“I know your type.”

“What’s my type?”

“You’re beautiful.”

Tessa spun toward him, her mouth falling open at his compliment.

Desire caught in Chad’s chest. He wanted to kiss her. “Vivacious,” he continued. “Reckless.”

“I am not reckless.”

“Your driving record proves otherwise.”

She shrugged. “A few speeding tickets. And I’m not reckless. You don’t know me.”

“You’re wrong,” he murmured as she ground the engine, then peeled out of the ramp with such speed the gate rattled. “I know you, Tessa Howard.”

Dear Reader,

I am so excited to be starting a new series for Harlequin American Romance—CITIZEN’S POLICE ACADEMY, based on my participation in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, Citizen Police Academy. The police department sponsors this program to educate the community about how they operate. I learned a lot, but most of all I developed such appreciation and understanding for how difficult and dangerous a career in law enforcement is. The people who choose these careers are very special.

While the officers in the Lakewood Police Department are purely fictional, I’ve imbued them with some of the sterling qualities of the officers I met in the GRPD. And I can’t wait to give each of these characters the happily-ever-after they deserve.

Once a Lawman is also part of the MEN MADE IN AMERICA miniseries, a yearlong celebration of American heroes. In 2009 look for one book a month that celebrates the hunky American male!

Happy reading!

Lisa Childs

Once a Lawman

Lisa Childs

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bestselling, award-winning author Lisa Childs writes paranormal and contemporary romance for Harlequin/Silhouette Books. She lives on thirty acres in west Michigan with her husband, two daughters, a talkative Siamese and a long-haired Chihuahua who thinks she’s a rottweiler. Lisa loves hearing from readers who can contact her through her Web site, www.lisachilds.com, or by snail-mail at P.O. Box 139, Marne, MI 49435.

A special thank-you to Watch Commander, Lieutenant Mark Ostapowicz, of the Grand Rapids Police Department, for his patience and helpfulness in answering my many, many questions while I was a participant in the Citizen Police Academy and my many questions in the course of writing this book. Any factual mistakes are entirely my fault.

And much gratitude to Kathleen Scheibling for contracting this series of my heart for Harlequin American Romance.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter One

Tessa Howard glanced around the courtroom, crowded with whispering people of all walks of life: elderly, teenagers and young professionals like herself. The knot of tension in her stomach eased. He wasn’t going to show up. I’m almost free.

Maybe taking the time to fight her ticket in traffic court hadn’t been wasted. If the officer who’d given her the ticket failed to show up, the speeding charge would be dropped. She glanced at her watch, the knot of tension tightening again as she thought of the appointments she was missing. While she couldn’t afford the time waiting in court was taking, she could afford another ticket even less.

“Tessa Howard,” the bailiff called her to the bench.

Tessa stood, refastened the button on her suit jacket, and tugged down the skirt that had ridden up her thighs. She swung her straight blond hair over her shoulder. The hair flip, as usual, attracted male attention. From her career in telecommunication sales—and her maternal grandmother—Tessa had learned that a smart woman used her brains and her femininity to get what she wanted. Of course, neither of them had gotten her out of her ticket. Yet.

She drew in a deep breath. After crawling over the other people in her row, she stepped into the aisle and, heels clicking on the tile floor, approached the bench.

“You’re in my court again, Ms. Howard,” the judge commented as she approached. “Speeding?”

“No, sir, I wasn’t speeding. The officer must have confused my car with someone else’s,” she insisted. What was it that Nana Howard had always claimed? A lie well told and stuck to is just as good as the truth.

Her grandmother had freely imparted her sometimes unconventional bits of wisdoms. Nana-isms had probably prepared Tessa more for her career than the marketing classes at Lakewood Community College had.

A smile tugged up the corner of the judge’s mouth, softening the older man’s austere face. “Is that true, Lieutenant Michalski?”

Tessa’s heart skipped a beat. She’d thought she was home free, that the uptight lieutenant had been too busy to make her little court date…

Her pulse quickened as she realized he stood right beside her, his long, muscular body clad in the black uniform of the Lakewood, Michigan Police Department. She tilted her head to see his face.

He’d lost the sunglasses he’d worn the day he had pulled her over, but still she couldn’t see his eyes. He stared straight ahead, as completely uninterested in her as he had been when he’d given her the ticket. She hadn’t been able to flirt her way out of this violation, as she had some others.

“Lieutenant Michalski?” the judge prodded him.

“Ms. Howard’s SUV was the only vehicle within radar range. She was definitely the one speeding.”

“I wasn’t going as fast as you said,” she persisted.

“Eleven miles over the speed limit,” he stated unequivocally—and correctly.

“But eleven miles…” Wasn’t that many over the limit—it certainly wasn’t as reckless as he had claimed it was. She would never drive recklessly. Too many people depended on her.

“Eleven miles over is still speeding, Ms. Howard. The ticket stands,” the judge ruled. “Pay your fine.”

“Your Honor, please,” she beseeched him. “I had a good reason for speeding.” Which she had tried to tell Lieutenant Michalski, but he hadn’t cared.

“So now you were speeding, Ms. Howard? A minute ago you assured me you weren’t,” the judge reminded her.

“But…” She bit her lip and refrained from explaining that her mother’s car had broken down. As the lieutenant had said when she’d offered him the excuse, her mother should have called the Auto Club instead of Tessa.

But Tessa actually had been on the way to pick up her younger brother, Kevin, not her mother. Recognizing an unsympathetic listener, she hadn’t bothered explaining about her teenage brother and that if someone didn’t pick him up from high school, he would disappear for the night, getting into only God knew what trouble.

She doubted the court would be any more sympathetic than the police officer. And she doubted it was a good idea to mention her brother to the authorities at all, especially now. So far he had avoided getting into trouble with the law, and dealt just with school and her for tardiness and skipping classes.

“Yes, Ms. Howard?” the judge prodded her.

She released her lip and admitted, “If I get any more tickets on my record, the Secretary of State will pull my license.”

“Considering her driving record, losing her license would probably be a good thing,” the lieutenant commented, staring straight ahead.

“But if I lose my license, I’ll lose my job,” she said, as panic shortened her breath. “I can’t afford to lose my job…” For so many reasons. Hers wasn’t the only head over which she had to keep a roof.

“You should have considered that before you started speeding, Ms. Howard,” the judge remarked with no sympathy.

“May I make a suggestion, Your Honor?” the police officer asked.

The judge’s eyes narrowed warily, but then he nodded. “Of course you may, Lieutenant Michalski.”

“Maybe the citation, and the subsequent loss of her license, isn’t the most fitting punishment for Ms. Howard’s violation.”

“You gave me the ticket,” she whispered, sending him a glare, which she doubted he would see. But he had finally turned toward her, his gaze intent on her face. His eyes were green, with flecks of gold. With his black hair, she had figured they’d be brown or blue. She shook her head, disgusted that she had spent so much time—time she didn’t have to spare—thinking about his eyes.

“You have a more suitable punishment?” the judge asked him.

“More education than punishment,” the lieutenant alluded, “I think Ms. Howard could learn a lot about obeying speed limits and the law in general if she were to enroll in Lakewood Police Department’s Citizens’ Police Academy.”

The judge leaned back, a grin spreading across his face. “Interesting…”

“What—how?” she stammered, lifting her palms up. “I don’t even know what the Citizens’ Police Academy is. I don’t want to be a police officer.”

“It’s not the police academy,” the lieutenant assured her, grinning slightly as if he were amused. “It won’t make you a police officer, although some people enroll to see if they might want to pursue a career in law enforcement. It will help you understand police procedure—the how and why.”

Like why certain police officers were too rigid to let a driver off with just a warning? She bit her lip again so she wouldn’t ask the question. No sense antagonizing him when he seemed to be changing his mind about the ticket.

