Free In Broad Daylight by Marie Ferrarella Page B

He hadn't known what to expect, either
    from her response or from her. She could have slapped him, but she didn't. Could have
    been impassive, but she wasn't.

    And she hadn't just surrendered, she'd advanced an offensive of her own and left him
    utterly caught up in what was happening. Turning him into a prisoner as well as an
    instigator.

    She felt warm and supple against him, her curves yielding, making him want what he
    couldn't have. What the hell was going on here? What was he doing? his mind demanded
    sharply.

    Stepping back while he still had the wherewithal, Dax looked at the woman who was now in
    his arms. His mind scrambled erratically in different directions, searching for a way to
    form an apology.

    Words felt like cardboard in his mouth. He released her, taking a step back so their
    bodies were no longer touching.

    A warm evening breeze moved within the space that was created.

    "I'm sorry. I must be overtired—"

    Brenda smiled and shook her head. There was no need for him to apologize. She'd needed
    that. Needed to feel, for one precious moment that she was attractive to another human
    being.

    She knew this wasn't going anywhere. It couldn't for so many reasons. "You don't kiss like
    someone who's overtired."

    She didn't look angry. Hell, she didn't even look surprised. Had she sensed it was coming?
    With effort, he pulled his thoughts together. Since she wasn't offended, it was best to
    hurry away from the incident as quickly as possible.

    Dax nodded toward her car. "You'll be all right getting home?"

    He was retreating, she thought. She supposed that was a good thing, but there was a
    small part of her that had wanted the kiss to go on. To strip her of every thought until all
    that was left was a raw need to find fulfillment in lovemaking.

    God, but she was tired. Brenda tried not to laugh at herself.

    "You dazed me, Detective Cavanaugh, but you didn't daze methatmuch." She flashed a
    smile at him. "I'll be fine," she assured him.

    As she began to drive away, her eyes on her rearview mirror and the man who watched her
    retreat into the night, she wasn't one hundred percent sure of herself. She felt shaky
    inside, as if every single one of her molecules had been taken apart and then put back
    together again. Quickly and maybe not so precisely.

    Brenda took a deep breath. Maybe it was her current emotional state that was doing this
    to her. The emotional state that felt in complete upheaval not just because of the
    kidnapping, but because she was pregnant and her hormones were just now beginning to
    stop playing ping-pong all over her psyche.

    Hands tightly gripping the wheel, she stared straight ahead. She made every single light
    and found herself pulling up into her allotted parking space less than twenty minutes later,
    her head crowded with thoughts, with memories.

    She remembered the morning she'd finally given in and marched herself down to her
    gynecologist where she'd heard what she already, in her heart, knew to be true. She was
    having a hard enough time dealing with the thought of what being pregnant represented.
    She'd always loved children, there was no doubt about that. But the children she
    interacted with all went to their homes at the end of the day. They only required so much
    from her emotionally. Being a mother, moreover bearing Wade's child, that was something
    else again.

    The tiny being growing inside of her didn't change anything, really. She still wasn't in love
    with Wade, never hadbeen,she thought, letting herself into the darkened apartment. But
    now there was more to think of than just herself, or even Wade. There was a child being
    brought into the world through no fault of its own. It deserved the best advantages. That
    meant a real home. Not the kind she'd had, with only one grudging parent in attendance, if
    he could be called that.

    She remembered the gnawing feeling at the pit of her stomach when she'd come to her
    conclusion. Knowing that she had