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thought, maybe if confronted by an attractive woman, Sheng, her husband these past few years would lighten up. Just because someone was attractive didn’t mean Jiao was going to rip his clothes off and betray Sheng. He should know her better than that.
    Or at least that proved true up until now. Seriously, her instant attraction to the handyman defied all rational explanation. And even now that he’d left, despite his temper tantrum out front, she couldn’t quite shake him from her mind, or quell the reaction of her body. The things she wanted to do… Guilt suffused her.
    I’m supposed to be a married woman. Dissatisfied with her married life or not, though, didn’t give her the right to lust after another.
    It was probably for the best Sheng turned the Chris fellow away. Having him underfoot, his sizzling presence a constant reminder of her attraction… Talk about a sure recipe for disaster.
    Still, she felt bad at how Sheng handled the situation, and felt an even deeper chagrin that she wouldn’t see the handyman again, a fact her cat complained about, loudly.
    But what could she do to change the situation? Or an even better question, how much longer could she keep up the façade?
    Another new town. Another new life. But things still hadn’t changed.
    Where’s the freedom Sheng promised me?
    She understood his caution, but at what point did they stop constantly looking over their shoulders and start living? When would they finally call somewhere home?

Chapter Three
    The whack against the back of his head snapped Chris’s attention back to the arena and the game at hand. Craning his head, Chris scowled as he saw the culprit, his sister Naomi. Wearing a baby in a chest sling, she smirked at him.
    “Hey, little brother.”
    “What was that for?” He rubbed his noggin. Not that her little tap hurt. But still... For a girl who screamed loud and often about her delicate sensibilities, his sister possessed a rough streak.
    “Pay attention to the game. My mates are playing.”
    “So?”
    A moment later the reason came clear as a missile sailed across the partition glass, the white, Indian rubber ball whistling past his head.
    “That’s why.” Naomi grinned as she waved at Javier, number sixty nine on Loup Garou, Ottawa’s shifter lacrosse team. Chris could see her mate’s answering smile even through his helmet, which the league insisted they wear because of the occasional humans that came to watch – and because it minimized the blood on the floor.
    “He did that on purpose,” Chris growled.
    “Of course he did. I told Javier to snap a ball at you during the last intermission when I saw you staring off into space. And he always listens,” she bragged, sitting herself in the empty seat beside him. She shifted the sling she wore, not that the baby nestled within stirred. Somehow the little bugger snored, a blissful slumber with a thumb tucked in a little mouth, and this despite the screams of the crowd.
    “Where’s the other one?” Chris asked.
    “The other one has a name,” Naomi remarked in an annoyed tone. “Melanie is staying with Francine. She gets too riled up when I bring her to the games.”
    “Too noisy?”
    Naomi snorted. “Nah. Little Mellie gets mad when she sees people hitting her daddies and screams bloody murder, which in turn, upsets Ethan, and he ends up crushing the other team’s defense. Literally. I was asked nicely by the league to keep her away so that the opposing teams wouldn’t run out of able bodied players.”
    “And you agreed?”
    “Only once they hired me to manage the league finances.” Her bright grin at her maneuvering made him smile. His sister might lack the muscle to make people do things, but she possessed the smarts and right leverage to get them to give in.
    “You know you’re evil, right?”
    “It’s a gift. So hey, you never said what had you looking like a slack jawed idiot. Usually, at a game, you’re pressed against the glass screaming advice to