Page 42 of Romancing His Heart

“No.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to be childish like Dex and Trevor? If we are going to be isolated and I can’t talk to anyone, you’re going to have to answer some things for me, you know? Ooh, you know what I haven’t written yet?”

She’s all over the place now that she’s talking.

“You know when you get on a roll, you make no sense, right? I can’t believe I’m going to ask this, but what haven’t you written?”

“Forced proximity. That’s a big one. Readers love a good forced proximity romance. What kind of house are we going to? Is it a big mountain cabin? Will you have to chop wood? Would you chop wood shirtless? That would give me a great visual for a hero. Oh my God. Military mountain man who’s grumpy and …” Glancing over, I see that she looks embarrassed. “Sorry, once my head gets going on a story, it spirals sometimes.”

I watch her with mixed emotions. “I’ve never met anyone quite like you, Red.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot. It’s why I don’t have many friends. People get tired of pulling me from my stories.”

“You spend a lot of time getting lost in them?”

“Stories can’t hurt me.” It’s a knee-jerk response, and by her clenched jaw and white knuckles, I can tell she regrets it.

“Neither will I, Red. Neither will I.”

Chapter 14

Sloane

“Neither will I.” Ugh.What the hell was I thinking? Of course that’s his response.

“So, tell me about this safe house?” I ask, changing the subject.

“I don’t think it will be quite what you’re expecting,” Loki says evasively.

“Well, that’s where you’re at an advantage. I don’t have any expectations.”

My body prickles, and I know he’s watching me.

“It’s a cabin I bought shortly after college.”

“Wait, if you own it, won’t that be one of the first places they look for us?”

“Oh, sweetheart. Give me more credit than that. I always have a backup plan. My backup plan, Jacob Kelly, owns this cabin.”

“You have a fake identity?”

“A backup plan,” I repeat.

“And it’s a camp you use for hunting?”

“It’s a hunting camp in every sense of the word, but I haven’t had much time to use it. There are no frills. It’s a one-room cabin, but it has a pullout couch, too. The bathroom will be about our only privacy for a while.”

“Ah, one room?”

“I told you, it’s rustic.”

“So, it won’t be like … glamping?” I’m not sure how I feel about camping.

“What the fuck is glamping?”

“You know, like upscale camping?”

“Sweetheart, there’s camping, and then there’s a fucking spa. There’s no in-between.”