Slow Hands

like that this early in a relationship. Unless they were really— really —head over heels in love.
    Which didn’t describe her and Jake Wallace.
    Legs over shoulders in lust? Absolutely. But nothing more. Not a chance.
    “So don’t ask him to change a thing.” Tabitha reached for her wineglass and smiled like the proverbial Cheshire chat. “Just hire him full-time.”
    Maddy had taken a sip of her own, but Tabby’s comment nearly made her spew it out. “What?” Noting the attention her yelped response had garnered, she leaned over the table and kept her voice low. “Are you insane?”
    “Are you telling me you can’t afford it? Come on, you have the money. Call him up, ask him how much he’d charge to be exclusive for, say, one month.”
    Exclusive .
    “Then take that month and use it to see what happens. You either get him out of your system, or you find out the two of you really can develop something meaningful.”
    “Meaningful enough to…”
    Tabby finished the thought. “To see if he’d be willing to make a permanent career change.” Her sister reached across the table, covering Maddy’s hand and squeezing it gently, with tenderness that always lurked beneath the surface but was so rarely shown. “And to see if you can finally let yourself believe in love again.”
    “Love,” Maddy said with a snort. That wasn’t even part of this whole situation. She’d said she liked Jake, not that she was falling in love with him. She wasn’t ever going to fall in love with anyone again. Everyone else in her family had that emotion well taken care of.
    Lust…well, lust she could handle. And liking. And maybe some more of the fun she sensed she could have with Jake Wallace. As for the rest—him quitting his “career” for her? Crazy. Madness. Absolutely out of the question.
    But for some reason, during the drive home and the long night that followed, Maddy could not get her sister’s suggestion out of her mind. And she was still considering it when she woke up the next day.
    * * *
    I T HAD BEEN THREE FULL DAYS and Jake still hadn’t quite gotten over his anger—and his confusion—about what had happened with Maddy Wednesday. He’d gone over it again and again. Replayed every moment, every conversation, every look, every touch.
    When, he wondered, had she decided he was the kind of man who could be bought?
    She had to be jaded beyond belief. Normal people’s minds just didn’t go there for no reason. Which should have been enough to make it easy to live with the fact that they’d never see each other again. But instead, it made him pretty damn angry. Angry—and even sad for her at having become so hard because of her unusual family life.
    He was trying determinedly to forget about her. Not successfully, but giving it his best shot. Which was why he’d put his all into this morning’s game.
    On Saturday mornings, he liked to play baseball with a couple of guys from work. Whoever was off duty met up at a local park—near the station so the on-call guys could join them once in a while.
    They’d just finished five innings, with Jake playing third base, before calling it quits because of the already blazing heat of the day and the noon shift change. As he headed toward the benches for his stuff, his cell phone rang. He grabbed it from the side buttoned pocket of his shorts and glanced at the caller ID, but didn’t recognize the number.
    “Wallace,” he barked into it. He tilted his head to hold the phone in the crook of his shoulder while he bagged his stuff and waved to a couple of the guys heading back to the station house.
    A feminine throat clearing was the only response at first.
    And he’d recognize that feminine throat anywhere.
    “Maddy?”
    “Yes. Did I interrupt you? I can call back.”
    “It’s fine,” he said, wishing he didn’t automatically go on full alert at the sound of her voice.
    He’d been caught off guard, that was all. He hadn’t expected to ever hear from her again. That—and the strenuous game—explained his thudding heart and shortness of breath. Nothing else.
    “I wondered if we could meet.”
    The thudding doubled. Then he focused on her words. Meet . Not go out .
    “Why? You made things pretty clear the other day about where we stood.”
    “I regret that,” she said coolly, sounding not the least bit contrite. The ice queen at her iciest. “And I do apologize.”
    “Sure.”
    “I have, however, had a change of heart.” Finally her tone