Page 57 of Hot to Trot

"Well, maybe it would be best if I stuck closer to that kind of role with you. I'm your probation officer, after all."

All her earlier thoughts aboutmeant to beand fate pushing her in his direction came back to her, and she realized she'd been fooled by the honest moment between them. She and Adamweren't on some crazy karma ride. Hadn't he basically told her he wanted to sleep with her, but wouldn't? Hadn't he basically said she wasn't the type of girl he wanted in his life? She needed to focus on getting back to her real life.

After all, she still loved John, didn't she? Adam Hinton was nothing more than a Podunk police chief. She couldn't have a future with him, could she?

Yes answered one question and no answered the other. But she wasn't certain which question.

Damn.

She shouldn't have encouraged Adam to be involved in the play. That was hardly the way to get the distance from him she needed.

But when her gaze encountered the hunger in his, distance was the last thing on her mind. Adam could say whatever he wished. She could protest, pretend, and preach all she wanted about her past relationship and her lack of desire for a future one. But something rare bloomed between her and Adam.

It was lust.

And it was more than that, too.

Which put Adam and her between a rock and a hard place.

There could be no funny stuff between them but still she couldn’t resist. “I won’t call you daddy.”

He swallowed hard. “Don’t. You know what I’m talking about.”

"What has changed between us'?" she asked, then answered. "Nothing. Doesn’t matter what I call you then, does it?”

He didn't say anything.

"You're not my daddy, you're not my friend, and you're damn sure not my lover. You're exactly what you said you are.””

“I’m your friend.”

"Maybe. But it doesn't feel quite that way. I don't think about my friends this way. This feels different."

He stared at her and she couldn't read his expression.

"I want to get this over with so I can move on with my life. I'm sure you want the same."

She walked back to the center and shut the door behind her, wishing it was as easy to shut out her thoughts. Obviously fate cared nothing for her wish.

Because she couldn’t help looking back at the silent man framed against the hard Texas countryside.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ADAM FLIPPED ON THE RADIO as he started down the driveway of Phoenix House. Bob Seger's haunting melody about life on the road filled the car, complementing the stickiness of the night. Dusk had given way to a velvet sky full of stars winking overhead. As he turned onto the road, the beams of the headlights caught a dark shape hidden behind a screen of pampas grass.

What the hell?

Adam slowed the cruiser and inched past the grass. He stopped, put the cruiser in Park, and eased from the car.

The shape moved. Fast.

It was a man. A man who loped toward a car parked in the entrance to the pasture across from Phoenix.

"Hey," Adam called. "Stop!"

The figure kept going, scrambling toward the dark sedan.

''Ah, hell." Adam ran after the man. Nothing pissed him off more. He hated to chase suspects down on foot. Especially over uneven ground on a dark night.

---