Page 103 of Romancing His Heart

I’d go bat shit crazy. That’s what would happen because I love her. I’m fucking in love with her.

A gust of cold air fills the room, and I know my girl is home. Turning in my seat, I’m floored by what I find. I’m out of my chair so fast I knock it over in my haste to get to her.

“What’s the matter? What’s wrong? What happened?” I’m already opening the door to search for whatever caused her to cry.

“N-Nothing,” she hiccups. “I was just happy to see the raccoon babies doing so well.” She’s lying, and I fucking hate it.

“What really upset you, Red? I’ll kill whoever upset you.” I realize in that moment it’s not an empty threat. I’m prepared to spend the rest of my life wiping her tears and shredding the ones who cause them.

Peering over her shoulder, I find Luca watching us with the sadness of lost love. This is what they all feel. This is why all my friends have gone stupid—they’re all drunk on love.

“You don’t have to kill anyone, you idiot.” She tries to sound playful, but I know better. I’m about to drag her outside and demand answers when Ashton’s phone rings.

“What do you mean? How?” he yells.

The rest of us watch him nervously.

“How long do we have?”

Ashton marches to the door and yells to the pilot, “We need to be in the air in three minutes.” Returning to his phone call, he says, “Done. Get the Kane compound set up.”

Turning to us, he starts issuing commands.

“Vic is en route. Somehow, he followed us. Seth, Loki, and Luca, you need to get on the chopper now. If he finds you guys here, you’re done.”

He’s right, but he’s also out of his goddamn mind if he thinks I’m leaving Sloane behind.

“Loki, I know what you’re going to say, but Sloane has to travel back in the car with me. If we get pulled over, it’ll be easier to explain that I was picking up my sister-in-law from her writing retreat than anything else.”

“They’ll scope the place for fingerprints,” Luca states.

“The building won’t be standing by the time they get here,” I bark. “Baby? Will you be okay with Ashton?”

I hate that she looks so fucking scared, so lost, and that I still have no clue why she’s been crying, but Ashton is right.

She works to swallow, and her fingers begin their tap-tap-slide. “Yeah, I’ll be fine with Ash. I’m fine, Loki. I’m not your responsibility. None of this had anything to do with me, right?”

“That’s not what—”

“They’re going to be here in less than ten minutes,” Ash interrupts. “Loki, get in the air. Sloane, what do you have to take with you?”

“Ah, my, ah …”

“Sloane, I’ll carry out your trunk. Grab your personal shit from the bathroom and your computer. We can replace everything else.”

She nods in understanding and beelines for the bathroom.

“Seth, I’ll meet you outside in one minute. Ashton, pack up her laptop,” I instruct, then I follow her into the bathroom and shut the door.

“I’m okay, Loki. You need to go.”

“Something is wrong, and I don’t like leaving this way. As soon as it’s safe, I’ll meet you at home, and we can talk about everything, okay?”

“Home?” she squeaks.

“Yeah.” I grin. “You’ve still got a few months left on that lease, and it turns out, I’m going to need a place to crash. We can pick up where we left off here.”

She seems alarmed, but I’m running out of time. “Whatever is going on in that head of yours is not fine. But I promise you we’ll sort through it all together. I promise.” I drag her into a hug and only relax when her rigid body finally melts into mine.