Did that mean it was over? The together part? “Amanda—”

“Mandy.” She visibly took in a breath. “For you, it’s Mandy. Don’t go backward.”

For a long, silent moment he could only stare at her. He hadn’t even realized that at her words his mind had already put such distance between them that he’d gone back without thinking to the more formal name.

When she spoke again her voice was a gentle, quiet thing. “I was so wrong, and—” He started shaking his head but she stopped him with a sharp, “No. Stop it, Adam. You have to stop blaming yourself.”

“But—”

“No buts. Was it my fault I couldn’t dodge that car that hit me?”

“Of course not, but—”

“Do you blame me for not coming to help you after that wild shot caught me?”

“That’s...different.”

“Why? And if you dare say because I’m female I can’t guarantee I won’t hurt you.”

He smiled, ruefully. And gave her some truth. “You,” he said quietly, “have more power to hurt me than anybody right now.”

“Why? Because you won’t fight back?”

“No.” Although he wouldn’t. “Because of...this last weekend. I never thought...imagined...” He stopped, afraid he’d make things worse, stumbling around what he really wanted to say, which he was afraid she didn’t want to hear. Even after this weekend together.

“I did,” she said rather bluntly. “I imagined a lot. And you...are everything I hoped you were the first time I saw you and spent a long time wondering how I was going to get past my father’s objections to me dating his new partner.”

He blinked. “You...what?”

“Do you really think this would have happened so fast if the core of it hadn’t already been there?” She lowered her gaze and her voice, and added in a thicker, more aching voice, “Do you think I would have been so blindly angry with you if I hadn’t cared about you? If there weren’t already strong emotions in place?”

“You had every right—”

Her head came up sharply. “I mean it, Adam. Stop it. You’ve got to stop it. Not only is it not true, it’s...damaging.”

“Damaging?”

“Us.”

That word again. That beautiful, wonderful, unattainable word. But was it unattainable? He swallowed, hard, and said, “That first day, when I first saw you and forgot to breathe, and then realized who you were... I don’t think I’ve ever silently sworn so much in my life. Because I knew your father wouldn’t want you with a cop. He’d said so.”

“And now you’re not one, so no problem.”