By twelve-thirty David was rethinking the wisdom of passing by the Rusty Nail. He'd only been in the office for a couple of hours, but already he felt like a caged animal.

He got up for the umpteenth time and paced his office from one side to the next.

The further he had physically gotten from Maddie's house, the deeper he'd felt the sting of her rejection. Maybe it wasn't a complete rejection, and hopefully not a permanent one, but it still hurt like hell. Why was he here, today of all days, in the office, alone? Today should be a friggin' celebration, a national holiday, and instead he was here by himself, pining for a woman who he was pretty damn certain loved him back. It was upside down and inside out, but when was anything otherwise between the two of them?

And where the hell was Viola? He'd sent him out to do some groundwork on a new case with strict instructions to meet him back here at noon, sharp. His original intention had been to have Bert do all of the major legwork so he wouldn't miss Maddie if she happened to grace them with her presence, but now he'd decided to go out into the field himself...he needed to get some air, get out and go somewhere, anywhere but here...

Sitting around, waiting for Maddie to maybe call or maybe make an appearance was only going to fuel his frustration. And too much frustration was going to lead to anger and too much anger would lead to—well, they'd already played that scene last night.

He was going to do his very best to be patient and to play by her rules, but that didn't mean he needed to sit around here like a chump.

Luckily, this new case had fallen into his lap. He needed a distraction and this one sounded like a doozy—a woman suspected her terminally ill cousin of faking his illness and fleecing the family for cash. You'd have to be some kind of a sicko to do that to your own family, but unfortunately, he'd seen worse. There was plenty of fieldwork on this one to keep him occupied for at least a few days and he was hoping that if he stayed out of the office it would be easier to shake the feeling of being perpetually stood up.

He sat back down at his desk and buzzed Di Pesto.

"She's not in, Mr. Addison," was the immediate response. "And she hasn't called..."

"I'm not calling about her, I'm calling about him..."

"Him?"

"Yeah, him, Bert—he was supposed to be here half an hour ago."

"Oh. He hasn't called either."

"Well. I'd really like to get out of here, but I'd get a lot further with Bert and his wheels."

"I understand. When I see him, I'll tell him you want to see him right away."

"Good. Until then, you know the drill."

"Yes sir. Two buzzes if she comes in smiling, three buzzes if she comes in frowning and one long buzz if she comes in growling."

"That's my girl, Agnes."

"You can count on me sir."

Good, old Di Pesto. In an uncertain world, it was nice to know something remained constant and unchangeable.

He looked at the clock. 12:35. Okay, enough was enough. If he didn't get out of here he was going to do something drastic—like call Maddie's house. He'd just go grab a sandwich and hopefully by the time he got back Bert would be back here and ready to go.

He already had his hand on the doorknob when two quick buzzes came over the intercom.


Maddie breezed by Agnes with a quick, "Good morning Miss Di Pesto" and headed straight for David's office. She opened the door without knocking, but the knob was pulled from her grip and she lost her balance and stumbled right into David.

He wrapped an arm around her waist to catch her and she grabbed onto his shoulder.

"Wow," he said, with that smug, sideways grin. "I've had girls fall for me before, but this is taking it to a whole new level..."

"David...I was just coming in..."

"I was just heading out..." He released her, too quickly it seemed. "Story of my life..I say goodbye...You say hello..." He was still smiling, but the smugness was gone.

Suddenly she felt shy and awkward. It was strange, to be here with David in the office, after last night, after kissing him goodbye in her bedroom just a few hours ago. And she had indicated that she wasn't going to come in today, and yet here she was, although she had a perfectly legitimate reason...it was just that right that second she couldn't remember exactly what that reason was, because David's smile had faded and he was looking at her with those smoldering green eyes that seemed to melt away the higher centers of her brain.

"So," he said, closing the door behind him. "Didn't expect to see you here today."

"Yeah, well, I'm just stopping by..."

"Yeah?" He took a step closer to her but left about four feet of distance between them.

"Yeah..."

He nodded. "So is this visit...business or pleasure?"

