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“Let’s go outside.”
“Miles, you can’t arrange for all this without talking it over.”
“I did, so I can.” He nudged her outside. “I don’t think I’ll get an argument from your ladies.”
“You’re getting one from me.” She stood her ground. “You can’t have all this installed on someone else’s property. It’s beyond pushy.”
“I’ll give you pushy, but I am having it installed. You, your grandmother, and your mother will have more peace of mind. And so will I.” He waited a single beat. “You wouldn’t take the dog.”
“Oh, for God’s sake!”
“What about when you’re working nights and they’re here alone?”
“That’s not fair.”
Those eyes, those tiger eyes, went jungle fierce. “I don’t care about fair. I have no fucks to give about fair. I thought about what it would be like to lose someone I cared about, someone who mattered. I don’t like it, so it’s not happening. You matter.”
“That’s really not fair.” She turned away, scrubbing her hands over her face.
“I agree there. I didn’t want you to matter, but you do. So this is happening. It’s pushy, it’s not fair. Deal with it.”
She’d never had anyone just order her around. The Colonel hadn’t cared enough; her mother had cajoled.
Now she tried to figure out how to handle it.
“You could have suggested we do something like this. We’d have thought about it.”
“While you’re thinking about it, it’s getting done. If your grandmother wants to have a conversation with me about it, I’ll make myself available.
“I don’t like these damn systems,” he added. “I don’t like the whole idea of them. But right here, right now, it’s necessary.”
“I don’t like being rolled over this way.”
“Don’t blame you a bit. It sucks, and I’ll apologize after that son of a bitch is in a cell. If it’s any consolation, when he gets done here, he’s putting one of these systems on my place. I don’t like it any more than you, but you spend time there.”
She turned back, dropped into a chair. “It makes me feel helpless.”
“That’s stupid, and you’re not. You dented his shield, remember? Now you’ll have one, and he won’t dent yours.”
He sat across from her.
“Part of you still feels coming here, living here makes you a failure, a weak one. That’s bullshit. Coming here, starting over after what happened to you is what proves you’re strong. Strong enough, Morgan, that when someone hands you a shield, you take it and you use it.”
“It’s really unfair when you’re logical.” She pressed her fingers to her eyes. “It’s just been a day, and still has a ways to go.” She dropped her hands back on the table. “I got an update from the FBI.”
“Okay.”
“I need to walk. Can we just walk around? I need a little Zen.”
“Sure. Give me a second first.”
When he took out his phone, she pressed her fingers to her eyes again. “You have to get back to work. We’ll do all this later.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Give me a second.”
He rose, moved away. As he worked with his assistant on some rescheduling, he wondered why a sensible, grounded woman like Morgan found it so hard to accept help.
When he walked back, he held out a hand. “Let’s walk.”
