Midnight Hero - By Diana Duncan Page 0,4
parents.”
“We are not our parents.” He cupped her face. Hot, wet tears dripped onto his hand, making his throat ache. “Bailey, listen. You’re exactly the kind of woman I need. You’re the only woman I want. We can work this out.”
“We can’t. I was drawn to your vitality, your heat—tempted to dance too close to the fire. I’m more like my father than I thought. My mother warned him, and he didn’t listen. He died. She might as well have, too, and I refuse to end up like her.”
“You need some space. I respect that. We’ll spend time together and work it out. We won’t get physical. No pressure.”
“Con, the more we’re together, the closer we get, and the harder it will be to end it. I’m just not cut out for your brand of adventure.”
“Life is an adventure, darlin’.”
“Not my life. I like my life steady. Predictable. Safe. No matter how much attraction sizzles between us, no matter how much I…I c-care about you—” She choked and blew her nose on a paper napkin. “In the end, my fears will destroy you.”
“You’re upset, understandably so.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “Last night was an ugly business. On TV, the incident probably looked scary and chaotic, but my team had everything under control. Once you get used to it—”
She shuddered. “A daily dose of violence and death, and you grow immune? I could never get used to it. I refuse.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I could never do what you do.”
“Nobody expects you to.” Frustrated, he scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Let’s go somewhere private and I’ll explain—”
“I’m sorry, I’m simply not brave enough.” She tugged her hand from his and grabbed her purse. “No matter how thrilling the ride, I won’t buy a ticket on a runaway train to heartbreak.”
“Bailey—”
She leaped to her feet. “Goodbye, Con.” Sobbing, she fled.
Con sat unmoving in the tomb-silent booth, as stunned and shaken as if a flash-bang grenade had exploded in his face. What the hell had just happened? He’d walked in pumped to ask Bailey to marry him. And here he sat. Alone.
She’d left her coat on the seat when they’d switched places, and then run out without it. He picked it up and buried his nose in the soft beige wool. Like the woman, the disparate scents of rose petals and peppermint mingled into an intriguing combination. Soft and sweet, yet fresh and invigorating.
The world went gray. For a few moments he thought the lights had gone out, then realized the clouds outside were massing overhead. The sky darkened, until morning looked like midnight. Then again, maybe it was the haze over his vision.
What was he supposed to do now? He’d unblinkingly faced down gangbangers bearing Uzis. Been stabbed in the forearm by a crazed crack addict during a raid and kept shooting. Rappelled out of a chopper without hesitation into a line of gunfire so heavy the smoke obliterated his sight. In five years on the force, he’d never frozen in the line of duty. But none of his combat training had prepared him for a direct assault on his heart.
A cold shot to the heart hurt more than he’d ever imagined.
Fighting the urge to run inside and snatch back her fateful words, Bailey choked back sobs as she drove out of the parking lot. Con wasn’t the type to surrender. He’d come charging out the diner’s doorway any minute, determined to batter down her barricades. She had to get away. Before he got her alone and her resolve crumbled under the hurt in his beautiful brown eyes. Wounds she’d inflicted.
Trembling all over, she resisted the need to look back as the diner shrank in her rearview mirror. To watch her future fade along with the place that held so many happy memories. Streaming tears blurred her vision. Driving in this condition was as dangerous as driving drunk.
She pulled into Riverbend Park. Twisted branches formed a skeletal canopy overhead. A fountain in the park’s center spewed icy cascades into the air. The park was deserted, the fountain lonely. As cold and empty as her soul. She shivered under the morning’s damp bite. She’d accidentally left her coat in the diner, but there was no going back. Not now. Tears flooded her eyes and she swiped them away. The coat was the least valuable thing she’d left behind.
This was the second-worst day of her life. Only her father’s funeral had been more painful. Her chest hurt, and misery churned