Page 73 of Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra)

Could he not see that I wasn’t in the mood for teasing? “Why did you do that?”

“Please specify the context.”

“Why didn’t you tell me it was you?”

He looked confused. He shut his laptop. “In the game? I did. Just now. I used our phrase.”

It wasn’t our phrase. It was something my mom said that I told him about. Even if it gave me happy chills to have our own little saying.

“I had no idea who you were. Why didn’t you just whisper me or something?”

He put the laptop on the couch next to him. “Because gamers are incredibly savvy, and I don’t think the game is totally secure. And I didn’t tell you before because I wanted to surprise you. You said you needed a healer; I have a healer.”

I put my fingers against my temples. “That’s not the point. I don’t like surprises. You can’t keep things from me. I can’t keep trying to trust you and then get let down, even if it’s just a lie of omission.”

“You’re trying to trust me?” He got up and walked over to me. There was so much hope infused in his words that it buoyed my own spirits.

“Yes, I’m trying. So stop doing stuff to mess it up.”

He put his hands on my shoulders and let them run down the length of my arms until he was holding both of my hands. “If you wanted to see me, all you had to do was ask.”

Rafe was still missing the point, even if he knew exactly how to make me a love zombie, with no control over my own limbs, fixating on only one thing. It wasn’t about wanting to see him. Although, honestly, that was an issue. I wanted and wanted where he was concerned, but I denied myself. For the good of our possible relationship.

“And in the interest of full disclosure, and since you don’t like surprises, in a few minutes I’m supposed to find a reason to lure you into town for your surprise birthday party.”

“What? It’s not my birthday for another two days.”

“Hence, the surprise part.”

“They felt like I didn’t have enough surprises in my life lately?” For most of my life, surprises had never appealed to me because I liked knowing what would happen when I walked around the corner. Fear of being found had played a big part in that. I wanted each day to be like the last. For nothing scary or different to happen. I had chucked all that out the window when I went on a reality television show, which ended up being nothing but surprises, and that had reinforced to me how much I disliked them.

But it was sweet that people had made the effort. I had to be thankful for that. Rafe went for his keys. “Come on. You can practice your surprised face in the car. Did you want to grab a coat?”

“I don’t need it,” I said, following him out. “But I’m going to bring it anyway. Just in case.” Despite our almost-blizzard last week, it had recently warmed up. Which was nice for when I was outside, but the bad thing about Iowa weather was that it would snow, then it would warm up and melt the snow, and then it would freeze again. Which caused black ice on the roads and slipping hazards on every sidewalk.

“What is it with your weather? In Monterra when it’s winter, it’s winter.”

We went into my house and through the kitchen, where I got my coat. “We have four seasons here. Winter,Game of Throneswinter, road construction, and insanely hot. It’s the only place where you can get sunburn and frostbite in the same week. All of our weather forecasts on the news are basically made up.”

Laddie started to bark. It was a happy bark, which meant we had company and someone new to rub his belly. “Your security?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Gianni’s waiting in town.”

And they would tell us when they patrolled.

My heart started to pound hard. With everything I’d been through with Rafe, I’d forgotten the postcard.

Maybe I shouldn’t have.

“Do you think ...” I stopped talking when he put a finger up to his lips. He turned off the kitchen lights. He took my best cutting knife from the block. I pulled my keys out of my front pocket, putting one finger on the button to activate the pepper spray.

He took me by his free hand, and we crept into the front room. Rafe turned off the lights in there, too. The tree lights still blinked. I saw that an unsupervised Laddie had managed to pull off every popcorn string from the Christmas tree without disturbing a single ornament.

He padded over to us with a wagging tail, eager to be part of the team. “Why can’t you be a regular guard dog?” I whispered. He licked my face in response before going off to the kitchen.

Rafe stood by the front widow, behind a curtain. “There is definitely someone out there. More than one person. I’m texting my men.”

I dragged air in and out. It would take his team too long to reach us. But we could barricade ourselves in here. If John-Paul was actually out there, he wouldn’t find easy prey.

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