“It’s a great program,” the judge enthused. “The Lakewood PD Watch Commander, Lieutenant O’Donnell, has been putting it on for a few years to promote community involvement and relations. The chief and the city council have made certain there’s money in the budget for it, so there’s no charge for the public to participate. Some officers have been known to donate their time just to make certain it doesn’t go over budget.”

Did Lieutenant Michalski donate his time? Would he be part of the program?

“It sounds interesting,” she belatedly agreed with the judge to humor him. In truth, she didn’t have any interest in the program or Lieutenant Michalski.

“Then you’ll agree to enroll?”

“I would, but I have a job,” she reminded them. At least she did for now. “I can’t afford to miss any time from work.”

“The CPA meets only one night a week,” the lieutenant explained. “Wednesdays from six-thirty to ten for fifteen weeks.”

Tessa’s breath caught. Fifteen weeks. “I really—”

“Don’t have a choice if you want to keep your license,” the judge pointed out. “The ticket or the class, Ms. Howard?”

“The class,” she begrudgingly replied. Then she reminded herself what one more ticket would have cost her. “Thank you, Your Honor.”

“Don’t thank me,” the judge said, “It was the lieutenant’s idea.”

She turned toward her benefactor. “Thank you.”

While his jaw remained taut, his mouth unsmiling, his green eyes brightened—no doubt with more amusement at her expense, over the predicament she was in. “You’ll enjoy the class, Ms. Howard.”

“I doubt that.”

“I won’t be participating,” he assured her.

She smiled. “Then maybe I will…”

“YOU’RE GOING to have to participate,” the watch commander, Lieutenant Patrick O’Donnell, told Chad, his back to him as he climbed the steps to his office, the glass walls of which rose above the reception area where interns sat at the front desk, taking nonemergency calls and buzzing in visitors.

Chad followed him, protesting, “Paddy—”

“You’re the emergency vehicle operation instructor for the police department,” the commander pointed out, as he settled into the chair behind his counter-height, U-shaped desk, “as well as for the Lakewood University’s Police Academy.”

“Yeah, the police academy—”

“Now you’re the instructor for the citizens’ police academy, too,” Paddy said. His eyes, nearly the same reddish brown as his hair, crinkled at the corners as he grinned.

While they were both lieutenants, being watch commander gave Paddy more authority. He doled out assignments. Chad couldn’t turn one down—even though police participation in the program was supposed to be voluntary.

“Hey, you’ve been recruiting for the class,” Paddy reminded him, “You should help.”

Although Chad leaned against the doorjamb, he couldn’t relax—he hadn’t been able to since he’d first pulled over a black SUV driven by a certain blue-eyed blonde. “I only recruited one person.”

“Tessa Howard.” The watch commander never forgot a name. “What’s the story with her?”

Chad shrugged tense shoulders. “Nothing. I gave her a ticket for speeding. She tried to fight it in traffic court.”

“And lost?”

“She would have lost her license…” And she probably should have. Before giving her the ticket, he’d run her record and had seen all her speeding warnings and citations—one for going too fast for conditions that had resulted in a minor property damage accident.

“So you talked the judge into enrolling her in the class instead of giving her a ticket?” Paddy whistled with surprise. “I’ve never known you to let anyone off a ticket.”

Chad mentally kicked himself for stepping in with his brilliant suggestion. Now if anything happened to Ms. Howard, it was his fault. His idea made her his responsibility now. He straightened. “I just thought she’d learn a lot from the class and that she might come to understand how reckless speeding is.” He was actually counting on it.

“If you teach the traffic/defensive driving session of the class, she will,” Paddy said. “You can personally explain to her the consequences of speeding.”

Because he’d lived with—or actually without—the consequences? Chad shook his head. “No. I would never get personal with Tessa Howard.”

“Junior—” Chad wasn’t actually a junior, but because of his reputation as an expert driver, he’d been nicknamed Dale Earnhardt, Jr. “The problem is that you don’t get personal with anyone,” the commander continued, “not since your wife died.”

Chad sucked in a breath. Although it had been four years since Luanne’s death, those last three words struck him like a battering ram in the gut. He still missed her—what they’d had and what they could have had—what they should have had.

“It’s been a long time, Chad,” Paddy said, his deep voice soft with sympathy and understanding.

Chad nodded. “Yeah. Sometimes too long. Sometimes not long enough…” For the loss to stop hurting.

Paddy’s eyes locked on Chad’s. “It’s been long enough. Luanne would have wanted you to move on.”

She probably would have, but Chad wasn’t ready. He doubted he’d ever be ready.

“How long you been divorced, Paddy?” he asked his friend.

The watch commander dropped his gaze to his desk as he shuffled some files. “That’s different.”

“Yeah.” Paddy could see his ex again whereas Luanne was gone forever. If only she hadn’t been speeding that day…He’d warned her so many times to slow down.

He was kidding himself to think Tessa Howard would learn anything in the academy. If he hadn’t been able to get through to his own wife, how would he get through to her? “This was a bad idea.”

“What was?” Paddy asked distractedly as he shoveled through the files on his desk. The radio next to a flat-screen monitor crackled with the dispatcher’s voice sending out units on the latest 911 calls. Messages also flashed across the screen. The watch commander divided his attention between the calls and the files. But from the half-empty coffee mugs on his desk and atop the file cabinets, he was used to people dropping by his office to talk, too.

So Chad didn’t feel too badly for taking up his time. “I should have kept my mouth shut in court.” He sighed. “Hell, I probably shouldn’t have shown up at all.”

“The judge would have thrown out the ticket then.”

“He threw it out anyway.” Because of Chad’s interference. He pushed a hand through his hair. “Do you really need my help with the academy?”

Paddy looked up from his paperwork, his eyes narrowed. Then he nodded. “I can’t wait to meet Ms. Howard.”

“It’s not like that…”

“Like what?” Paddy asked. “She isn’t young and pretty?”

“She’s twenty-seven,” he recalled from her license, which had actually had a good picture—although he couldn’t imagine her taking a bad one. “So yeah, she’s young.” He glanced at his watch, but he didn’t have anyplace to go. His shift had ended.

“And pretty?”

She wasn’t just pretty. With her spunk and sass, she was so much more. Thinking of her bright blue eyes and golden blond hair, gorgeous was the word that most readily sprang to his mind. Since the day he had pulled her over, he had thought about her—too much. The way she had batted her thick black lashes and had spoken in a breathy voice, trying to flirt her way out of the ticket. Then in court, the way she’d gnawed her bottom lip…

He suppressed a groan and lied to the watch commander, “I hadn’t noticed.”

Paddy laughed, knowing him so well that he had to realize Chad lied. “Well, helping me out as one of the class instructors will give you time to notice.”

“She probably won’t even show up.” He hoped.

HIS STOMACH FLIPPED as Tessa Howard, blond hair swinging around her shoulders, settled onto a chair at the table in the front row—just feet away from where Chad Michalski sat with the other instructors. While most of the rest of the class had dressed casually in either jeans or khakis and sweaters or sweatshirts, Tessa wore a suit similar to the one she’d worn in court. A tailored, pinstriped navy blue jacket cinched her slim waist while a slim pencil skirt ended above her knees but inched farther up her thighs as she crossed her legs.

Chad swallowed hard and shifted on his chair. If only he’d kept quiet in court…

The watch commander nudged his shoulder. “Tessa Howard?”

He nodded.

“Now I understand why—”

Chad nudged him back. “Don’t you have a class to teach?”

Paddy grinned, but stood up and addressed the group of citizens and instructors gathered in the third-floor meeting room. “Welcome to the Lakewood Police Department’s Citizens’ Police Academy.”

Welcome? Tessa bit her bottom lip to hold in a chuckle. Welcome implied she attended the class of her own free will. Her attention shifted from the man standing before the table at the front of the spacious, white-walled, low-ceilinged room to one of the men sitting behind the table. Her gaze locked with Lieutenant Chad Michalski’s.

