Read Online In Hot Pursuit by Patricia Watters - Free Book Online

inevitable.
    Clearly
embarrassed, Nellie said, "I had no idea… I mean... I'm so sorry. You must
think I'm…" She stopped short. Her face flushed.
    "It's
okay," Will assured her. "I enjoyed the view. I just found it
distracting. But back to Mike. You said he dreamed about falling into a dark
hole, not going through a tunnel."
    Nellie blinked
several times, as if collecting her thoughts, then straightened her robe,
pulling her belt tight to assure its closure, and replied, "Dr. Emery says
it's the same thing."
    "Maybe to
Dr. Emery it is," Will said, "but it might not be the same to Mike.
Has Mike ever come up with his own interpretation...   been given the chance to tell it as he sees
it?"
    Nellie shook
her head.
    "I'm no
psychiatrist, but I do know dreams are subjective. A dark hole might have a
different meaning to the doctor than it does to Mike. For instance, to me a
dark hole means security, a place to crawl into and hide and be safe—" He
paused, brows drawn together. "Have you ever read The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse ?"
    Nellie stared
at him. "The Tale of who ?"
    "Mrs.
Tittlemouse. You see, this little mouse lives in a hole in the ground. It's
fixed up nice, and she's very tidy." Waving his hand, he added,
"That's not important. My point is, maybe the doctor isn't letting Mike
come up with his own interpretation. Dreams are supposed to be therapeutic, so
if Mike keeps dreaming the same dream, and everyone keeps telling him it means
something that doesn't ring true to him, his dream won't be doing what it's
supposed to do. Maybe he should read The
Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse . He'll see that dark holes can offer security too,
and maybe the dream won't seem so bad."
    "I seriously
doubt if Mike would read a book about a mouse," Nellie said.
"However, you might have a point. I'll give it some thought." She
smiled at him, a pretty, dimpled smile that curled around his heart. "You
seem very perceptive when it comes to children," she added. "I'd say
you have the makings of a natural father."
    Will looked at
her with a start. Until her comment, things had been warm, comfortable. But in
an instant everything changed. He recognized a woman on a mission to find a
step-father for her son, and he wasn't it, not by any stretch of the
imagination. Releasing her hand, he stood, and said, "There's lots to do
around here and time's running out, so we'd better get some sleep."
    "Thanks
for coming," Nellie replied. "I feel better just having had the
chance to talk. Richard and I talked a lot about how to handle Mike, which is
one of the things I miss without Richard—" she paused, and her eyes fixed
on his chest where his unbuttoned shirt fell open, then moved down to focus on
his crotch for a moment before shifting quickly to his face. Blinking several
times, she said, "Do you lift weights?"
    "Uh,
no," Will replied. "Did your husband lift weights?" He would
have sworn Nellie had been thinking about her dead husband moments before. At
least that's what her words implied. But her eyes had definitely fixed on his
chest then moved to his crotch, and there was no disguising what was happening
there. And both of them had unfulfilled sexual needs. It had been months since
he'd had a woman, and that had been one encounter with a woman who'd been
travelling across country with a pack on her back, a free spirit who crawled
into his tent one night when he was camped on the beach while studying a pod of
orca that often gathered in the small bay. He couldn't remember the woman's
name, and she left the next morning...
    Nellie laughed.
"Oh, no. Richard wasn't into working out," she replied. "Unlike
you, he was pretty unfit."
    Will eyed her
restlessly. There was only one reason a woman would indicate to a man that she liked
his body, and there was no question she'd done just that. There was also no
question that he wanted her. Wanted to strip off that robe and hold her flesh
to flesh, and take her mind off kids and nightmares and all her other