"Business," she answered automatically. His face fell and she instantly regretted it. Why couldn't she have said 'both'?

"I see. Well. How can I help you today, Miss Hayes?"

You can come over here and kiss me—she thought, and she realized that this was what she wanted to say, what she wanted him to do. The way he was looking at her was just about to scorch her to the ground and she wanted him to touch her, to come closer, to forget what she'd said about time and space, at least for a minute.

"Receipts...I need your receipts. For my meeting."

"Oh. Didn't Agnes give those to you last week?."

"Did she?"

"Pretty sure she did."

"Well...I just thought I'd better double check. Make sure you didn't have any more. Make sure I didn't miss something."

"Nope. I don't think you missed anything."

"Oh. Okay then."

"Okay," he answered and bit his lip and she wanted to close the distance between them, to grab his face and kiss that mouth... Then she noticed something—some kind of bruise on his throat.

"David, what is that?" she asked and stepped up to him and brushed the skin above his shirt collar with her fingers. She had a sneaking suspicion she knew exactly what the purplish mark was, and she knew that by asking about it she was risking opening up a topic she probably should not discuss with him at the moment. But it gave her an excuse to touch him and so she used it. She moved in closer on the pretense of examining the welt, tracing the top of it with her index finger.

"What's what?" David swallowed hard and she felt his throat move under her fingers. He looked down, bending his head so that they were almost touching. "Oh, right, that…Oops, thought the top button covered that up…"

"David is that a…a"

"A hickey, Miss Hayes?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. He pulled down his collar and revealed the full bruise. "Why, I do believe it is...and quite an impressive one at that..."

"But I...I didn't that do that…"

"You didn't?" David feigned shock. "Oh," he said with a smirk. "Right… must be those vampire bats we've got flying around LA…"

"No, I just mean that I'm not...I'm hardly in the habit of..." She shook her head and felt her face flushing. "I don't give hickeys."

"Ooookay...do you prefer the term 'lovebite'?"

"David..." She tried to sound exasperated, but didn't move her hand away from his neck.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, I think I might have left you a little something back here." He grazed his palm along her throat and slid it to the back of her neck. He brushed her hair to the side and pressed his fingers, very lightly against that spot. She closed her eyes and leaned in closer to him. "Yikes," he murmured. "Looks like one of those bats got you too...must be an epidemic." His breath on her skin sent goose bumps all over her body.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him. His hand was still on the back of her neck, her hand was pressed against his collar.

"I can't believe I did that..." she said. "I certainly didn't mean to mark you...I'm sorry..."

"No, no, don't apologize," he answered in that soft and husky tone that always seemed to vibrate through her body like champagne bubbles, making her lose her head. "Actually, I kinda I like it. I mean, in my mind, last night was one for the books... and why wouldn't I want a souvenir from one of the best nights of my life..."

"Best nights of your life huh?"

"Best nights, uh-huh." He leaned closer until their lips were almost touching. She tilted her face up to him.

"Huh..." she breathed and closed her eyes and waited for him to kiss her. But instead he dropped his hand from her neck and took a step backwards.

"Well..." He cleared his throat and put his hands in his pockets, looking down at the floor. "I guess I really should go find Bert...get going on this case."

"Case?" She felt like she'd just been dunked into a pool of cold water. Her body was so tightly wound that her ears were buzzing.

"Yeah, got a new case today. Nothing for you to worry about—Bert and I will handle it. Actually, it's good timing."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. We'll be out in the field mostly. So I shouldn't be in the office much this week.

"Oh," she answered, with a sinking feeling of disappointment.

"Which is great, right? That way you can have some time and space."

"Right. Space...Time." She was starting to hate those words.

"It's probably better this way. I mean, to be honest with you...after last night...and this morning...it's just too hard for me to spend time with you without wanting to...I mean, I just don't know if I'd be able to stop myself. Like just a second ago? I wanted to kiss you so badly...and I was thisclose to just kissing you right there, on the back of your neck...I just look at you, and I want to hold you...or press you up against that door and...Well. Anyway. I know that's not what you want right now."

"It isn't?" she asked, breathless.