“Oh, good choice,” murmured the girl beside Tessa. She leaned closer as if they were passing notes in class. “He’s single, too. I already checked. He’s a little old for me, though, but he sure is yummy.”

Tessa snorted although she wasn’t certain to what she’d taken exception—the lieutenant being called yummy or old. He definitely wasn’t old; she estimated early thirties, at the most. He continued to stare at her, his jaw taut probably with disapproval, as if she were the one talking during class. Because she’d been late, she’d had no choice of where to sit—the chair next to the young girl at the first table had been the only one still vacant.

“We’re going to go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves,” the officer continued. He was obviously the leader of the class. From the e-mail she had received with the date, time and directions to the police department, she had learned his name was Lieutenant Patrick O’Donnell. “And then I’ll introduce the other instructors. A little later we’ll meet the chief of police and the district captains.”

Tessa had lived her entire twenty-seven years in Lakewood, Michigan, but yet she had no idea how many districts comprised the bustling, midsized city. The only contact she’d had with the police department, besides getting and paying for tickets, had been when she’d tried to sign them up for their phone and Internet service accounts.

O’Donnell stepped forward and rapped his knuckles against the table at which Tessa sat, her briefcase propped against her chair. “Let’s start with this table.”

With a giggle, the young girl spoke up. “My name’s Amy, Amy Wilson. I’m a college student, and I joined the academy because I’m interested in law enforcement.”

Tessa held in another derisive snort. The girl was obviously more interested in law enforcers than enforcement. The dark-haired woman on the other side of Tessa smiled, apparently having drawn the same conclusion. Lieutenant O’Donnell nodded at Tessa to introduce herself. “Tessa Howard. I’m a sales rep for a telecommunications company.”

“And your reason for joining the academy?” he prodded.

She glanced at Chad, who smirked. The truth stuck in her throat, so she smiled and joked, “I thought maybe I’d get some inside information on where the speed traps are.”

The class and some of the instructors chuckled. But not Chad. The slight grin dropped from his handsome face, and his green eyes hardened with definite disapproval. The guy had no sense of humor.

It was going to be a long fifteen weeks…

“I’M SURPRISED you showed up,” a deep voice murmured close to her ear as Tessa waited for the elevator. She tensed, realizing she was alone with him. The third floor of the police department was deserted except for the two of them. She’d had to take a call, so she’d missed walking out with the rest of the class. Heck, she had missed whatever had happened after the last break since she had stayed in the restroom, on the phone.

“I wasn’t given much choice,” she reminded him as she jabbed the Down button again. If she knew where the stairs were, she would have already been in the lobby. Her phone vibrated, then chimed as she received a text.

“You could have chosen to accept the ticket.”

“And lose my license?” She shook her head as she pulled out her phone and read the message. “And my job? I had no choice.”

“You do now.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, turning toward him. She didn’t dare hope that he had changed his mind, but she had to ask, “Are you going to let me out of the academy?”

Irritation furrowed his brow, and he pushed a hand through his dark hair. “No. The judge only agreed to this with the stipulation that you don’t miss a single class.”

“I won’t—”

“You missed half the class.” He reached for her and wrapped his fingers around her hand that held the cell. “Because of this.”

Her skin tingling, Tessa pulled away just as the elevator doors finally slid open. She stepped inside and reached for the L button. So did he, his hand brushing hers again.

“I can’t miss any calls,” she said, but refrained from offering any further explanation. As the doors closed them into the small car together, Tessa drew in a shaky breath.

“It’s one night. Just a few hours. You can return your missed calls later,” he said, “not during class. The choice you have is to show up every week and either sit and pout, or participate.”

She lifted her chin. “I don’t pout.”

“Sulk, then.”

She opened then closed her mouth, unable to disagree with his observation. Thinking of what she was missing while at the academy, she had sulked.

“If you participate, you might find you learn something,” he pointed out as the elevator stopped and the doors opened to the deserted lobby, “and enjoy yourself.”

She might, but she wouldn’t admit that to him. “The other people in class sound interesting,” she said, thinking of the witty introductions of everyone from a reporter for the Lakewood Chronicle, the dark-haired woman sitting on the other side of her, some Neighborhood Watch captains, a couple of teachers, a youth minister, a former gang member turned youth center founder to an elderly couple who had admitted taking the class for thrills. Heck, even the mayor’s daughter was taking the class although, given her reputation, her participation might not have been voluntary, either.

“And they’re interested,” the lieutenant persisted, “in learning.”

“You don’t think I am?” she asked.

He laughed, the corners of his eyes crinkling and etching deep creases in his cheeks. Tessa’s breath caught at the transformation. Maybe Amy was right; he was yummy.

“I know you’re not interested.”

Once again, she couldn’t lie, so she just smiled. “Well, only fourteen more classes to go. See you next week, Lieutenant.” She turned toward the doors to the street.

But he walked across the lobby with her, shortening his long strides to match hers. Then he pushed open the glass door.

“Thanks for seeing me out,” she said as she passed through the doorway.

“Did you park in the ramp around the block?” he asked.

She nodded.

“I’ll walk you to your car.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“It’s almost eleven,” he pointed out as he followed her onto the sidewalk. Tall buildings, the windows dark after hours, flanked the cobblestone street. “This isn’t the safest neighborhood at night.”

“That’s pretty ironic,” she mused. “I would have figured the neighborhood around the police department would be the safest place in the city.”

“You’d figure, huh?” he agreed as he stepped closer as if shielding her with his body.

Even though he didn’t touch her, Tessa’s skin tingled again. She shook her head, disgusted with herself for acting as hormonal as the barely-out-of-her-teens, police-groupie Amy. Even if Tessa did go for men in uniform, this would be the last man to whom she would be attracted.

“Is it because of the jail?” she asked. “Why it isn’t safe here?”

“Booking and lock-up is in a separate building, blocks away,” he assured her. “But there are some muggers and car thieves who prey on the after-theater and bar crowd.”

“Well, I’m not coming from the theater or a bar, so you really don’t need to walk me to my car,” she insisted, her heels clicking against the concrete as she quickened her pace. Despite it being early September, a brisk wind blew off Lake Michigan, which was only miles from downtown Lakewood, cooling the night air.

“Since the rest of the class left before you, I can’t let you walk out alone here,” he said, his voice thickening with some of the frustration she felt.

Shadows shifted around the buildings, and Tessa’s grip tightened on her briefcase. “You take this whole serve-and-protect thing seriously.”

“Protect and serve,” Chad corrected her. “And yes, I do.” That was the only reason he had suggested she enroll in the CPA—for her protection and the protection of everyone else on the road. Not because he was attracted to her. He could not be attracted to her. Yet his gaze skimmed down her body, over the wiggle of her hips as she stalked toward the parking garage in the high heels that brought the top of her blond head nearly to the level of his chin.

“Whatever,” she said, dismissive of a police officer’s sacred oath, “You take it too seriously.”

He bit back a laugh as he followed her up the ramp of the parking garage. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a more self-involved woman.”

Her blond hair swayed across her back as she swung her head toward him. She gasped, and her blue eyes widened with surprise. “You think I’m self-involved?”

Thinking of her shameless flirting and constant phone calls and texts, he snorted. “I don’t think. I know it.”

“You don’t know me at all,” she said, heels slamming into the concrete as she stalked up the ramp.

“I know your type.”

“What’s my type?” she asked, but didn’t even slow down for his answer.

He caught her arm, drawing her to a halt just steps from her black SUV, which she probably would have stormed right past. “You’re beautiful.”

She spun toward him, her mouth falling open at his compliment.

Desire kicked him in the ribs. He wanted to kiss her. “Vivacious,” he continued. “Reckless.” And that was why he couldn’t kiss her. “With total disregard for your safety or anyone else’s.”

She pulled keys from her briefcase, her hand shaking so much that they jangled, and unlocked her SUV. “I am not reckless.”

“Your driving record proves otherwise.”

