Naked Pursuit. Jill Monroe

you preventing us from leaving?” the pretty young brunette asked, subject number thirty-five.

      “This should make for a very interesting angle to my film,” test subject seventy-eight informed Larissa as he lifted his phone and aimed the camera lens in her direction. Ah yes, this volunteer was the California documentary filmmaker. “Please confess to the world how PharmaTest kidnaps patients and holds them here at the testing center in Dallas, Texas, against their will.”

      “Yeah,” the pretty brunette at his side cheered him on. Were they together now? Already?

      Larissa had distributed the testing dose to each of them less than an hour ago. How were people coupling up? They should be in deep REM by now, in that dreamless sleep of the fully medicated.

      But the filmmaker’s threat hung heavy in the air. A sudden wave of panic struck her in the stomach. Larissa was no social-media dummy. This video would go viral. In less than a second, her Twitter handle would spread from one tweet to the next, followed by the public shaming and embarrassing meme, finally culminating in job loss. If she was lucky.

      She plastered on a smile and lowered her arms. “Of course I’m not trying to kidnap you. I have some tea, or perhaps you’d prefer some flavored water? Let’s go to the lounge and you can choose. It’s all part of the compensation for your time. As well as the money you’re being paid as a volunteer test subject.”

      “You can keep the forty bucks,” offered the firefighter from Colorado.

      That man was delicious, all rugged and well-honed muscles. Not exactly her type, though. Larissa’s weakness was the smart-with-glasses, quiet, sciencey type, like Dr. Mitch Durant. He was the head researcher on this study and the reason she’d stuck around on a job for which the hours were from eight at night until seven in the morning, often screwing up her weekends.

      The med student—uh...Stella Holbrook—hooked her hand around the firefighter’s arm. Wait, was this another quickie pairing? Had Dr. Mitch tweaked with the formula again? Added some kind of hooking-up pheromone? Not that she blamed the woman for being intrigued with the firefighter, but c’mon, ladies and gents. This was an experimental drug test, not the club.

      Larissa couldn’t just let them leave, could she?

      Of course, the four of them were all adults. They could make their own choices. But more importantly, they’d all been required to sign waivers releasing PharmaTest from any liability. Larissa would never have distributed the meds without double-checking to make sure that important detail had been taken care of.

      But her dilemma wasn’t just the patients’ well-being. Dr. Durant’s research was important, not just to the man who’d put every bit of himself and his career into developing HB121, but also to the potential pain it would prevent for the hurt and wounded of the world, allowing doctors to give life-saving aid. How many times had Dr. Mitch gifted her with the smile that reached all the way to his dark eyes and told her how important she was to his team? Even now a tiny little thrill inched its way down her vertebrae at the memory. Larissa had to fix this situation for him. Now.

      Clearly the pacifying approach wasn’t working. The four looked like they’d rush her at any moment. And they’d win. At five foot two, she’d always been shorter than everyone else on the playground. She’d hated Red Rover.

      Maybe a play on their altruistic side would do the trick. “This research is important. All of you wanted to do something to further this study. To help people. By leaving now, you’re changing the sample. That will make the conclusions and results suspect.”

      “You said we should be sleeping, right?” the med student asked, a line forming between her brows.

      “The drug is designed so that the patient can answer questions if needed or even respond to stimuli and move if in danger, but yes, for the most part, the injured is unconscious.” Larissa nodded, a wave of relief allowing her to breathe again. She was getting through. Finally. At least to the med student. Maybe if Larissa could get her to understand, then the soon-to-be Dr. Holbrook would help to convince the others to stay until their portion of the study was completed in the morning.

      “Then, since we’re not asleep, we must be in the control group that got a placebo,” the future doc said, the line on her forehead gone and a smile on her lips.

      Subject thirty-five nodded. “I’ve done enough drug trials to know that’s true. I think we can go without changing the end results. You can keep my money, too.”

      “What if you’re not in the control group? Please listen to me. This medication is designed to take away fear and panic. Think about it. Are you acting rationally? You’d planned to stay the night as test subjects, and suddenly you want to leave...” Larissa let her words trail off so the significance of what she was saying would sink in with the four of them.

      “We’re leaving because this place blows.”

      “Big time.”

      “I’m ready to do something fun for a change.”

      Their words came at her fast and furious. She’d lost. Larissa’s shoulders slumped.

      In the future she’d probably end the retelling of this story with, “And that’s how I lost my job...”

      And how she lost the man she so, so wanted to see naked. Just once.

      But she could still protect him and his research. She owed Dr. Durant that. The kind of people who gave research grants tended to shy away from scandal, and Mitch needed the funding to continue with his work.

      “I’m going to ask you to sign something, stating you are leaving the study early and on your own. That you don’t hold me or PharmaTest liable and you don’t expect to be compensated for your time.”

      “Why?” the filmmaker asked.

      “Because, Mr. Garcia, one of the side effects is short-term memory loss. Usually for twenty-four hours. Still interested in leaving?”

      “Oh, we’re leaving,” Mr. Garcia said, and the others nodded.

       1

      STELLA RAN OUT into the night, Owen right beside her. Hayden and Tony were close on their heels. “I thought that lady was never going to let us leave,” she said as they slowed outside the PharmaTest front door.

      “Good idea about the camera, Tony,” Hayden told him, her smile wide in the fading daylight.

      The man fell deeper under her spell, not that he appeared to want to stop himself. “That will be the last time I walk into someplace on the spur of the moment. But then, if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here with you now. And that’s something I would regret,” he told her, his voice soft and intimate.

      Normally something that sweet would make Stella give a mock shudder and say something snarky, like “bring out the chips for that cheese.” But one look at the tender and serious expression on Tony’s face, and anyone could see he meant exactly what he’d said. It was charming how this tough guy caught her off guard and slipped under her defenses.

      Hayden’s whole body angled toward Tony. Oh, yeah, she was a goner.

      Stella’s gaze slid away from the couple and smacked straight into Owen’s. His intent hazel eyes were focused solely on her, and Stella’s breath stilled. Everything stilled. Hayden’s and Tony’s soft words faded, the strong Texas wind dwindled, and it was just the two of them, searching for something in each other’s eyes.

      Okay, sure, those were some pretty over-the-top observations, but this was a very over-the-top moment for her. As a medical student, she worked in fact and science. Feelings rarely counted. They couldn’t. But tonight, she wanted to let emotions and feelings and passion blow right past sensibility. She could allow herself that. For tonight.

      Only two steps separated her from the wall of his chest. She took those