath her finger tips, her lips continued on over him in a slow, 
seductive pattern.

"Eve, this is torture," Chris sucked in a sharp breath as her fingers played over the loop of his belt buckle causing him to shift beneath her.

"It's only the beginning," Eve promised her tongue tracing over his skin before circling his navel, "I have such plans for us tonight."

"Let me touch you Eve," Chris begged of her shifting beneath her as her fingers teased over the fabric of his pants seeking out a quick preview of his desire before she withdrew from him, "please..."

"In time my love," she promised pressing her index finger over his lips to silence him, "but first," she bent down to kiss him tenderly, "I want to play. Don't tell me that you want to stop," she shifted over him grinding her hips over his hard male heat as another moan exploded within him.

"No, no don't stop," he decided, his heart racing in his chest feeling like it would pound out of control as she tempted him with her touch.

"I didn't think that you would want me to stop once I got started with you," she grinned, barely holding herself above Chris so he could feel the heat emanating from Eve's body, although he couldn't reach out to touch her due to his hands being restrained.

Chris tried to raise himself up to reach Eve's alluring body, his insistent arousal rock hard just like his well defined muscled body that was laid out beneath Eve for her to witness. Eve's gaze traveled back to the ostentatious display she had evoked from Chris by her wild and uninhibited behavior towards him and felt a shiver of anticipation course through her body. She placed her hands on his shoulders and urged him to lie back beneath her.

Chris grew tense after Eve pushed him back down upon the narrow cot, his mounting frustration apparent on his face of being at Eve's mercy, "Eve, let me go, don't do this to me," his voice held a mild warning while his eyes flashed with anger as he gave Eve an menacing look, "you need to quit playing this little game that you think you have going on between the two of us right now."

"Chris, from my viewpoint, I don't see anything little in sight, although I can see what I've been missing out on. How did you manage to keep this treasure hidden from me so well?" she purred, leaning down closer to nip at his lips, "I only want to give you pleasure. Surely you must agree with me that the higher the level of desire that you achieve, the greater pleasure you will eventually receive. You do desire me, don't you Chris?"

Chris' muscular hips jerked upward involuntarily as his body desperately searched to find what Eve was intentionally denying him with her wicked game, "Eve, I'll only ask you nicely once more," he said slowly in a not to be denied tone of voice, "release me from these handcuffs immediately or I'll..."

"Or you'll do what Chris? It seems to me that you are in no position to be issuing any kind of threats," she raised an eyebrow to him, "or promises for that matter. Maybe now you'll think twice before you try to play god with other people's lives. Karen told me all about your little experiment that you've been cooking up and I think this is a little taste of payback you deserve for all the things you have attempted to do to her."

As the realization that Eve had just been playing him all along this evening dawned upon him by her words to him, his fury at her deception of wanting to be with him only increased his determination to get away from her clutches. He twisted his wrist until he was able to wrench one hand free from the handcuffs to grab Eve towards him, a slight grimace of pain crossing his face momentarily that swiftly faded away to show a triumphant smile break over his features at his accomplishment. Eve was caught off balance by Chris' sudden movements and found herself pinned underneath him before she fully realized Chris had liberated himself from her imposed confinement upon his person. Her eyes widened in surprise as he hissed, "Eve, never underestimate your opponent's strength and intelligence in any given situation."

"Is that how you view me Chris, as an opponent of yours?" she inquired. "By the look of things, I think you see me as something far greater to you than just a mere adversary of yours," she willed herself not to give him the satisfaction of seeing how cornered she actually felt now that Chris had shifted things to his advantage by managing to free himself.

Chris braced his unfettered hands upon either shoulder of Eve's to keep her from moving away from his tight grasp he now held upon her, "Well, I certainly couldn't view you as my lover, now could I? Seeing as how we've never made that intimate of a connection with one another," he paused a few moments as he lowered himself closer to her, his lips barely grazing hers, "yet," while he captured her lips into a hot, ravenous kiss.

Eve moaned softly as Chris plundered her mouth, savagely holding nothing back from her in his assault upon her as he still felt the anger within him at her for teasing him with her wanton body. She opened her mouth to accept his invasion gladly, returning his kisses greedily with the same amount of intensity that he was displaying towards her. She parted her legs and opened herself up to Chris wanting him inside her desperately as she felt him nudge at her heated entrance.

