Free Game On by Nancy Warren Page A

Or out of your self-help book.”

8
    S ERENA RUBBED HER forehead with the heel of her hand. He might think she was lying when she said she tried to leave relationships in a positive way but it was true. She wouldn’t be successful if she didn’t believe what she wrote and practice what she preached.
    But somewhere along the line, somebody had developed a serious grudge against her. And Adam was a detective trying to help her. She thought back to her longest relationship. Tried to sum it up.
    “My longest relationship was with Carl. He’s a theoretical physicist. We never lived in the same city but got together on a regular basis. When it was clear he was more interested in proving the existence of the Higgs boson particle than he was in me, we parted.” She smiled. “He was one of the team of scientists who proved its existence. Exciting stuff. He married another physicist. Last I heard, they were living in Geneva. I don’t think he’d wish me ill.”
    “You’re right. Sounds unlikely to be Carl Higgs Boson. Who else?”
    “I—” She hadn’t realized how lacking her love life had been. In the three years since she and Carl had split, she’d barely dated. Looking back, it was clear that she and Carl had stayed together for years because both had other passions. They both put their work first. Sporadic companionship, a date for their big events, mediocre sex. It had been enough. For a while.
    Since then? She shrugged. “I’ve dated, but nothing serious.”
    “What about Max?” His voice held a hint of urgency that would have been easy to miss.
    “Max? Max Varo?”
    He nodded, leaning forward, his beer held loosely in one fist.
    “Max and I have been friends and colleagues since we did our MBA together. He’s always had a string of completely unsuitable women and we never felt that way about each other.”
    “Good.” As Adam settled back, it occurred to her that he was relieved she and Max had never been an item. And his reasons had nothing to do with her new email pal.
    “Also, I don’t think he’s the type to send creepy emails.”
    “We’ll take him off the list, then.”
    “I dated a basketball player I coached. Not until after he worked through his issues, of course. I never date my clients.”
    Their gazes connected and she felt the sizzle of attraction, the challenge of trying to deny it.
    “What happened there?”
    “It was great for a few months but...” She looked back on her time with Mike. He’d been full of energy, inventive and insatiable sexually, but in the end... “I think we ran out of things to talk about.”
    “You’re still friends?”
    Were they? “I don’t think we’re enemies. But I can’t say we really stayed in touch. I wish him well. He’s dating a supermodel now.”
    “How long ago was this?”
    She thought back. “About a year...no, eighteen months ago.” Had it really been that long? She’d become so focused on work that she hadn’t really paid attention to her lack of a personal life.
    He didn’t say anything to that, merely frowned. “Well, somebody wants to hu—scare you, anyway. In my experience it’s usually someone you know.”
    She tried not to shiver but it was awful feeling as though it could be someone she knew, talked to, maybe saw on a regular basis, did business with, coached— She gave a small gasp.
    Naturally, Mr. Detective immediately picked up on it. “What?”
    “No. It’s ridiculous.”
    “How ’bout you tell me anyway?”
    “I coach this young internet entrepreneur. Usually I go to his place of business, but right after I got the first message, he changed the pattern. He’s been coming to my office. The first time he came by he said he wanted to talk to me about fear. Naturally, my first thought was that he’d sent the email, but it turned out he was talking about his fear. He’s a little inept socially. I’d forgotten all about it. I’m sure he’d never—”
    “Socially reclusive. Knows the internet well enough