Page 11 of Out of Control

Wow, the arrogance.

“Well? What are you waiting for?”

He justhadto be doing that on purpose to provoke me. Nobody could be that annoying on accident.

“I think I dropped my phone outside when you decided unlawfully detain me. Again.” I eyed him up and down from where he was still crouched next to me, somehow managing to look cocky while hunched over in the stupid van. Good thing he was so hot or he’d never get laid with that irritating attitude.

He rolled his eyes, but slid the van door open a couple inches, glancing around. After a few seconds he opened it further, reaching down under the vehicle to retrieve my poor phone, ignoring the obvious problem as he slipped it into my hand.

“It’s fucking wet.” There was clearly guilt in his eyes, but he didn’t even have the good grace to admit that it was a dickmove to grab me that way. Sure, I had a heavy-duty waterproof case for this exact reason, but still. What a dick to not even apologize. He apologized in the back of the ambulance when we first met—why couldn’t he do it now?

“So?”

I tried to hold in my anger. Maybe the good looks weren’t enough. Maybe he acted like he had a stick shoved up his ass because no one was around for him to—

“Do you have a girlfriend? Boyfriend?” We were in San Francisco after all. I wasn’t one to judge.

“What? No, not right now. Why are you asking?”

“Just thought that if you could find someone to get all that aggression out on in the bedroom you wouldn’t need to be an asshole out here in the real world.”

He gritted his teeth before relaxing his jaw, trying to stay calm and professional. “For your information I don’t take my aggression out on my girlfriends. That’s what the gym is for.”

Was it possible for a man to beprissy?I felt like Lucas Blake was veryprissyand prim.

“Hey, I didn’t mean that in a bad way. Sometimes a girl likes a guy to be a little rough with her, you know?” His face was devoid of emotion, but his eyes blazed. He was only pretending to be unaffected. “I guess you don’t know. I feel sorry for your girlfriend.”

“I told you, I don’t have a girlfriend right now. Not that I couldn’t have one if I wanted to, but I’m in between relationships this month.”

This month? What the hell, was he a serial monogamist? “Okay, then I feel sorry for your next girlfriend. Too muchvanilla sex is bad for the relationship, you know. You should watch some BookTok. That’ll give you ideas for the next poor girl you date. Maybe she’ll stick around this time.”

I didn’t think I’d be able to keep a straight face if I looked at him, so I took my phone out and ordered an uber. It would only take a minute or so to get here.

“Do I even want to know what BookTok is?”

I dared a glance at him, pleased by the confused look on his face. I shrugged. “Maybe. Look it up. A little googling never hurt, right? If you know how to do it right, that is. You do know how to properly—”

“When is your ride getting here? I’m gonna need to arrest you for assault if you keep this up.”

Psh. “What assault?” I wasn’t scared of him or his badge.

“What else would you call all these burns you’re leaving me with? Pure bodily harm, baby. Plus the damage to my ego.”

I laughed, even as thatbabysent a thrill through me. I was a sucker for all the classic endearments. Besides, even if he was annoying and getting in my way, I appreciated that he could take an insult with grace. It didn’t make me like him any more since he was clearly a controlling jerk, but I could appreciate him from afar. Hopefully very far afar.

“Any minute now and I’ll be out of your exquisitely styled hair,” I told him just as my phone dinged. “Right now, actually. So stop following me. I’m just fine.”

His hazel eyes were sparkling with amusement when I hopped out of the van. I imagined he wouldn’t be nearly as amused if he knew even a hint of the truth about why I was hanging around the Morelli offices.

five

Lucas

This woman must have thought I was stupid.

I saw her get into the uber and watched the car drive up half a block before pulling over. I saw her get out of the uber, walk a few yards farther down the sidewalk, and take out a key fob to unlock one of the cars parked along the street.

I glanced at the monitors again. Seeing nothing amiss at Morelli & Morelli, Attorneys at Law, I jumped out of the van. Making sure it was securely locked behind me, I sprinted up the street, taking out my phone to snap a picture of the plate before making it to the passenger-side window of her little blue Audi just as she started the engine. I sent the photo to Mark Rosenberg, knowing he’d get to it faster than if I sent it to an analyst at the field office.

---