by Jill Monroe
She sagged against him. Spent. Staying in the chair until the air-conditioning cooled their skin.
“Up you get, cariño,” he told her sometime later, and he gave her a playful swat to her thigh. “I want you in bed and nowhere else.”
“Heaven,” she breathed as she slipped between the sheets, and after a moment Tony joined her. He’d shucked his jeans and padded into the bedroom naked, gorgeous abs and all, clutching his phone in his hand. “Oh, we didn’t get everything.”
He made a scoffing sound. “Please, I am a professional.”
“No, I distinctly remember you using both hands.”
He eased in beside her on the bed, drawing her body flush against his. “I know how to set up a camera to take in a wide shot. See?” With a swipe of his finger the last few minutes of the video appeared on the screen. Their bodies shadowed by the lamplight, the sound of their breathing and thrusts echoed from the speaker.
Sweat broke out along the back of her neck as she watched the video, as this incredible man stroked her nipples until they hardened into points. Then she watched his hand dip between her legs, her reactions on the video subtly matching the muted reactions she was having now as she relived those moments. “Wow, that’s actually pretty hot.”
“There’s a reason couples like to record themselves.”
“Okay, so now delete it.”
His brows drew together. “What?”
“Seriously, I’ve read too many articles of just this kind of thing coming back to haunt a person, no matter how many precautions she takes. So check the cloud or whatever, too.”
“How am I going to relive this moment?” he asked.
“The old-fashioned way. You’ll remember it,” she teased.
He kissed the tip of her nose and clicked the delete button.
A screen popped up. Are you sure you want to delete? Once lost, cannot be recovered.
Hayden’s laugh was half groan, half chuckle. “I hate these pop-ups. It’s like our technology is doubting my decision, and then I start to second-guess myself.”
Tony clicked the Yes button with his index finger before she could talk herself out of her original choice. With the sound of paper crumpling, her video was gone.
“Besides, I’ll just give you something better to add to that memory,” she promised.
“Starting when?”
“Now, if you’re up to it.”
Sometime later, they stretched out beneath the covers. Tony stroked her hair as she lay against his chest. His heartbeat pounded beneath her ear, strong and steady as he drifted to sleep.
Don’t want this too much was her last warning to herself before her eyes closed and her body could no longer fight to stay awake.
9
ALTHOUGH PHARMATEST DIDN’T open until nine, Hayden could not fall back asleep on Monday morning. She’d woken up in the middle of the night, wrapped in Tony’s arms. Exactly where she wanted to be. Which was the problem.
Because despite the great sex and the shared laughter and the adventure that bound them together, they’d only known each other a few short days. And she wanted more. So much more.
But of course it couldn’t work. He lived in California and her life was here; she’d reminded herself of that at least six times a day so she wouldn’t grow accustomed to him always being near.
Tony would be leaving Texas soon and then onto his next film—the one about drug testing. A spark of hope had fired up within her when he’d mentioned that Texas sported the second-highest rate of clinical drug trials in the United States, but that hope had burned out when he’d also dropped the factoid that California had the most. Why wouldn’t he base his documentary in his own backyard? And there was no way she was leaving Texas after working so hard to secure a career here.
She eased out from under the warm, delicious weight of Tony’s arm and padded to the bathroom, shutting the door quietly so she wouldn’t wake him. A warm shower might relax her enough to fall asleep before the sun broke through the horizon. Otherwise she’d be exhausted when they met with the PharmaTest personnel, and she needed a clear head.
After turning the spigots to heat up the shower water, Hayden made herself busy setting aside a towel and making sure her shampoo and conditioner waited for her on the side of the tub. After another moment, she stepped beneath the spray, letting the water pound her body, easing the strain and tension from her muscles.
Hayden could fool herself and chalk up her anxiety to what would surely be a stressful interview with PharmaTest. Just how had they got out of the study area to traipse around Dallas clear up to Oklahoma? They deserved answers, and Hayden hated anything even remotely resembling confrontation. Ah, yes, avoidance, my old friend.
She squirted a dollop of shampoo into her hand and massaged it into her hair. Tony had washed her hair the last time she’d taken a shower. She’d been a soapy mess when he’d finished, nearly using half a bottle, but she’d remember the soft feel of his fingers massaging her scalp until she was old and gray and couldn’t remember much of anything else.
So yes, while the discussion with PharmaTest loomed daunting, the moments with Tony once the meeting concluded loomed even more threatening. Because then she and Tony would have their answers about the past, but only more questions about their future.
She stepped under the spray of the water and allowed it to take the shampoo away. After soaking her hair in conditioner, she then focused on lathering up her body. Her muscles were delightfully sex tender, her skin gently abraded from bouts against the wall, over a couch and from Tony’s stubble.
Did she want a future with Tony?
Hell yes, was the answer. Her first answer. But then she had to think, did she really want a future with Tony? First take away how wonderful he was in bed because that would just cloud her judgment.