She shrugged. “A few speeding tickets.”

“One with an accident,” he reminded her.

She laughed, albeit without humor. “I hit a patch of black ice and slid off the road into a mailbox.”

He tensed, dread tightening his stomach muscles. “It could have just as easily been a tree or utility pole.”

“It wasn’t.” She lifted her chin. “And I didn’t even put a dent in my vehicle.”

“The mailbox wasn’t so lucky,” he pressed. “You need to slow down. Stop being so reckless…”

“I wasn’t going fast. And I’m not reckless. You don’t know me,” she insisted as she pulled open the driver’s door.

He nodded as if he agreed with her, even though he didn’t. “Let’s keep it that way.”

As she planted her toe on the running board, Chad palmed her head, so she wouldn’t hit the metal doorjamb. Her silky hair brushed his palm. She ducked her chin, pulling away from him, and her eyes darkened with anger. “Let’s keep it that way,” she agreed.

Chad winced as she started the SUV, grinding the engine, then peeled out of the ramp with such speed that the gate, raised after hours, rattled.

“You’re wrong,” he murmured. “I know you, Tessa Howard. I know I don’t want anything to do with you…”

But to protect and serve. That was the oath by which he lived. His only reason for living now…

Chapter Two

Shaking from her argument with the lieutenant, Tessa fumbled with her keys to her ranch house. Before she could unlock the door, the knob turned beneath her palm and the door opened. She jumped back, startled.

“Gee, Tess—”

“What are you still doing up?” she asked her younger brother. Since summer vacation had just ended, getting him back in the habit of going to bed early hadn’t been easy.

Christopher, clad in his superhero pajamas, stepped back from the doorway. “I just texted you a little while ago.”

“When you should have been in bed,” she admonished the ten-year-old as she joined him in the country kitchen with its warm oak cupboards and green-apple painted walls. “And what did I tell you about opening up that door without knowing who’s on the other side?”

“I knew it was you,” he said as he climbed onto a chair at the long oak trestle table. “I saw you drive up.”

“You shouldn’t have been waiting up for me.”

“What was the police academy like?” he asked, his blue eyes bright with excitement as he stared up at her. “Did they let you shoot a gun?”

She bit her lip to hold back a smile. “No. It’s not like that.” At least she hoped not, because she should definitely not be trusted with a gun around the lieutenant. “It’s the citizens’ police academy.”

“So what was it like?” Christopher asked, still awed. “What did you do in class?”

She shrugged. “Not much. It was just a bunch of people talking.”

The chief had given a rather eloquent speech with a short question-and-answer period, and each district captain had talked about the areas for which they were responsible. Then the instructor for each session had been about to speak when she had slipped away to return her missed calls. From what she could tell so far, the purpose of the academy was to teach people how the police department and police officers worked, which would be fine if she had any interest, either. But she didn’t. No interest in any police officer.

“Tess!” Christopher yelled as if he’d been trying to get her attention. “Did you ask if I can come next week?”

She shook her head. “No—”

“Tess!” The little boy’s voice squeaked with indignation. “Why didn’t you ask?”

“Because you can’t come. The class isn’t over until past your bedtime.” Although Christopher was not much smaller than her, she lifted him from the chair. Her arms and back strained in protest of the exertion. She breathed deeply, inhaling the fruity scent of his shampoo. At least he’d had a bath, but it looked as if no one had untangled his mop of dishwater-blond curls. “And that’s where you’re going right now—to bed.”

He wriggled out of her arms and protested, “I’m not a baby, Tess.”

“You need your sleep. You should already be in bed,” she reproached him, playfully swatting at his pajama-covered bottom as he headed down the hall.

“Audrey?” she called out in a loud whisper for her fourteen-year-old sister, who was supposed to have been watching the younger kids while their mother was at work and Tessa had been at the damn class she didn’t have time to take. As Tessa had feared, Audrey wasn’t responsible enough yet to handle the others. Besides Christopher and Audrey, there were three more kids.

Tessa poked her head into the first doorway off the hall, where Christopher climbed the ladder of a bunk bed to the top bed. On the bottom bunk slept their brother Joey, the blankets kicked off his small body. Tessa crept forward and pulled the covers to his chin, then pushed back his tangle of brown bangs and pressed a kiss against the five-year-old’s forehead.

He murmured in his sleep. “Mommy…”

“No, she’ll be home in the morning,” she assured him as he drifted back to sleep. After tucking in Christopher, despite his protests, she headed back into the hall and collided with Audrey.

The dark-haired girl was already taller than Tessa, and should have been able to handle the younger kids at least. “Hey, Tess…”

“Where have you been?” she asked, then answered her own question. “On the computer, of course.”

“I had to finish my homework.” The girl’s blue eyes narrowed in an accusatory glare. “You wouldn’t help me.”

Tessa had tried; she’d been on the phone with Audrey most of the second half of the class, when she hadn’t been calling Kevin.

“Where’s your older brother?” she asked. “Did he go out?” Even though Tessa had told him before she’d left for the police department that he couldn’t?

Audrey shrugged. “I dunno.”

Tessa sighed. If Mom let him get his license, like the sixteen-year-old wanted, they wouldn’t be able to control the kid at all anymore. He came and went as he wanted now, with no regard to curfew. A headache began to throb at her temples. She would deal with Kevin later. “And Suzie?”

“She just got to sleep.”

Probably because Audrey had kept the seven-year-old awake when she’d been using the computer in their shared bedroom. “You better go to bed, too,” Tessa said.

“But my homework…” Audrey whined, her lips forming the pout of which the lieutenant had accused Tessa.

“You just said you finished it,” she reminded the teenager.

“But you need to check it,” Audrey insisted. “I’m barely passing algebra.”

Like Tessa had a feeling she would barely pass her class if Lieutenant Michalski had his way. She had to talk him into releasing her from her court-ordered participation in the academy. As she walked back into the kitchen to the homework Audrey had left spread across the table, lights shone through the windows as a car pulled into the driveway. Her mother wouldn’t be home for a few hours yet, not until after the bar closed. It had to be Kevin’s ride dropping him off.

Neither Audrey nor Kevin was responsible enough to take care of the younger kids or themselves; the responsibility was all hers. Tessa had to figure a way out of the citizens’ police academy.

“I’M GOING TO SKIP this week’s class,” Chad warned Paddy as he buttoned up his uniform shirt over the bulletproof vest Lakewood PD officers were required to wear every time they put on their uniform.

Other officers talked and slammed lockers shut as they, too, got ready for their shifts. The long, narrow basement room, with the gun-metal gray lockers and brick walls, reverberated with noise, but Chad suspected the watch commander had heard him and was just ignoring his pronouncement.

While Paddy sat on a bench tying his shoes, Chad glanced over at his friend’s open locker. He noticed the other man had put up new school pictures of his kids, and Chad’s heart contracted with a swift, sharp jab of pain.

He looked inside his own locker, at the pieces of tape stuck inside the door. The pictures were gone. After Luanne’s death he’d taken down her photo. And after his premature son had died two weeks later, he’d taken down his sonogram picture. But he’d left the pieces of tape, as if he might someday have new pictures to post.

But Luanne was gone; their child was gone. Only the pain remained. He couldn’t risk more pain; there would be no more pictures. He reached for one of the pieces of tape, picking at it with his fingernail.

Paddy stood and as he attached his gun, two extra magazine clips, Taser, collapsible baton, pepper spray and radio to his belt, he stared at the pictures of his kids. Since his divorce, he didn’t see his children nearly as often as he liked.

But at least he could see them.

“I’m skipping the CPA class this week,” Chad repeated, with enough volume that Paddy couldn’t continue pretending to have not heard him.

“We’ve already been through this, Junior,” the watch commander reminded him as he closed and leaned against his locker. “You’re the resident emergency vehicle operation and traffic stop expert.”

“You don’t need an expert for this week’s class,” Chad protested, abandoning the stubborn tape. He would have to take care of it later. “You’re just doing the tour of the department.”

