Page 50 of Live a Little!

He swung around the same turn the Lexus had taken momentsbefore.

“Shit!” he yelled, as he staredahead.

“Jake, stop!” Cynthia shouted at the same time. But he was already slamming on the brakes. His own tires howled as he came to an abrupt halt. Ahead of them a class of schoolchildren was crossing the street. He swore again in frustration as he watched helplessly. The gold Lexus took a sudden turn into analley.

“Come on, come on!” he urged the last straggler, a little girl in a pink raincoat and matching boots who trailed the rest of the class. He saw a teacher urge her on, which must have flustered Pinkie so much she dropped her lunch bag. By the time the teacher had picked up her lunch and walked her the rest of the way, Jake knew his chase wasover.

“Maybe the police will catch him,” Cynthia said breathlessly, as they turned into the now emptyalley.

“Yeah, maybe. Except he’s not headed for the highwayanymore.”

They spent half an hour cruising the area in the hope of seeing the stolen Lexus, but luck wasn’t with them. Cynthia kept her eyes peeled, looking everywhere, and he knew she wanted to catch that driver as badly as he did. But eventually they had to admit defeat. “I’ll take you back to yourcar.”

“You should go back and arrest that building superintendent,” she said, her voice echoing all the frustration hefelt.

“You did okay,” he toldher.

On the way back to the shopping mall he realized her breathing was still ragged. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this stuff as much as she thought. “Hey. It’s okay, it’s over now,” he soothedher.

“I know,” she said. “I can’t helpit.”

He reached out to give her a comforting one-armed hug and felt the heat in her body. A glance at her face showed him flushed cheeks and bright eyes. It was a sight he was beginning to knowwell.

He let his comforting hand slip between her legs. She was hot, wet and ready. “You’re not scared. You’re turned on.” Even as he cupped her heat she moaned and squirmed beneathhim.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I can’t helpit.”

“It’s the adrenaline. Takes people different ways,” he explained. But instead of removing his hand, he increased the pressure. “You’re a dangerjunkie.”

“How does it take you?” shewhispered.

“Are you talking about rightnow?”

“Yes.”

In answer he took her left hand and placed it in his lap. Although truth to tell, it wasn’t the adrenaline, but her excitement that he was responding to. All he could think about was plunging into all thatheat.

Her hand found and grasped his erection, and he heard the breath hiss out from between histeeth.

She glanced up at him from beneath her lashes. “I have to go home andshower.”

Shower. Warm water cascading down her naked skin, beading on her nipples. A bar of soap in his hands. “Me,too.”

“Shame to waste water.” Her hand started moving on him, light strokes that burned through hisslacks.

“Might as well share. I’ll bring the soap.” If they made it that far. He cupped her moreintimately.

“Isn’t it dangerous to drive with only one hand on thewheel?”

“Not as dangerous as driving with no blood in my head. It’s all drained downsouth.”

CYNTHIA FELTLIKE a criminal walking in the front entrance of Oceanic later that day as though she hadn’t sneaked over the back fence in the middle of thenight.

But everything seemed the same as usual. The receptionist was just as bored, filing her inch-long pink fingernails while flipping through a bridal magazine. Cynthia’s work was as uninteresting, and Agnes was stillgray.

After the excitement of the morning, culminating in a shower unlike any Cynthia had ever had before, month end just wasn’t doing it for her. She tried to keep her mind on her task, but just being in Oceanic had her thinking about lastnight.

Images of her and Jake making love in the warehouse kept intruding until the columns of figures on her screen wavered and she forgot what she was doing. She had this horrible notion that she might somehow have left behind a sign of their passion among the packing crates—a tube of lipstick, a piece ofclothing.

---