high above her head and waggled her fingers. ‘Hey, cute guy, drink me!’
‘You’ve reached your limit,’ Tyler said firmly as he lifted her cell phone and took her elbow. ‘And you’re gonna apologize to Crystal for that in the morning. Thanks for the heads up on her location.’
The last part made Miranda gasp. ‘You sent for him? How could you?’ Taught her not to leave her cell phone on the bar when she went to the restroom, didn’t it?
At least Crystal had the decency to look apologetic. ‘Because it’s not me that you need to be talking to right now and you’d never forgive yourself if you made it into the papers this close to Election Day.’
‘Up you get,’ Tyler ordered.
‘I’m not leaving.’
‘Yes, you are.’
‘Make me.’
‘Okay.’
When he bent down and tossed her effortlessly over her shoulder, Miranda struggled. ‘Put me down!’
‘Bye, Crystal.’
‘Bye, Tyler.’
‘Stop him!’ she yelled at the bouncer on the door before hiccupping. ‘I’m being kidnapped!’
‘No, she’s not.’ Tyler simply rearranged her weight to flash his shield. ‘NYPD.’
‘Isn’t that the mayor’s daughter?’ the bouncer asked.
‘She’s one of those lookalikes,’ Tyler said as he walked away. ‘Been conning free drinks all over town...’
‘Put me down!’ Miranda repeated while she was carried down the sidewalk. ‘Women hate it when guys do this.’
He muttered a reply that sounded as if it included the words ‘worked for’ and ‘Brannigan’ and ‘when he did’ before raising his voice to inform her, ‘You’re gonna have the hangover from hell in the morning.’
‘Why should you care?’ she asked his broad back.
‘The thought I might scares the life out of you, doesn’t it?’
She lifted her chin. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘You’re a flight risk. I knew that at the start. What I didn’t know was why.’
‘But you think you do now?’
His head nodded against her flank. ‘This is what you do when things get too much—you run away to find solace in having fun. Up till now it’s been the life you didn’t want and how claustrophobic you felt. This time it’s me.’
Miranda spluttered, ‘Arrogant much?’
‘This isn’t you. You’re more than this.’
‘You don’t know me.’
He took a deep breath she felt against her legs. ‘You’re an amazing woman with the potential to do equally amazing things with her life. Is this how you’re gonna deal with your problems when you’re forty? Whether you like it or not I do care so when you’re ready to talk about what’s bothering you let me know.’
‘I already tried that,’ she said in a smaller voice.
‘No, you didn’t. You ran away.’
The truth silenced her while he set her on her feet. Swaying a little she pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked up at him. Damn him for being so big and strong and bulletproof. She hated that he could make her feel so small and weak and vulnerable. She didn’t want to fall for him.
It would be so much simpler if she wasn’t.
When her lower lip trembled she bit down on it.
The pad of a thumb stilled the movement. ‘Don’t do that. You’ll make it bleed.’
The husky edge to his voice twisted her heart into a tight little ball. She didn’t want tenderness from him. Not if he was going to take it with him when he left. ‘You’re looking at me the way I don’t like again,’ she complained.
He shouldn’t make promises with his eyes he wasn’t prepared to keep. But what was worse was how it made her feel. At the beginning he excited her—he still did—but along the way he also surprised and challenged her, making her re-evaluate her life and what she wanted from it. She would do it—she would give up her freedom to be with him.
She would give up everything.
How had he made her feel that way in just a few weeks?
His thumb brushed across her cheek before he dropped his hand to his side. ‘Let’s get you home.’
Miranda allowed him to move her around so he could open the door and help her inside. She gazed at his profile as he leaned in to click her seat belt into place, saw him glance at her from the corner of his eye and wished she knew what to say. How was she supposed to tell him what she’d felt when he kissed her—lost and found, hopeful and hopeless, joyous and afraid? It was so many things at once.
It felt as if she belonged in his arms. But he’d had an opportunity to correct her when she said neither of them wanted to