Page 86 of Wild Scottish Beauty

“Willow.”

Willow wheeled around, her face drenched in sadness, and she held up a hand to stop me from stepping closer.

“I’m fine, Ramsay. Just go.”

She was clearly not fine. Her body shook as she gulped for air, trying to stem the flow of tearsas she dashed the back of her palms against her face, even though it was useless given the deluge of rain.

“Willow.” I stepped forward, putting my hands on her shoulders and nudged her backward until her back hit the door of my shop. I wanted to get her inside, away from the rain, to protect her from anything that would hurt her in this life. “Look at me.”

“I said I’m fine, Ramsay. I’m sorry, okay? I wouldn’t deliberately do that to you. I didn’t know it was your brother.”

“I know, darling.”

“You do?” Willow’s hands gripped my arms, and she lifted her eyes to me, her face ravaged. “I wouldn’t have hurt you like that.”

“I knew when Graham texted me that you were there with him that you didn’t know who he was, Willow. I came to stop him from hurting you.”

“God, I’m so freaking dumb.” At that, the tears started all over again. “Of course he wouldn’t pick me up at the store. Women like me?—”

“Women like you what?” I was dangerously close to dropping to my knees and burying my face between her legs to show her just what I wanted to do with a woman “like her.”

“No, that’swrong. That’s an intrusive thought.” Willow lectured herself, literally smacking the side of her head lightly. “It’s my fault. I put expectations on this date. I’d been caught up in the novelty of having a fun meet-cute, you know?”

“I have no idea what a meet-cute is.” But she was talking to me, so that was something.

“Just the idea of someone seeing you across a room and asking you out.” Willow flailed a hand in the air. “It’s in all the romcom movies and stuff. I wanted that for me. Even if just once.”

“You wanted a stranger to invade your space in public and demand you have a drink with him?” I raised an eyebrow at her, and reached for the key in my pocket, all while trying to shelter her from the worst of the rain.

Willow gulped out a sound torn between a laugh and a sob.

“No. Yes. I don’t know. Notdemand. And yes, getting hit on in public can be super awful and crude and make women feel unsafe. Yet in a weird way we’ve been taught to feel like it can also be flattering or bloom into a relationship. That’s how people met before dating apps and all that. But it’s just…it’s just nice to feel wanted, sometimes, you know? But I’m good, Ramsay. I’mfine.” Willow schooled her expression, clearly seeing something on my face. “You don’t have to fix this for me. This is just a me thing, not a you thing, okay?”

“Are you sure about that, Willow?” I brought my face close enough to feel her breath tickle my lips. “Because I’m pretty sure it’s anusthing.”

“Us?” Willow’s voice caught.

“Aye, lass.” Brushing my thumb across her lower lip that still trembled from her tears, I opened the door and angled Willow to step backward, and out of the rain. The shop was still warm from the fire, a few lamps that I’d left on casting their light around the room.

The click of the door closing behind us sounded amplified, an audible marker of the linewe were crossing, the boundaries I’d set for myself with Willow being burned to the ground.

Because I’d always followed the rules. I was the fair one. The reliable one. A good son, a good brother, a good boss, and a good friend. And for some reason, even with my less-than-stellar personality, people were drawn to me and trusted me. I’d been suppressing my feelings for Willow from day one, because that was what a good person did. They respected boundaries. They did the right thing.

But just this once, as Willow’s lower lip trembled, and tears still shimmered in her eyes, I wanted to be very, very bad. I wanted to kiss her until she knew that every man who’d hurt her in the past had been too stupid to understand the gift they had in their hands. I wanted to wipe any last trace of uncertainty from her mind that she was anything less than a goddess. And I didn’t care, not in this moment, if Miles would be mad at me or if it was crossing lines between a boss and employee. The only thing I cared about was wiping that dejected look from Willow’s face forever. And showing her what she means to me.

Crowding her, I backed her into the desk at the corner of the room, and she gasped, grabbing the edge and catching herself from falling backward. Leaning over, I caged her in place with my arms, bringing my mouth close to her ear.

“You and me, Willow. Tell me you’ve thought about it like I have.” I pressed my face to her hair, inhaling that toasted marshmallow scent of hers, and I swear my knees almost went weak.

“I … um?—”

“You’ve been driving me crazy since the moment you turned around in the car park at MacAlpine Castle.”

“I have?”

I shifted my head and nibbled lightly at the pale, delicate lobe of her ear, her breath hot at my neck.

“Aye. Driving me to distraction at work. I can’t look at you and not want to touch.”

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