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the first buzzer I tried.” Her perfume drifted back to him and he inhaled the appealing scent. She smelled like a field of flowers. His gaze dropped to her backside. She had a delicate sway to her hips.
    Dragging his gaze away from her, he looked around the small apartment. There were movie and fashion magazines on a coffee table, a big colorful couch, and a huge collection of DVDs by a big plasma screen TV. He glanced at the pink nylon bag that spilled make-up, and the hair drier and brushes on the floor by the couch. Adam frowned. Her place was cluttered and lived in and he had the strangest feeling she didn’t belong here. He pictured her with plants, lots of them, the kind that needed water to survive, and space. High ceilings, big windows.
    “Please, sit down,” she said. “We never had our dinner and I thought I could make that up to you now. Mama’s Pizza makes the best pepperoni and cheese. They deliver in twenty minutes. My treat.”
    He didn’t immediately respond and he caught a flash of vulnerability on her face. Almost as though she was worried he’d reject her offer. “It would be my pleasure to have pizza with you,” he said.
    She smiled up at him. “Great. Make yourself comfortable, Adam. I’ll be right back.”
    Adam stared at her retreating form and knew then and there he was in big trouble.

Chapter 4
    Bubbling with excitement, she opened Barbara’s bedroom door. So far so good, she thought. Neither one of them had gotten on each other’s nerves.
    But she wasn’t in the clear yet. They were only two minutes into the date and she still had another hour to go. She took a deep breath and focused on positive thoughts.
    “Barb, Phase Four isn’t a bust! As long as I convey a pleasant, polite, confidant woman and keep my insecurities and hormones at bay.”
    “No way!” Barbara whispered. “You’re not cooping me in here all night.”
    “Please, Barb. It’s only for an hour, maximum. This is my chance to make everything right.”
    “By whose definition? Look, I caught a glimpse of you two together and—”
    “ What? Did Adam see you?”
    “No. The point is I saw you and I don’t need a Harvard degree in psychology to know when a man and a woman are attracted to each other. There’s chemistry between you two.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s all strictly professional on my part and he was just being nice returning my journal. Besides, I was acting, remember? I’m supposed to be enticing him with my nice girl persona.” Kate shot a nervous glance at the door. “He’s been waiting too long. I have to go.”
    “All right,” Barbara mumbled, “but you better save me a slice of pizza.”
    Kate smiled gratefully and headed for the door. She ordered the pizza from the phone in the kitchen before returning to the living room. She found Adam looking at a framed photograph.
    “My family,” she explained as she took the seat beside him. “It was taken last Christmas at my mom’s house. That’s her in the center.”
    Adam looked back at the picture. “She’s very striking.”
    “Mm. Very Lauren Bacall with the smoky voice to match. That’s Gail and Barbara at each end, my two sisters. You can see they take their looks from her. I look more like my father.”
    “Your dad’s not in the picture.”
    “No,” she said quietly. “He died twenty years ago.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “It’s not your fault. He died from a heart attack. One morning I was kissing him good-bye before he went to work and that night he was gone.” She smiled sadly. “I still miss him. Even after all these years.”
    “You were close to him.”
    “Yes. Growing up, it was always me and my dad. He took me to ball games, fishing, or hikes. He…he taught me to be strong and confident. And he made me feel there was nothing in the world I could not accomplish.”
    “Your father sounded like a great man. Very supportive and loving. What did he do?”
    “He was a professor in behavioral psychology.” She