"No. I mean—is it?"

"No. Yes...Look, David, I..." she stepped over to him and grabbed his hand, but was stopped mid-sentence by the door bursting open...Bert came flying into the office with Agnes right behind him.

"Mr. Addison, I apologize for my tardiness, but I was hot on the tail of the subject—I followed him all the way to the hospital, but at the last minute, he gave me the slip..."

"Bert, I told you to wait..." Agnes said, tugging at the back of his shirt and trying to drag him back out the door.

Maddie let go of David's hand. She'd been just about to tell him that maybe she didn't need time or space in order to figure things out, but that would have been a mistake. She wouldn't be able to process things clearly under his influence, that much was obvious. "It's okay, Mr Viola. I was just leaving..."

David looked away from her and pursed his lips. "Right. And Bert and I need to discuss this case. Unless...was there something else you wanted to say, Miss Hayes?" He gave her a piercing look and she almost caved again.

"Me? No. I mean...yes. But it can wait." She took a deep breath. "It should wait."

"Great," he said. Flatly.

She nodded. "Great."

Agnes rolled her eyes. "Great..."


David led Bert toward the door, not listening to a word of his verbal diarrhea, although he suspected it pertained to the case at hand.

That woman was going to drive him crazy...What had she been about to say, and why had she let Bert interrupt them? And that lame story about the receipts? She came here just to see him and he knew it and she knew it. And he'd had her right where he wanted her...when he was touching her neck she was barely breathing. She wanted it just as bad as he did, so why was she pumping the brakes? And she really had a lot of nerve, looking at him with those soft blue eyes, like her heart was breaking every time she kicked him out of the room...

"Mr. Addison..."

He was just crossing the Blue Moon threshold when her voice rang out, stopping him in his tracks. He turned around slowly. She stood at his door, her cheeks flushed in that irresistible way that made her look eighteen years old, and his heart started to pound.

"Yes, Miss Hayes?"

"I just remembered...can I see you back in your office for a quick minute?"

"Sure," he nodded, and without taking his eyes off her leaned down to Viola. "Go warm up the car for me, will you Big Guy?"

He walked slowly back to his office, trying to pick up a clue about why she had called him back, but her small smile was mysterious. The woman really was a riddle, wrapped in an enigma...

He entered his office and closed the door behind him, ready to hear whatever she had to say, but totally unprepared for the way she grabbed him by the collar and slammed him up against the door. Then suddenly she was kissing him, wildly, fiercely...It only took him a moment to recover his shock and then he was matching her intensity. She bit his earlobe and he tangled his fingers in her hair and kissed her neck in the way he knew drove her crazy.

Then he grabbed her and flipped them around so that she was up against the door, and he pressed against her as she pulled him closer, as if neither one of them could bear to let a millimeter of space come between them.

They pulled away at the same time and when they came back together the kiss was softer, sweeter and more sensual. He ran his hands down her back and she placed her palm against his cheek.

"Wow," he said, catching his breath. "What was that for?"

"Well," she said, and her voice was winded and shaky. "Sounds like you're going to be busy for a few days...I just wanted to give you a proper send-off..."

He nodded. "Well that was very proper...the proper-est..."

She straightened his tie. "Guess you better go. Bert is waiting for you."

"Yeah," he answered but he didn't move and she didn't either. She had that look again, that sadness that came over her face every time she told him to go, and he wondered...did she want him to refuse to leave?

"Maddie—you know the only one keeping us apart right now is you...right?"

She sighed. "I know. I'd just rather think things through now, on the front end so we don't rush things, ruin everything..."

"Okay—you don't have to explain. I'll be waiting."

He kissed her one more time, slowly and softly then let her go. He turned to leave, but stopped with his hand on the doorknob. "There is just one thing..."

"Yes?"

"I'm not waiting in vain over here, am I? I mean, we both have about the same idea about how this is going to go, right?"

She smiled. "You're not waiting in vain. And yes...same idea."

He nodded. "Okay. Then take your time."

He was about to open the door again when she stopped him. "David?"

"Maddie?"

"I don't think you'll be waiting very long."