On Pins and Needles by Victoria Pade

warning. Or good reason.
    â€œIt’s tempting but I think I need a little more air. Is your car out back?”
    â€œIn the alley.”
    Josh nodded.
    It was a simple, courteous, meaningless exchange. But some thing between them seemed to change suddenly. It seemed to slow down. To turn intimate.
    â€œWhat time tomorrow?” Megan asked, trying tocombat that sense of intimacy along with everything else she was working against.
    â€œBetter make it ten. We don’t want folks answering their doors in their pajamas.”
    â€œAnd you won’t do anything without me before that?”
    â€œNot anything that has to do with this case. I don’t want to be pegged as one of the wrong doers you need to avenge.”
    Megan smiled at his teasing, wishing that she didn’t like him so much. Knowing only too well that she shouldn’t like him so much.
    But it didn’t make any difference because she couldn’t stop it.
    Any more than she could stop those thoughts about a good-night kiss from creeping into her mind. Again.
    On guard, she reminded herself once more. Be on guard against it.
    But the warning didn’t help any more than wishing she didn’t like him so much had.
    Because there they were, standing just a few feet inside the door, face to face, and Megan was looking up into midnight-blue eyes that seemed to emit enough heat to melt steel. Certainly enough to melt her and all her resolves.
    Then, without warning, Josh leaned in and actually did kiss her. Barely. A simple peck on the lips. An impulse cut short when he realized what he’d done.
    The expression on his face—still so close above hers—mirrored her surprise even as he grinned again.A lopsided grin. “Whoops,” he said as if the kiss had been an accident.
    â€œSlipped and fell, did you?”
    â€œI think I did. Internally, anyhow. Guess I’ll have to watch my step in the future.”
    â€œGuess so,” Megan confirmed to hide that she was really wishing he’d kiss her again. Longer this time…
    But he didn’t. Instead he took two steps backward and opened the office door.
    â€œSee you in the morning,” he said in a husky voice, his gaze staying on her as if it were glued there.
    â€œIn the morning,” Megan repeated, watching him go outside.
    As he did he shook his head and said, “Oh, man,” to himself.
    Megan wasn’t sure what that meant but it was the last thing he said before closing the door and heading back up the street the way they’d come.
    It wasn’t his reaction to that kiss that disturbed her, though. It was the fact that she had been so out of bounds.
    What am I doing? she wondered even as she followed his same path to the door and watched him through the glass.
    The guy had, just moments before, talked about changing her. About fitting into molds. Wasn’t that enough of an indication of how much he was like Noel to turn her off? she demanded of herself.
    Apparently not since she was now craning to keep sight of him.
    And that sight of him—tall and lean and muscular,with only the hint of a swagger to his gait—was a big part of her downfall and she knew it. He was just too good-looking. Too charming. Too sexy.
    And she was too susceptible to it all.
    Which was why she was supposed to have kept up her guard.
    Disgusted with herself, Megan left the window, turning off the lights as she did. Then she went out the back door, into the alley and got into her cold car.
    But that chill was just what she needed, she thought. It was like a cold shower to chase away desire.
    And maybe the reason Josh had wanted to walk back to the court house….
    But she didn’t even want to entertain the idea that he might be experiencing what she was experiencing. Some thing about that made the whole situation seem all the more dangerous.
    She started the engine and put the car into gear, driving slowly out of the alley and turning onto