AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Aye, my house is not what most people think a man like me should have. But there is a reason for that, and I decide to explain it to Kate. "I cannae take credit for the interior design. My cousins Isla, Kirsty, and Elspeth decorated the house for me."
"You let the Witches of Ballachulish spiff up your home?"
"That's right. My barmy cousins insisted on doing it for free, though I tried everything short of breaking into their homes to put cash under their pillows to get them to accept payment for their work."
"MacTaggarts really are amazing. Generous, brave, smart, caring, and a thousand other things I can't articulate."
I walk up behind her, sliding my arms around her and locking my hands over her belly. "You're an honorary MacTaggart now. That means you are all those things too."
She leans backward, relaxing against me. "Could we talk about something serious?"
"No good conversation ever starts that way. But aye, we can talk about anything you want."
"How's your knee? You played shinty yesterday, so I'd be surprised if you didn't tweak your knee at all."
"It's a wee bit sore, but nothing I can't handle." I rest my chin on her shoulder. "The vibrations from my Harley make it feel better."
"Oh, so now you claim riding your motorcycle is therapeutic."
"You need to loosen up,mo chridhe. Not everything I do or eat or drink has to be one hundred percent healthy." I kiss a trail up her throat. "Though I think sex would be the most therapeutic, healthy thing I could do right now. For my knee."
"Guess I'd better be on top."
"Aye, ye should." I move in front of her, taking her hands in mine. "But you had something serious to say."
"Yeah, I do." She bites her lip, hunching her shoulders. But then she blows out a breath and relaxes. "Do you want to be a firefighter again?"
"Not sure. Havenae thought about it much. I've been too busy satisfying the needs of a ravenous woman."
"Very funny. But I'm serious. Do you think you would ever want to go back to being a firefighter?"
"Maybe. Not in Inverness, though. Loch Fairbairn is my home." I didn't realize until I said it that I've been considering the idea for a while, ever since I met Kate. But it was a subconscious impulse, until now. "If my knee could handle it, I might want to become a retained or volunteer firefighter."
"Not full-time?"
"I doubt it. My carpentry work started as something to do while I recovered from my injury, but it means more than that to me now." I gesture toward the furniture in the room. "Everything you see here, I made."
"You made the sofa, the chairs, and the coffee table?"
"Aye. And I made the kitchen island too. It's butcher block." I pull her close. "But I think the creation you'll like the best is the bed I made."
"Can I see it now?"
"You can look at anything you want in this house. Look, touch, try out."
Her eyes light up, and her cheeks dimple with the sweetest smile I've ever seen. "Let's try out the bed."
Kate races down the hall.
And I run after her.
We do more than try out the bed. We test it to its limits, and I prove to Kate that my carpentry skills are top-notch. The bed survives our attempts to break it, but we have a bloody good time trying to do that. I used to think Kate was uptight and rigid. Now I know she's a passionate, sweet, clever, kind, and wonderful lass. Cannae believe I ever called her a she-demon.
Kate thought I was rude and insolent, so we're even.
We decide to spend the week leading up to Kirsty and Luke's wedding here in my house, not at Dùndubhan. We do retrieve my car, since the weather isn't always ideal for traveling by motorcycle. I show her all my favorite places around the Highlands and introduce her to more of my extended family, since not all of them attended the so-called radical intervention—which was nothing more than an excuse for revelry. Aye, to the MacTaggarts assaulting each other on the shinty pitch is a bloody good time.
Maybe my knee injury did have a psychosomatic element, but Kate has helped me deal with that. She is an amazing therapist. Since she's also a physical therapist, she offers to help me get my knee back in shape in case I want to become a firefighter again. Retained duty would mean I'd be on call. Kate seems fine with that idea, but I need to know for sure.
