he want her as much as she wanted him?
While he looked at her in a way that made it feel as if he could see her soul and held her with a gentleness that belied his strength it didn’t feel wrong to trust him with her body. But before she did she wanted him to trust her and she wasn’t certain he did yet.
Swiping the tip of her tongue over her lips, she took a short breath and decided to broach what she suspected was a difficult subject. ‘If I talk to you about something you have to promise you won’t freak out.’
‘Meaning it’s something I’m not gonna like.’
She searched his eyes before continuing. ‘I think you know you can’t go around intimidating people.’
‘Not much call for good guys in the world I inhabit.’
Meaning he thought he wasn’t one or he’d had to change to survive? She could have pointed out bad guys didn’t come to a girl’s rescue, share popcorn at the movies or dance with her in the moonlight, but instead she said, ‘I’d have thought there was even more call for them there. At times lowering to the level of the people you deal with probably seems like the only way you can make them understand you—it’s dog-eat-dog, right?—but—’
‘It’s not how the people in your world behave.’
‘You make it sound like we live on different planets.’
‘To all intents and purposes we do.’
She shook her head. ‘I can’t begin to imagine some of the things you’ve seen.’
‘You’re not supposed to. It’s why there are people like me doing the job we do. We’re buffers.’
‘Even soldiers in a war zone take the occasional break from the front line. When’s the last time you did that?’
He frowned. ‘That’s been a while, too.’
Having spent more than enough time around people in high pressured jobs to recognize stress when she saw it, she’d thought it might be part of the problem.
‘Taking time for yourself—spending it with the people you love and dancing every now and again—wouldn’t that remind you of what you’re fighting for?’ When some of the tension returned to his body she sought a way to make him understand what she was doing stemmed from the fact she cared, even if it was more than she should. ‘Haven’t you ever had someone in your life you looked forwards to seeing—who made everything you did and all the sacrifices you make worthwhile? You can’t have gone this long without meeting someone like that. Everyone has a one who got away, right?’
The fist of jealousy that gripped her stomach made her hope the answer was no.
‘Yes,’ he replied.
Not that she wanted to know details but, ‘Was your job part of the problem?’
‘We both worked long hours.’
‘What happened?’
‘She married someone else.’
The information made her look at him with new eyes. Had his heart been broken? She wondered what kind of woman he’d fallen for and came to the conclusion she must have been pretty amazing. It left her with the sensation she had a lot to live up to—something her insecurities would play on if she let them. But if the woman had been dumb enough to let him go she couldn’t have been that great. ‘Was that when your work started taking over your life?’ she asked.
‘We’re back to the subject of finding a balance.’
‘Yes.’
‘It’s not always easy.’
‘You think I don’t know that?’
When he stilled she realized the music had stopped and turned to smile at the musician as he saluted them with his harmonica before walking away.
Tyler removed his arm from her waist and lowered their hands. As he led her back into the park he took a long breath and exhaled before asking, ‘How did you know?’
‘About the discrepancy in your work-life balance?’
‘That I wouldn’t hurt you that night in the alley...’
Miranda answered honestly. ‘I just did. It was a gut-instinct thing. When something feels right it feels right.’
‘You place that kind of faith in everyone?’
She arched a brow at him. ‘After spending a quarter of my life surrounded by people who are never themselves around me— who laugh even when my jokes aren’t funny or pretend to be my friend just so they can say they know me?’
‘I’ll take that as a no.’
Miranda stopped and turned towards him. ‘Wait a minute. Are you telling me you didn’t know?’
‘No one knows what they’re capable of till they’re pushed,’ he said flatly.
‘Something pushed you before me, didn’t it?’
The shadows between arcs of lamplight illuminating the path seemed to close in around