Page 61 of Scotch on the Rocks

He rubbed the back of his neck, as if he were stalling. “The permit. The one you applied for to extend Ivy House’s car park two years ago.”

“That was you?”

He nodded jerkily. The council on Skye could be notoriously slow. We’d expected to wait weeks, if not months. Instead, the permit for the small extension came through the door in a matter of days.

“It’s unlikely they would have rejected it. But Heather told me you needed it in place for the summer season and someone on the board owed me a favour. He pushed it through a little faster, that’s all.”

Gritting my teeth, I tucked the information away. “What else?”

His eyes squeezed shut. “Coconut milk. I overheard you trying to buy it in the store. Sharon said there wasn’t enough demand to bother placing an order. So … I have a weekly order too.”

“You don’t even like coconut.”

In all the years I’d known him, I’d never once seen Callum blush. But blush he did. All the way to the tips of his ears. “I’ve grown used to the taste.”

I might have laughed if not for the bats currently taking flight inside my chest. “Anything else?”

He blew out a breath. “How long do you have?”

Silence fell between us, broken only by my ragged breathing. I wanted to chew him out for acting like a high-handed arse. Only that wasn’t what came out of my mouth.

“You want me.” I spat the words like an accusation.

He didn’t even blink. “I never pretended otherwise, sweetheart.”

“But … you’re always nice to everyone but me.” The statement sounded about as juvenile as it felt. Even more so after everything he’d confessed.

“You don’t likenice,” he said it with infuriating certainty.I know you, harpy.

I raised my chin. “Perhaps I enjoynicesometimes.”

“You want nice, harpy, just say the word. I’ll be the nicest man you’ve ever met.” The words were a tease against my ear. His hot breath stroking my pulse, sending it soaring.

He wanted me. He’dalwayswanted me. The knowledge was thrilling.

Terrifying.

Forcing my feet to take a step back, that was the feeling I clung to. “You shouldn’t say things like that. Not to me.”

“Because of Alistair?” I barely nodded before he forged on, lungs heaving more than they had during the shinty match. “Because my idiot brother was too blind to understand he had something spectacular?”

“Stop it!” But he didn’t relent, crowding my space until we breathed the same air. Blood still stained his shirt and neck in rusted patches, but it was his barely leashed desire I couldn’t look away from.

“You’re magnificent like this, did you know that?” His eyes flashed a cold blue, but he looked the opposite of angry. “Did my brother ever tell you? Or were the two of you so damn comfortable together, you never screamed at one another just for an excuse to spend the rest of the night fucking the tension away?”

I was speechless. My heart racing so hard I could feel it in the tips of my fingers.

“I don’t know why I enjoy this little game we play so much, but I do know that every time you look at me with that furious little scowl, I want to fuck it right off your face. That’s all I’ve wanted since that day on the train when it took me less than a second to fall completely under your spell.” Something ugly snaked through my gut and he caught my chin before I could look away. “One day you’re going to tell me exactly what went down between you and Alistair – why you hold onto that damn ring – so I can make sure I never see that doubt in your eyes ever again.

“Not today,” he reassured me when I started to protest. “I’ve had a long time to get here, sweetheart. To realise these feelings aren’t wrong – that you were never meant to be his.”

His eyes traced over my features. Waiting.

He wanted me to say something. To offer a reassurance of my own. But too much had happened tonight. My tonguefelt heavy. The panic seizing my chest demanding an outlet. “We … we shouldn’t do this here. Not now.”

Disappointment dragged at his features before he schooled them. “Of course.” He nodded stiffly, putting a measure of space between us, though I could tell it was the last thing he wanted. “Will you be okay getting home?”

A sound slipped from me, half laugh, half sob.I should be the one asking him that.

---