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approached Adam with steely determination, relaxing her features so she would only show a blank face.
    “What do you want, Good?  I hadn't planned on starting my day this early and when I do start it, I'll be alone.”
    He looked at her, his face as void of expression as hers, as if he had practiced for that moment.  “We're partners, Harlow, whether you like it or not.  Remember?  Besides, it’s well after noon.”
    He taunted her.  Great.  Just what she needed.  “I'm not interested in sparring with you today, Adam.  I got the information from your reports, and I viewed the sites with you.  I don't need your assistance.  I can interview some 'spects by myself.”
    “Not going to happen.”  He said the words coolly, calmly, as if he were in total control.
    “Are we really going through this again?  The chief assigned us both to this case.”
    “That's right.  So, both of us will be interviewing suspects.”  He leaned in closer.  “You're not sweeping my case out from right under my feet.”
    “Whatever.”  Brynn threw her hands up in defeat.  “You can meet me at Chuck Davis's house in another two hours.  Goodbye.”  She turned to leave, desperately needing to crawl back under her bed sheets and, for at least an hour, pretend the outside world didn't exist.
    “Brynn, wait.”
    Biting back a curse, she turned to face Adam again, noting that the calm, which had so recently cloaked him, seemed to have fallen away.  The stone-faced expression gone, his eyes were troubled, his mouth turned down in a frown.  “What do you want now?”
    “I didn't come here about the case.”
    “Then why did you come here?”  She wasn't foolish enough to believe he had come by for a friendly get together.
    “About last night…”
    Brynn rolled her eyes in irritation and huffed out a breath before speaking.  “I'm not going to stomp through any more damaged buildings, and I swear I didn't do anything to make the farmhouse collapse.”
    “That's not what I was referring to.  It's about what you said to me.”
    “I said a lot of things, none too pleasant.  You'll have to be more specific.”  She knew she was being bitchy, but she didn't care.  She wanted him gone…
    “You said I assaulted you.”
    …before he reminded her of that.
    “Yeah, and?”  Hell, she didn't want to have this conversation.  He'd treated her just as cheaply as he thought of her.  She had the right to be furious, but to her own chagrin, part of her had heated up inside despite his insult when his lips found hers.
    “That wasn't my intention.  I never thought…”  He shrugged, his stiff posture and avoidance to look her in the eye telling how uncomfortable he was with their discussion.  She was glad she wasn't the only one who didn't want to be part of it.  “I never thought you'd think I was forcing myself ¼ I didn't ¼ aw hell, Brynn.  I didn't mean anything by it. I didn't even think.  I just…”  His voice trailed off as his eyes became permanently fixed on the ground, his thumbs shoved into his belt loops as though he didn’t know where else to put them.
    “You just did what you thought I did willingly with anyone and everyone,” Brynn finished for him.
    “What?”  Adam finally looked up.  “No, I wasn't thinking like that when it happened.”
    “Oh, really?”  She laughed, hating how sad the sound came out.  “Why would you kiss me then?  You obviously hate me.”
    He opened his mouth to speak, than snapped it shut.
    “Can't deny it, can you?”  She shook her head and turned away, through with the conversation.
    “How do you expect me to feel about you, Brynn?  I trusted you and you were screwing my best friend behind my back.”
    Brynn ground her teeth together and spun around, then tightened her hands into fists in an effort to keep the angry tears at bay.  “I offered to explain what happened once before, but you wouldn't even listen.”
    “I didn't want to hear all the sordid