Page 32 of Live a Little!

“Hmm?” She turned, and her vision melted like the ice cream would on Jake’s— “Sorry, Agnes, I was miles away.” She shot the older woman a sheepish grin, straightened her spine and yanked her skirt down a bit. “What did yousay?”

“I’ve decided to take you up on your kind offer.” Agnes stood there in her doorway like a Crusader about to start off for the Holy Land. “I’m ready to get my haircolored.”

“That’s great! I’ll make the appointments right now.” Before Agnes could change her mind, which she looked in imminent danger of doing, Cynthia dug Michael’s card out of her purse and made appointments for the two of them for Saturdaymorning.

As the afternoon dragged on and boredom threatened to set in, she nudged her lumpy backpack with her foot, just to remind herself of the adventure she’d promised herselflater.

Frequent peeks at the office clock didn’t speed the afternoon atall.

Finally, the clock showed it was just a few minutes before five. The office staff were starting to pack up, ready to go home. Cynthia turned off her computer, straightened her desk and picked up the backpack, slipping her purse inside. “I’m just going to visit the washroom, then I’m leaving for the day,” she said breezily to Agnes as she headed out of the accounting department and into the mainoffice.

She didn’t mention that the washroom she’d be visiting was located in the warehouse. She saw Eddie and a couple of casual workers on the far side as she entered. A quick glance revealed where they’d stacked a shipment of chopsticks. The crates appeared untouched.Excellent.

Casually, just in case anyone was watching, she sauntered to the ladies’ room. She’d never seen a woman working in this area of the company, so she imagined the women’s bathroom was a tip of the hat to equal opportunity. An easier step than actually hiring a woman on the loadingdock.

She was grateful that the men were too macho to enter a door with a silhouette of a woman on it. The tiny bathroom was spotless, and smelled faintly ofdisinfectant.

Using the light from the open door, she did a quick reconnoiter—very quick; it was a pretty small bathroom—and in seconds had the layout memorized. One stall, a single white sink with a small mirror stuck to the wall above it. A paper towel dispenser, empty trash can. Lino floor that looked pretty clean. Nowindow.

Swiftly she closed the door behind her, not turning on the light just in case it showed under thedoor.

Her heart began to pound. For the first time since she’d started the job, she was going against Jake’s specific instructions to stick to her regular job and do nothing out of the ordinary. If he found out she was actively snooping he’d kill her. Of course, if there were drugs in this warehouse and she got caught hiding in a pitch-dark bathroom with a backpack full of tools, somebody might do the job forhim.

The darkness started to close in on her and she felt mildly panicked. It wasn’t too late to change her mind. She could still waltz out of this tiny bathroom, say goodbye to the guys and saunter on home. No one would know about her botched undercover spying attempt. She gnawed on her thumb and listened to her heartpound.

She took a step backward and halted. She had to stop being a coward. Jake had offered her danger and excitement, and she’d been thrilled. Now she had a chance to grab some of that excitement by doing a little sleuthing, and she wanted to wimpout.

Well, forget it. She was doing this. And not just for her own personalsatisfaction.

She kept up with the news; she knew the devastation caused by drugs. Families were torn apart. People became addicted and ruined their lives. And the senseless violence of drug wars made Cynthia sick. If there was any chance she could play the smallest role in helping to keep illegal drugs out of the country, she’d doit.

Considering her options, she decided to sit on the floor rather than the toilet. She’d be here awhile. She sank down, wishing she’d chosen to wear her black pants this morning. At least her black wool jacket waswarm.

She wished she had a way to pass the hours. She also wished she’d had time for lunch. She was already hungry. She ate the chocolate bar in tiny bits, making it last as long aspossible.

After an eternity had gone by, she realized she had no idea what time it was. She’d turned her phone off and didn’t dare turn it back on. If she was going for a career in the spy business, she should invest in one of those fancy watches with a luminescent dial that were good to thirty feet underwater. Then she spent a long time fantasizing about doing naughty things with Jake thirty feetunderwater.

Which naturally led to memories of the night before and the way he’d made her feel: sexy and wanton. Powerless and yet powerful enough to make a man like Jake whimper. She smiled smugly at that. He’d moaned, too. But best of all was when she’d made himbeg.

She was starting to feel very warm all of a sudden. He’d been gone when she’d woken this morning, which was to be expected, given his paranoia about secrecy. She’d swallowed her disappointment and searched eagerly for a note. There hadn’t been one, but then again, if the bad guys broke into her house, he wouldn’t want them finding a note. It was so sweet of him to worry abouther.

Over coffee and granola it had occurred to her that if the bad guys broke into her house, she’d have more to worry about than a note. Her euphoria dipped sharply and all her old insecurities rushed back. Maybe he hadn’t had such a good time, after all. Maybe he thought last night was a hugemistake.

With a heavy heart, she’d prepared for work, defiantly putting on the tight black pants and figure-hugging black and white shirt even though she felt more of a fraud than usual in her sexygetup.

She’d grabbed her purse with a sniff, set the alarm—vowing to upgrade to a top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art, unbreakable system—and hauled out her keys to lock the door. On her key ring was a small silver key she didn’t recognize. Puzzled, she stared at it for a moment—then felt a rush of deliciousjoy.

It was the key to thehandcuffs.

That was better than any old note, or dozens of red roses. What he was telling her, she was certain, was that he’d had a great time—and why put the key on her chain unless he was thinking she’d be needing it on a regular basis? The silver key tinkled merrily against the sturdier house and carkeys.

If she wasn’t scared of making a noise, she’d take her keys out now, just for the comfort of holding the little key that reminded her of her connection toJake.

Her backside went numb and she reviewed sections of the Tax Code in her head to stay awake. She knew the shipping and receiving guys worked until eight. She’d planned to wait until somewhere around midnight to make hermove.

It must be hours and hours she’d sat here. If she wasn’t careful, they’d find her sound asleep on the bathroom floor in the morning, and that would not look good at all. She slipped out of her heels and donned the black trainers she’d purchasedearlier.

Slowly, she stood. She pressed her ear against the door andlistened.

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