Belonging by Samantha James Read Free Book Online Page B

it. His chuckle turned
into a laugh at the sight of Mayor Angela Hall, flawlessly groomed
as always and clutching a shoe in each hand.
    Angie tried very hard to frown, but it was
rather v hard to maintain her dignity while she was
standing barefoot. The humor of the situation suddenly struck her,
and she gave in to a smile. "You're the guest of honor," she
reprimanded lightly. "What are you doing hiding out here?"
    "Getting a breath of fresh air?" he
suggested.
    It must have sounded like the feeble excuse
it was. Her laughter came so readily and was so unlike the rest of
her that Matt found himself studying her once more. There was both
strength and softness in those fine- boned features, and he finally
admitted to himself that there were some inconsistencies about this
woman. And he couldn't have called himself a cop if he wasn't
intrigued by the thought of investigating them further.
    He also couldn't have called himself a man if
he'd been totally unaware of exactly how lovely she really was. It
both irritated and amused him that he found her desirable and
alluring. To be singed by the flame once was excusable—twice was
something only a fool would do. Apparently this was his day to make
a fool of himself.
    "To tell you the truth," he heard himself
say, "I was just thinking I could use a cigarette. Unfortunately, I
don't smoke."
    A cigarette, not a lollipop? Angie couldn't
quite hide her amusement as she thought of Janice's comparison of
this man to Kojak.
    She also couldn't help thinking that he
seemed a little more approachable tonight than on the previous
occasions they'd met—the smile softened the blunt edges of his
harsh masculinity. Before she had been distinctly on edge. Now she
felt she could relax—almost. What was it Matt had said? Something
about tonight being a stressful situation.
    "I know the feeling," she returned softly.
"Unfortunately, fading into the shadows isn't always
possible."
    "Or expected of the city's mayor," he
remarked. There was a small silence before he added almost
conversationally, "I suppose you'd rather be anywhere but here
right now."
    She felt an odd fluttering in her stomach as
she watched him slip his hands into his trouser pockets. His hands
were big, dark with a generous sprinkling of hair across the wide
backs, the fingers long and lean. She shivered, unable to suppress
an unwelcome memory of Evan's hands, warm and tender, hard and
hurting.
    Evan was the last person she wanted to think
about now, or any other time for that matter. She forced her
attention back to the present.
    Moistening her lips, she took a deep breath.
"If I say yes, will you believe I don't mean that personally?" She
glanced up at him, wishing she could see his face a little better.
"Unfortunately, I can't pretend I don't hear when duty calls." She
sighed, then added, "But I'm really not very fond of get-togethers
like this."
    Surely she wasn't saying she was a homebody.
Matt tried not to look surprised. It suddenly occurred to him that
he'd thought all along that she would be in her element at
something like this, just like Linda. But for some reason he was
reluctant to call her a social butterfly, either.
    "At last, a kindred spirit." His tone was
teasing, but his mind had backtracked to the moment before. For
just an instant there had been something vulnerable in her
expression. But vulnerability was a facet he found difficult to
reconcile with his impression of her as diamond hard.
    His eyes dropped to the shoes that still
dangled from her hands. "You look like Cinderella fleeing the
ball," he observed.
    She smiled, a rather secretive smile, Matt
decided. He watched as she moved a few steps to sink into a
wrought-iron chair, putting her high heels beneath it. Her feet, he
noticed, were exactly like the rest of her--small, slender,
dainty.
    "More like Cinderella fleeing the wicked
stepmother," she corrected with a thread of amusement in her
voice. Tipping her head to one side, she looked up at him.