Page 50 of Romancing His Heart

His voice startles me more, and I blink wildly, trying to locate the source. Loki steps out from the closet with his hands raised. “Hey, sorry. You’re okay. I just dropped a wrench.”

“What?” My voice cracks as I speak, and I place a hand on my stomach to calm my nerves. I’ve never been a morning person, but I can’t seem to comprehend what the hell is going on. Peering around the room as my heart rate steadies, the events of the last twenty-four hours come rushing back.

“Sloane?”

Drawing my head back quickly, I rub my eyes and force my brain to focus.

“I-I’m fine, Loki. Sorry. I’m not a morning person. I just had a hard time figuring out where the hell I was. That’s all.”

He stares at me with concern. “Are you sure? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Taking a long breath in through my nose, I slowly exhale. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I lie.

With tentative steps, he inches closer. “You seem to be ‘fine’ a lot,” he states.

In the daylight, I’m finally able to take in our surroundings, so I ignore his comment. The place is even smaller than I first thought. I’m not a math person, but if I had to guess, I’d say the entire place is less than a thousand square feet. To my left is the kitchen with a fridge in one corner and cabinets taking up the rest of the wall. A small utility sink stands in the center under a square window. To the right of the sink is a two-burner stovetop with a slim oven door underneath. Everything in here is miniature, and compared to Loki’s vast size, it makes me laugh.

“I haven’t been here in a long time,” he says from behind. “It seems a lot smaller with two of us here.” Sounding strangled, he clears his throat. “Ah, Red?”

Turning, I lift my gaze, and we make eye contact that sends a rush of warmth to my belly. He’s so close, I could touch him if I only reached out. His breathing is erratic and loud. The control he holds close to his vest is slipping in his slow perusal of my body.

His movements are gentle but intentional as he places his fingers over my thumb and middle finger, halting my nervous habit.

“Do I make you nervous, Sloane?”

“No,” I lie again.

He leans in even closer, the faint scent of aftershave hitting my senses. It’s a woodsy, clean smell I’m not used to. Most of the guys I’ve dated douse themselves in cologne.

“You smell good,” I blurt.

Geez, Sloane. Take it down a notch … or fifty!

He shoots me a crooked grin. “I smell like you since you’re a bed hog and were all up in my business last night.”

“I was not.”Was I?“Okay, it’s possible,” I concede. Realizing he is still holding my fingers, I tug my hand and pull away. Taking a couple of steps toward the sink, I look for a coffee pot but halt at his next words.

“If we’re sleeping in that bed together every night, you need to sleep in something else—anything else. Just not that.”

Glancing down, I take in my near nakedness. Strangely, I’m not self-conscious around him. I’ve always been okay with my body, and technically, I am covered, even if it’s sexy, but I rarely have this much confidence.

“Do my pajamas bother you, Loki?” Gah, flirting with him shouldn’t be so easy.

“Bother isn’t the right word, Red. But if you keep wearing shit like that, you’re likely to end up impaled on my dick without our knowledge. You tend to, um, squirm in your sleep. If I hadn’t woken up this morning, wandering hands could have led us down a very naughty path.”

I suck in a gulp of air so suddenly I choke.

Gawd, Sloane. So sexy.

It takes half a beat before he is patting my back with a suppressed grin. “Easy there, killer.”

“What time is it, anyway?” Glancing around, I can’t tell if the power is on or not because the sun is shining off the snow so brightly I’m nearly blind.

“Ten thirty,” he says gruffly.

“Oh, that early?”

“Early? How late do you usually sleep?” Moving past me, he grabs a coffee maker from the top shelf and plugs it in.