Bending the Rules by Susan Andersen Page B

kiss,” Ava pointed out gently.
    “Yeah, but that’s the thing, Av. It was so short it obviously meant nothing to him. Yet to me there was nothing merely about it. He barely grazed my lips and I was all over him like hot fudge on ice cream. I went from a reasonably intelligent woman to a crazed sex machine in one-point-two seconds. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it.”
    “Yowsa. And this is bad why?”
    “Because he shoved me back like I was pumping nuclear waste all over his jazzy shoes and said—” she deepened her voice in an attempt to approximate his “‘—My apologies, Ms. Calloway.’”
    All amusement fled her friends’ faces. Ava gaped at her. “He told you kissing you was a mistake?”
    She nodded. See, they got it—it wasn’t for nothing they were her BFFs.
    Ava glowered. “Why, that low-down, dirty, rotten—”
    “Pig,” Jane spat.
    And suddenly Poppy felt a measure of her usual confidence return. Yes, she was still mortified and less than thrilled at the prospect of facing Studly Do-Right again. But she had the most loyal friends in the world. And that went a long way toward removing the sting from even the worst bites that life had to offer.
    “Why the hell did the jerk kiss you in the first place?” Jane demanded.
    Arrested, Poppy stared at her. “That’s a very good question,” she said slowly. And for the first time since Jason had pushed her away she thought about his actions: his hands guiding hers up to encircle his strong neck, the look in his dark eyes when he’d lowered his mouth to hers. Reflectively, she said, “He didn’t seem to like it when I told him it was hardly worth apologizing over.”
    Ava and Jane snorted their amusement, but Poppy waved it aside. “So why did he kiss me?” she mused softly, reaching for the wine bottle to tip another splash into her and Ava’s glasses. “That brie ready yet? I think we’re going to need something to soak up this second glass.”
    Then she leveled a look at her friends and came back to the important issue. “You know what? I just might have to ask him about that. Don’tcha think?”
    Ava and Jane exchanged glances. Then they turned identical smiles on her.
    And gave her the thumbs-up.

CHAPTER EIGHT
Man. I wouldn’t be a fourteen-year-old girl again for all the world. Cory just broke my heart.
    E MOTIONS BOILING , Jase headed straight to the squad room, where he started making calls on a few open cases.
    Why the hell did you kiss her? The question kept popping up in the back of his mind whenever he was put on hold and later as he studied the surveillance videos from the series of jewelry-store robberies. Of all the stupid, lamebrain impulses! After spending half his frigging life trying to avoid the base urges fueled by de Sanges genes, he’d gone and crowded a civilian he was supposed to be working with and laid a kiss on her?
    Terrific. Maybe he should send a postcard to the joint to let the old man know that the family talent for bad behavior was trumping his years of toeing the line.
    Except he refused to believe that. He refused to be a victim of heredity. He had a choice, dammit.
    So why had he kissed Poppy? Yes, as Henry had pointed out, she was hot. But he’d been tempted by hot women in the past—temptation that he’d turned away from without a qualm if the timing wasn’t right or the situation was inappropriate. So what was so compelling about the Babe?
    David Hohn dropped into a chair in the room where Jase was viewing the tapes. “Anything new pop?”
    “No.” Grateful to have his attention directed somewhere, any where, else, he shoved upright in his chair. “It’s the same damn thing on every tape—just one guy, medium height, weight-lifter’s build, wearing a dark jacket, dark slacks and a dark ninja-style hood. He keeps his head down and shoots Silly String at the camera to disable it. But the timing doesn’t make sense on several of these stores. There shouldn’t be enough time