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Because, holy hell, thatkiss.
Not only had it frozen me in my tracks and dragged me from a pit of fear, but it had warmed me straight down to my toes. I’d clung to him, not out of fright, oh no, but because I wanted to climb the big brute like he was my favorite tree. It was like when my pastry chef made chocolate croissants and one bite was never enough. Munroe had given me just a taste of something that promised so much more, and if it had been anywhere else and any other time, I would have dragged him to my room and enjoyed the whole croissant. But it wasn’t the right time. I was here to learn about Loren Brae, to see what this magick stuff was all about and to decide if this truly was a place where I could build a new life for myself.
Adding a hunky highlander into the mix would only complicate matters.
That being said, Munroe had given me more enjoyment in a singular kiss than anything I’d ever felt from my last boyfriend. Now, as I skimmed my hands down my body, I squirmed against my palm as I brought Munroe’s image to my mind.
A gilded god.It had been my first thought upon seeing him, the warm glow of the pub light silhouetting his broad shoulders. If I was being honest, Graham was equally as sexy, but it wasn’t Graham’s image that came to mind as my body warmed to my touch. Munroe. Man of few words, but one who was always watching. I’d caught his eyes on me more than once, his gaze a tender caress, and I could have kicked myself when I realized I’d insulted his gin business. Pulling a pillow over my head, I arched my hips as I relived the heat of Munroe’s kiss, the press of his hard body against mine. Where he was tall and broad shouldered, I was short, round, and curvy. And yet, somehow, we’d fit.
I wanted to see howelsewe’d fit together. Gasping into the pillow that swallowed my moan, I brought myself over the sharp edge of desire and rode the wave of gentle pleasure with Munroe’s name at my lips. When the last trickle of bliss faded, I pulled the pillow from my head and pushed myself up, determined to make it down to breakfast in time. The kind woman who had checked me in the night before had already taken my order for my eggs, and I didn’t want to keep her waiting too long. I got the sense that I might be the only guest here, and I didn’t want to hold up her day.
For someone who had been exposed to her first brush of the paranormal the night before, I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about Munroe as I showered and readied myself quickly for the day. You’d think a supernatural encounter would have sent me running for the airport, but instead, I was obsessing over what color shirt to wear this morning if I did end up calling Munroe for coffee. Pink, by the way. I picked a petal-pink shirt because it warmed my skin tone and contrasted with my red hair. Not that it mattered, of course. It just happened to be the shirt at the top of my suitcase.
Who was I kidding?Of courseI was going to call him. Not only did I want to see him again, without the influence of alcohol to muddle my thoughts, but I also needed some intel on these Kelpies. If the scream that had shattered the night and almost made me wet my pants was any indication of their power, well, my decision might already be made for me. As I’d babbled to Munroe the night before, I was a city girl through and through. I could handle rats and drunken frat boys pissing in the streets, but magickal beasts screaming in the night? This was a whole different ball game, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to learn the rules.
Breakfast turned out to a be a proper Scottish one, with black pudding, thick cut slabs of bacon, beans, toast, and eggs. I waved away the offer of porridge, already far past my limit of food intake for breakfast. Typically, I woke late and drank my body’s weight in coffee as a start to my day, but I needed to get an idea of the local cuisine in case it would be expected at the castle’s restaurant. Thoughts of the castle reminded me that I needed to take a walk and explore later today. But first, more coffee was needed. Picking up my phone, I typed out a message to Munroe on Whatsapp.
His immediate response, along with a time and location to meet, made me smile. It was almost as if he’d been waiting by the phone. A soft trill of pleasure worked its way through me, and I tried not to read too much into it. He was just worried about me. We’d both experienced something otherworldly, and it was normal to want to debrief about it the next day. It wasn’t like anyone else would believe me. I tried to imagine telling Savannah about water horses that screamed in the night.
After breakfast, I left the B&B to run to the market to pick up a few snacks to have in my room. Plus, I just wanted to get an idea if there was any local produce or what items were popular here. Food was my love language, and soon enough, I was lost in my thoughts as I wandered the aisle of the small supermarket, noting they had a very generous section for leeks. While leek soup was likely popular here, it was a versatile vegetable that I had used several times in unique recipes. One of my favorites had been grilled leeks with miso, garlic, and a touch of maple syrup.
