Page 55 of Hang the Moon
“The Ring.” Annie grinned when he grimaced. She set her bucket of popcorn on the floor between her feet and reached for the box of Sour Patch Kids. “I’m just teasing you. I enjoy a good rom-com as much as the next person.” She paused. “Okay, maybe not as much as you.”
A fair assumption. His love for romantic comedies was off the charts.
“I’m confused,” he admitted.
Annie shook out a handful of candy before offering him the box. “About?”
“How can you possibly say romance is dead when these movies are proof that it isn’t?”
Her laughter filled the car, sharp and sweet. It tapered off when she realized he wasn’t laughing with her. Her eyes widened. “Are you serious? Oh my God, you are. They’re movies. It’s all fake. It would be like usingJurassic Parkas proof that dinosaurs are real.”
“Dinosaurs are real.”
“Were real.” She stared at him pointedly. “And now they’re dead.”
“The whole plot ofJurassic Parkis that dinosaurs were revived using fossilized DNA.”
She laughed. “Okay. Better example. It would be like usingMen in Blackas proof that aliens exist.”
He refused to smile, refused to give himself away. “Aliens do exist. The Pentagon released footage of unidentified flying objects.”
She clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God.”
“Area Fifty-One, Annie.”
She dropped her hand and goggled at him. “Is an Air Force facility.”
“Wow, I didn’t realize believing in aliens was so controversial.” He smiled, letting her know he was kidding... a little.
She shifted toward him, her knees bumping the center console. “Come here.”
“What are you doing?” He slid over, dropping his head forward when she gestured for him to come closer to her height.
“Hold still.” She laughed hard, her face turning red as she ran her fingers though his hair, messing it up. Her nails rakedagainst his scalp, sending shivers skittering down his spine. “There. Now hold your hands up and sayaliens.”
Oh, Jesus. He patted his hair down. “I’m not nearly as fanatical as the dude fromAncient Aliens.”
She pressed her lips together.
“Look, I’m not saying aliens had anything to do with Stonehenge, but I’m not not saying it.”
Annie buried her face in her hands, shoulders shaking.
“Romance, dinosaurs, aliens.” He tsked. “What’s next? Are you going to tell me you don’t believe in the Loch Ness Monster?”
Annie clutched her stomach, gasping with laughter. “Brendon.”
Her eyes locked on his across the seat and for one heart-stopping moment he was trapped in her gaze like a fly in a web, his breath lodged in his throat. The hair on the back of his neck rose, his toes curling in his boots.
Outside, the stadium-style lights around the lot dimmed as the title card appeared on the giant screen. Annie broke their eye contact first, her gaze dropping to the bucket of popcorn between them. She shivered, and he’d have bet his last cent it wasn’t because she was cold.
“I’ll make a believer out of you, Annie,” he whispered, earning himself a fleeting look he couldn’t quite discern. “Just you wait.”
Chapter Eleven
What did you think? Exceed your expectations?”
Annie’s head bobbed from side to side as he started the car and put it in reverse. “It was better than I thought it would be, I’ll grant you that. I liked the ending.”
