Page 8 of Kilt Trip

“There’s a nice minced pie, if you’re not interested.” Logan tugged the plate closer to himself.

“Oh, no, I’m interested,” Addie said, letting the double meaning hang in the air and appreciating the slight pink flush creeping up Logan’s neck. “But I’m a tough crowd. I grew up in New Mexico. It’s in the southwest—”

“Near Mexico?”

“Smart-ass.” She scooped a chip out from the bottom of the pile, careful not to notice Logan’s lips quirk or the reappearance of that smile line. She bit into the tortilla chip with perfectly melted cheese and groaned. When was the last time she’d had anything resembling Mexican food?

“Is New Mexico home for you, then?”

She wiped salt from her bottom lip. “Boston, but I’m hardly ever there.” Addie’s apartment was basically a personal laundromat with a bonus bedroom.

“Ah, a free spirit, then?”

More like a restless, wandering soul. But that wasn’t something to bring up on a first date—not that this was a first date. Work function, Macrae. “Something like that.”

Logan’s eyes bored into hers, like he was trying to piece her together, to understand what would make someone that way.

Before she could stop this promising beginning of an inquisition in its tracks, Logan tilted his head and said, “Sounds a bit lonely.”

Addie’s pulse beat too fast and too loud. This light flirtation had veered way off course.

She wasn’t lonely. She chose this life.

“I’ve been to seventy countries. And I meet amazing people all over the world. I love traveling,” she said defensively.

Logan held her gaze for a full scrape of a barstool against the hardwood floor, as if deciding whether to press further. Then his hands moved to the edge of his seat, and he leaned back, physically giving her space. “Aye, we have that in common.”

Relief loosened her shoulders, and she dragged a chip through the heap of sour cream.

“Tell me this. What’s your favorite city with a castle, historic university, and a scenic old town, all surrounded by stunning hills?” He arched his hand through the air as if painting a picture of Edinburgh.

Addie grinned at the obvious maneuver to steer the conversation away from a topic she didn’t want to discuss. “Heidelberg.”

Logan dropped his arm on the back of Addie’s chair and hung his head. “Och, lass.” Her body flushed the second he moved into her space. Made her feel day-drunk-at-a-baseball-game buzzy.

She liked the way he called her lass. A smart guiding move for a man who looked like a modern-day Highlander—she knew that was all it was. But it felt like they’d leapfrogged ahead in a friendship, straight to the nicknaming stage. It made her feel like more than a passing acquaintance. Like she might be someone he remembered past this afternoon.

She would certainly remember him.

When he straightened, shifting closer, she caught a faint trace of his cologne—pine and leather—and her breath hitched. Their gazes tangled up, but her phone buzzing on the bar top distracted them both.

The message she’d waited for all afternoon didn’t give her quite the satisfaction it should’ve. “My luggage is back at the airport. I should get going.”

Logan tilted his head as if deciding something, then reached behind the bar to grab a pen. He scribbled on the back of a coaster and slid it across the sticky bar. “Call me if you get lost again,” he said with a wink that flipped her stomach.

She huffed out a laugh at his teasing.

He gestured for the bill to the bartender who shook his mop of auburn curls, and Logan bowed his head in thanks. She imagined that quiet communication happened every time Logan came in.

He stood up and pulled the strap of his bag over his head, his shoulder muscles rolling and the hem of his shirt riding up. “Enjoy the sights.”

She absolutely was.

Addie watched his hips sway as he wove through the haphazardly placed tables to the exit, raising a hand to the old men taking a break from shouting at the TV to bid him farewell.

She grabbed the paper-doll Scotsman and wrote Devika a note on the back: Can’t confirm the real-life likeness, but sure wouldn’t mind finding out. Xoxo

It was nice to have someone to bail her out from a city that might swallow her whole, but even as she added his number to her Contacts under Logan Hot Scottish Tour Guide, she knew she wouldn’t use it.

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