One, he was unselfish. She sighed. Good start, already getting somewhere. Two, the man always made sure she reached her pleasure first. And that time at the club, she was the only one who’d reached fulfillment. Wait a moment—she was supposed to be cutting out the sexual considerations because they scrambled her thinking.
Hayden turned the tap to a cooler temperature and rinsed the conditioner out of her hair. Shivering, she twisted the tap off and reached for the towel. Patting herself dry, she came up with the third great thing she knew about Tony—second if she discounted the sex—he was considerate. He took great pains to find out how she liked to be touched. Where. The man always delivered the perfect blend of pressure and friction when he stroked her cl—
Okay, hold up. She’d just veered back to the sex. But Tony was very considerate; she just had a difficult time separating his consideration in the bedroom from outside of it. That was normal, right?
What else must exist between successful couples? Comfort. Was she relaxed and at ease with him? He always made sure she was comfortable with the intensity of their lovemaking. Hell, he’d asked her twice if she was okay with filming her striptease when she was the one who’d suggested it.
She was doing it again. It was as if her reflections morphed into one of those dirty Insert Word games. Insert in bed after every thought with Tony.
He was interested in her ideas—in bed.
They shared clear communication—in bed.
Patient and kind—check and check—in bed.
And that was the problem—they didn’t really know each other outside of bed. They’d got the order of things a little backward. Couples were supposed to learn whether they enjoyed being with one another first, then set the sheets on fire with the sexual chemistry. Hmm, maybe there was something she could learn from her gran’s old-fashioned ideas about dating.
Outside of the sheets, he made her laugh. Ding ding ding! She’d finally thought of one trait that didn’t involve sex, too. Even at her most worried moments in Oklahoma, Tony had been able to make her laugh. To relax and even enjoy the strange ride they’d been on together.
He wasn’t weird about money. Woot—she was
on a roll. Her last boyfriend had always insisted on going Dutch, even though he’d already landed a very lucrative engineering job at a major oil-drilling firm in Fort Worth while she had still been struggling to make ends meet with temporary student jobs that paid crap. Still, her ex had insisted on going to expensive restaurants downtown and had scoffed when she offered to cook to avoid paying her pricy dining bills. After she ordered a glass of tap water and a side salad for the third time in a row on a date, he broke up with her, letting her down easy by informing her they weren’t going in the same direction.
But Tony hadn’t made a big deal about splitting the money from their casino winnings or keeping track of who’d spent what amount. It was almost as if they were already a team—a couple.
She closed her eyes and breathed deep, then faced what she did, indeed, really want: a shot at being a couple with Tony. After wrapping a towel around her head so she wouldn’t get the pillow too wet, she flipped off the light and quietly opened the door.
Tony’s phone lay on the bedside table because he’d set it to wake them up in the morning. Out of habit, she touched his phone to wake it up and double-check the alarm settings. As an engineer, Hayden relied on technology for everything, but for some strange reason she trusted a digital clock plugged into a wall more than a tetherless phone. Tony had given her his password so—
Hey, that was another thing they had going for them outside the sheets. Trust. The man had given her the code to his phone. That was like the key to a man-diary. The level of his faith in her made her smile, and yes, the alarm was still set for a few hours from now. She stifled a yawn. The shower and her decision about working toward a future with Tony allowed her mind to finally turn off so she could go to sleep. All the cool couples were doing long-distance these days.
She was trying to slide the phone to the off position but instead hit the photos icon. There, smiling back at her was a picture of her and Tony. A selfie from Thursday night. With the flashing lights and giant mirrored ball in the background, she knew they’d snapped this picture at the roller rink.
Hayden traced the outline of Tony’s strong jaw with her fingertip. Sure would have been nice to have had this picture two days ago. Then maybe things would have worked out a little differently with Tony.
But would she really have wanted anything different? No.
With a smile, she swiped through the photos to see if they’d taken other shots. The next one showed another couple. Friends of Tony’s? Okay, searching through his pictures had now officially morphed into snooping. She almost clicked out of his photo app when she realized the other couple were also at the roller rink. Hayden squinted and pinched her fingers on the screen to zoom in on various elements of the photo. Same wooden skating floor, and in the corner behind the smiling couple, lockers. Like the one where they’d stored Tony’s phone and her purse. Exactly like the one.
Had she and Tony been at the rink with this couple, or was it just a random accident their image had been stored in his pictures? Had they been so loopy on whatever PharmaTest had doped them with that they’d made friends with everyone in the rink? The manager said they’d been beyond obnoxious.
Only one way to know for sure. She swiped to the next pic. Now it showed Hayden and the mystery woman making goofy faces, still at the skating rink. Hayden scrolled though the photos quickly until she came to a change in venue. A parking lot. The parking lot outside of PharmaTest.
Why hadn’t they looked at these photos before? They’d been desperate to find their phones for just this reason. Was it because once they were about 99 percent sure they’d been given some kind of test drug, they no longer needed an actual record, or was it because they simply wanted this weekend together for themselves? With not a single intrusion?
“Tony, wake up,” she whispered, and rubbed his shoulder.
