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real attraction to
Donovan. Even though initially he struck her as a womanizer, by the
time he left her apartment last night she’d hoped for something a
bit different. Obviously he was good at tricking women into
believing he was what they wanted. At least until he moved on to
the next one.
    “I didn’t know,” she whispered.
    “I hope you didn’t think anything different
was going to happen with him. He’ll break your heart.”
    “No. It wasn’t anything like that.” Madeline
shook her head. “I wasn’t dating him. He came by to talk about the
case.”
    Brandon grinned. “So, then, you don’t have
plans with him tonight?”
    “Of course not!”
    “Good.” He released her hands and stepped
back. “I made us dinner reservations for The Carriage House at
eight. Can I pick you up at seven-thirty?”
    Madeline raised her eyebrows, shocked. “The
Carriage House?”
    It was the most expensive restaurant in town,
and she’d heard they charged a fee if anyone canceled a reservation
without a twenty-four hour notice. Brandon had really gone out on a
limb, since she already turned him down eight times over the last
two months.
    Still, Cameron was her past, and she couldn’t
mourn the loss of that life forever. At some point, she had to
start dating again.
    Being completely honest with herself, she
knew she would love spending more time with Donovan, even if he was
a player. Something about him intrigued her. However, Lindsey and
Brandon reinforced the fact that Donovan wasn’t boyfriend material.
She needed to stop wasting time thinking about him.
    Brandon reached out and grabbed her hand
again. “The Carriage House is really nice. They have great food,
and I promise we’ll have fun. What do you say?”
    She nodded. “Sounds great.”

Chapter Four
    Donovan sat across from Christy, trying to
concentrate on her story. He wasn’t interested in the wild party
she attended last weekend, but he murmured something appropriate
whenever she paused for breath. She didn’t seem to notice his lack
of enthusiasm. He’d tried to steer the conversation to something
they might have in common. Unfortunately, Christy wasn’t interested
in anything to do with the police force, she didn’t like to read,
and apparently anything having to do with world news was a foreign
language to her.
    He glanced around the room, wondering if
Christy would ever stop talking. He only half listened as she
concluded the story with the hilarious—to her—recounting of the
inebriated partygoers ringing people’s doorbells and trying to run
away before the owners answered. Of course, they did this while
naked.
    Drunken idiots, that’s what they are.
    Donovan sighed and leaned back in his chair.
It seemed his glory days of dating college girls were over.
Although he never thought the day would come, Christy made him feel
like an old man, and her party-going lifestyle didn’t appeal to
him. Then again, he turned forty-two last month. Definitely time to
raise his minimum age limit.
    “You should really come to the next party
with me. We’d have so much fun.” Christy batted her long eyelashes
and giggled.
    Donovan shook his head. It was time to let
her down gently. “I don’t think you’d have fun with me there.
You’re a young, beautiful girl. I think you need a guy closer to
your own age.”
    She pouted but didn’t say anything as the
waiter appeared with their food.
    “Will there be anything else, sir?” the
waiter asked, refilling their wine glasses.
    Donovan raised an eyebrow at Christy, and she
shook her head.
    “No, we’re fine,” Donovan answered. “Thank
you.”
    Christy took a small bite of lasagna before
looking at him again. “At least tell me we’re having sex tonight.”
Beneath the table, she ran her foot up the inside of Donovan’s
leg.
    If she’d smacked him across the face, he
wouldn’t have been more stunned. “What are you talking about? I’m
not having sex with you.”
    “Oh, come on. All the women