Paddy shook his head. “That won’t take four hours. We’re going to show some video footage, too. Give ’em a day in the life of a police officer.”

“I thought that was the purpose of the ride-along.”

“This week we do sign-ups for the ride-alongs,” Paddy informed him. “The tapes give ’em an idea of what to expect.”

Chad snorted. “We never know what to expect when we go out.” A routine traffic stop could easily become a drug arrest, or a shoot-out. Or a confrontation with an unsettlingly beautiful woman.

“Ain’t that the truth,” Paddy agreed with a heavy sigh. “And that’s why I like to share with them that you have to expect the unexpected. Hopefully it’ll inspire them to be careful on their ride-alongs.”

Chad inwardly groaned. Based on her speeding and her wanting to walk the city streets alone at night, Tessa Howard didn’t have a clue about how to be careful. “Maybe you should skip the ride-alongs this session.”

Paddy grinned. “Thinking about Tessa Howard?”

Too much, but he wasn’t about to share that with the watch commander. “She’s not the only one who might be a problem.”

“The mayor’s daughter,” Paddy added with a derisive snort. “Who’s probably spying for her daddy so he can find out where to cut our budget.”

And politics like that was why Chad was happy in his present position. He wouldn’t want Paddy’s job or the public information officer’s, either. “Erin Powell is in the class, too,” he reminded the watch commander.

Paddy uttered a groan. “Kent’s reporter is already a problem.”

Erin Powell at the Lakewood Chronicle was determined to paint the department, but most especially Sergeant Kent Terlecki, the department’s public information officer aka media liaison, in the worst light.

“Why did you approve her application for the academy?” Chad wondered. He would have asked about the reporter’s admittance earlier, but he had been preoccupied with another member of the CPA.

Paddy shrugged. “I left it up to Kent.”

So Chad wasn’t the only one who had erred in judgment.

“Anyway, I need you to pull some traffic stop footage for me,” Paddy continued.

“I can pull the footage,” Chad agreed, “but I don’t have to be there to show it.”

“Yeah, you do,” the watch commander insisted, “in case anyone has questions.”

“With the reporter in the class, Kent should be the one answering all the questions.”

“Maybe that’s the reason he shouldn’t,” Paddy reasoned. “Did you read today’s paper?”

“Not yet.”

“Don’t waste your time,” Paddy advised him. “Hopefully Kent hasn’t seen it, either.”

“I’m sure he has.” Chad doubted the public information officer missed any of Powell’s articles.

“Then that’s another reason you’re not going to want to miss this week’s class,” Paddy predicted.

“Okay, I’ll be there.” If only for moral support for his fellow officer. Chad glanced at his watch and noted that he had some time before the night-shift briefing.

A few minutes later, he stepped out of the stairwell onto the second floor where the offices were located. He intended to talk to Kent, but another voice drew his attention—a fast-talking, feminine one.

“And you don’t have to worry about one-eight-hundred numbers and automated answering services. You’ll have my cell number and can reach me directly, any time day or night, if you have any problems,” Tessa Howard assured the chief as the older man walked her out of his office. “Not that you’ll have any problems. I’m sure you’ll find our Internet and phone service much more reliable than your current carrier.”

“I’ll have to look over your proposal, Ms. Howard,” Chief Archer stalled as he tapped a finger against the folder in his hand. “Then let you know my decision.”

“I’ll be here later this week for the citizens’ police academy,” she said. “I can come in early and check with you before the class starts.”

“That’s right. You’re a member of the academy,” Chief Archer said with a smile of obvious pride in the department.

“Not by choice,” Chad chimed in, unwilling to let her use the CPA as a selling point. Wearing a short skirt and tight jacket again, she could have been in another type of profession. The lady was not above using any of her assets to get what she wanted, as he recalled from her shameless flirting during the traffic stop. “Well, actually I guess the judge did give her a choice—the academy or another speeding ticket.”

“Hello, Lieutenant,” the chief greeted him while Tessa just glared.

Chad ignored her and turned toward his boss, who was also a good friend. A year ago Frank Archer had joined Chad’s unofficial club of widowers. Misery didn’t quite love company but at least appreciated it. “Chief.”

Archer studied him and Tessa, his brow furrowed in deep thought. “It appears you already know Ms. Howard.”

Chad nodded. “Yes, I know Ms. Howard.”

“Humph,” Tessa said and murmured, “He only thinks he does.”

“Then perhaps you two should get to know each other better,” the chief suggested.

“No!” the protest slipped through Chad’s lips.

“That’s not necessary,” Tessa said, leaving Chad to wonder if she referred to his reaction or to his getting to know her better.

The chief’s brow furrowed more, and he shook his head. “Well, can you at least see Ms. Howard out?” Without waiting for a response, Archer ducked back inside his office and closed the door, leaving Chad alone with Tessa.

He glanced from the chief’s closed door to the one next to his that belonged to Sergeant Terlecki. Chad had come upstairs to offer Kent a word of support, but instead he wrapped his fingers around Tessa’s wrist and steered her toward the elevator.

“Thanks a lot,” Tessa said with total insincerity as irritation—not his touch—heated her blood. She shook his hand off her arm. “If you hadn’t come along, I would have talked him into signing up.”

He chuckled as he reached for the Down button of the elevator. “I don’t think so.”

“Why?” Pride lifted her chin. “I’m good at my job.”

The elevator must have been waiting because the doors slid open instantly. His hand touched the small of her back now, guiding her into the empty car. “I don’t doubt that you’re quite the saleswoman,” he said.

Somehow she felt insulted rather than complimented. “What are you implying?”

“Just that you’re not above using your wiles to get what you want—a contract—” he arched a dark brow “—or a free pass on a ticket.”

“Well, you didn’t give me a free pass.” Which didn’t say much for her wiles since he hadn’t been a bit interested then—or now.

“And the judge didn’t give you a free pass, either,” the lieutenant said. “Despite your recent attempt to sweet-talk him.”

Heat rushed to Tessa’s face. “Uh…”

“The judge e-mailed to warn me that you’re trying to get out of the academy,” Chad said, his voice sharp with disapproval. “Interesting that you weren’t above using your participation to score points with the chief, though.”

“I am participating,” she said. Because she hadn’t been able to talk the judge into changing her punishment. She’d even offered to pick up trash along the highway instead.

“But not of your own free will, like you wanted the chief to believe.”

“What are you—the sales spiel police? Do you take exception to everything I do or say?”

“Only when it’s not the entire truth.”

“You sound like you’re my father,” she said, not that she had a lot of experience with what a father sounded like. Hers hadn’t stuck around long; he hadn’t even waited for her to be born. But then, given her mother’s taste in men, that might have been a good thing; some of her siblings’ dads had stuck around too long.

A muscle twitched in his cheek. “I’m not old enough to be your father.”

“No, but you’re stuffy enough.”

“I’m not stuffy,” he protested. Clearly she’d struck a nerve.

“Oh, Lieutenant…” She emitted a pitying sigh. “You have no idea how stuffy you are.”

“Just because I didn’t let you flirt your way out a ticket?” he asked. “Flirting has surely failed you before, like it just did with the chief.”

“You think I was flirting with the chief?” she asked, thoroughly insulted now. Not that the chief wasn’t a good-looking man. Despite his having the highest position in the department, he probably wasn’t quite old enough to be her father, either.

“You were wasting your time,” he said, as he released a pitying sigh of his own. “The chief just lost his wife last year. He’s too loyal a man to notice another woman yet. Even you.”

“Even me?” He may not have meant that as a compliment, but Tessa took it as such.

Chad squeezed his eyes shut as if he regretted what he’d revealed. Then he admitted, “Even you. You know what you look like.”

