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“It seems that I am grumpy then,” I bit out, the words stinging, along with my pride, as I bowed to Sophie.
“Oh, so he admits it now? Only took a fair lass beating you at a tough man sport to get you to agree, didn’t it?” Sophie pursed her lips and gave me a knowing look. It rankled, I’ll admit, but there was nothing I could say. She’d won, and I accepted my loss.
Sophie sighed, and then shook her head. “I’ve always had a soft spot for the losers. Come here, grumpy.”
I came closer, curious, as she beckoned me with two fingers and a mischievous look in her eyes. I swear, if she bopped me on the head with her stick, I would tackle her right there. Instead, Sophie surprised me by placing a hand on my chest and leaning up on her tiptoes to softly brush her lips against mine. The roaring of the crowd matched the roaring of my blood when her mouth touched mine. Acting on instinct alone, as all conscious thought had fled my mind, I dropped my stick and wrapped my arms around Sophie, hitching her up so her legs straddled my waist.
Just like I’d expected, her soft body pressing against mine drove me wild, and I angled my head to deepen the kiss, swallowing her exclamation of surprise when our tongues touched. Fire raced through my veins, and I held her tight to my body, my hands cupping her generous bottom, and lost myself in the kiss.
“Ahem,” Agnes shouted into my ear, and I pulled back, blinking rapidly as my surroundings returned. Sophie looked up at me, her moody blue eyes dazed, her lips already swelling from my kisses. More, my mind demanded, and I bent my head.
“Go away, Agnes.”
“There are children here,” Agnes hissed, putting her hand over the top of the microphone. “Don’t make me whack you over the head with the sword.”
“Bloody hell…” I blinked down at Sophie, who visibly gulped for air, each breath causing her chest to hitch. My eyes were drawn to her cleavage, where her breasts trembled with her breaths, and I had to forcibly pull my lust back from taking over.
“Grumpy fires run hot…” Sophie muttered as I let her go, her body slipping down mine, and she took a shaky step back. Without another word, I turned and stormed off the field, embarrassment clinging to me as the crowd jeered at me for my loss.
“The best man won,” I agreed, accepting some good-natured insults, and kept going until I was in the car park, far away from other people. There, I bent at the waist and gulped for air.
I wasn’t embarrassed that I had lost. Oh no. In fact, I admired Sophie for her skill and allowing me to assume she wouldn’t know what she was doing. It was smart of her, and she was clearly a skilled opponent. No, it was the fact that I’d been seconds away from dropping to my knees on the field and burying my face between her legs. My grasp on my control had been so thin that it shook me to my core.
“I’ve got a cold pint waiting for you at the pub,” Graham offered at my side. I didn’t even look at him as I nodded, needing to get away from this place, from Sophie, as fast as I possibly could.
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
sophie
“You gave it laldy, lass!”
The villager’s approval still warmed me the next day, though I’d had to request translation of that term. Apparently, it meant that I’d enthusiastically gone after Lachlan even though he looked as though he’d crush me.
Crushed me with his kiss instead. I tried for the thousandth time to push his kiss from my thoughts. Let’s just say, I’d had an eventful evening after my win—where I’d been heralded as the new Knight, fed numerous pints at the Tipsy Thistle, and even been carried on one enthusiastic man’s shoulders. Lachlan had been nowhere to be seen, and I was actually just fine with him not being at the pub. It was a welcome respite from the confused emotions that tangled in my gut and had kept me up most of the night.
Reliving the kiss.
He’d just…he’d just picked me up like I’d weighed nothing at all. It was something so simple, I supposed, and yet I’d never experienced it. Perhaps it didn’t help that aside from Chad, my previous boyfriends had run on the weak side, but still. It was the kind of move that I’d read about in romance novels, and nobody had ever tried with me before.
Because I’m…before the thought could go down the wrong track, I redirected it. Because I picked the wrong men, I told myself. None of my past boyfriends had the sheer muscular brawn of Lachlan, whose muscles were clearly more than strong enough to lift me as though I was nothing more than a bag of groceries. I’d relived that moment several times through the night, my hand dancing over my stomach and reaching between my legs, seeking the relief I hadn’t known I needed until Lachlan had hauled me into his arms. It had been like wrapping my body around a massive tree, his body hard and unmoving, as he’d banished the history of all kisses I’d ever had from my mind. Nothing mattered before or since that singular kiss, forever seared into my head, and now I felt like a drug addict craving her next hit.
I hadn’t known it could be like that.
As I descended the stairs to the lounge area, I realized it was the type of kiss that had made the world fall away, and all I could do was feel. When he’d finally let me go, his eyes stormy with need, the crowd’s cheers and my location had rushed back into sharp focus. At that moment, when Lachlan had turned on his heel and left the field while the crowd had screamed for me, I’d decided to stay. I know I’d said before that I would give this a little time, but I’d been fairly noncommittal up until that point. But hearing the crowd cheer for me while the hottest man I’d ever seen in real life, let alone kissed, had stormed away from me because he’d barely been able to control his need—well that, my friend, is an experience that every woman needs at least once in their life. Whenever I was feeling insecure or unconfident in the future, I promised myself that I would bring that memory to mind and step forward like the badass that I was.
I’d turned to Agnes after we’d watched Lachlan leave the field and told her as much. Which was why, now, when I entered the lounge, Agnes was already at the table enjoying a scone and a cup of tea. Today wastheday.
It was time for me to start my training as a Knight in the Order of Caledonia.
“There she is.” Agnes toasted me with her mug of tea. “Our fearless Knight.”
“And her ever faithful companion,” Matthew said from behind me, making me smile. Turning, I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Isn’t a knight’s companion their horse? Should I ride you then?”
Matthew opened his mouth to retort, but Lachlan stepped into the room just as I’d finished speaking, and the last words I said hung in the air. My eyes caught on Lachlan’s, and my face instantly heated.
“Should I make the obvious joke here?” Matthew wondered.
