Page 112 of Love Bomb

“I want to have a relationship with you,” he said.

What he wanted was to marry her, but she got touchy when he proposed.

“Do you know what a relationship is?” she asked.

“I’m not an idiot, Rona,” he said, feeling offended.

“Okay.” She wriggled out from under his hold and sat beside him. “What exactly do you think a proper relationship looks like? Describe it for me.”

Damn it, he knew he should have made his brothers tell him the right answer when this came up with them.

“It’s when people date each other repeatedly, over a period of time,” he said, hoping he was right.

There was laughter from the front office, and Bain suspected Matt was watching them on screen, like they were a soap opera. He glared at the camera.

“That’s it?” Rona said, her witchy eyes getting wider by the second. “A series of dates?”

“And, you know, being there for each other,” Bain added, feeling his way. “Not to mention, doing stuff together—other than having sex.” He was on a roll now. He brought up an image of his parents and tried to remember what they did together. “Watching TV. Gardening. Bingo. Um…looking after kids?”

The laughter grew louder. Bain gave the camera a one-finger salute.

“Kids?” Rona said in a high-pitched squeak.

Bain was warming to the idea now. “We’re great with kids. Look how well we cared for Alvin.”

“That was one night,” Rona said. “And it almost broke us.”

Bain felt the topic was getting off course. “Forget the kids. I just want you to stay in Invertary and give us a chance.” He smiled his best, sensual smile.

She narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

What did she mean why?

“Because we’re good together,” he said, feeling his way. “We get on well, usually. We haven’t had nearly enough sex, and we should really spend some time prioritizing that.”

The laugher grew louder again.

“So, you want me to stick around because we haven’t had enough sex yet?”

“Yes.” He beamed at her. At last, she got it.

She frowned. Apparently she didn’t get it. “You can have sex with anyone. That’s not a reason for me to stay in Invertary.”

“I don’t want to have sex with anyone, I want to have sex with you.”

“Why?” Rona asked again.

Bain threw up his hands in exasperation. “Because you’re Rona!”

“And we’re back to that again.”

She glared at him as she stood, took the blanket, and then stalked over to his bed. Where she wrapped herself in the knitted throw and fumed.

“I don’t know what you want from me,” Bain said. “Should I propose again?”

“No!” Rona snapped.

“If you just tell me what to say, I’ll say it,” Bain said.