Page 43 of Falling for the Enemy

“I don’t know. I’d probably plan a little better.”

“How so?”

“Maybe pack a blanket and a few lanterns.”

“To bundle the body and see while you’re digging the hole?”

“Exactly.” He laughed. “I’d hide the shovel in the dunes before the date, so it didn’t cause any red flags.”

“Smart.”

They let the joke land for a few seconds, then he admitted, “I was actually thinking more along the lines of a romantic moonlight picnic.”

“Ah. Very creative, Mr. Hawthorne.”

He adjusted his arm to better support her. “How about you?”

She stared over the coast as she hobbled along. It really was a pretty night. Unfortunately, when quiet moments like this cropped up, she thought of the one person she would never share them with.

That in itself should have alerted her she’d let things go too far.

She sighed. “After the mating ritual, I usually just bite off the male’s head and eat the body for nutrients.”

“I hear that helps fertilize the eggs.” Logan never missed a beat. “What if this were one of your naughty books? How would you write it?”

Her books had been called everything from cliterature to mommy porn, but she became a best seller because she knew how to write real emotion. That, and a killer blowjob scene.

“First, I’d paint the perfect setting.” She tilted her face toward the moon and took in the muted surroundings. The quiet lapping of waves in the distance, the cool breeze dancing over her skin. The heat of Logan’s body pressing into hers. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend he was someone else.

But that wasn’t the game, so she pushed those intrusive thoughts away and considered his question honestly. She might make a mess of her life in every other area, but when it came to her job, she believed herself a talented storyteller who knew the subtle makings of true love, and despite all her dry wit and snarky sarcasm, she really was a romantic at heart.

As she scanned their surroundings through a romantic lens, something loosened in her chest. “First, the hero wouldn’t need to ask what she needed. He’d offer it without question, because he can read her every need just by watching her body—which he never takes his eyes off of. The heroine loves her independence, but longs for a man strong enough to handle all her complexities. He anticipates her needs, and she never has to navigate when he’s close by. She trusts him.”

“This is definitely fiction.”

She thought about Wren and Greyson. Not all love stories were fiction. Some people were very lucky and found the real thing.

“When he sees a need, he acts.”

“So if I were writing this moment?”

She chuckled. “He’d sweep her off her injured foot as if she were ten pounds soaking wet.”

“Like this?”

The world tipped as her feet left the ground. “Logan!”

“What?” He laughed. “We’re role-playing.”

“Put me down before you pull something.”

“You insult me, Jocelyn.”

“Please, put me down.”

“Not until you finish.”

She laughed. “Now, that’s what one of my heroes would say.”