Page 45 of Pleasure Control

Laura turned her attention to Jay and watched him pull his cell phone out of his pocket as the masked man rolled out of his reach, stumbled to his feet, and ran in the same direction as Max.

Breathless, Jay met her gaze. His eyes were full of tender concern. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “You?”

“Yeah. Where the hell did you learn that?”

Laura drew in air and shook the sting from her hand. “Last weekend I had a date with Ben and Jerry and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous.”

He frowned in confusion. “Do you want to try that again? In English this time.”

“Ben and Jerry’s is a brand of ice cream and Miss Congeniality 2 is a movie with Sandra Bullock.” She mimicked her earlier actions. “I put Gracie Hart’s SING technique—solar plexus, instep, nose, and groin—to use.”

He shook his head in amazement. “I never knew you were a woman of so many talents. Remind me never to piss you off.”

Jay pulled a card out of his back pocket. “We need to call the detective.” He punched the number into his cell phone.

“Good, because I know who is responsible.”

Jay’s fingers stopped. “You do?”

“Yeah. Max.”

His head jerked back. His brow puckered. “Max? How do you know it was Max?”

“By his breath. I can identify him.”

He gave her a look that suggested she’d lost more than her delicates.

“I’m not crazy, Jay.”

“We didn’t see their faces, Laura. We can’t identify them.” He cocked a brow and grinned. “Unless, of course, they put him in a breath smelling lineup?”

“Good idea.” She waved her hands impatiently. “Give me the phone.”

Jay handed it to her.

It rang twice before she heard Detective Doyle’s booming voice on the other end.

Still trying to regulate her breathing, Laura quickly relayed the details to the detective.

Doyle got quiet for a moment. Laura assumed he had to swallow a bite of donut before he could speak. Finally, he cleared his throat and spoke. “I’ll pay him a visit, but I’ll need more proof than bad breath, Laura.”

Angered, she opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off.

“Don’t worry, all is not lost. We found a print at your apartment and they’re running it.”

They spoke for a few more minutes and then she handed the phone back to Jay. “He wants to talk to you.”

Jay exchanged a few words, assured the detective they were okay, and promised to come in first thing in the morning to fill out a report.

Jay slid the phone back into his pocket and glanced at her. “He told us to sit tight and stay inside. Tomorrow we’ll give a statement.” He grabbed her hand. “Come on, let’s go before they realize they made off with your clothes. Although something tells me they won’t be back.” He grinned. “Not after you going all Jackie Chan on them. That guy’s going to be nursing his balls for a while.”

Laura kicked off her shoes in Jay’s front foyer and perused her surroundings. His place wasn’t at all what she had expected. He might live a sexy playboy lifestyle, but his apartment looked nothing like a Don Juan bachelor pad. Of course, it didn’t really surprise her. Underneath that playboy façade existed a caring, nurturing man. Maybe even a nerdy scientist at heart.

His spacious front entrance opened into a very masculine, yet comfortable living area. Off that room, she spotted a bright yellow kitchen with a small dinette table tucked in the corner.

“I’ll take your things to the bedroom.”

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