Page 59 of Scotch on the Rocks

I groaned, needing to be the one to kissher. But the way she was looking at me – touching me – she might get there first.

“What are we doing?” she whispered into the scrap of space.

Good question, sweetheart. “Whatever we want.”

“Your hands are trembling.”

“So they are.” I dipped in, brushing my battered nose – barely feeling the bite of pain – then lips over her cheek. She inched back, not retreating but rolling with the movement.

“Juniper,” I said again. Her name the only word in the world. She whimpered, head falling into my waiting palm. “You finally going to let me touch you?” I licked her pulse. It pounded beneath my tongue. “Taste you?” I pressed my hips into her, delighting in her frantic nod. “That night at the bar, it’s all I could think about. Your thighs hooked over my shoulders – coming on my tongue.” The light above us flickered in and out, as if answering the buzz of electricity generating between us. We hadn’t technically hit a base yet and I was more aroused than I’d ever been, because this was happening.It was fucking happening.No more waiting, no more wondering. Juniper writhed in my arms, curling her leg over my hip. A dream, spinning into reality.

This time, I wouldn’t be fucking noble.

This time, she was mine.

16

Juniper

April: June! Code red!!

April: Mini Macabe incoming.

Juniper: A little help! You couldn’t intercept her?

April: If the toilet shed’s a rockin’ don’t come a knockin’.

April: Or the Whisky Dunnage ;)

Juniper: And they say romance is dead.

“June?” In my delirium, I confused the voice for Callum’s.

His fingers speared into my hair, tugging and wrapping. Thumb grazing my jaw, angling my head precisely where he wanted it. Blue eyes blazed, focused on me with an intensity that felt out of place on his carefree features. I could barely breathe beneath that look.Who needed to breathe anyway?

Ten seconds. I’d give him ten seconds of calling the shots and then I’d—

“June?”

Callum never called me June.

He registered the intrusion at the same moment I did. Balling a fist into my hair, he cursed, low and vicious, butdidn’t relinquish his hold. If anything, he held me tighter, like a child with a toy he refused to share. Even when I stumbled backwards, he followed, steadying me as the door snapped open.

“Oh, shit. My bad – I was looking for –June?”

Callum straightened, his stance widening like if he could just make himself big enough, he might protect me from this.

Too late, my gaze already met Heather’s over his shoulder. Her hand locked around the door handle, eyes snapping hopefully between us like a punter at a comedy club, waiting for the punchline. “What are you—” She licked her lips. “What’s going on?”

Callum’s hands tightened on my neck. His gaze searching mine. I couldn’t meet it, too busy falling into despair with only the wall and his hands keeping me on my feet. It was plain to see that Heather already knew, even if she didn’t want to believe it.

“Callum?” His name came from her mouth, demanding explanation.

He didn’t so much as glance at his sister. “I took an injury. Juniper helped me clean up.”

“With her skirt hooked around her waist?”

“Fuck.” Callum echoed my singular thought aloud, hands knocking my shaking ones aside as I fumbled to cover myself. He touched me gently, unhurriedly smoothing the material over my thighs. Meanwhile, I could barely hold onto a single train of thought. Heart racing, I stared at my oldest friend in the world and prayed I hadn’t given her a reason to abandon me too.

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