going to answer that?’ she asked.
‘It’ll wait.’
‘Player.’
He looked into her eyes. ‘What makes you so sure it’s a woman?’
‘Isn’t it?’ She blinked innocently. ‘For all I know it could be your wife.’
‘How long you been waiting to ask that question?’ When she didn’t reply he rested his left elbow on the table and showed her the back of his hand. ‘Do you see a ring?’
‘That doesn’t mean anything.’
He lowered the hand to lift something else off his plate. ‘Does to me.’
Miranda liked that it did. Without saying so in as many words he’d conveyed he was the faithful type. She didn’t have any proof of that without taking his word for it but she knew instinctively it was true. After all, she’d met more than her fair share of liars over the years.
People who attempted to befriend her because of what rather than who she was—who thought they could get her to speak on their behalf to her father or that dating her would deliver their five minutes of fame. She’d met them all and knew she had trust issues as a result.
She would never have the same problems with Tyler. He didn’t have an agenda other than doing his job.
Knowing that should have made her feel better but, oddly enough, it didn’t.
When she returned her attention to what she was doing, he took a short breath. ‘Since we’re playing the sharing game, how come it took you so long to have that talk with your mother?’
‘Congratulations,’ Miranda said dryly. ‘It took you a whole four days to bring up the subject. I didn’t think you’d last that long.’
‘Deflection—I invented that.’
She sighed heavily. ‘Mothers and daughters often have complicated relationships.’
‘My sister gets on fine with our mom now she’s got better about calling her.’
The comment lifted her gaze. ‘You have a sister?’
‘And three brothers.’
‘There are three more of you out there?’ The thought was a tad too much for her brain to contemplate.
A corner of his mouth lifted and for the first time—while looking directly at him as it happened—she realized the move lowered the other side. It was almost a yin and yang thing, hinting at two sides of his personality.
‘There’s only one of me,’ he said as if denying the thought she hadn’t voiced. ‘The rest of them get to spend their time trying to reach the high bar I set for them.’
‘You’re the eldest?’
‘I’m in the middle.’
‘I might need you to explain to me how the high bar works if there were two born before you.’
‘I raised it,’ he replied without skipping a beat.
Miranda nodded. ‘You tell them that, don’t you?’
‘Repeatedly.’
She tried to imagine what it must have been like to be part of such a large family. Apart from the freedom they had growing up, she envied the company they would have provided for one another. It made her realize how much she missed having Richie around. He’d be joining the campaign soon and they would have to find the time to talk. She just hoped he could forgive her for breaking their pact.
Pushing the thought from her mind, she jumped into the opening Tyler had given her to get to know him better. ‘What do your siblings do?’
‘My sister runs the legal department at her husband’s company. The rest of us are cops.’
Her gaze lifted again. ‘All of your brothers are with the NYPD?’
‘Third generation,’ he said with an obvious note of pride. ‘It’s in the blood.’
‘You never wanted to be anything else?’
‘Nope.’
It explained where some of his confidence came from. He’d known exactly what he wanted, worked towards it and achieved his goal, whereas Miranda’s confidence was born of a need to survive. It wasn’t that she didn’t have it now, but in her teens it was a different story.
‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ he asked.
Ouch. But considering she probably deserved it after the way she’d been with him, Miranda let it slide. Instead she set down the crayon and pushed her chair back. ‘Do you want something to wash down that mountain of food?’
‘Avoidance—I invented that one, too.’
‘I’m thirsty and a bottle of water might help with your indigestion.’ She felt his gaze on her as she approached the buffet table.
‘You sure you can manage to find it on your own? Don’t you usually have someone to do that for you?’
‘There are several things I’m perfectly capable of doing on my own.’
‘You’re just not given much of a chance to do them...’
‘No,’ she admitted before lifting a bottle