She smiled. “My mama passed on good genes.” For physical appearance. For picking men, she had also passed on her lousy judgment genes, regrettably. Tessa had dated too many losers to be flattered by any man, yet the lieutenant wasn’t trying to flatter her. If anything, he was still insulting her. Her smile widened. “I hadn’t thought you noticed what I look like, Lieutenant.”

The elevator bell dinged as it reached the lobby, but Tessa reached out and pressed the door button, holding them closed.

“Your flirting doesn’t affect me any more than it did the chief,” Michalski assured her.

“I wasn’t flirting with the chief,” she pressed. “You’d know if I was flirting.”

“I would,” he agreed—too easily—then added, “but I don’t think you do. It’s probably just second nature to you, kind of like your speeding.”

“I know when I flirt.”

Unfortunately, so did he. Since her traffic stop, he hadn’t been able to forget the way she’d trailed her fingers over his and leaned in through her open SUV window, her breath nearly tickling his ear. His pulse quickened at the memory and at the reality of being alone with her. The elevator dinged again as someone probably stood on the other side of the doors, pressing the Up or Down button. But Tessa held the Close button again, trapping them inside the small car.

He could have easily brushed aside her hand and opened the doors, but he leaned against the wall of the elevator and wrapped his hands around the brass railing to prevent himself from pulling her into his arms.

“I don’t think you do know when you’re flirting,” he argued with her arbitrarily. Was he wanting to rile her as much as she had tried to rile him with her “stuffy” insult? “I think you act just as recklessly with your…wiles as you do your driving.”

“Recklessly?”

“Some day you might flirt with the wrong man,” he warned her, “one who doesn’t understand that you’re not really aware of what you’re doing.”

“I know when I flirt,” she repeated, jabbing the Close button again. Then she crossed the small space separating them, swaying her hips with just a couple of steps. She didn’t stop until her body touched his. Then she lifted her chin, staring up at him, her blue eyes wide and bright.

“Lieutenant…” she murmured as her fingers trailed up his chest to tap his badge.

He knew she was playing with him, teasing the stuffy police officer and trying to prove her point. But his heart beat hard beneath his vest. “Tessa…”

She bit her full bottom lip and then swiped the tip of her tongue across it, moistening her mouth. Her lips parted and she breathed the word, “Yes…”

He hadn’t realized he’d asked a question. To what was she giving permission—for him to kiss her? He leaned forward…just as the elevator dinged again. Without her finger on the button, the doors slid open to a trio of rookie officers standing in the lobby. Heat climbed to Chad’s face from where it had pooled lower in his body, where Tessa’s curvy body brushed his.

One officer whistled.

One whispered, “Oh, man…”

And the third spoke coherently, “Lieutenant, we didn’t want to be late for roll call. But we’ll take the stairs.”

“Sorry,” muttered the whistler as they whirled away from the elevator.

The rookies weren’t going to be the only ones late for roll call. Chad closed his eyes and groaned.

Tessa’s body, lush and soft, settled fully against his. He swallowed another groan, fighting to keep his body from reacting to her closeness. He dragged in a breath, but it smelled of her—some light floral scent and fruity shampoo. He gripped the brass railing so hard he nearly snapped it free of the elevator wall. But he wouldn’t reach for her. Even though his body hardened to the point of pain, he couldn’t give in to temptation.

Her lips brushed his throat as she murmured, “Now that’s flirting.”

Feeling her gaze on his face, Chad kept his eyes closed. He couldn’t see her this close and not lean down those few inches to press his mouth across hers, to find out if she tasted as sweet and naughty as she smelled.

She eased away and added, “And no matter what you claim, my flirting affects you.”

He opened his eyes just in time to watch her hips sway as she sashayed out of the elevator and walked across the lobby. She was right. She affected him. And he couldn’t have that—he couldn’t have her.

Chapter Three

Flirting with Lieutenant Michalski had been a bad idea. She had proved him right; she had acted recklessly. Now, after flirting shamelessly with him, she had to see him again at the CPA class. Her face warmed as she walked into class—late. She ducked her head, hoping not to draw attention to her entrance.

But Amy, the college girl, called out, “I saved your seat!” and waved her to the table at the front of the room.

“You almost missed us, Ms. Howard,” Lieutenant O’Donnell remarked from where he leaned against the officers’ table. “We were just about to leave for our tour of the department.”

Great, if she had been a little later, she could have justified leaving to the judge, if she had walked into an empty room. He would have had to let her miss this class.

“We’ll break into smaller groups to get into elevators,” O’Donnell continued. “We have sixteen citizens, now that Ms. Howard has joined us.” While Michalski, seated behind the officers’ table, stared at her in disapproval, O’Donnell winked at her. “There will be an officer with each group, so don’t worry about getting lost. And feel free to leave your academy binder and personal stuff in the room.”

Chairs creaked and voices rose in conversation and excitement over the tour. Tessa glanced down at the briefcase she had propped next to her chair. While the leather bag was heavy, it was also too important for her to risk leaving behind.

“It’ll be safe,” a deep voice assured her.

She lifted her gaze to Chad’s handsome face. Along with those gold-flecked green eyes, he had chiseled features. She sighed, disgusted that such good looks were wasted on a man with such an uptight personality. To silently challenge his claim, she raised a brow.

“You’re in a police department,” he reminded her.

“But someone pointed out last week how dangerous this area is at night.”

“Outside,” he explained. “On the streets. You’re safe in here.”

The memory of the two of them in the elevator—her body pressed against his long, lean frame—passed through her mind. She shook her head. She wasn’t safe in here—not with him. But she left her briefcase beside her chair and turned to leave the room, which had already emptied. He followed her as she walked down the hall to the elevators.

“You were late again,” he remarked disapprovingly.

“I was in the building.”

“Flirting with the chief again?”

She ignored his snarky comment, too filled with triumph and pride to be offended. “I was signing up the Lakewood PD as a client.”

Michalski grimaced with disgust. “I really thought the chief was immune to a woman’s charms.”

“I’m sure he is,” she agreed. “But, as I mentioned before, I wasn’t flirting. I offered the best service available. The fastest T1 line, reliable, accessible—”

He chuckled. “The chief gave you the account. You can stop selling now.”

“No, I can’t.” She had too many bills at home, too many responsibilities. “Not in this business.” She quickened her pace to join the rest of the class by the elevators; she did not want to wind up alone with Chad again.

“Don’t you ever slow down?” he asked as he lengthened his stride to match hers. Even in those ridiculously high heels, the woman moved as quickly as she talked. And as she drove. He sighed. “I guess I know the answer to that.” She wasn’t ever going to slow down, no matter what she learned in the class.

“Lieutenant, are you going to be our guide?” Amy asked as she batted her lashes at Chad.

Her flirting didn’t affect him like Tessa’s. Hell, Tessa got under his skin even when she wasn’t flirting. Like now, when she was all but ignoring him.

But wearing a bright red suit, with her blond hair swinging around her shoulders, she was impossible to ignore. When the elevator arrived, he stepped back, allowing the members of his group to file in first. Memories of the last time he’d shared an elevator with Tessa flashed through his mind, but he pushed them away and stepped inside the crowded car.

His group consisted of the overly enthusiastic college girl, an older Neighborhood Watch captain, Tessa and the granddaughter of the owner of the Lighthouse Bar and Grille. The Lighthouse was where most of the police department hung out before and after shifts for great food and conversation with people who actually understood the job.

During the tour, he did his best to keep his mind off Tessa. He focused instead on explaining the workings of the department, showing the 911-command room, the locker room, the gym and the roll-call room. When he brought them to the office floor, which was all but deserted this late in the evening, he stepped back. “Do you want to handle this area, Ms. Howard? You’ve been up here a few times.”

Her blue eyes narrowed in a glare. “That’s fine. I’m sure everyone—” she glanced at Amy “—would rather listen to you.”

“Lieutenant, do you have an office up here?” Amy asked. “I’d love to see where you work when you’re not out in your patrol car.”

