Page 40 of Highland Hearts Holiday Bookshop

Maybe this would be good for me. Friendships hadn’t come easily to me growing up, what with my mom moving me around so much, and I tended to be a loner who preferred a cozy night of reading my book over going out clubbing. Much to Jessica’s distress. The best thing about Jessica though was that she accepted me for who I was, and I’d been lucky to keep her friendship. Now I wondered what it would be like to make friends in this small town. Would people like me? Would they know all my business? Would I end up being invested in other people’s gossip? It was likely I’d hear it, between working at the shop and trying to make matches, so it might be a good thing for me to know and understand the people better that lived here. So far, I had felt so…accepted.Wanted.And that was such a welcome feeling. Jessica could be right about me staying here.

Turning up the lane on my map, I followed a gravel road that wound along a field of tall grass that was battened down by the recent rains. It was darkernow, and I could hear the ocean, but not see it. Annoyed with myself for not thinking this through, timing wise, I used my phone as a flashlight to follow the winding road until a turn revealed a stunning cottage tucked between two cliffs with rolling hills on either side of it. I stopped, my jaw dropping open at the sight. The outdoor lights lit up the surrounding area, allowing me to see around, and my heart clutched at the beauty of this charming cottage, brimming with light, on this wild and windy landscape.

The door opened before I could even knock, and Alexander winced when he looked down at the phone in my hand.

“Bloody hell. I didn’t even think. I’m sorry.” Shaking his head, he stepped back and ushered me in. “You’re my first guest and I didn’t think you might be walking.”

“It’s my fault, I keep forgetting how early it gets dark here.” I handed him my coat and purse and took a deep breath. The house smelled like cedar and oranges, a refreshing scent, and warmth enveloped me. “Wait…did you just move in? I’m your first guest?”

Alexander glanced at me from where he hung my coat on a rack by the door. I noticed a bench with boots beneath and automatically sat to take mine off.

“Oh, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Alexander said. I looked up at him and caught him looking at my calf where I’d unzipped my boot, an unreadable look in his eyes.

“Nope. All good. I’m sure I picked up some mud along the way. Thanks for having me over after I rudelyinvited myself to see your puffin.”

“Nae bother, hen.” Alexander just stood in the small alcove, looking at me, and I glanced up at him as I stood.

“What’s the whole hen thing about? Is that because I’m round?”

Alexander visibly blanched and then his cheeks pinkened. Rushing to explain, he waved his hands in front of him. “No, no, no. Not, no. It’s not that you’re round. I mean you are, but you don’t look like a chicken. It has nothing to do with body…”

He trailed off as I raised both eyebrows, giving him a bemused look.

Sighing, Alexander rubbed a hand over his face.

“Hen is just a term we use affectionately for women in Scotland. For example, we call a bachelorette party a Hen Do.”

“Is that right? So are men cocks then?”

Alexander visibly swallowed.

“No, um, we’re stags. It’s called a Stag Do.”

“So I can say ‘nae bother, stag’ and that’s a normal phrase?” Delighted, I turned the phrase around in my head. I was going to call so many men stags now that I knew this.

“Och, no. Not really. I guess it’s just the hen thing. We call each other lads or mates, but not stags.”

“Hmmm. Double standard much?”

“I suppose. I apologize on behalf of my country.”

“Accepted.” Grinning, I stood up. “How come I’m your first guest?”

Alexander did that visible swallowingthing again and I realized that I was asking a pretty nosey question for just having met someone.

“Sorry, you don’t have to answer?—”

“I don’t socialize much…anymore,” Alexander said at the same time.

“Oh.”

We stood, blinking at each other in the hallway for a moment, neither of us speaking. As the moment drew out, I wondered if this man maybe needed some help with socializing or if he just simply preferred life on his own. Or if there was another reason altogether why he was staring at my mouth the way he was.

“Do you maybe want to show me around? The place looks charming as can be from the outside,” I suggested and that snapped Alexander out of his intense focus on my lips. Visibly jolting, he turned away, gesturing for me to follow, and a shiver danced across the back of my neck. I hadn’t realized just how much his gaze had heated my skin until he’d turned away from me. It was like stepping away from a fire. It was a stark contrast to the indifference I’d felt from John…towardJohn.How was it possible to feel such intense attraction to a man I barely knew?

“Honestly, I got this place at a steal. It was falling down, but the foundation and walls were solid. I hired a roofer to rebuild the top half of the place so it was nice and watertight, and then I’ve basically spent the last three years doing the rest.”

“What do you mean doing the rest? You built this place?” I reached out and grabbed his arm, surprised. I’d thought he was a computer programmer. Yet the ripplingmuscles under my hand told me he clearly worked out whether that meant in the gym or swinging a hammer.

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