Page 31 of Scotch on the Rocks

“The Last Experience? Mum, all the records are in the hall cupboard. Do you need it now?” Alarm made the words tight, and I took a breath, willing the roiling in my chest to settle. This was becoming our new norm, Dad growing agitated, Mum coming up with fresh schemes to bring him back to himself.

“He’s restless again tonight, the doctor said listening to his favourite music might soothe him.”

“The box along with the record player are on the top shelf, don’t get it alone, it’s too heavy.”

“I’ll use the ladder.”

“Mum—” My gaze drew longingly to the inn door, my entire being straining toward it. It was like it could sense Juniper through the walls. Anticipate whatever snarky barb she’d throw at me and turn this clusterfuck of a day around. “I’m about to go into a meeting, can you wait an hour?”

“At this time?”

“I’m helping a friend with something,” I said too casually.

“All right, love.”

“Try playing the song on your phone until I get there.”

“He doesn’t like it the same. We shouldn’t have put the player away.”

I swallowed my sigh. The man hadn’t glanced at that record player in almost a decade. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”

Setting my phone to loud just in case she rang again, I

attempted to squash my worry as I pushed through the small outcrop of trees and Ivy House appeared, velvet night contouring its crooked edges. I’d grown tired of waiting for Juniper to come to her senses, it was time for a different approach.

I was almost at the deep green door when my phone rang again. Expecting it to be Mum, I stalled on the first step, certain I was hallucinating when Juniper’s name flashed across my phone screen. I squinted and –holy shit, still there. Juniper.Calling me.

I didn’t think she’devercalled me.

I fumbled the phone, almost hanging up with my clumsy, too big fingers. “Juniper?” Silence. “Hello?” I glanced up at the inn, half expecting to see her at a window.

“How did you know it was me?”

I shivered, her voice like a warm exhale down the back of my neck. Deeper and far more intimate when it was right beside my ear. I had to clear my throat before I said, “There’s this cool invention called caller ID. I can come over and explain it to you if you like?”

She must have been going for blood tonight, because instead of arguing, she completely cut me off at the knees. “I accept your offer.”

Just like that, sweetheart?Something was off. “What offer might that be?”

“Do you get off on being a smug prick, Macabe? Or were you born this way?”

My first smile of the day broke across my face and I dropped back against the wall, a hand pressed to my racing heart. “You sound intrigued, harpy, are you certain you still hate me because this is starting to feel like a ruse to get my attention?”

“I don’t know why I ever thought we could have a normal conversation.”

“Don’t lie, you love our banter as much as I do.” I saw the fire in her eyes every time we bickered. She burned with it. A stark contrast to the ice queen her body played host to the other twenty-three hours of the day.

It had been five years of intense foreplay.

“Oh, it’s banter? My mistake. All this time I thought I avoided you because whenever we speak, you act like an entitled arse.”

I loved it when she gave me shit. “Is this why you disrupted my evening? To insult me?”

“No. You’re sending me off track.” She fell silent again and I could practically feel her reinforcing her walls for what came next. “If the offer of help still stands … then …”

“Tick tock, I don’t have all night.”Come on, sweetheart, give me something.

“Fuck!I accept.I accept, okay?”

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