Page 71 of Scotch on the Rocks

Eyes never straying from her, I snatched my phone from my pocket with sigh. “Hey, Mum.” Happily caught in Juniper’s snare, I barely registered Mum’s words. Some variation of what occurred every night. “I’ll be right there,” I answered on autopilot.

Juniper watched me unmoving through the short exchange. As soon as I disconnected the call, I pressed my lips to that spot a final time.Lucky.And without even trying to disguise the heavy length pushing through my sweats, I stood. “I have to go.”

“Can I help?”

“No … but thanks.” That was the absolute last thing I wanted.

Juniper nodded in understanding but made no move to cover herself. Her thighs glinted in the firelight, slick from my mouth, from how wet she’d been for me.Fuck, she was exquisite. I forced myself to look away or I’d never make it out the door.

I could tell she was waiting for me to say something. Ineededto say something.

How did you encompass almost a decade’s worth of want culminating in a single soul-shattering experience?

Thank you for letting me go down on you?

The interruption was probably for the best. It would give her time to wrap her head around what happened withoutlust fogging her brain. Pulling the blanket from the back of the sofa, I draped it over her, unable to stop my hand from delving between her legs and stroking her a final time. “Don’t forget about me.”

“Are you talking to me or my pussy?” She hadn’t once screamed and yet her voice sounded hoarse.

Laughing, I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Both.” Then I pulled her hand to my mouth, kissing those perfectly manicured nails. “Stay as long as you want.” Was it completely delusional to hope I’d find her tucked up in my bed when I returned? Yes, but it didn’t stop the image from seeding and growing roots.

The significance of the moment didn’t hit until I shut myself inside my truck. When I scrubbed a hand over my mouth and realised I could still taste her there. My hands shook so badly it took me three tries to start the engine, clamming around the wheel as I drove the short distance on muscle memory alone.

Those too short minutes I’d had her beneath me changed everything, while for her,it might have meant nothing at all.

19

Juniper

The Macabe brother rule book: Edited Edition

4. Don’t let a Macabe brother go down on you, even when he begs so beautifully.

I set the bowl of cat food down with a flourish, fingers wiggling like a 1950s show girl. “This is the one. I can feel it.” Shakespeare took her sweet time, clambering down from the windowsill, stretching her long limbs through the beams of morning sunlight before regarding the offering. Jasmine, the bubbly owner of the village pet store, had assured me that no sane cat would ever turn it down.

Shakespeare edged closer. Sniffed and then tentatively licked, her pink tongue lapping. My breath caught when she paused, head cocked with all the consideration of a critic at a Michelin-starred restaurant … then greedily

dug in.

Yes!My fist pump was as exuberant as it was silent. Heart in my throat, I watched her for a long moment, hardly daring to believe she was actually eating. Then fledto the bathroom before my presence somehow soured the experience for her.

I grabbed my phone from my bedside table as I brushed my teeth, prepared to read over the daily stream of reminders from Fiona. And almost choked on the toothpaste when I found a text from Callum instead.

Macabe: What colour this morning, sweetheart?

I scoffed, waiting for the simmer of indignation. Only it didn’t come.

Italwayscame, that’s how we worked.

I frowned at my reflection above the sink, looking for the slightest change in my appearance. My fringe had blown out perfectly this morning and my skin was on the glowy side. I looked almost … happy. But that wasn’t because of Callum. There was no way. I’d had good orgasms

before.

Great ones even.

None that made you want to spend the night afterwards. None that tempted you to open your camera and show him precisely what colour underwear you’d picked out this morning.

Not since Alistair.

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