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Chapter 15

Toni blinked again, pretty sure her first instincts had been correct.

Yep, definitely not her house.

She sat up, struggling to remember the night before as she looked around at the pale yellow-painted walls and sparse antique furniture. Lawrence. The bank. The violinist. Dinner. Kissing. Had she seriously drunk that much? She remembered a single bottle of wine. Had they even finished it? Surely not . . .

Jumping up from the bed, Toni rushed to the window and peered out, her suspicions confirmed.

Lawrence’s house.

So did they . . .

“I thought I heard you up and about.”

Spinning toward the sound, Toni groaned inwardly. How could he manage to look so seductive this early? Sure, he was wearing his usual look, jeans and a plain white T-shirt, but his hair was damp from the shower . . . and that smile.

“What time is it?”

Lawrence looked down at his leather watch. “Nine thirty—”

“Are you kidding me?”

She rushed back to the bed, intending to find her phone, but Lawrence handed it to her.

“I have to go. I’m late for—”

“You don’t have work this morning.”

Taking her phone from his hand, careful not to touch him, lest he charm her straight back into that bed, Toni corrected him. “Yes, I do. I’m supposed to open—”

“Sit down.”

His tone pierced through her panic. Something was wrong.

“What—”

“Sit,” he repeated, taking his own advice and patting the bed next to him. “Everything is fine, but I have something to tell you about last night.”

Last night. It was all so foggy . . .

“Did you drug me?” she teased.

Lawrence laughed as she sat in the middle of the bed, carefully crossing her legs to preserve as much decorum as possible in a sundress.

“No, well, kind of.”

A sudden fluttery feeling in her belly refused to go away as she thought about the very intimate circumstance of their discussion. On his bed.

“I assure you, it’s not so nefarious as that.”

“Lawrence, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I really have to get to the—”

“Curiosities was broken into last night. They’re closed for the day.”

“What?”

He lifted his hands, palms outward, in a calming gesture. “Everyone is fine; no one was hurt. But they were robbed.”