was a strategic mistake because the second he did she twisted it free, shoved both hands into his chest and caught him off balance. His heels caught on the kerb behind him and the next thing he knew he was sitting on his ass in wet grass.
Planting her fists on her hips she angled her chin and snapped, ‘Is that better?’
It caused the kind of life-changing epiphany Tyler hadn’t seen coming. For a moment he simply stared at her in shock. Then a vibration started in his chest, moving upwards into the base of his throat. The sound was rusty from lack of use, but familiar.
‘You choose now to laugh?’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘You’re a twisted individual.’
When she spun around and marched to the edge of the road to hail a cab Tyler scrambled to his feet and jogged after her to try a more persuasive tone. ‘If you let me tell you the rest of the sentence we can clear this up.’
‘I don’t want to clear it up,’ she retorted. ‘I want you to stay away from me.’
‘You don’t want that any more than I do.’
The convulsion of her throat gave him an indication of how hurt she was, instantly causing him pain in response. ‘You don’t care what I want.’
‘You couldn’t be more wrong about that.’
It made her glance sideways at him as a cab pulled up but she didn’t look him in the eye. ‘Don’t follow me.’
He frowned. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’
‘Home. Not that it’s your problem any more.’ She lifted her chin again. ‘I have three weeks left to serve on my sentence. Once they’re done I’m going to go out into the big wide world, find the first available guy who’ll spend time with me because he wants to and not because he’s being paid to do it, and I’ll have meaningless sex with him until neither of us can stand up.’
‘No, you won’t,’ he said with conviction while the words stirred another savage streak of territorialism. ‘We’ve already had that talk.’
‘Wind up a mechanized toy, you shouldn’t be surprised when it keeps moving after you set it down.’ She frowned when he placed a palm on the top of the door to stop it from opening. ‘Let me go.’
‘I’m going to,’ he said reluctantly before taking a step closer. ‘But only to give you long enough to calm down. When you’re thinking clearly and have questions you know how to find me.’ He gave her something to mull over. ‘You might want to make one of them why I kissed you the way I did.’
Pushing against his palm, he stood tall, dropped his arm to his side and watched her get into the cab. As it left it felt as if part of him went with it, but he guessed he would have to get used to that.
When his phone rang he waited a few moments before answering it. ‘Brannigan.’
‘You wanna go on a stake-out?’ his partner enquired.
Tyler’s blood chilled. ‘You found him?’
‘Maybe...’ There was a brief pause. ‘Turns out your friend Jimmy has been worrying enough about being seen as a snitch to become one.’
‘I’m on my way.’
TWENTY-TWO
The club encompassed a city block with a dance floor, live DJ and a seating area for private parties at the back. Despite the fact it was a Sunday night and many of them had work in the morning, it was packed with a hip Manhattan crowd of twenty-to-thirty-somethings.
Miranda was at the bar with Crystal. She’d bought the first drink to sip while she tried to calm down. When it had the same medicinal effect associated with a stiff brandy she ordered another. The numbness that set in with her third was more welcome than any of the little umbrellas lined up side by side would ever know.
There were four of them now, not counting the one in her glass. They were pretty. She’d decided to see how many colours she could collect.
‘You know what really bugs me?’ she yelled over the music. ‘By allowing me to throw myself at him like some kind of desperate woman he made me feel needy. I don’t do needy. If I was needy I’d sleep with every guy who showed an interest in me.’ She waved a limp-wristed hand in the general direction of the man hovering nearby. ‘Like that guy over there. He’s cute and he’s been smiling at me for the last ten minutes.’
‘He’s the bartender and you’ve been tipping him the