Page 106 of The Cottage in the Highlands

I straightened my shoulders. “I just told you. I’m heading back to work. Now you know what really happened, everything is sorted.”

“Is it?”

I avoided his penetrating gaze. “You’d better get yourself back up there. She’ll catch her death.”

Flynn’s mouth twitched. “Are you referring to Courtney, who I was photographing when you came in?”

I arched one brow.

“Courtney is one of my regular models.”

I bet she is, snorted an inner voice.

“She also happens to be the partner of my PA, Sorcha.”

A flicker of embarrassment stirred inside of me. “Sorry?”

“Courtney is the girlfriend of my PA,” he repeated with emphasis. “She’s gay.”

Flynn folded his arms, amused. “That’s right. You and your colleague here are far more her type than I ever could be.” He reached for his phone in his pocket and scrolled through a couple of party shots of the two girls gazing at each other and sharing a loving kiss. “It’s Sorcha’s birthday in a couple of weeks and Courtney wanted to surprise her with a professional portrait of herself.”

Oh God. My self-righteousness shrivelled.

“I gave Sorcha the afternoon off to get her out of the way, so she wouldn’t find out about Courtney’s planned present for her.”

As if reading my expression, Kerry started to move away. “I think I’m going to give you two a bit of privacy. I’ll be in the car if you need me.” She vanished back inside the vehicle and busied herself on her phone from the driver’s seat with her head down– or at least pretended to.

Oh, for goodness’ sake.

This was such a messy tangle of emotions and unsaids.

“I’m really sorry,” said Flynn, making my head snap up to look at him again. “I should never have jumped to the conclusion that I did.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “What you said about my ex… well, you were right.”

He dragged an awkward hand through his curls. “I should have known you could never do anything like that, but that was why I was so guarded with you – at least at the start.”

He gave a wry smile. “I know this is going to sound crazy but I kind of hoped you were the one who was threatening to reveal all about Chandler.”

I stared up at him, trying to read his handsome features. “What? Why?”

“Because I wanted to believe it. I wanted to believe you would do that. Thinking that about you, that you would break a confidence like that, like Rachel did, meant I would have an excuse not to…”

My heart zinged at the way Flynn was examining every inch of my face. “Not to what?”

Flynn’s eyes trailed down to my lips and rested there. “Oh, sod it, enough of the talking,” he growled, seizing my mouth with his.

We clung to each other, moulding and blending our bodies together as our kisses became greedier, making up for lost time and devouring one another, not wanting to let go.

“Wow,” he murmured against my mouth after what seemed like ten minutes. He smiled against my lips, triggering one from me.

My fingers reached up and entwined themselves around the curls furling up at the nape of his neck. “What were you going to say just now?”

“I think it was an observation about the weather.”

I playfully slapped him on the arm and he gave me a heart-trembling grin. “Ok, seeing as we’re being honest and this is all playing out in the middle of Glasgow…” His face adopted a more pensive expression. “Part of me wanted to think badly of you because I thought it would stop me falling for you. I knew I couldn’t go through that deceit again.”

I found myself being swallowed up in those heart-stopping silver eyes of his. His lashes flickered.

“Even though you have a little black book that’s more like a telephone directory?” I asked him.