They giggled like school kids as they wrestled on their shoes, skin still tacky and cheeks still flushed. He knelt down to tie her laces and considered making her come on his tongue again. Once, he’d thought that being unable to keep his hands off someone was a cliché made for rom-coms, but his skin itched to be close to hers, so much so that he placed a soft kiss on her knee, another on her inner thigh.
Goosebumps danced across his skin when she raked through his hair. ‘It’ll be dark soon.’
‘So?’
Pointedly, she clamped her legs together, denying him access. ‘Don’t you think we got a bit too carried away?’ That earlier worry returned to her face as she leaned back on her palms. ‘We’re making it harder for ourselves.’
‘You’re certainly making it harder for me.’ It wasn’t a lie. With her smell all over him, his cock begged to be between her legs again. If he could bottle her up and wear her like cologne, he would. Anything to keep her from slipping away.
But he could sense it happening already in the way she stood to tidy the food they’d snacked on while drying off. She piled the bottles and Tupperware with expert precision, rearranging when something didn’t fit quite right. He wanted to ask if her anxiety had always been with her, or if it was OCD she struggled with, but he wasn’t sure how to bring it up. How to sayI see youwithout fear she’d shy away. After her earlier reluctance, he had a feeling she didn’t like people to know that her mind could sometimes be as turbulent as his.
‘Are you okay?’ he questioned.
‘Yeah. I’m just ready for a proper shower. We should get going.’
He swallowed thickly. ‘You could stay at mine again if you wanted.’
‘Honestly, I’m getting a headache. All this heat…’ She rubbed at her temples. ‘I need my pyjamas and my own bed.’
He took her hand. He hated how much he needed her reassurance, but his stomach was turning over itself with a million reasons why she might be pulling away. The first: ‘You don’t regret it, do you?’
She softened, leaning into him to sling her arms around his neck. ‘No, of course not. Not at all.’
He turned to kiss the inside of her forearm, where another map piece inked her skin. He hadn’t had time to explore them all yet,but he wanted to, more than he wanted to explore the countries themselves.
‘I’ll remember this forever,’ she promised him. He felt a flicker of fear. It sounded like she’d already locked this away in the past tense.
She squeezed his hand as though sensing his unease – like she always seemed to.
‘Really, Struan.’ With sincerity shimmering in her voice and his name an oath on her tongue, he began to believe her – even with that shred of doubt niggling just beneath his surface. It was difficult to imagine he’d done anything at all to deserve a woman like Rae.
But he knew life often gave you more than what you deserved. For all the cruel twists of fate, sometimes, luck swung the other way to even itself out.
Now he just had to hope that he was quick enough to catch it.
When they pulled up to the farm, Rae’s grandmother’s hunched figure was on the porch bench outside.
‘Great,’ Rae muttered. ‘Can’t hide anything from that woman.’
Deciding to greet Audrey and perhaps check on Doug’s healing ankle before he went home, Struan got out of the car with Rae, fighting the urge to take her hand. With his skin still dewy from the falls, and from her, he felt rooted and giddy,transported to a time when his old house had still been a home and long summer nights felt like a living, breathing thing that would catch him with gentle arms at the end of every scorching day.
It even came with that same reprimanding look he used to get when he stayed out too late, though now, it was from Rae’s gran instead of his mother.
Audrey raised her brows, folding her arms over her chest. ‘What time do you call this?’
‘I’m twenty-eight years old, Gran,’ Rae said.
‘And aren’t you just making the most of it?’ Audrey’s lips curled into a smirk. Struan suppressed a laugh. He was glad she wasn’t givinghima hard time.
As Rae reached for the door handle, Audrey said, ‘That delinquent friend of yours has turned up. You’d better find her a B&B room, because I’ll not have her defacing another one of my trees.’
Rae froze. Struan couldn’t work out why, mind too lazy to understand who the friend might be – until he saw the colour drain from Rae’s face.
His sister.
‘Martha’s here?’ Rae asked.
Gran nodded begrudgingly. ‘Made herself right at home she has, too, with her wee lass. Are we a hotel now, are we?’
