distance,’ he’d said. But he couldn’t do that any more than she could.
Surely that meant something—what if he felt the same draw to her that she felt to him?
He’d said when she had questions, ‘You might want to make one of them why I kissed you the way I did...’
What if everything she’d felt in that kiss hadn’t come from her? She’d felt lost but he’d found her. She’d been hopeful but he’d lost hope. He’d said he was beyond saving. Did he really believe that—what if he thought she couldn’t love him the way he was? He’d told her if he had a choice things would be different. ‘Don’t forget that.’
Why had she forgotten that?
Even with her confidence battered by waves of fear and self-doubt the flame of hope continued to burn. The truth was she was more frightened of losing him than taking a leap of faith for the man she believed in more than she believed in herself. She’d thought he couldn’t love her but if one day he could...
‘When you figure it out let me know.’
Heart pounding rapidly, she jumped off the bed, grabbed the essentials and ran downstairs. Nothing on earth would stop her from going to him. She couldn’t spend the rest of her life wondering what might have happened if she’d taken a chance. If the freedom she’d been dreaming of for her entire adult life was all about choice, then she chose him.
All he had to do was choose her back.
TWENTY-FIVE
He should have kissed some sense into her. There was nothing wrong with his mouth.
But when Miranda was so nonchalant about never seeing him again it had knocked Tyler back. He couldn’t even put on a damn T-shirt alone—how was he supposed to convince her that he would look after her for the rest of her life when he couldn’t dress himself?
After a day spent fending off calls from his family, his partner, his captain, some moron from the press who wanted to paint him as a hero and a woman trying to sell him life insurance, Tyler paced the floor of his apartment like a caged animal. He reckoned Miranda had about twenty-four hours before he switched from the role of bodyguard to stalker. If he had to kidnap her and spend the next week demonstrating how much he wanted her then so be it. The physical pain he was experiencing from a couple of run-of-the-mill gunshot wounds was nothing compared to the agony he felt when he thought about losing her.
Now he’d risen from the ashes of his messed up life like the mythical phoenix of her code-name, he could plan a future. One he wanted to share with her.
But had he told her that?
He’d come to the sad conclusion he was a pathetic, cowardly weakling when there was a frantic knocking on the door of his apartment. At a little before midnight the last thing he expected on the other side was a breathless, wide-eyed Miranda. It was obviously raining again—the shoulders of her coat sparkling with silvery raindrops and her hair a shade darker. With her face flushed and devoid of make-up he thought she’d never looked more beautiful.
‘Figured it out, did you?’ he asked roughly.
Her brows wavered with uncertainty.
‘Give it another minute.’
When she attempted to smile it wavered, too—her eyes shimmering with emotion as her breasts rose and fell with each rapid breath.
‘Almost there...’ The corner of his mouth lifted with the affection he didn’t try to disguise.
Her smile was more convincing the second time, growing in direct relation to the dawning realization in her eyes.
Tyler nodded. ‘Took you long enough.’
As she made a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob he reached for her hand to draw her inside and kicked the door shut with his foot.
‘Coat off.’ He led her into the kitchen and jerked his chin at the counter. ‘Sit up there. I’ll be right back.’
When he returned from the bathroom with as many towels as he could carry in one hand she’d done what she was told without putting up a fight. That was a first.
‘Why didn’t you say something?’ she asked.
Tyler tossed the towels down, selected one and stepped in front of her. ‘When you were playing the role of Little Miss Don’t-Give-A-Damn? Close your eyes.’
As she did he dried her face, her eyes opening again when he progressed to her hair.
‘I was going to let you go.’ The words were said in the small, vulnerable voice that turned him inside