Page 17 of 40 and Flashing (the Scotsman)
“Yes.” Grabbing ahold of a tree trunk as she turned a corner, she shot him a smile. “I’m not one of those people who wants to stay cooped up all the time. It does nothing for my creativity. And though I enjoy people, I’m happy without the crowds. Maybe that’s the thing about traveling. I used to think a lot about exciting adventures and exotic locales, even wrote some stories based in faraway places, but let’s face it, it’s not as much fun to travel alone, especially for those of us who aren’t extreme extroverts.” She gave him a look.
Now that he couldn’t deny. “Caught that, did ya?”
“Everyone catches that about you, Gavin. It’s hard to miss.”
“And part of what makes me so lovable?”
He shouldn’t have used that word—the cardinal sin of any short-term relationship, to use the L-word in any form—but it had slipped out with no warning. Scarlett seemed to do that to him, make him forget things like rules and watching his tongue.
“Like a big teddy bear, ya are,” she joked, adopting a heavy caricature of his light brogue. He couldn’t help laughing. “Anyway, it’s also not as safe for women to travel alone. I’d do it in a group, and the girls and I have taken some short trips, but nowhere too far.” She shrugged. “I can’t expect someone who’s been to so many exotic locations to understand.”
He understood better than she might think. “Where’s the most exotic place ya’ve been?”
“Florida.” A chuckle escaped her. “I’ve never been overseas, though I’ve traveled a bit in the US. Lily and Claire and I went on a girls’ trip for a week to the Florida Keys a couple of years ago. And Savannah. In Georgia, you know?” She made a low humming sound at his nod. “I love the atmosphere there, though I’m less about beaches than I am about woods and mountains. But I’ll visit anywhere once.”
She would love the Highlands, he knew it. And the Scottish beaches —they weren’t like Florida, though that made them more of a draw in his opinion.
Why was he considering where Scarlett would enjoy traveling? Sure, he could share suggestions, but when he imagined her in Scotland, it wasn’t with anyone at her side but him—and that would definitely take them past the one-week deadline he gave himself with any woman. So why was he considering it? And yet he couldn’t deny that he was, indeed, considering it.
They hadn’t even slept together. He hoped sex was on the table—he was strongly attracted to her, and old enough and experienced enough that he saw no point in delayed gratification. Yet even not having that experience with her, he was daydreaming about more time.
Scarlett was oblivious to his musings, thank goodness. “It’s not like I’ve settled,” she was saying. “I don’t want you to think that. I enjoy my life.” Another pause as she scrambled over a fallen log. “Somewhere along the way I think I settled into work and my fictional worlds and forgot things like exploring castles in Scotland.”
“Ya want to visit some castles, lass?”
She shrugged. “I did. Do. An adventure now and then wouldn’t be a PITA.”
“A PITA?”
“Pain in the ass.”
Gavin snickered. “Travel can indeed be a PITA.” He hesitated. The words on the tip of his tongue went against every rule he’d made for himself, and yet they beat at him to be spoken. Finally he gave his caution a silentfuck itand spoke. “I wouldn’t mind smoothin’ the way if ya wanted to see some castles.”
Scarlett stumbled. When he gripped her arm, steadying her, she turned wide eyes up to him. “Gavin, are you offering to travel with me?”
She had to point it out, didn’t she. Yet, rather than ramping up, the nerves in his gut settled with her question.
“I think it would be a pleasure, not a pain.”
They stood like that, frozen in the moment, until a snapping branch caught their attention. Just down the hill, a small deer stepped from around a tree. Her—at least he assumed it was a her, given there were no horns—hide was the same soft brown as the bark, neatly camouflaging her from predators. If it hadn’t been for the fallen limb she’d stumbled over, they would likely never have seen her.
“Oh,” Scarlett breathed, nearly silent.
He took her hand in his, squeezing to communicate his delight as the deer crossed to a tiny patch of green left over from summer and had a nibble. Several minutes passed before a distant noise startled the creature, sending her bounding into the woods. Gavin gestured in the direction she’d gone. “I can see the draw of this place.”
Scarlett started up their walk again. Up ahead waited a tiny wooden bridge that arched over a lightly trickling stream. She stopped in the middle to look over one side. “This is one of the reasons I bought my house. Did you know that water helps with creative flow? Most creatives find they get ideas in the shower or bath, sitting near a stream, listening to the rain.” She tipped her head as if listening to the movement below them. “Having the Salalai River flow right next to my house means I can go outside and hear the water anytime I want.” She grinned. “Plus I only have neighbors on one side.”
He lived in an apartment in Edinburgh, so that was a luxury he wasn’t afforded. “Always a bonus.”
“Yes.” She leaned against the bridge railing. “Unfortunately they’re on the same side as my office window.”
“Why is that unfortunate?”
He propped an elbow on the railing, facing her, and noticed a pink blush coloring her cheeks. Her hesitation had him leaning close, bringing his mouth to her ear. “Tell me your secrets, Scarlett.”
“My secrets are embarrassing.”
He chuckled. “Like flashing a Scotsman in your kitchen? That was sexy, not embarrassing. I definitely wouldn’t object to you doing it again.”