He groggily mumbled something in his sleep and reached for her. His fingers curled around her upper thigh and stroked. “You feel so good,” he told her, his voice indicating he was more asleep than awake.
A smile lifted her lips. Tired Tony was just as sexy as fully conscious Tony. And car-adventure Tony. And giving-orgasms-against-a-wall Tony. And waking-up-deliciously-naked-in-a-cabin-in-the-middle-of-nowhere Tony. Her blood was already heated in eagerness to explore just-woken-up-Tony.
Okay, sister, tamp it down. This was serious.
She gently shook his shoulder. “Tony, look at what I found on your camera.”
“I hope that means more lingerie.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s a photo.”
“Mmm, sounds good. Come over here, cariño.”
Her body curved toward him, ready to enjoy her some Tony and— Wait. Stop! “Tony, I think there was another couple with us at PharmaTest.”
His eyes widened and a frown formed between his brows. “What?”
“I was checking the alarm on your phone when I accidentally triggered the photos to come up. And, well, look.” She thrust the phone into his hands and he scrolled through his photos.
“That’s definitely the outside of the PharmaTest building.” He sat up and reclined against the headboard. The sheet slipped lower down his body, giving her a teasing taste of what she was missing out on at the moment.
“I began racing through all these scenarios in my mind. If we lost our memory of Thursday, maybe they did, too, but maybe they weren’t so lucky. Remember how we managed to really irritate the manager at the skating rink? Honestly, it could have been so much worse than simply being asked to leave. They could be stranded or missing. Or they could be in custody.”
He steadied her trembling hands with the warmth and strength of his. “Or they could be at home in their beds. They may have been given placebos or didn’t have the same kind of reaction we did. PharmaTest opens in a few hours. We’ll ask about this couple then.”
“Let’s hope PharmaTest kept better tabs on these two than they did us. I don’t have a good feeling about this.” Her stomach twisted.
He cupped her face and smoothed her bottom lip with his thumb. “We did just fine. Better than fine,” he reassured her with a kiss to the tip of her nose. Then he returned his phone to her. “Here, search the internet on my cell. Comb through the local news sites for reports on couples exhibiting unusual behaviors and arrests. I’m going to take a shower.”
She watched the masterpiece of his naked ass as he strode away from her and into the bathroom.
Understanding—another trait she admired in a man. She loved how Tony hadn’t scoffed or blown off her concerns. And just to play along with her earlier game, he definitely understood her between the sheets.
Fifteen minutes later, he emerged from the shower, rubbing a towel through his short dark hair. Moisture beaded on his chest and shoulders and she fought the urge to lick those water droplets off with her tongue. But there were people to find. Maybe. And in a few short hours, after they had their final questions answered by the personnel at PharmaTest, she could indulge in her latest fantasy with Tony.
“Find anything?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No. Thank goodness, but I just have this feeling like I should be calling the police or something.”
“If that’s going to put your mind at ease, then do it. A nonemergency number should be listed on the Dallas PD website.”
After explaining the situation to the person answering the telephone, she was connected to an officer a few moments later. “Missing Persons.”
“Hi, uh, I think there may be one or even two people missing.” Then a thought, probably a remembrance from some distant police procedural drama she’d watched on TV aeons ago, made her pause. “Oh, wait, aren’t there rules and such about how long a person has to be missing before a report can be filed?”
“The DPD does not stipulate a precise amount of time. We ask citizens to use common sense before calling us,” responded the officer, as if she’d spoken those words dozens of times and had them memorized.
Common sense—yeah,
well, there was the sticking point.
“That’s the thing—I’m not really sure if they are even missing.”
“What are their names?”
Hayden clutched Tony’s cell phone tight. Ugh, she was an idiot. “I don’t know,” she admitted.
“Let’s try descriptions. Hair color.”
Whew, a question she could answer. “She’s blond and he’s a brunette.”
“Age?”
Hmm. About her age or so. “Ummm, I don’t know.”
“Ma’am, what do you know?”
“I believe we were in a drug study together. My...friend...and I lost our phones along with our memories, but then we located one of our cells at a locker in a roller rink and there were all these photos of another couple. The other couple is the one I’m afraid is missing, but I’m just not sure. Has anyone else reported four people missing on Thursday night? Because we were kind of missing, too.”
“What was that you said about drugs?” the officer asked after a long pause.
Her body froze in place and her cheeks heated in complete mortification. “Um, actually, I really don’t think there’s a problem here. Thanks for your time, Officer. Sorry if I wasted it.” And she ended the call.
Tony’s lips twisted as if he was trying to hold back a laugh.
“That was a bust,” she told him.
Then his shoulders began to shake.
“Yeah, ha, ha—I used your phone to make the call,” she reminded him. “If anyone has caller ID it’s the DPD.”
“I’m sure the police have more to worry about than a crackpot who’s reporting a few people who may or may not be missing. By hanging up, you just saved that officer a whole lot of paperwork.”
Her shoulders slumped.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he soothed, dragging her into his arms. “I love that you tried. Most people wouldn’t even care.”