“I’ll take care of it. You’ve got enough to worry about.”
Jolted from my thoughts, I sidled to the edge of the aisle and peered around the corner to where Munroe stood at the checkout. Next to him, a woman carried a screaming toddler at her hip, with a baby in a stroller beside her. Her cart had two bags of groceries, and her cheeks were bright pink with embarrassment.
“I can’t understand why my card isn’t working…” The woman trailed off and tried to dig through her purse.
“It’s fine. Truly. Allow me to get this for you. You just get this wee man home.” Munroe raised a hand for a high five, and the toddler eyed him suspiciously before continuing to scream. The baby, seeming to realize that the yelling portion of the day was upon them, took up crying as well.
“I can’t…” The mother looked between her kids and Munroe. I noticed she wasn’t wearing a wedding band, and I wondered if she was doing it all on her own.
“You can. I made a promise to myself that I’d do one random act of kindness a week. You don’t want me to have to go back on my word, do you?” Munroe asked, already handing his card over to the cashier.
“No?” The woman seemed confused, and I couldn’t blame her. It was like being steamrolled by a yellow lab.
“That’s grand. It’s all sorted then. Get this wee man his brekkie.”
The woman looked once more between her cart of groceries and her screaming kids and seemed to finally accept that she needed help. Blubbering her thanks, she beamed at Munroe as he pushed the grocery cart through the door and into the parking lot.
I sighed.
Here I’d been pleasuring myself to the wicked promise of Munroe’s kiss, and he looked to be about the nicest man in town. Not only had he come to my rescue the night before, but now he was saving single mothers who could barely make ends meet. I needed to school my dirty thoughts around him. Where I’d dreamt about him corrupting me, now I honestly worried it might be the other way around. Munroe might just be too good for me.
Which was fine, really, I told myself as I finished checking out and left the store. I needed a good reason to not have a vacation fling, and it was time for me to shift into business mode. I was about to embark on a huge life change, and any man would be an unwelcome distraction.Even men that kissed like sin and, dear God…was he really helping a grandmother cross the street?I stopped in my tracks outside the supermarket and gaped to where Munroe, his arm hooked around a grandmother who was most decidedly flirting with him, was crossing the street. When they reached the other side, she motioned to him, and when he bent his head, she kissed him on the cheek. Annoyance bloomed, and I stayed where I was, tilting my head as I considered my odd reaction. Annoyed? I should have been charmed. And I had been up until the old woman had kissed him.
Right. This wasnotgood. I clearly must be jetlagged if I was getting annoyed that other women, particularly women several decades older than I was, were kissing Munroe. She wasn’t my competition. Wait. Why was I eventhinkingabout competition? This wasn’t what I was here for. My eyes narrowed as she sent him a flirtatious kiss over her shoulder.
Back off, granny.
“Lia!” I pulled my thoughts away from knocking a grandmother over, not hard, mind you, just enough to put her in her place, and looked to where Munroe waved at me from the other side of the street. Hoisting my small reusable market bag on my shoulder, I went to cross the street when a loud horn sounded, startling me back onto the sidewalk. Instinctively, I shot the driver a one-fingered salute, and then hunched my shoulders when I saw it was the single mother from the store.
“Sorry,” I called, even though she had her windows closed. “Bad habit.”
“Are you okay?” Munroe trotted across the street and stopped in front of me, his hands hanging in the air like he’d been about to pull me in for another hug. Yes, please. Actually, no. No. I needed a clear head to focus on my job. Not on the way the sun splitting the clouds danced through the golden tendrils of Munroe’s hair or the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled down at me.
“Yes, sorry about being rude to your friend. It’s just how we communicate in Boston,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat.
“You looked at the wrong side of the road,” Munroe explained. Gently, he nudged my shoulder, so I turned to look out at the street. “You have to look both ways when you’re a tourist, otherwise you could get seriously hurt.”
