The Family Man Read Online Free PDF Page A

might not be able to stop.
    She mentally kicked herself for not making it here earlier, before he got home. But she hadn’t expected him here so soon. It was barely after one o’clock.
    Sara steeled herself, focused on the fact that right now she was a detective working a case, not a woman appreciating a man’s very fine physical attributes.
    Adam nodded to the girls as she approached him.“I see you brought backup. Little early to have them in training, isn’t it?”
    He said it with a hint of humor, but she still felt like she’d made a bad parenting decision bringing them. Not that she’d had much of a choice. Ruby was visiting her sister in Panama City, and time was of the essence when working a missing child case.
    “Their sitter is out of town today.” She took a few more steps to look into his backyard. “Tell me exactly what you heard and saw.”
    He repeated the story of how he’d come home late after the bar closed, had heard something around the side of his house, had eased to the corner to check it out and seen someone disappearing into the neighbor’s yard.
    Sara searched the carport, examined the windows and door lining the back of Adam’s house for signs of attempted entry. After checking the entire backyard, particularly the spot where he’d seen the person leave the area, she sighed in defeat.
    “See, nada,” he said as he leaned against an old metal clothesline pole.
    She scanned the yard one more time, frustrated that the person hadn’t left behind any clue to his or her identity. “Could have been anyone. David, someone casing the neighborhood for theft purposes, a teenager taking a shortcut home.”
    When she glanced at Adam, he was watching her with a question in his eyes. “What?”
    “Just curious.”
    “About?”
    “When I first met you, I didn’t peg you for a cop. But when you slip into work mode, it’s obvious.”
    “I’m not sure you mean that as a good or bad thing.”
    “Both.”
    “Care to elaborate?” As if she could concentrate with his white T-shirt doing nice, sculpting things for his upper body.
    “It’s good that you’re looking for this kid.”
    “Thought you said he could take care of himself.”
    “Maybe he can, maybe not.”
    She shifted her weight and lifted her hand to shade her eyes from the sun. “And the bad part of me being a cop?”
    “Not sure I want to reveal that to someone who packs a gun.” He grinned, making it obvious how all those women had ended up on his arm.
    “You don’t believe in women being police officers?”
    He shook his head. “I’m not taking that bait. Just seems a dangerous career choice for anyone.”
    “Living is dangerous.”
    The muscles in his face tightened, and a darkness seemed to settle on him. “Can’t argue with that.”
    He pushed away from the pole and headed back toward the driveway. She followed, wondering what had prompted him to comment on her choice ofcareer. Chalk up his disagreement with that choice as another reason to steer clear of him until her little infatuation faded away.
    He nodded toward the girls. “When I first saw you with them, I thought you were babysitting. But someone told me they’re yours.”
    Sara squinted at him and the abrupt change of subject before responding.
    “Yeah. They were in foster care.”
    “You adopted them?”
    “Yes.”
    “You must stay really busy.”
    “I do, but I’m never bored.”
    He laughed a little, and she liked the sound of it, deep and rich.
    As they approached her car, Tana gave her a funny look she couldn’t read. It looked…mischievous somehow, but Sara couldn’t imagine what she might be up to. Had Tana wandered away from the car when she wasn’t looking?
    Lilly tugged on Tana’s hand as if trying to get her into the car.
    “She’s getting hungry,” Tana said as she resisted her little sister’s efforts.
    Lilly stopped tugging on the immovable Tana. “Pizza!” she said as she jumped up and down and clapped her hands.
    Adam