Totally. Right.
“Ed? Ed! Have you lost it? Are you listening to a word I’ve just said?”
“Nope.”
She stared at him, blinked several times. “Nope?”
“Nope.” He turned to give her a stern look. “Now, stay right where you are while I get out. I’m carrying you in.”
“You are not!”
“I am,” he told her sternly. “No arguments.”
“I’m not staying here.”
“Georgina James, you take one step out of this truck and you’re going to be in trouble,” he growled at her. He stuck a finger in her face. “Do not test me. I’m still not happy with you.”
“About what? Why wouldn’t you be happy with me?” she demanded.
Reaching over, he took hold of her chin in his hand. “Do I need to remind you that you went running on your own, at night, with a cold front coming in? And that you ran on a road without a sidewalk or street lights? You put yourself at grave risk. You’re just lucky you weren’t mine then.”
“I . . . I’m not yours now!”
“Hmm, I’ll have to disagree on that.”
“You can’t disagree. For me to be yours, we both have to agree.”
“That’s true. Under normal circumstances.”
“Under all circumstances. There are no circumstances where that is not true. Because if I don’t agree then you’d be using force. And as an officer of the law, I’m sure you realize that’s illegal.”
“Ahh, but you see, I happen to have some evidence to present that will prove that you want to be in a relationship with me.”
“You . . . you do not!”
“Yep. I do. But I’m not going through all of that while sitting here in my truck. You’re coming inside and you’re going straight to bed. Then I’m going to get you something to eat. You can have a rest. Then we’ll talk about it.”
“Nope.”
He raised his eyebrows, feeling amused at the flush of pink on her cheeks. She was cute when she was angry.
“Nope? You want to elaborate?”
“You’re going to tell me what you mean, right now.”
“Nope,” he replied.
She groaned. “Is there something in the water around here that makes everyone crazy? You can’t just decide that you want to be in a relationship with me, then kidnap me and take me to your cabin in the woods. You’re the sheriff!”
“That just means I know how to navigate the law more easily.”
“Ed!”
He sighed and looked out the window of the truck at his cabin in the woods, as she called it. He was tired of coming home to an empty house, to being lonely.
“Maybe there is something in the water here. I’ve always thought of myself as the voice of reason in the craziness, but maybe I’ve lost it too.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m pretty sure you’d still be considered the sane one.”