Page 37 of Kilt Trip

He didn’t even like her.

“It’s almost time.” His hand slipped to the small of her back, and her heart stuttered as he led her to one end of the room. There was no explaining the way her body lingered in the curve of his arm, static electricity dancing across her skin where she brushed against soft wool. Logan slid the windows open. “To let the old year out,” he explained, and a smile spread across her face.

Cold air danced along Addie’s flushed skin as a countdown to midnight started in a raucous chant.

Ten... Nine...

She never put too much stock into New Year’s Eve or resolutions. The turning of the calendar was arbitrary, but tonight...anticipation hung in the air like something magical was afoot.

Logan perched on the windowsill, his hand gripping the open window, bicep flexing. Her breath stalled in her chest.

Eight... Seven...

His cologne washed over her, blown by the breeze, the heady scent leaving her dizzy. Whatever barriers her mind had been tossing up against Logan’s dimples and relentless sweaters exploded into smithereens the second he leaned into her space. His eyes darkened and his lips parted, and Addie’s stomach flipped with the irrational thought that he might kiss her when the clock struck twelve.

Then his eyes cut to the other side of the room and back to her. He winked, swung his feet over the sill, and dropped out the window.

13

Logan and Jack jostled on the doorstep. A playful breeze spun fat snowflakes as they made their lazy way to the ground, but the night air was biting cold.

Two... One...

The cheers for a happy New Year were muffled through the door, though Neil’s deafening “Haud Hogmanay!” reached them quite clearly. Then a rousing rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” started up. Logan wrapped his arms around himself against a fit of shivers.

“Forget something?” Jack asked, clapping Logan’s back, intentionally trying to knock him into the bushes.

“Addie distracted me.”

Jack flashed him a cheeky grin. “It’s like that, is it?”

A tingling swept over Logan’s neck, the heat an unsettling contrast to the frigid air. “It most certainly is not.”

He was having a hell of a time sorting through this highly inconvenient attraction. She was impossible—what with going behind his back to win over his dad.

And also captivating.

He’d nearly kissed her—quite by accident—pulled by some magnetic force he couldn’t resist.

The way her selkie eyes had gone wide, full of wariness and yearning all mixed together, made him think she might have welcomed it.

Not that it mattered. Addie quite clearly communicated a No attachments vibe, and Logan simply wasn’t built for a fling.

He stepped forward, sending Jack lurching to the side, and knocked on the door first.

“Ye wee daftie.” Jack shoved back and did his own knocking.

Logan dusted snow from his shoulder as Gemma opened the door, Addie in tow. Addie’s hair curled over one shoulder of her white knit jumper, making her look relaxed and casual. Homey.

“White rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits,” Logan and Jack shouted. Addie took a half step back, but a smile spread across her face. The heat of her attention warmed him from the outside in.

“We come bearing gifts to welcome the New Year.” Jack bowed dramatically.

Their mum beamed. “We return the welcome and hospitality.”

“Bread so ye always have food in yer home.” Jack handed over the plate of shortbread his mum wrapped expressly for this purpose.

“Coal for warmth.” Logan held up the black rock in demonstration before handing it to Gemma, his gaze on Addie. Her eyes danced with excitement, a sure sign she felt what he wanted her to experience. As much as his family was completely preposterous, it pleased him to no end to see Addie enjoying herself.

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