The horses walked side by side, and my mind kept turning over what we’d just done—and what it might mean.
My gaze drifted to Weston, looking for any sign of concern, but he sat easy in the saddle, comfortable as he loosely held the reins, his body relaxed. And hot. Incredibly hot. Just like that kiss had been absurdly, ridiculously hot. Cinematic, really. What girl didn’t want to be kissed breathless in the Scottish Highlands? It was like my own personalHearts of the Highlandsfantasy playing out in real time. All I needed now was Weston,in a kilt, to throw me over his shoulder and take me back to his room where he’d devour me on a bed of tartan?—
But this wasn’t a fantasy. This was reality. My real life. With my real boss.
Who was also…my real husband. Sort of? Legally.Temporarily.
It was just supposed to be a business arrangement. There weren’t supposed to be feelings involved. But I couldn’t deny the emotions that had developed in the weeks since arriving in Braeburn. I’d seen a different side of Weston Kincaid, someone I’d liked getting to know.
And my attraction to him? It hadskyrocketed.It was getting harder and harder to keep it locked down, especially since…well, he hadn’t been wrong, back during his trainwreck of a proposal, when he said I didn’t have much of a social life.
I’d long since come to the conclusion that a committed, lifelong relationship wasn’t ever going to happen for me. Not just because of work, but simply because when people got to know me and found out I couldn’t have children, they decided I wasn’t someone worth building a life with. It still hurt to think about, but I was starting to make peace with that.
But accepting that didn’t mean I liked being alone. It had been way too long since the last time anyone had kissed me, touched me, taken me to bed. I missed it—missed that intimacy and connection, missed orgasms that I didn’t have to take care of myself, missed feeling sexy and desirable. Weston made me feel that way. Would it really be the worst thing to just…see where that went? Enjoy our time together while it lasted?
We reached the shed, and I clicked my tongue. Clover darted ahead, and I dismounted by her stall, leading her inside andremoving the saddle to give her a quick brush. Weston walked in with a bucket of oats.
While Clover occupied herself with a snack, he turned to me. “I didn’t mean to make things complicated back there.”
I caught my bottom lip between my teeth. “I think we’ve both made it complicated.” He might have initiated things, but I’d certainly been a willing participant. There was nothing that happened between us that I hadn’t wanted.
“It doesn’t have to be,” he said, reaching out to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear.
A smile tugged at my mouth. Yeah, that sounded like Weston—the king of short term. The lord of one-night stands. He was never one for wanting things to be complicated. Simple and direct—that was how he liked his affairs. But as long as everyone was on the same page, there wasn’t anything wrong with that. Whynothave some fun?
“We could keep things simple,” he said, voice gravelly as he stepped closer, inching into my space.
“Simple?” My pulse sped up as his head tipped toward me. I wanted to reach out and close the distance between us. I wantedmore.
“Easy,” he whispered.
“Easy, right,” I mumbled as his lips dropped toward mine, and my breath caught.
“I mean, we’re already married,” he said, lifting his shoulder.
“I think that’s one of the things that make it complicated,” I pointed out.
“Weston, that you?” Callum called suddenly.
Weston jerked back. “Aye!”
“Agnes is going off on one. She said you and Lena missed lunch.Again. I’d cross a lot of things, but not that woman.”
“We’re on our way back to the house now,” Weston called, cheek twitching as he held my gaze. He brushed his thumb along the blush that heated my face. “Guess we should get going.”
I nodded, following him out of Clover’s stall, stopping only to wave goodbye to little Arran before heading back to the castle. Weston stopped hard as we walked through the front door.
“You’ve been out riding, have you?” Agnes said, standing in the hall as she pointed a wooden spoon at us. “Lunch is on the table—where it has been for the past half hour or more. It’s probably cold by now, but you have no one to blame but yourselves.”
“I was showing Lena the coastline,” he said.
“You smell like horses now,” she replied with a grimace. She flicked the spoon to the second floor. “Upstairs to change. Both of you. I won’t have you stinking up the dining room. It’s bad enough Callum is always traipsing through here smelling like a sheep herd.”
“We’ve been told,” Weston whispered to me, smirking as he left his boots at the door and headed for the stairs.
I got rid of my own boots and followed after him. He shot me a lopsided grin over his shoulder, and my pulse jumped while certainotherparts of me stirred. Maybe wecouldkeep things simple. There were already terms laid out. Our relationship had an expiration date, didn’t it? Six months and then divorce. Six months and we went our own ways. This was all going to end oneday soon. But in the meantime, would it really be so wrong for us to enjoy ourselves?
By the time we reached the second-floor landing, I’d started to realize I actually felt pretty gross—I’d gotten sweatier on horseback than I’d thought.
