Free Cops And...Lovers? by Linda Castillo

principal, Mrs. Helmsley , about the new bleachers she wanted to have built on the north side of the track. Erin had helped a fourth-grade student find her lost notebook. Her self-discipline had caved in when a first grader with missing front teeth asked her if she wanted to buy a grossly overpriced chocolate bar. Erin ended up buying two.
    A far cry from Chicago , she mused, remembering too many other children whose worlds had been ravaged by poverty, their minds and bodies polluted by crack or heroin or whatever other poison they'd been unlucky enough to get introduced to. As she stood at the crosswalk, watching the scene unfold like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting, she wondered if Nick realized how lucky he was.
    It wasn't the first time she'd thought of her surly boss that morning. The fact of the matter was he'd been on her mind a lot during the last day. She told herself it was because she was annoyed with him. Not only about the way he'd handled the situation at the Brass Rail Saloon, but because he'd assigned her the school crosswalk.
    But she couldn't deny there was more to her preoccupation with him than mere annoyance. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she'd found herself reacting to him on a level that had nothing to do with police work—and everything to do with good old-fashioned physical attraction.
    Erin wasn't a sexual creature by nature. Having worked in a male-dominated profession her entire adult life, she was accustomed to working with men. She'd had dozens of male friends over the years, had always considered herself immune to hormones and the problems they presented—at least until now.
    She tried to analyze her feelings—the quickening of her heart, her wet palms, the sensation of not being able to get enough oxygen into her lungs—and wanted to blame the symptoms on the fact that he went out of his way to make things difficult for her. But Erin was honest enough with herself to acknowledge the truth. He was an attractive man—and her body had taken notice. She didn't want to deal with it. Wouldn't, in fact, since he'd already proved to her he couldn't handle the prospect of a woman in a dangerous profession. Not that she was looking for his approval, or anything else, for that matter.
    Regardless of his flaws, she couldn't deny Nick Ryan was something to look at with those coffee-brown eyes, his brooding demeanor and unforgiving mouth. He disturbed her. He infuriated her. He appealed to her more than any man had in too many years to count.
    But even more disturbing was the fact that her attraction to him didn't stop with the physical. The flash of emotion in his expression when he'd told her he was a widower, the anguish on his face when confronted with his daughter's pain. Something had shifted inside Erin when she saw that sad little girl transform him from hardened cop to lonely widower struggling to cope with a devastating situation. She knew firsthand the many faces of pain, and Nick Ryan had it etched into every feature. No matter how hard she'd tried to resist, that part of the man touched her deeply. So how was she supposed to deal with that?
    "By ignoring it, of course," Erin muttered as she lowered her flag and crossed the street to a group of children. Traffic stopped, and she motioned to the children. "Okay, kids, it's safe to cross! Have fun at school today!"
    Just because the chief of police was drop-dead gorgeous and had a human side to boot didn't mean she was going to act on some banal impulse and blow this job. Quite the contrary. Erin could handle her hormones—she always had. The fact that Nick didn't even like her would undoubtedly help. They had completely opposite philosophies on law enforcement. That should keep them on opposing sides long enough for her to get over this … fascination—if she could even call it that.
    The group of children crossed the street behind Erin . "Don't forget to look both ways when crossing," she said over the din of young