“I just use a desk in the roll-call room, which you already saw,” Chad replied, with none of the charm Paddy had probably intended his tour guides to exhibit. But the girl’s attention unsettled Chad. While he wasn’t old enough to be her father, he felt old in comparison to her.

She was still in college although she acted younger than most of the kids he taught in the police academy at Lakewood U. She brought up memories of his crazy college days—playing hockey, frat parties, staying up all night to finish papers that should have been done earlier and would have been done earlier if he hadn’t spent all his time with Luanne. Too bad he hadn’t had more free time…

Fighting against the pressure building in his chest, he drew in a deep breath. He didn’t know why Amy had made him think of his late wife—the young girl was nothing like Luanne. Strangely, Tessa reminded him the most of Luanne, even though the two women looked nothing alike.

“Can we go back down to the weight room?” Amy asked, sticking close as he continued to show his group around the office floor. “You must use that room a lot, Lieutenant.”

Someone snorted over the girl’s flirting, probably Tessa. The snort turned into a chuckle as he quickened his step to gain some distance from the girl.

“We need to get back to the conference room now,” he said, herding the group toward the elevator. “Lieutenant O’Donnell is going to show some tapes,” he said as they waited for the car, “that’ll give you some insight into what a day in the life of an officer is like. Then you’ll have some idea of what to expect on your ride-along.”

As the elevator dinged and its doors slid open, Chad expelled a small breath of relief. He was so not tour-guide material. He owed Paddy for roping him into the job.

“Can I do my ride-along with you?” Amy asked, squeezing next to him in the elevator.

“Uh, Lieutenant O’Donnell hands out the assignments, so it’s not up to me.”

“Do we have to do the ride-along?” Tessa asked, speaking up from the other side of the elevator, which was probably as far from him as she’d been able to get without taking the stairs.

“For voluntary members of the academy, it’s voluntary,” he said and swallowed a chuckle over the anger that flashed through her blue eyes.

“Then can we put in a request for who we don’t want to do our ride-along with?” she asked with a sassy smile.

“You can try.” He fully intended to tell Paddy that Tessa was the last citizen he’d like to be paired with. As Amy shifted closer, he made a mental note to add her as the second to last.

TRY? TESSA INTENDED to get out of the ride-along entirely. She hadn’t agreed to that when she had agreed to enroll in the CPA.

“Are you mad at me?” Amy asked her as they took their seats in the conference room.

“What?”

“For flirting with Lieutenant Michalski,” she explained. “Are you and he…”

“No,” Tessa assured her. “Not at all.”

“Good.”

“So you decided he wasn’t too old for you after all?” Tessa said, intending her comment as teasing, but couldn’t help that a little bitterness had crept into her voice. But she wasn’t jealous—not at all.

Amy shrugged. “He is, but he sure is yummy. And I know there’s something going on with Sergeant Terlecki and Erin—”

“No, there isn’t,” Erin Powell denied hotly as she slid into the chair on the other side of Tessa. “There’s nothing going on between me and the sergeant.”

“Sure,” Amy humored her.

The girl obviously didn’t read the Chronicle, or she would have realized the only thing going on between Terlecki and Erin was mutual hatred. Yet the reporter had been part of his group for the tour…

Tessa turned and studied the other woman. “What is that old saying about love and hate?”

Erin shook her head and sighed. “Not you, too.” She leaned closer and whispered. “Not every female is here to land a lawman, you know.”

Tessa chuckled. “Hey, you don’t have to tell me. I don’t even have time for this class, let alone a man.”

“I have time for only one man,” Erin shared.

Tessa glanced toward the officers’ table, at the handsome blond sergeant and then she turned back to Erin with a raised brow.

“Not him,” she repeated, a scowl marring her smooth forehead. The furrows cleared when she smiled and explained, “My little man is only three and a half feet tall.”

“You have a son?” Tessa would have guessed Erin was not much older than Amy, but then age had nothing to do with parenting. Her mother had gotten pregnant with Tessa before finishing high school.

“Nephew,” Erin said, “but he’s my responsibility right now.”

Tessa understood those kinds of responsibilities, the ones that really belonged to someone else but had become yours. “I have—”

“Please turn your attention to the overhead where we’ll be playing tapes of some traffic stops,” Lieutenant O’Donnell directed, interrupting Tessa before she could share the number and ages of her siblings.

The watch commander nodded and someone flipped off the lights. “This will give you an idea of the day in a life of a patrol officer and what some of you will have to look forward to on your ride-alongs. This shows you how we don’t know what to expect with even the most routine of traffic stops, so each of you will need to stay in the cruiser until your officer indicates you can leave the vehicle. Your safety, the public’s safety and our officers’ safety are of utmost importance to the Lakewood PD.”

Next to her, Erin snorted in derision.

Tessa closed her eyes. Because she was not a police groupie, nor participating out of any interest in law enforcement, she intended to recharge from her long day of running from sales call to sales call to high school to middle school to elementary school, dropping off and picking up kids and taking forgotten lunches or lunch money or books or homework…

But then a familiar deep voice requesting, “License and registration, please,” drew her attention to the screen. Lieutenant Michalski stood next to an equally familiar black SUV.

She cringed and slumped in her chair as a woman coyly remarked, “Good afternoon, Officer. I must have a taillight out, right? How sweet of you to stop and inform me.”

Yet the SUV’s lights burned red even in the fuzzy video footage.

“Both lights are working, ma’am.”

“Then I can’t imagine why you stopped me.”

“You were speeding,” he said, lifting his hand toward her open window. “License and registration.”

As she passed them over, her hand lingered on his, her index finger stroking his skin. “I can give you my card, too, if you’d like my phone number.”

Chuckles emanated from the darkness, and Amy nudged her with an elbow. “That’s you!” Then in a louder voice, she exclaimed, “That’s Tessa!”

Tessa’s face burned with humiliation, but her screen image knew no such shame. “Officer…Lieutenant Michalski,” she murmured as she leaned through the open window, reading the thin brass pin with his name above his badge. Then she blinked up at him. “I can’t imagine why you think I was speeding…”

“Because you were,” he stated unequivocally, with no discernible reaction to her flirting, the dark glasses hiding his eyes. “I’ll be right back with your ticket.”

“Wait!” But he walked away from her in the video. If only that had been the last she’d seen of him…

Chad clicked off the computer, freezing the frame on his handsome face as he walked back toward his car. Even with the low quality of the footage, the muscle twitching in his cheek was visible as he clenched his jaw.

“That was the classic,” he said, having taken over for the watch commander, “flirt-your-way-out-of-a-ticket reaction—”

“Starring CPA member Tessa Howard,” one of the other participants said, laughing. The kid, who had shared in the introductions last week that he was in the criminal justice program at Lakewood University, acted as if Tessa had starred in another kind of video.

“So did you give her the ticket?” one of Chad’s fellow officers asked as he chuckled, too.

“Why do you think I’m here?” Tessa replied for him, lifting her palms and sighing with resignation.

“So the flirting didn’t work?” Amy asked, her eyes wide with disappointment.

Tessa shook her head. “Not with the lieutenant.”

“But you gave a valiant effort,” someone praised her—the older woman who had talked her husband into joining the program for “thrills.” Bernice, or Bernie as she preferred, began to clap, and the other CPA members joined in the applause.

Tessa stood up and bowed, as if she had just performed a play. In a way she had, a very public play for the lieutenant’s interest.

As if he hadn’t noticed her sassy response, Chad continued speaking, “It’s an officer’s duty to uphold the law and treat all violators fairly.”

“No matter how pretty they are,” Terlecki interjected, but his focus was on Erin, not Tessa.

“So my ugly mug won’t cause me to get more tickets?” Bernie’s husband, Jimmy, asked from where he sat next to his wife in the middle of the room.

“You’re just as handsome as the day I married you,” Bernie dutifully assured him.

“Then what the hell were you thinking thirty-nine years ago?” he joked.

