She held her breath. She looked around the bleachers. She tried not to pay attention to how close he was and how good he smelled, because she felt another psychotic break coming on.

"Hey! Thanks for my pop, Mr. Mills!"

Matt squeezed his body between them and plopped down onto the bench, smiling at Charlotte in triumph as he took a big gulp of the forbidden beverage.

Joe's body vibrated from his scalp to his instep. The woman sitting next to him was Eve herself. And the idea of possessing her one last time before he left was as tempting as it was foolish. Who was he kidding? Did he really think he could get another sample of sweet Charlotte and then turn around and leave?

Hell no.

And he didn't know which was worse-being hunted down by a madman or facing life without this woman.

He listened to Charlotte lecture Matt on the evils of sweetened carbonated drinks while he enjoyed a leisurely look at everything she'd just offered him. God. Charlotte Tasker was all woman.

She was still trim and petite but no longer a girl. She'd filled out, softened, and his fingers itched to touch her. Her hair was still shiny and her face full. There were fine lines at the corners of that delectable little pink mouth and crow's-feet fanning out from those sultry gray eyes, but those were just signs that she'd smiled and laughed a lot over the years. Joe found comfort in that and said a silent thank-you to Kurt Tasker, because he'd clearly been good to her.

Matt elbowed Joe and rolled his eyes as Charlotte finished her scolding. Poor kid. Not only had he endured a tongue-lashing from his mother, but he'd had to admit to Joe that he'd spied on him. It had all been innocent enough-watching him stack boxes and retrieve LoriSue's gift baskets-but after all this he bet Matt would never scam for a soda or turn a pair of binoculars Joe's way again.

Hank's team won the game by a score of 16-4, and the teams lined up at the plate to repeat the phrase "good game" dozens of times and shake hands. Parents began to stand, stretch, and gather their belongings.

"Did you drive your Mustang to the game, Mr. Mills?"

"Sure did. It's the only car I got, kid."

"Can I ride home with you?"

"That's probably not a good idea." Charlotte was up off the bench in a flash, grabbing Matt's hand and pushing him past Joe into the aisle. "Good-bye, Joe. Have a nice evening. And good luck with your move."

With a shrug from Matt, they were assimilated into the throng and gone. Joe stayed in the bleachers for a while, watching parents hug their children and compliment them on their singles and catches. He watched the families walk to the parking lot.

He sat perfectly still, elbows on knees and hands clasped in front of him. Charlotte's abrupt departure stung quite a bit, he had to admit. But it was obvious that she wanted to keep her kids out of this. She was right, of course, and suddenly Joe couldn't recall why he'd come here in the first place. He had no business here. This was not his life and it never would be. Steve and Reba Simmons had led this life once, and they'd never again be watching Daniel play a Little League game, would they?

Joe felt heavy with exhaustion and pulled himself to his feet, joining the last few stragglers as they made their way to the cars. A man in a Volvo station wagon motioned for him to cross the county road while three kids in ball caps stared at him from the backseat.

As Joe opened the car door, he had to laugh at himself. A month ago, he'd been ready to make the biggest bust of his career. He'd been inches from nailing Miguel Guzman as he personally handed over fifty kilos of cocaine in exchange for $5 million in cash.

Tonight, he was a guy with a price on his head, a guy so lonely that he hung out at Little League games for kicks. A guy who was going crazy with desire for the one woman fate continued to deny him.

Joe had a feeling that no matter what Roger said, if he didn't leave this town right now-tonight-he'd soon be telling fate to fuck off and die.

LoriSue leaned up against the cupboards and munched on a raw mushroom. "I have some news. Now don't both you go fainting on me or anything, but I've decided to do some volunteer work for the Little League."

Charlotte glanced up from the marinade she was whisking. "Really? More than just your night at the snack bar?"

"Yep. I've volunteered to redesign their Web site."

"I didn't know you had experience with that, LoriSue," Bonnie said from her seat at the kitchen table.

"I just finished revamping the Sell-More site-and it looks fabulous, if I do say so myself-so I figured the Little League's would be a snap. I'm going to take new photos and everything!"

"Wow. That's nice of you." Charlotte dropped hunks of tofu into the marinade, covered the glass bowl with plastic wrap, and checked the clock. She had one hour and eight minutes to feed the kids and start the evening rush. As she rinsed bok choy, she ticked off the sequence of events in her head. She'd run Hank to ballet class, then take Matt to his game and make a quick stop at Kroger's on the way back to town. Then she'd drop off the groceries at home, throw in a load of laundry, pack tomorrow's lunches, and pick up Hank. They could both watch the end of Matt's game.

She made a mental note to bring a change of clothes for Hank, who refused to wear her ballet leotard at the ballpark. She said it made her look like a Miss Priss.

Charlotte lifted the lid from the simmering brown rice, fluffed it with a fork, and replayed for the thousandth time every word she'd exchanged with Joe yesterday, every shared glance. She was dying here. She'd made it painfully clear what she wanted. All he had to do was come and get it. But she hadn't heard from him today. This was torture.

"… a damned sexy man, don't you think?"

LoriSue's words jarred Charlotte from her thoughts. She put the lid back on the pot and cheerfully turned toward Bonnie and LoriSue, to find them staring at her expectantly.

"Did I miss something?" Charlotte laughed as she wiped her hands on a kitchen towel.

"I asked if you didn't agree that Joe Mills was sexy."

At the sound of his name, Charlotte felt a flash of heat deep in her abdomen that began to percolate into her limbs. She supposed that answered that question. "Sure." She tried to sound nonchalant. "He's handsome enough."

Bonnie coughed politely.

Then LoriSue crossed her arms under her unnaturally perky breasts and made a soft humming sound. "Well, Charlotte, I saw him walk over to the major field with you yesterday and sit down right next to you in the stands. What did you two talk about?"

Charlotte busied herself with getting out the cutting board and swirling canola oil around in the wok. "We chatted about this and that. Nothing in particular. Would you like to stay for dinner, LoriSue?"

"No, thanks. And I'm taking Justin out tonight, so he won't be staying, either, believe it or not. We're going for Italian and then we're looking at a house."

"A house?" Bonnie nearly shouted. "You're moving?"

"Yep. It's an end-unit three-bedroom, two-bath condo over at The Lakes. Fabulous. Skylights. Sunken living room. Hot tub. Landscaping included. Just got listed yesterday-perfect for me and Justin."

"Does Justin know about this?" Bonnie asked.

LoriSue nodded.

"And how is he with it?"

"Fine." She grabbed another mushroom. "Well, a little confused, I suppose, but I've told him I'm going ahead with the divorce. He understands. He's a good kid. He's-"

The deep saw of Hoover's bark made all three women crane their necks out the kitchen window.

"Oh, my God! He's here!" LoriSue teetered her way across the kitchen floor in her heels and whipped open the screen door to a startled Joe.