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Callum was the one to start the game, and I’d done my very best not to stare behind my sunglasses as his white T-shirt soaked against the impressive lines of his chest. I mean, Imighthave looked just a little out of pure, innocent curiosity. Who knew a village vet was required to be in such good shape? He was beautiful to look at but did nothing to stir any real heat in my chest.
Even in the shade, the day was sweltering, but I enjoyed the heady thrum of it. This way, I could blame the rising tension in my body on the lingering heat wave and not the way Mal had watched me every moment since I’d stepped across the threshold like a sexy, pissed-off hawk. What I couldn’t understand was why? At first, I convinced myself it was all in my head. I had no other way of explaining why he’d been avoiding me since The Kiss. Why he’d dismissed me so thoroughly the morning Callum attached the new shelves in the tasting room. I couldn’t make sense of it. Even before, during lunch, I saw Heather and Iris exchange knowing smiles and knew they’d noticed it too.
I shouldn’t have come. I also couldn’t bring myself to leave. I’d been lonely this week without him and Boy, and just the thought of going back to the manor alone tonight, with nothing but my phone and social media apps for company, made something in my gut twist sharply.
Stretching out across the soft blanket, I lengthened my legs until my bare toes touched the grass.“Do you want to go for a drink at the pub tonight?” I asked Heather. It’s what I would do if I were in London. Accept an invite to any event sent my way, drink and dance until the hole in my chest temporarily stitched itself closed.
“Wish I could, but I picked up an extra shift, the girls are sleeping here tonight.” I hated that my friend was scrambling for any shifts she could get her hands on. There had to be something better out there for her, something with steady hours and good pay that didn’t drag her away from time with her girls.“You should still come down though, invite June and I might be able to sneak in a drink with you guys if it’s quiet.”
“That’s a good idea.” I reached for my bag as a shadow fell over me.
“What’s a good idea?” Mal’s boots might have been touching my toes, but it was his sister he addressed.
She shielded her eyes from the sun, smiling up at him.“April coming to the pub tonight.”
His expression flattened so quickly I couldn’t read it. It drove me crazy.“It can get a little rowdy on Saturday nights.”
Heather laughed.“We’re talking about Sheep’s Heid, not a strip club.”
“Skye has one of those?” I said, feigning interest. Mal didn’t even pause to spare me a glance and instead chimed in with a pointed remark aimed my way.
“The island is buzzing with tourists right now.” Tourists who might recognise me, is what he meant.
I didn’t love the idea, but I was feeling just enough self-pity in that moment not to care.“Then it’s a good thing I love meeting new people,” I snapped back.
If I thought the sun was hot, it had nothing on Mal’s glare.Good.A flutter built in my chest, the same one I felt when I stepped in front of a camera. I looked directly at him as I slid my phone from my bag and pulled up June’s number.“I’ll tell her nine p.m.,” I said to Heather. We all knew it was for Mal’s benefit. He didn’t utter a word to stop me as I sent off the text and got an immediate thumbs up.
“Perfect.” Heather pushed to stand, shoving her feet into her sandals.“I have to head out, I need a shower before my shift starts. I’ll see you later.” She rose onto her toes and kissed her brother’s cheek. I could have sworn she whispered,“Play nice,” before she strolled over to say goodbye to the girls.
And then it was just me and him.
I half expected him to say more about the pub, try and convince me not to go, but he just looked down at me stretched out on the blanket, in that intense way I’d come to attribute as his. I normally enjoyed being on the opposite end of that stare so I could say something snarky or flirty to make him blush. But I knew what he was waiting for.“About the other night—”
“Don’t,” he cut in, holding out a trembling hand like he might ward me off. But I needed to say this, needed an answer to the worries that’d been circling my mind like a clogged drain from the second he stumbled from my bed.
I pushed to my knees, an accidental move that made it look as if I were begging. His nostrils flared and I knew he also made the connection.“I’m sorry if I went too far… did something that you weren’t comfortable with.”
His eyes bulged, looking horrified for a beat before he leashed it again. It almost scared me sometimes how well this man could hide his emotions.“You didn’t doanythingthat I didn’t want you to do.” He spelled it out very clearly—He’d wanted me.“But it still shouldn’t have happened.”
I was about to demand he tell me why, not understanding the big deal of two consenting adults enjoying one another, when Ava darted over. She dove onto the blanket, spreading her hands and feet out like a starfish as beads of water soaked me and her uncle.“I’m so tired,” she droned like an eighty-year-old. Her cheeks were flushed cherry red from running.
Laughing, I flopped down beside her so we were shoulder to shoulder.“I think that means it’s time for more ice cream.”
Her little brown eyes flew open and slid right to Malcolm, the true authority figure here.“Ice cream? Can I, Uncle Mal?”
He smiled softly.“Grandma only has mint choc chip left, you hate mint choc chip.”
Her hands scrunched.“No, I don’t!”
He tapped a long finger off his lip.“I remember you saying all little girls hate mint choc chip ice cream and Uncle Mal should get to eat it all.”
“No!” she bellowed again, but she giggled as he hoisted her wet little body over his shoulder.
In a single heartbeat, Emily appeared too, equally wet as her dark curls stuck to her cheeks. Bouncing on her toes, she chanted,“Ice cream, ice cream.” Something in my lower abdomen did a strange little flip as I watched them. I’d never seen this carefree side of Mal before. He was laughing, face entirely open. There was no hesitation, no cogs turning in his mind as he decided what to say. A million miles from the intense, unsure man his father had cut down at the dining table.
I didn’t know how any of them could stand it.
Jim Macabe had always been gruff. As a girl, I’d been a little nervous around him, preferring to play at the manor or the inn with June’s parents. Observing Mal practically wither under his harsh words, I’d wanted to scream at him. I could tell Callum felt the same, and I didn’t know how he’d held back.
