Page 32 of Romancing His Heart
“Sit down, Loki.” Sylvie just went from pissed to enraged. “For all intents and purposes, I am the only parent you have left, so you listen, and you listen good. My family has always had security because that’s what happens when you have the kind of money Clinton was born with. Trevor’s father had every opportunity to research his business partner, but he made a mistake. He took the easy way out.”
I hear the scraping of a chair and feet shuffling. For a moment, I panic they will catch us eavesdropping, but then Sylvie speaks again, more gently this time. “Your parents are gone, there is no making up for that, but it isn’t your responsibility to try.”
“I don’t know what to do if I’m not fighting for them,” Loki admits, his voice sounding strangled.
“You’ll find your way, Loki. But it’s time to let your family back in. That’s how we have always worked. You need us, and we’ve missed you so much. I understand that you still have work to do, but I think you need to clean up your loose ends and join the real world again. Every time you leave on a mission, you steal ten years from my life. I’m ready to have you home.”
“I’m not sure I know how to live in the real world,” he says with a humorless laugh.
“GG told me you might say that.”
“Please tell me you’re joking?”
“I wish I were, but that crazy old lady hasn’t been wrong yet, and she had a lot to say about you during her last visit.”
“What the hell could she have said about me? She’s never met me before!”
The door suddenly opens, causing Ashton and me to barrel through. With his weight pressing into me, I stumble quickly toward the floor.
Shit, this is going to hurt.
With speed I didn’t see coming, Loki wraps his arm around my shoulders, effectively hauling me one-handed from the hardwood floor just before my face hit. No one saved Ashton, and he tumbled to the ground beside us with a painful sounding grunt.
“I think you just took your first step in catching your runner,” Sylvie says cryptically.
Turning me in his arms, Loki inspects me. “Are you okay?”
“Ah, yeah, I’m fine.”
“Yeah, me too, buddy. Thanks for the help.” Ashton’s words drip with sarcasm.
“What do you mean? What runner?” Loki asks Sylvie’s retreating form.
“You’ll see,” she calls over her shoulder.
Loki stands, holding me in close proximity, searching my eyes. “Are you a runner?”
“Come on, guys, I’m fucking starving,” Colton interrupts from the doorway. “Dude, why the hell are you on the floor?” Crossing to Ashton, he reaches down and helps him up. “You guys ready to eat? I’m dying over here. Let’s go.”
Shaking free from Loki’s grasp and his gaze, I turn to the door. “Yeah, I’m ready. Dinner smells amazing.” Daring one last peek over my shoulder, I find Loki staring at me, unmoving.
“Ah, are you coming?” I ask him.
He nods but doesn’t say anything.
“Okay, we’ll see you out there then.”
I try to calm my breathing in the hallway, then rush to follow the sounds of laughter and love pouring from my sister’s dining room. Glancing around, I see an empty seat between Ashton and Seth. It will force Loki to sit at the other end of the table.Thank God. I need a little space. Our encounters are getting more and more intense—I don’t do intense!
Am I a runner? Damn right I am. I often think of myself as a con-artist, except I don’t steal anything. I may use men for experiences in my stories, but I take nothing from them. I don’t even take the gifts they give me when I leave. And I always leave. That’s the thing. I have a meet-cute, theget to know you, thebig breakup,and I’m on my way. I’ve always been ridiculously good at making up the happily ever after. I’ve had to be. Until Emory met Preston, happily ever after only existed for us in fairytales.
“Sloane?” Seth asks, leaning in closer so he can lower his voice. “Are you okay?”
“Huh? Yeah, why?”
Using his napkin to cover his mouth, he whispers, “Sylvie looks like the cat that got the cream, and the glare Loki has focused in our direction could start a fire.”
My head whips up. I don’t even pretend to search because I can feel him from across the room. When our eyes meet, my body goes up in flames.
