Something had happened here just now. G.o.d only knew what. s.e.x, chemistry, attraction, something. -Nik didn't want it, or her, just slipping through his fingers before he explored the sensations that had been born in the wake of her kiss. He didn't want her just running off, not yet.

But one look at Sara's face and he knew that there was no way of talking to her now. Something in her eyes reminded him of a wary, frightened child. Maybe it was for the best if they both had a little breathing s.p.a.ce, at least for now.

Sara was already getting into her car. Slamming her door, she jabbed her key into the ignition. The car growled to life. She threw it into reverse, her hand shaking.

"You'd better move, Sinclair, unless you want me backing up over you: She hoped that sounded as flippant as she was trying to make it.

Nik had little doubt, as he stepped to the side, that Sara would be as good as her word.

She blasted music all the way to her father's house. She didn't hear a note. It took Sara fifteen minutes to stop trembling. She felt as if her insides were all the consistency of watered-down Jell-O.

d.a.m.n that man, she thought. As if she didn't have enough turmoil in her life already.

By morning Sara had calmed down and had reverted back to her blase self. She had convinced herself that the reason

Nik's kiss had electrified her was that she'd been completely , emotionally overwrought. If it hadn't been for the doubly charged situations she had found herself in, first being summoned by the father who had abandoned her and then having to wait out the results of his surgery, Nik s kiss would have left her completely cold.

Well, maybe not completely, but it wouldn't have felt as if there had been a total upheaval in her body composition.

It was the emotional gauntlet she had just gone through that had contributed to her feeling weak-kneed and palpitating as if she had just dived off a high cliff into ice-cold waters, not the man himself.

It was a good working theory, she thought, gettinQ into her car. And she intended to make it work.

Still, as a precaution, she made certain that she didn't arrive at Sinclair's before the rest of the crew came on duty.

Better safe than sorry, at least until she regained her bearings

She held her breath as she knocked on the back door, and only let it out when she saw that it was Jennifer who opened it.

Katie was trailing after her mother. The ribbon in her hair was slightly askew and drooping.

"Good morning." Sara dropped to her knees and fixed q . Katie's bow.

The child looked like a miniature version of her mother, she thought.

Brushing her hand along the little girl's cheek, Sara rose again and headed toward the office. There was a ton of work to do and she was aching to leap into it.

"Boyq you're certainly checrful this morning," Jennifer commented, following Sara in. "I hear your father's surgery went well. I'm very glad."

Sara dropped her purse into the desk's bottom drawer , then shut it with her foot. She wanted a cup of coffee, and wondered what her first encounter with Nik would be like.

She intended to play it very casually, as if yesterday's incident in the parking lot had all been very commonplace in her life.

" " Did Nik tell you that? " What else had he shared with his sister?

she wondered.

Probably nothing, she decided. She had to give him his due. He didn't seem like the type of man who was driven to talk about his private life.

Jennifer cleared her scattered notes from the desk. "No actually, Kane did." She saw Sara's puzzled look. "He stopped by to see your father on his way home last night. Did you know Kane and your father work out of the same precinct?"

There had been a lot more that Kane had shared with her last night, things that had Jennifer's heart going out to both father and daughter.

But she sensed that Sara wasn't the type who took sympathy easily.

"Small world," Sara murmured. She turned in time to see Nik pa.s.s by the doorway. Their eyes met for a moment before he continued walking.

"Maybe a little too small," she added under her breath, settling in.

Nik had almost walked into the office, then had changed his mind at the last moment. No sense pushing anything. What would be would be. The philosophy arose from an old song his mother used to sing to him when he was a child.

Part of him still believed in it.

"Hey, Sinclair, any chance of getting a terrific cup of coffee?" Sara called out just as he reached the kitchen.

He stopped, waiting for her to catch up. He smiled easily So, she was going to play it cool. Well, so could he. "Sure. I'll show you to the coffee urns."

It wasn't in Sara's nature to hide when things made her nervous. The best way to conquer fear of riding was to climb back on the horse that had thrown her. Of course, this time she'd kissed the horse instead of falling off him, but the basic philosophy was the same. If she attempted to stay out of his way, it would only manage to make things worse and blow them out of proportion for her.

Besides, Nik had said that he wanted to be her friend, so that was what they were going to be. Friends. Maybe even good friends. There was room in her life for that. But that was where it would end.

q " What happened to my personalized service? " she asked.

Nik noted that mischief had replaced the wariness he had seen yesterday in her eyes.

He played along with her mood. "That's for new employees"

Sara fisted her hands at her waist and looked at him, amused. " "

Well? " " 1'his is day number two. " He held up two fingers. q'You're not new anymore."

" " Ah, signorina, you are here! " As Antonio greeted her he took Sara's hand and kissed it. His mustache lightly tickled her skin. " I thought perhaps he had scared you away. " He nodded toward Nik.

Sara glanced at Nik as he crossed to one of the stoves.

"He tried." Nik raised a brow in her direction. d.a.m.n, she'd said too much again. "At least someone appreciates me " she quipped flippantly.

"Do some work. I'll appreciate you." Nik turned away. But he was smiling to himself. Neither Antonio nor Jennifer , who had walked into the kitchen just at that moment, missed the expression.

It was three o'clock. The lunch crowd had thinned out and the early dinner crowd was still two hours off. The tempo in the kitchen had slowed considerably. It was as good a time as any, Jennifer thought.

She walked into the kitchen.

Nik was experimenting with a new recipe he'd been working on. It wasn't quite going the way he wanted it to. She could tell by his expression. Jennifer debated saving her question for another time, then thought better of it. She loved Nik, but the man needed dynamite lit under him to see things that other people were aware of immediately.

She picked up a packet of saltine crackers from a carton on the worktable as she crossed to her brother. Her stomach was queasy, reminding her of the tiny soul that was forming beneath her heart.

"Okay, what's up?"

Another dash of garlic wasn't the answer, Nik decided, staring at the pan before him. It didn't have the taste he was looking for.

Nik looked up at Jennifer, impatient at being interrupted' In what way?

Are you refening to the menu, to the work schedule, to the catering business, to this d.a.m.n mess that doesn't want to rise up out of the realm of the mundane -what? Be specific, Jennifer, I'm a busy person.