Amanda leaned back in the deck chair, not looking at him but at the line of evergreens along the edge of her backyard. She had often wondered, back in those days, if what she had felt had been one-sided. If only she felt that sort of electric crackle when she was around her father’s partner.

Now she knew better. Because a kiss like that didn’t happen unless it was on both sides. She knew that down deep, in some instinctive place that had never been awakened before that moment when their lips had met.

She wondered now if he’d truly been as shocked as he’d seemed. And if so, why? Because of that instant, almost jolting electricity?

Or because she’d done it at all?

She supposed her change of heart had to be as hard for him to accept as this whole situation was for her. Had he been surprised that it was still there, that attraction, that connection that had been there—at least on her side—since that first day she’d walked up to the back of the station to pick up her dad, and seen him standing there?

You don’t want this, Amanda. It’s just a reaction. Too much adrenaline.

As he left her to come out here and sit in the cold, his words echoed in her mind. She hadn’t immediately denied or discarded his words but had considered them, carefully. Because he was right about one thing, this situation, and what had happened in the last couple of weeks, had been extraordinary, and indeed adrenaline filled in a variety of ways.

But that was not the basis of her reaction to him for the simple reason that she’d felt this from the first moment she’d laid eyes on him. The current situation might have amplified it, but it didn’t cause it. So she was certain of her own feelings in the matter. It was his she didn’t know. Had she destroyed any feelings or attraction he might have felt back then? She could hardly blame him if it was true, but...

That kiss certainly hadn’t felt that way, but maybe he’d just been startled, shocked. Or maybe it was just a thing with guys; why turn away from a good, hot kiss? Adam didn’t seem the type, but it wasn’t like she had that much experience to compare it to. Dating hadn’t been high on her priority list for the last five years.

In the end she decided she couldn’t be sure. It had been so long, and the circumstances now were so unusual and unexpected, she couldn’t be sure of anything.

Well, maybe one thing. Because underneath it all was the unwavering thought that you didn’t go seeking out cold unless you were...hot.

Oh, he’s hot all right.