Page 65 of Preying Heart
Besides, I can’t make love to her until she trusts me, and I’m falling flat on my face with my security rules. No internet to Remi means no trust, and no trust means no making love, and no love means Remi’s gone as soon as she figures out she doesn’t need me or Lucy to keep her safe.
I make my move and tug her into my arms. I ought to at least get a kiss out of this.
Resting my forehead against hers, I say, “Yes, let’s take a road trip. Just me, just you, and just my dog, Glock.”
“No Lucy? Wouldn’t she be jealous?”
“No Lucy, and no, she won’t be jealous.”
“Why? Are you two lovers? Always bickering?”
I smile in her face and kiss her lightly. “Oh, ye of so little faith. You’re wearing blinders of jealousy, and you can’t see what’s so obvious.”
“I’m not blind to your lies.” She kisses me like a challenge. “What will Lucy think if she knows we are going on a romantic jaunt?”
“She’ll be happy for me, especially if we fall in love. She’s been worried about me for a long, long time. She loves me.”
“Aha! So you admit it.” Her eyes are like darts. “You two have something going on.”
Something going on is vague. She’s not accusing me of sleeping with Lucy. Could it be she’s figured it out? In that case, I might as well fess up and go for it.
“Yes, I admit it.” I grin to get a rise out of her. “Lucy and I love each other…”
“And?” She also wears a sneaky smile, and I wonder now if Lucy spilled the beans.
“She’s my sister, but then, you knew that already. All this huffing and puffing is you trying to get my attention.”
“I already have your attention.”
“You’ll have even more than you can handle. I’m taking you on our pre-honeymoon. I’ll get your crypto wallet transferred to you, and I’ll let you go. But only after I’ve made love to you so slowly and thoroughly that you’ll be bound to me no matter how far away you are. I want to know every bit of you, memorize your taste and smell, touch and feel deep inside of you, and love you so completely that you will not want it to end, and then, I’m going to do it over again and again and again.”
“You’re awfully sure of yourself.” Her voice quavers despite her brave words.
“I know you’ve been thinking about me, wanting me, and dreaming about me. Your continual jealousy of Lucy proves it.”
“You creep!” She pushes away and covers her red face. “I may be hot for you, but I will never trust you.”
“Oh, but you will.” I’m not at all as assured as I sound. There’s a reason the word confidence includes the word con, and I’m going to do everything I can to con Remi into loving me, and I’m going to have a grand old time doing it.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Remi
Heath talks about making love like he knows exactly what to do. More than that, he knows what it’s about. He’s made love before which means he’s loved before. He has a wife or had a wife. I can’t see him leaving her or throwing her out. I see him as the one who held too tight.
Me? I have no clue what making love means. It’s not the sex act. No, that’s just the surface actions. Going through the motions. Making the right kind of noises. Moving in a way to make it end faster—get it over with while minimizing the feels. Yeah, those are my skills and hardly credible or believable. Not that I’d ever admit that to anyone, but I’m a virgin when it comes to making love.
These are the annoying thoughts that filter their way through my brain as Heath drives and I pretend to sleep. We made it out of the fortress with me bundled in the back seat underneath a sleeping bag. I can’t believe the level of paranoia that I have to ride undercover.
Something’s not adding up—least of all the fact that he’s been married.
We pull into a gas station, and Heath turns his head. “Not yet. Once I cross state lines, we can relax a bit.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” He lets Glock, who is sitting in the passenger seat, out as he gases up the extended cab pickup.
Once he exits the highway and gets onto a smaller road, he lets me trade places with Glock. We drive through a densely wooded area and alight on a tiny house fronting a lake. It has a high sloped roofline with dormer windows and sits on a bed of log stumps. It is framed with trellises of vines across its arched entrance, and the siding looks to be of rough-hewn cedar.
