Page 58 of Hot to Trot

The man had just reached the car when Adam slammed into him like a linebacker.

"Oomph!" The air went out of the man. Adam immediately shoved him, facedown, near a rainwater-filled ditch, pressing his head into the mud.

"Okay, okay!" the man yelled as Adam reached for the cuffs he didn't have in his back pocket. He'd nearly forgotten he wasn't in uniform. Flipping the man over, he cocked his fist. “Don’t! I give up.”

Adam lowered his fist but didn’t loosen his grip. “Who the hell are you and what are you doing lurking in the bushes?"

"I'm Chris Miller." The guy winced and turned his face away from Adam.

“That doesn’t mean a thing to me.”

"Just trying to get a picture, dude."

"A picture?"

The man pointed toward his car. "My camera's over there. Somewhere. Hell, I hope it's not broken."

The man was a reporter. Adam stood and pulled him up by the collar of his shirt. "You're a reporter?"

"Nah. I'm a photo journalist.”

“Papparazzi?”

“That’s the definition. I get paid for taking pictures of celebrities.” The man tugged at his collar and dusted at his jeans. His upper lip held a slight sneer.

“Well, you're trespassing."

The man adjusted the glasses that had slid down his nose during his takedown. "I wasn't hurting nobody. Just tryin' to feed my family, you know? I have to do what I have to do."

"What you have to do is get in your car and get out of here."

"I will as soon as I get a picture of Scarlet Rose with her gang members. The editor ofStar Internationalwants one for his articles on celebs and community service. I drew the straw."

"The hell you will," Adam snarled. “In your car. Leave."

Chris's eyes narrowed. "I noticed you were all chummy with the vampire queen. You got a lil’ something-something going on with her?"

“Absolutely not.”

"Hmm. You look guilty. I mean, she's fine piece of ass. Don't blame you, brother."

"Look, buddy, Scarlet Rose is serving a sentence and I'm the chief of police. Nothing’s going on. Now, pack up and get the hell out of my town."

"This-" Miller extended one finger in the air and made a circle "-ain't your town. And I don't have to go anywhere. It's a free country."

Adam bit down on the impulse to say “not really," the way he had to Scarlet over a week ago. Instead, he gave the squirrelly photographer a sneer. "I feel certain I speak for Sheriff Lee and Rick Mendez when I tell you it’s time to go. Should I make the call and invite them to this little tete-a-tete?”

“Maybe we should call them. Cause what I saw between you and her looked awfully cozy. Maybe the mayor should know, too. Maybe everyone should know.”

Alarm curled inside Adam. “You're barking up the wrong tree.”

Miller shrugged. "I see smoke. And where there's smoke there's usually a fire. Bet a fire with her would burn a man up."

Deep anger seared Adam's gut. His fist flexed. He wanted to beat the ever-loving hell out of the man but couldn't allow himself the pleasure. Plus, this asshole had sniffed out what he knew to be true. Adam wanted to burn out of control with Scarlet.

"Think it over, Chief. I can get you big bucks if you give me a story on her. On what she's like between the sheets."

"You little shit-”

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