He started to lead her toward the left. Toward their room.
She was here. She was about to be alone with the man of her dreams and she was scared. Not by him. But by the power he had to utterly destroy her.
She stopped in the middle of the walkway. “I don’t know about this.”
He simply picked her up, his big arm going under her legs. “You should have thought about that before you took us to Colombia and allowed kidnappers access to your sweet self, baby. This is going to end one way and one way only.”
She went still in his arms. “And if I say no?”
He didn’t look down at her. He simply strode toward the door. “You don’t get to say no about this. If you say no about this, we’ll be on a plane to Austin and I won’t let you out of my sight until I’ve had a very long talk with your brothers. Don’t think I can’t write a report that will ensure your brothers never allow you out of the house on your own again.”
He didn’t understand. “I wasn’t talking about the security protocols. I’ll follow those. I’m not an idiot. I was talking about the rest of it.”
His jaw went hard and he managed to get their door open without ever setting her down. He kicked the door closed behind them. She found herself on her feet, staring up at him.
“Why?”
It would have been so much easier to answer him if he hadn’t asked the question in a tortured whisper. She couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “You can rip me up, Taggart. For the last seven months I’ve done nothing but think about you, and now that I’m here I realize how devastating you can be. You dumped me. You wouldn’t even talk to me. You didn’t want an explanation. You didn’t want to try. You walked away and if I hadn’t found this lead, you would never have spoken to me again.”
He ran a hand over his close-cropped hair. “You don’t know that. I don’t know that.”
“Did you have plans to see me?”
“No,” he shot back. “Mia, what’s going on? You’ve admitted you did all of this to get my attention. You have my attention. I get it. I was stupid to ignore you. I was upset about my brother and you lied to me. I lied to you, too. Let’s forget it all and go back to that first night. That was when I was real with you. That night we connected. Fuck all. We always connected. Even when we were lying, I could feel it. We made a real breakthrough and you’re telling me you’ve changed your mind.”
Yep, she was seriously alone in a room with him. “You don’t know me. You might not like me when you know me and you’re good at walking away.”
He stared down at her. “I explained that. Are you going to hold it against me? Are you going to cost us time? Because I’ve learned that time isn’t infinite and we’re not guaranteed a specific amount.” One of those callused hands came up, caressing her cheek. “I’d rather not waste more of whatever time we have.”
She didn’t want to waste a second, but she also finally admitted that she didn’t want one night with him. She didn’t want to screw him out of her system or prove that she could walk away this time. She wanted everything from him. “Case, I’m crazy about you. I don’t think I can handle it if you turn away from me again, so I need you to know what you’re getting into.”
“Mia, tell me what’s going on. What has you so scared?”
Maybe she should take this time. He was certainly right about there being no guarantee. She should know that better than anyone. The flight crew had been working for 4L for months. They’d lain in wait.
What if they hadn’t merely been there to take her in? What if this had to do with the Taggarts? She remembered the first time she’d met the pilot. He’d flown her and her brothers to New York a few months back. Why not take them all? If they’d only been out for money, why not force Drew to access his accounts in exchange for his life and his sibling’s? What if this wasn’t about money and was all about the fact that they had the first real lead on Theo?
This was dangerous. Really dangerous. Not only for her. This would be dangerous for Case. They were already one man down.
Did she want to waste the time they might have telling him her sad story? Hadn’t she learned at a young age to live in the moment?
It had been a horrible few hours. She’d taken charge because she’d needed to. She’d been strong because they’d needed her strength, but she’d discovered that there were times that she could give up all that wearying control and find another part of herself.
She looked up at him. “I’m afraid of so many things, Sir. I think I’d like to forget about all of them for a while.”