Page 13 of Off Plan

“Who in the world travels withrope?” he demanded.

“Let’s see. Mountain climbers? Magicians? People with healthy sex lives?” I ticked off on my fingers.

He scowled and wiped his forehead with the arm of his shirt. “Well, I certainly donot.”

“Have a healthy sex life?”

“No. I mean,yes! I mean…” His face flushed deeper, and he kept his eyes trained just above my left ear. “I do not travel withrope.”

“Color me disappointed.”

He ignored me and pointed to the child-sized suitcase. “This bag is clothes. This one is toiletries and shoes, and the other is basic medical supplies. And my last bag is missing.”

“Yeah. Caught that.” But despite my better judgment, I found myself repeating, “Basic medical supplies? For what?”

He straightened, not unlike a porcupine with its quills standing on end. “Mr. Goodman suggested I bring supplies I like and am familiar with until I got to the clinic and could order more.”

Oh, yeah. The picture was coming in clear now.

“He wanted you to buy your own medical supplies,” I repeated. “For theclinic.”

“That’s what I said.” Loafers frowned. “He told me I’d be reimbursed.”

I grinned with no humor whatsoever. “Well, if Big Rafe—sorry,Mr. Goodman—said it, it’s gotta be true, right? Just out of curiosity, did he sayhowhe’d repay you? Monopoly money, maybe?”

“What?” His eyes were bewildered, and his voice went up at the end, like the shiny Loafers-veneer was about to crack. I was kinda curious what would happen when it did.

“Never mind.” I waved a hand negligently. “Chop-chop. This shit isn’t gonna load itself, and I’d like to get back to the island before the bridge goes up.” I shot him a look over the top of my glasses before shoving them back into place over my eye, which was throbbing in time to my pulse.

One more thing to blame Rafe for.

Loafers frowned even harder, then blew out a breath and assessed the trunk like he was trying to solve a math problem. “Right. Yes. Okay.”

He grabbed the handle of the largest suitcase and pulled, but nothing happened—the bag was clearly heavy as fuck and came almost to his waist, so he had no leverage.

“You know it might work better if you—” I began, but he cut me off.

“Don’t bother. I’ll do it myself.”

“Awesome.” I folded my arms over my chest and settled in for what promised to be a long show.

I tried not to notice the way his eyes raked over my arms disapprovingly, or the way his lips pursed when he stared at the grease-stained shirt I hadn’t bothered to change before running Rafe’s stupid errand.

Why should I care? If I had a nickel for every asshole who disapproved of me, I’d own Whispering Key and then some.

Loafers tilted the bag on its side, grabbed a different handle, bent his knees like a sumo wrestler, and heaved one corner of the bag onto the bumper. Face straining, he tried to lift the back end of the suitcase, and the front end slid onto the ground.

His face was so comically disappointed, I couldn’t help laughing. And when he glowered at me, I only laughed harder.

“How much does it weigh, for God’s sake? How’d you manage to get it on the plane in the first place?”

Loafers set his hands on his hips. “It weighs a hundred pounds, and I paid two hundred and fifty dollars extra, that’s how.”

“Damn.” I whistled long and loud. “Here in the real world, that’s a lot of money. You must really love your clothes— Wait, what am I saying?” I asked the cars around us. “Ofcourseyou do. Loafers without his loafers is like Superman without his—”

“Remember that wall from earlier?” Loafers made a slicing motion in the air between us. “I can no longer hear or see you.”

He bent over, ass out, lifting with his knees, and managed to wrestle the suitcase—and I mean full-contact, bonzo-gonzo,garbagewrestling, that had the car bouncing likemuchmore interesting shit was happening inside it—into the trunk. The whole time, he was so careful to ignore me, it was clear he was aware of every breath I took.