Free Cop's Passion by Angela Verdenius Page A

your
definition of perfect to partner up with my perfect brother’s
perfect freakin’ friend for your perfect dinner!”
    Jeannie marched
out with a huff and her nose in the air.
    Belinda
scuttled through the door, wailing, “Maddy! Please, I-”The door
shutting behind her effectively cut off her apologies.
    Fuming, Maddy
locked the door and refused to answer the knocks. Storming into the
lounge, she grabbed the two mugs and packet of biscuits and took
them through to the kitchen, where she washed the mugs and set them
on the draining board and placed the biscuits in the biscuit
container.
    Anger towards
her sister-in-law especially roiled through Maddy. Of all people,
she should understand how hurtful her comments would be, and to
bring someone else into the conversation, to have them join in
about her weight, it was - it was…it was downright bloody
hurtful.
    By the time
she’d finished, she checked the front window to ensure that her
sister-in-law and her rich-bitch new best friend had indeed left,
and finding the driveway empty she made her next move. Crossing to
the answering machine, she flicked it on. No doubt her brother
would be on the phone and then her parents, all wanting to talk to
her, to make her see that Belinda had just spoken thoughtlessly
again as usual and she hadn’t meant to sound hurtful.
    Tough. Right
now, Maddy felt that she had every right to be angry. The next
person who tried to tell her what to do with her life was going to
get blistered by her tongue. Not answering the phone was a wise
decision.
    ~*~
    As soon as he
noticed that Maddy’s driveway was empty of vehicles, Mike walked
around to her side of the duplex and knocked on the door. When she
didn’t answer, he again knocked.
    Finally the
door opened and Maddy looked up at him. Her normally bright grey
eyes were shadowed. “Hello.”
    “Hello back,”
he replied. “I came across to have a word with you.”
    “Really?” She
opened the door wider and glanced past him. “The kitten is all
right?”
    “The fur ball
is asleep in the chair on my back veranda, and no,” he added when
her eyes brightened, “It is not staying.”
    “Huh.
Okay.”
    A faint breeze
blew past them and her sweet, faint scent teased his senses. She
looked so soft, standing there in a floral sundress that skimmed
her curves and stopped just below her knees. He could just imagine
what a cuddly armful she’d be and for a brief second his
imagination went off on its own tangent, and this generously curved
lady was swaying towards him, and-
    “So, what did
you want to have a word to me about?”
    Mike mentally
slammed a lid on his wayward thoughts and refocussed on the problem
at hand. Imagination was all well and good, but in its proper
place, but that wasn’t when he was discussing her personal safety.
“You need to get a mobile phone.”
    “What?” She
blinked.
    “The other
night?”
    “Other
night?”
    Mike frowned.
“When you got the flat tyre and were stuck on the side of the road
in the dark. On your own.”
    “Oh, that
night.” Maddy shrugged, the ends of her shiny brown hair brushing
her smooth shoulders. “Nothing to worry about.”
    “Nothing to
worry about?” His frown went to a scowl. “Maddy, you were in danger
and having access to a mobile phone would have given you a measure
of safety.”
    She stared up
at him for several seconds before again shrugging. “Fine. I’ll get
a mobile phone.”
    “You will?” He
hadn’t expected her to give in so easily, in fact, going by her
attitude the night in question, he’d been primed for an
argument.
    “Sure.”
    “Tomorrow.”
    “Sure.”
    “First
thing.”
    “Sure.”
    Her pretty face
was bland of all expression and he had a sudden suspicion.
“Promise?”
    “Sure.”
    He knew without
a doubt that she was lying and one thing he abhorred was lying. A
thread of anger stole through his tone. “Don’t promise something if
you’ve no intention of following through with