He looked down and smiled at the amazing woman kneeling before him and felt something blossoming inside him. Lacing his fingers through hers, he pulled her to his body, to his mouth.
He’d had no idea that becoming physical with her would be so moving. Laura stirred feelings in him he hadn’t even known existed. In all honesty, he was unprepared for the onslaught of emotions. Somehow, during their intimate encounter, she had awakened something in him, something needy, hungry.
What the hell was going on?
Wasn’t he just another “Cold-Hearted Cutler”? A man who thought only with his dick and was incapable of feelings or emotional connections with women?
She murmured deep in her throat, bringing his attention back to her. He touched her cheek. “Baby, you’re amazing.” He didn’t even try to keep the longing from coloring his voice.
She snuggled into him and licked the moisture from her lips. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
He smiled and gathered her tighter in his arms. Neither said a word for a long time. They both just stood there, holding each other, listening to the soft tick of the clock in the background. Jay finally broke the comfortable silence enveloping them.
“I guess the serum failed.”
“Appears that way.”
He tucked a wayward curl behind her ear. “You know what that means?”
She tipped her chin to look at him and nibbled her lower lip. “Our careers are in jeopardy.”
“Maybe.” A spark lit his eyes. “Or we can work our butts off tomorrow, figure out where we went wrong, and then try this again tomorrow evening.”
“And if the serum fails again?”
He chuckled softly. “Then we can work our butts off in an entirely different way.”
She returned his smile. “You know I’d do anything in the pursuit of science, but we won’t be able to work until tomorrow evening. Thanks to our ever-insightful director, we have to fulfill our monthly three B’s. Bonding, ball game, and barbecue.”
“By bonding outside the workplace, we accept happiness and harmony into our lives,” they both chanted in unison.
Jay rolled his eyes. “Someone needs to tell that man we left the sixties behind us, where they belong.”
“Don’t let his desire for employee bonding and love for sixties décor fool you, Jay. The man is a pit bull and not to be underestimated.”
He arched one brow and nodded his head in agreement. “I know, but maybe we could skip it and tell him we’ve already done our bonding for the month.”
Laura crinkled her nose and stabbed his chest with her index finger. “I don’t think this is the kind of bonding he’s looking for.”
Jay chuckled and anchored her hips to his. “Yeah, I guess this isn’t quite the kind of employee connection he’s aiming for.”
“This,” Laura said, her gaze flitting over their discarded clothes, “would get our asses canned.” A smile lingered on her perfect, sensuous lips.
His thoughts scattered as his gaze dropped to her mouth. Aching to taste her sweetness and find solace in her heat once again, he lowered his head and captured her lips in a slow, simmering kiss. She opened for him, welcoming him with all the passion inside her. The velvet stroke of her tongue against his made his head ring.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
Laura broke the kiss and eased away from the circle of his arms.
He furrowed his brow. “What is it?” he asked, cupping her elbow to drag her back.
“Ringing.”
He drew a labored breath. “You hear it, too?”
She grinned. “In your pants.”
“There’s ringing in my pants?”
Her low chuckle filled him with warmth. “Your cell phone. It’s ringing.”
He blinked his mind into focus. “Right.” He looked around the dimly lit room. “Where in the hell are my pants?”
He followed the ringing sound until he found his jeans. He fished his phone from the pocket and hastily pressed it against his ear.
“What?” He didn’t even try to keep the annoyance out of his voice.
He heard a man clear his throat. “That you, Jay?” a deep male voice asked.
Jay gave an impatient sigh. “Yeah, who’s this?” he countered, pissed at the unwelcome interruption.
“It’s Gerard, from Lab Security.”
That got Jay’s attention. He starched his spine and centered his thoughts. Lab Security calling at this time of night couldn’t be a good thing. He glanced up to see Laura watching him, her expression concerned. He mouthed the words, Lab Security.
Gerard cleared his throat again and continued. “There’s a problem down at your lab.”
Jay felt his face tighten warily. “What’s up?”
“It’s been broken into.”
Shit. Jay mumbled curses under his breath and began tugging on his pants.
“I’ll contact Laura,” Gerard said.
“That’s okay, I’ll let Laura know.” With that he hung up the phone and looked into Laura’s questioning eyes.
“You’ll let me know what?” she asked, closing the distance between them.
A sick knot tightened his stomach. His shook his head with worry. “The lab’s been broken into.”
He watched the color drain from her face.
“Our research,” she mumbled, her voice merely a strangled whisper.
He wrapped his arms around her and drew her close. “That’s likely what they were after. Come on, we’d better get down there right away and see if anything is missing.”
Laura squeezed her way between the two burly officers blocking her entrance to the lab.
One grabbed her by the arm and mumbled through a face full of donut and hot coffee. “Excuse me, miss, you can’t go in there.”
She opened her mouth, about to tell Detective Jelly Donut exactly where she was going and exactly where he could go, but Jay cut her off and wrapped his arms around her waist in a protective manner.
“This is Laura Manning and I’m Jay Cutler. It’s our lab,” he assured the officer, with a flash of his security identification card.
The officer let go of her arm, cleared a path, and waved his hand. “Oh, then by all means, come in. We’ve been waiting for you two. We need you to go
