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I can’t drive you home?” he asked, all seriousness.
    She resisted the urge to give in and let him, to allow herself to soak in his concern. “I’ll be okay, but thanks.”
    He nodded and took a couple of steps back so she could open her car door. Her hand felt almost as cold as the ice at the absence of his warm touch. She nearly caved and told him she’d reconsidered just so she could stay in his presence a little longer. Instead, she got in the car and drove from the parking lot. But as she tried to drive with one hand and hold the ice pack to her face with the other, she wondered if she should have taken him up on his offer.
    A zing of excitement shot through her at the idea. Frustrated by her traitorous body, she pitched the half-melted ice pack onto the floor of the passenger side.
    Once again, she had to remind herself that Adam Canfield had bad idea written all over him—no matter how many times he rushed to the rescue. He’d probably already forgotten about her and gone in search of the blonde.
    She turned off the main road onto her street and thought of her girls. Lilly had been abandoned at the hospital hours after her birth, so she’d never even known her parents. But Sara wasn’t sure that wasn’t better than what Tana had endured—having her parents flee the country without her to avoid drug trafficking charges.
    As it always did, thinking about the girls’ pasts brought up images of her own mother from the days before she’d walked away from her daughter and husband.
    Sara shook her head despite how it made her jaw ache. She’d never understand how a parent could abandon a child. Her mother’s abandonment fueled her own desire to be a good mother. And her father’s efforts to be two parents in one had given Sara the type of role model she wanted for her own girls. Even if that type of person existed somewhere inside Adam Canfield, it would take too much effort to excavate it.
     
    A DAM RETURNED TO the bar and got to work helping Suz clean up the mess. He slammed chairs back into their upright positions and tossed broken glass into the trash with more force than necessary so his body wouldn’t give in to the shaking that threatened to overtake him. The same shaking he’d experienced after pulling that kid from the surf. That tormented him every time he woke up from a dream about Jessica.
    He nearly crushed the back of a chair beneath his fists, wishing he’d never met Sara. Even if she’d only kept her distance, maybe he wouldn’t be assaulted with thoughts and worries about yet another woman who put herself in the path of danger every single day, even when she wasn’t on duty.
    “You really like her, don’t you?” Suz asked.
    Adam ripped himself from his memories to look at Suz. “Who?”
    She leaned back against the front of the long bar. “Well, not the blonde you were using all night to ignore the woman you really wanted to be with.”
    He waved off her assessment. “Just don’t like jackasses hitting women and making a mess of things.” He slammed a broken beer bottle into the trash, making it shatter into even more pieces.
    “You forget I know you. That happens when I see your sorry ass every day. You were watching Sara all night.”
    He shoved the trash can back behind the bar. “Did you get knocked in the head, too?”
    Suz shook her head. “Dude, one of these days you’re going to have to settle for one of them. Otherwise, you’ll turn into a dirty old man.”
    He didn’t respond. In fact, they didn’t speak to each other again until after they’d lowered the wooden sides of the building and secured all the locks for the night. And then it was only to say good-night.
    Hell. First, he’d had to deal with his unwanted feelings toward Sara. Then the stupid fight and its aftermath, reopening psychological scars he didn’t even like admitting to himself existed. To top it off, Suz had decided to play shrink/matchmaker. It all added up to a nasty mood that