Stuck On You by Christine Wenger Page A

stay in your house. Understand?"
    "Understood."
    "Good. And this conversation never took place."
    "What conversation?"
     #
    It crossed Kate's mind to go right to Pete Nash's office without stopping to change, but then she quickly decided against it. This was a professional call, so she'd dress professionally. A slip of a nightgown certainly wouldn't qualify for most professions.
    It was unfortunate that Judge Clark decided to take an extended vacation. She'd rather deal with him, than Pete. Judge Clark wasn’t an old high school classmate, so maybe he could see things more clearly. Too bad Rose Lake didn't have one more county court judge to choose from.
    Hurrying up the stairs to her office, she unlocked the door and began shedding her nightgown on her way to the bathroom. She planned to take a quick shower, change, type up Mack's surrender papers, then dash to Pete's office.
    She glanced at the VV-98 and saw that the alarm was still beeping. She reset the alarm and the annoying sound stopped. Pretty soon, she'd shut the whole thing off and save electricity until she had a client to take Mack's place.
    She let the shower rain down on her, but it couldn't wash away the disappointment that had a grip on her heart. It saddened her that Mack wouldn't confide in her.
    When she was a probation officer, she'd had several brief dealings with him relative to her cases. He had always been the consummate professional. Very helpful. And she could listen to his deep, rich voice for hours. Yet there had always been a strained atmosphere between them, something she couldn't define.
    Maybe it was because he was too overwhelming, too self-secure, and when God passed out testosterone, Mack got in line twice. He was a cop's cop. A rogue. She had heard that some of the cops wouldn't work with him because he didn't do things by the book. Others looked up to him as if he were the ultimate crime fighter, minus the cape.
    Kate knew that he wouldn't give up until he got to the bottom of what was happening to him. He was that kind of cop. That kind of man.
    And she had to be one step ahead of him all the way if she wanted her program to work. She was exhausted just thinking about it.
    She’d rather sit in front of her computer and push buttons. Life on the streets wasn’t for her. And when her job required home visits, she hated them, too. It was safe behind her computer.
    Mack was pretty angry when she accused him of selling drugs. Actually, when she calmed down, she couldn't believe that the thought had ever crossed her mind. He’d always been squeaky clean, an athlete. When other classmates were partying, Mack was training for football, basketball, track and studying. Mack was one of the most intelligent people she knew.
    Kate reminded herself she owed him. She owed him for helping her qualify for carrying a firearm. Carrying a gun was mandatory for new probation officers, and Mack was the instructor for her class.
    She had been a nervous mess. Not only was she jumpy just being around Mack, but she was scared stupid to even touch a gun. She had wanted the job so bad, she thought she could handle the gun training, but she couldn’t.
    Mack worked with her after the others in the class had left the range. She tried her hardest. He was patient. And when the slide rocketed back, striking her thumb, and blood dripped down her arm into the dirt, he carefully patched her up and blamed himself for not correcting her grip.
    But she was the one who had gotten her thumb in the way of the slide. She was distracted by his nearness, his scent, the way the setting sun reddened his dark hair.
    Thanks to Mack, she passed the target shooting with good scores. She then joined a pistol league and became even more proficient.
    But whenever Mack saw her, he never forget to tease her about the cow that wandered out on the hill above the outdoor range and plopped down.
    She had thought she killed it with an errant shot and burst into tears as the class burst into