Relieved the attention had shifted from her, Tessa released a breath. Then she risked a glance toward Chad and found his gaze on her. Did he care that he had embarrassed her? Or had that been his intention when he’d included the footage of her traffic stop? As in the video, his face was unreadable.

“Let’s turn back to the screen, folks,” he directed everyone. “We have a few more examples we’d like you to see.” As the next video flickered across the screen, he warned, “If anyone finds foul language offensive, you may want to plug your ears…”

The few laughs that emanated from the CPA participants died out as the young female officer on the screen walked up to the open window of the car she had pulled over. The driver hurled insults and curses at the officer, who didn’t even flinch. But Tessa tensed, fisting her hands at her sides as she took exception to the chauvinistic remarks.

When the young officer asked the man to step out of his vehicle, the driver gunned the engine and took off. A gasp spilled from Tessa’s lips, which others echoed.

“He was later apprehended,” Chad assured them, “with a blood alcohol level well over the legal limit. But he filed a complaint against the department and that officer for harassment.”

A few curses of outrage emanated from the CPA participants.

“So Tessa was the honey and that guy was the vinegar,” Jimmy said.

Lieutenant Michalski ignored his remark, of course, and played the next video. An officer stood beside another vehicle. The audio had been turned down so Tessa couldn’t hear what either the officer or the driver said. But then metal crashed against metal, the sickening crunch reverberating in the quiet conference room.

Tessa jumped, startled by the noise and horrified by what she saw on the large screen. A truck hit first the police car, so that the camera shook but kept recording the image of the officer’s own vehicle hitting him.

Even though he didn’t make a sound, Chad drew her attention. In the flickering glow from the screen, his face was eerily pale, his green eyes dark and haunted. Sweat beaded on his upper lip and his brow. She rose a few inches from her chair, compelled to go to him, to see if he was all right, but then he spoke.

“Officer Jackson’s injuries were surprisingly minor,” he said. “A broken leg and bruised ribs. He recovered quickly to return to work.”

Tessa settled back on to her chair, but remained on edge, unsettled by her response to Chad’s reaction to the tape. She didn’t understand it, either. Since Officer Jackson hadn’t been seriously injured, why had Chad tensed so much?

“And this next officer also survived,” he told them in advance of running the tape.

Yet the warning wasn’t quite enough to prepare them for what they saw. On the big screen an officer walked up to a vehicle, and before he approached the driver’s side, someone clad in a dark hoodie and baggy jeans jumped out the van’s back door and started shooting. Due to the camera angle, it appeared as though the bullets were coming straight out of the screen toward the viewers.

The class uttered gasps of horror—except for Amy who screamed. Tessa held her breath, horrified by the images she’d just seen.

“Officer Bowers’s vest and his quick thinking saved his life,” Chad assured them.

While these officers had survived, Tessa knew there were officers who hadn’t been as fortunate, based on the daily reports on the evening news. And she remembered those images, but in her mind, each of those fallen officers was Chad. She squeezed her eyes shut to ease the sting of tears.

When the lights flipped back on, silence hung heavy in the room—everyone was as stunned as she was. Then someone, maybe the kid now rethinking his college major, asked, “Why do you do it?”

“Because it’s our job,” Sergeant Terlecki answered, but all the officers nodded their agreement.

Tessa shivered at how matter-of-factly they faced the potential of danger every day.

“In the back of your binders is a release form and sign-up sheet for ride-alongs,” Lieutenant O’Donnell said. “Consider this footage when you make your decision for whether or not to participate. Then pick a few dates that’ll work for you. Our shifts are twelve hours long.”

“Twelve hours?” Jimmy gasped.

“You won’t have to stay for the whole twelve-hour tour,” the watch commander assured him. “The officer you’re assigned would be happy to bring you back early.”

“That’s no fun,” Bernie said, patting her nervous husband’s hand. “You have to stay for the whole shift so you don’t miss anything exciting.”

“It’s not always exciting,” O’Donnell warned her. “But this is a great opportunity for you to experience, firsthand, a day in the life of an officer.”

A day in Chad’s life. It was not all flirting girls. It was uncertainty and danger. That bothered Tessa—and it bothered her more that it bothered her. That he bothered her.

KENT SLAPPED Chad on the back as they filed out of the empty conference room just ahead of Paddy, who shut off the lights. “Way to go, man, on standing firm with Blondie.”

“What?”

“The video feed of your traffic stop with the hot blonde,” Kent explained as if Chad didn’t know exactly about what and whom his fellow officer spoke.

He shrugged. “Hey, you’ve been there.” Just not since he’d taken a bullet for the chief three years ago, earning his nickname and desk job because of his inoperable injury.

“And I’ve let a few go with a warning,” Kent admitted, “especially when they turn on the waterworks.”

Paddy clicked his tongue in disapproval. “Makes you wonder how Bullet holds the department’s arrest record, huh?”

“But Junior holds the citation record,” Kent reminded them. “He never lets anyone off with a warning.”

Luanne hadn’t listened to all his warnings; now she was dead. He’d failed her. He didn’t want to fail anyone else. That was why he’d included the footage of not just Tessa’s traffic stop but of Officer Jackson’s accident, too. That sound of metal crunching metal rang yet in his ears, reminding him again of Luanne’s accident. He tried to block it out as his stomach lurched.

Had Tessa understood that speeding could have killed a police officer? That if she didn’t slow down and focus on her driving instead of on her cell phone, she could have another accident, one in which more than a mailbox got hurt?

He cleared his throat and asked Paddy, “Did Ms. Howard turn in her sign-up sheet?”

Paddy shook his head. “I don’t think she’s interested in a ride-along.”

“She needs to do it,” Chad insisted. “The whole purpose of her being in the program is so she’ll stop speeding.” Or else he wouldn’t have suggested the CPA as an alternative for her ticket.

Paddy nodded. “Sure, I’ll tell her the ride-along is mandatory.”

“Thanks.”

“He’s just saying that because he wants to be the one to drive her around,” Kent teased.

“Hell, no!” he protested, not liking the thought of a twelve-hour shift with Tessa sitting beside him—too close, too damn beautiful and sexy.

His fellow officers laughed at his vehemence.

“C’mon,” Kent persisted as they waited for the elevator. “We saw your face on that tape when you were walking back to your car. You might have given her the ticket, but she got to you.”

And that was why he couldn’t be assigned to her. She would distract him from his job, which was all he wanted in his life now and all he’d ever allow himself to care about again.

“Yeah,” he agreed with his friends, “she got to me. She annoyed me.”

“She could annoy me anytime,” Kent remarked with an appreciative whistle.

Chad sucked in a quick breath at a stab in his ribs. It was as if his friend had shoved a knife in his back. He couldn’t be jealous. He wasn’t interested in Tessa Howard, but somehow he found himself reminding Kent of his reporter. “You have your own annoyance.”

The other man uttered a curse then a heavy sigh. “You guys going to the ’house?” he asked, referring to the Lighthouse Bar and Grille, which boasted the best burgers in Lakewood.

Chad shook his head. “I’m finishing up Reynolds’s shift in a couple of hours. He could only work a half tonight. He’s gotta get some sleep before he goes to his kid’s show-and-tell tomorrow.” Chad was used to filling in for the guys who had families, and he didn’t mind working the extra hours because they usually helped him forget that he didn’t have one.

“I’ll buy you a burger before you go on duty,” Paddy offered. “I appreciate your help with the program.”

“I’m almost done,” Chad reminded his friend and himself. He was almost done seeing Tessa Howard. “I only need to explain the pursuit policy and demonstrate the traffic stop procedure, and my obligation to the program is fulfilled.”

Paddy shook his head. “I need you to do a ride-along, too, Junior. I need you to do her ride-along.”

Chapter Four

“You’re sure everything’s all right?” Tessa asked Audrey, the cell phone pressed to one ear while she plugged a finger into her other ear to block out the noise of the crowded bar.