Deleted Scene #2. Declan

I had a bad feeling when I woke up this morning that today would be a shit show, and I was right.

Kidnapping a woman shouldn’t be this fucking hard.

She sails through the air in slow motion like a trapeze artist, arms outstretched, hair flying, a look of intense concentration on her face. I have only a split second to admire her lithe form in the side mirror as she launches herself from the car into the rainy night, graceful as a cat, then she’s gone, and I’m hollering.

“Stop the bloody car! She’s out! She’s out!”

Sean slams on the brakes. The SUV fishtails, then straightens. As soon as we slow enough, I’m out of the car and running after her.

What kind of woman jumps from a moving vehicle?

While handcuffed?

She’s either an idiot, a daredevil, or more goddamn trouble than she’s worth.

It’s not like she’s exactly incognito, either. Dressed all in white, she stands out like a candle. She’s fifty meters in front of me, running barefoot down the middle of the street .

Running bloody fast . This girl is really moving.

I stifle another flash of admiration and run harder, pumping my arms and legs, dodging oncoming traffic and ignoring the blaring horns. Within moments, I’ve almost got her.

I’m also soaking wet.

And extremely fucking aggravated.

She glances over her shoulder and sees me close behind. She’s trapped. We both know it. Parked cars line both sides of the street, packed together bumper to bumper as they always are in this part of the city. If she slows to squeeze between them, I’ll have her.

Then she veers sharply right and does something so unexpected I almost stumble.

In one long leaping stride, she jumps up onto the hood of a parked car and uses it as a springboard to launch herself to the sidewalk beyond.

It’s effortless. It looks professional, like she spends her days jumping on and off large wet objects in her bare feet while fleeing her kidnappers.

Another flash of admiration is followed by the uncomfortable sense that I might be dealing with more than I bargained for.

She lands in a crouch, pops right back up, and disappears around a corner.

The rain and the traffic noise must be messing with my hearing, because I could swear I hear her laughing as she goes.