Page 94 of Hot to Trot

"Now I'm going to pat you down," he murmured in her ear. She shivered.

He smiled, sliding his hands down her shoulders, reaching beneath her arms to brush the undersides of her breasts. She sucked in her breath.

"Why, Officer, this feels a little inappropriate."

"Do you surrender your rights?" he asked, sliding his hands over her ribs before cupping the curve of her hips and pulling her spectacular bottom against the hardness of his body.

"Ooh, Officer, is that a nightstick or are you glad to see me?" She asked with a smile in her voice, grinding against him at the same time.

He brushed his lips against her ear and whispered, "You’ll never know how glad I am to see you."

She rested her head on his shoulder. "I think I do."

He kissed her neck and spun her so she faced him. Her eyes shimmered in the Texas sunset. He lifted her and placed her on the trunk of the car, settling himself between her knees. She looped her cuffed hands around his neck and kissed him. It wassweet as summer melon, and for the first time ever, Adam's blood didn't sing at a kiss.

His heart did.

She pulled back and looked deep into his eyes. "I think I’m falling in love with you, Adam."

He closed his eyes at those words. Then opened them. "But what about the audition? About Hollywood and that director?"

As happy as he was about her being here in his arms, so much still stood between them and a happy-ever-after.

“Well, I drove away, thinking you and I were done. That Hollywood and this role were my new beginning, my keys to happiness. But I couldn't get a flight until morning, so as I lay in the hotel room in Dallas, bawling my eyes out, it occurred to me I'd stepped out on the chance to be truly happy. To be truly loved. Not for a month or two, but forever."

"You think this is a forever kind of thing?"

“I wouldn’t be back here if I didn’t. Everything happens for a reason. You leaving Houston. Me canceling my villa on the Riviera. Oak Stand. A speeding ticket. Community service. Fate."

He slid his hands up to cup her face and kissed her tenderly. "It won't be easy."

"Nothing worthwhile ever is, but I want you. I want a shot at having something more than mere success as an actress. My career is important, but so is my heart.”

“You can have both. But that won’t be easy either.”

“But maybe it will be worth it. I will still have a career. You will still have a career. And that might mean we make concessions, that we fall asleep without each other some nights. But I want you more than I want convenience.”

He smiled. “That sounds almost rational.”

“No. It’s intentional.”

“Touché.” He paused and looked up at the fading day. “Well, guess I better go ahead and take you in.”

She laughed. "I was counting on that. Rick smoked a brisket and all this drama has me starved."

"You really didn't call in a body part, did you?" he asked, pulling her close so he could nibble on the sweetness of her neck.

"No, Roz helped me. I waited at the airport, missing three flights, hoping you'd show up to bring me back. But sometimes a gal's got to do things herself." She licked his ear, heating his blood and making him forget they were in plain sight on the side of the highway.

The blast of a horn ripped him from the perusal of the sexiest earlobe he'd ever had the pleasure of contemplating.

"Now, that's what I callpo-liceharassment," Bubba yelled, pulling up parallel with them.

Normally, Adam would have been appalled at being caught necking on a county highway while in uniform. But today he felt too good holding the woman he loved in his arms to worry about it. Misconduct be damned. Scarlet tipped her head and smiled at the man in a Dallas-size diesel truck. "And he's good at it."

"When you going to sign me up for the squad, Chief? I'm seeing more benefits than dental in wearin' that uniform." Bubba grinned as he readjusted his Texas Longhorns ball cap. "Course, I already got a broad."

"Better not let Meg hear you call her that," Scarlet said, removing her hands from around Adam's neck. "We might have another code... what was it, Adam? An appendage discovered?"

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