Her anticipation mounting with each passing second, she closed her eyes waiting for Chris to join her, but she felt him stop all motion as he held back not penetrating her wet and willing body she was willing offering up to him. Eve opened her eyes and gave Chris a slightly confused look when he didn't move any closer to join them together as one, finally putting an end to the waiting and wondering she had felt about him for so long. Still he made no movements to enter her, instead he looked deep into her eyes, questioning her, "Do you really want me Eve?" as he controlled his urge to slide into her body and plunge wildly into her inner depths of pleasure.

She refused to answer him and let him see what power he now had over her by his reluctance to go any further in this seduction she had initially started with him. She turned her head to get away from his inquisitive eyes that glinted with unmasked desire for her in the semidarkness of the room that surrounded them.

"I guess you don't want me bad enough," he sighed and began to draw back away from her when she cut her eyes back to stare at him defiantly, hating to have to admit to the fact he had her in the position right where she had wanted him earlier before the tables had been turned on her in this game. Right now at this moment she felt if she didn't have Chris soon she would scream, she realized that she wanted this man more in this moment than she had wanted anything in her entire life.

He didn't come to her; instead he arched a dark eyebrow in question to her, while he watched her struggle with the emotions that were coming to the surface by this latest turn of events.

"Yes, I want you," she finally whispered, admitting to him the need he had ignited within her.

He leaned into her, bridging the distance between them again, "Well, that's too damn unfortunate for you Eve. Your arrogance astounds me, how dare you think that you can teach me a lesson by trying to use my feelings for you against me. You are a fool if you think that you can control me and more importantly if you ever attempt to restrain me again, you'll never know what hit you by the time I get finished proving my displeasure to you. I'm not some mindless puppet you can pull the strings on from above and make perform for you at your beck and call, so if you're looking for that kind of servitude from me, you'll be sadly disappointed. Maybe you need to see if you can find your way back to Ian if you really want that kind of mindless devotion from a man," he rolled off of her and reached to retrieve his pants from the floor and began to pull them on his naked body.

Eve's look was incredulous at his abrupt refusal to continue their joining with one another, "Ramsey, you can't be serious about us not finishing this."

He laughed a wicked laugh and shook his head, "Get out of my office Eve and don't come knocking on my door until you are ready to quit playing all of these mind games on me. I'm not in the mood to tolerate them from you any longer, so when you are ready to grow up and you really know what it is that you want from me, then you let me know. Until then, just stay far away from me."

"You can go straight to hell Ramsey," she angrily spat at him as she went to find her discarded clothes and began to hastily jerk them on, "you'll be the one begging for me before this is all said and done with between us."

He rolled his eyes at her, "Don't hold your breath waiting on me to beg you for anything Lambert. I've got more patience in my pinky finger than you have in your entire body. You know, it could have been so easy for me to just give in to you tonight and end up having mindless sex with you, but you see I'm not like all those other men you've had in your life, I don't want you for just sex. I want you for your heart and mind and I'm not willing to settle for anything less just to appease my desire that I've felt for you for so long. If you're not willing to come to me for the right reasons and give me your heart then it's really not worth all of my efforts."

"My heart is the one thing that you will never possess," she haughtily replied, giving him a disdainful look as she tried to gain control over this situation once more.

"Well then, I feel sorry for you Eve," Chris quietly said, "because you are missing out on the best thing that will ever happen to you by turning away from me and throwing away your chance to find real happiness with both hands if you don't ever open up your heart to me and give me the opportunity to love you like you need to be loved. It's sad to watch you continually go from man to man and see you wind up unhappy each time because they don't understand you and know what you need in a relationship. Do you have any idea how hard it has been for me to sit back and let you make mistake after mistake knowing that you won't be happy with any of those men? Can't you see that you and I are so much alike, all though you have went to great lengths to pretend that we're nothing alike anymore and as long as you keep fighting me you'll never find the true love and happiness that you've always been searching for." He turned away from her and walked over to look out the window, "Just go Eve, I don't have the time or the inclination to do this any longer. I've wasted enough years hoping that one day you would wake up and see what you've had right in front of you all along."

Eve stood there in the room at a loss after hearing Chris' heartfelt declaration to her, "Chris..."

"Please go," he continued to stare out the window refusing to turn back to look at her again.

Eve felt the tears that had suddenly sprang up from within her and wiped her eyes to be rid of them. Her heart felt heavy as she made her way out of his office to go home, her thoughts a jumbled mass of confusion after the confession that Chris Ramsey has just given her. What had started out as a game that she and Karen had devised to teach Chris a lesson had turned into something entirely different by the end of the evening. She had never imagined that things would have wound up so intense between them tonight. Now she knew for sure how Chris felt about her and what was she going to do with the knowledge that he had imparted to her? Could she give Chris the one thing that he was asking of her to give him, her heart?