Page 3 of 40 and Flashing (the Scotsman)
“Now, I never said that.”
“You didn’tnotsay it either,” Lily pointed out, her amusement plain. “So I’ll give you the directions, but no funny business with my friend, got it, Gavin? I don’t want any heartbreak after my wedding when you fly back off to Edinburgh.”
“Sure now, Lily. This charm is a weapon that must be wielded with care. I promise to leave all the female residents of Black Wolf’s Bluff with whole hearts.”
“You’d better.” After giving him directions as well as the address for his GPS, Lily sent him down the mountain toward town in JD’s SUV.
ChapterTwo
“Damn, damn, damn.” Scarlett whipped her towel off over her wet head and fanned herself with it. “Damn these hot flashes!” Perimenopause should come with warning signs the size of bulletin boards. And an opt-out option would be nice too. All it took was one wrong move—bending to get something from a drawer, walking inside from the cool outside, getting out of the shower—and great balls of fire ignited in her body, sucking every bit of coolness out and replacing it with a pulsating heat that felt like it would never end. She never knew when one would strike, never knew if the next moment would be the one where she’d pray to be hosed down with ice to get rid of the internal inferno.
It really wasn't fair. Men didn't go through a phase of life where they got out of the shower sweating. Where they had to run a full-on fan in order to keep their skin color normal and not mimicking a lobster fresh out of a boiling pot of water. Why? Why why why was midlife like this for women?
She grabbed her robe from the hook behind the bathroom door and tugged it onto each arm as she sped down the hall to the kitchen. The rush of frigid air when she opened the freezer door felt like heaven, chilling her bare skin immediately. How long she stood there, soaking in the cold, she had no idea, but however long it took, she’d stay. Anything to get her temperature out of the fever zone.
It didn’t help that she really needed to hurry. In fact, she found it only made the hot flashes worse if she was rushing around. Which made getting ready to go somewhere the primary time these damn episodes hit. Instead of getting her clothes on, she was taking them off in a desperate attempt to cool down. She raised her chin, sighing as frosty air washed over her neck and chest. Lord, it felt almost as good as an orgasm, not that she’d had one of those in a while. There weren’t a lot of dating options in Black Wolf’s Bluff. When she’d moved here a year ago, looking for a place away from big-city Nashville that she could settle into and build a home that would suit her lifestyle, she hadn’t factored in the lack of local single men, especially in her age range. And every new man that showed up had immediately paired with one of her single friends. If anything, it felt like her libido was withering on a vine with no one to pluck it.
A giggle escaped at the terrible analogy. She was a romance writer, for goodness’ sake. Couldn’t she do better than that?
A knock at the front door signaled Lily’s arrival. Scarlett hated to ask her friend for a ride to the rehearsal dinner, but Lily lived just up the street, and Scarlett’s car had been in the shop all week. Though Robert was a great mechanic, he was anything but fast. And like her dating options, good mechanics were hard to come by in a small town like Black Wolf’s Bluff.
Refusing to move away from the chilled air caressing her skin, she yelled over her shoulder, “Come in!”
The front door opened. “I’m in the kitchen,” she called and leaned her forehead against the freezer door, relieved at feeling the heat in her body finally starting to ease. She flapped the sides of her robe a couple of times, encouraging the air flow, waiting for Lily to come down the hall. “I just need a few minutes to finish getting ready. Sorry I’m running late.”
“I don’ mind waitin’.”
Every cell in her body froze. That voice wasn’t Lily’s. In fact, it was a couple of octaves below her friend’s light and cheerful voice. Definitely masculine—and definitely unfamiliar.
Without thought, she jerked around to face the stranger who had entered her kitchen. “Who are you?”
Standing in the doorway was a tall, dark-haired man she’d never met before. Salt-and-pepper curls dangled over his forehead, adding to the mischievous look in his pretty amber eyes. Stubble graced his squared-off jaw and framed a full mouth that quirked to one side.
“I’m Gavin.” That whisky-colored gaze ran down her body, appreciation lighting it up. “Ya must be Scarlett. Nice to meet ya.”
She hadn’t realized until she felt the touch of that look that she was standing, open freezer at her back, with the lapels of her robe in each hand.
Her open robe. That was supposed to be covering her naked body.
And wasn’t.
Holy shit.
She rapidly clutched the sides of her robe together over her chest. “I’m so sorry. I— I—”
His grin was the sexiest thing she’d seen in a very long while. “Don’ apologize. I was enjoying the view.”
Her hot flash might have ended, but she was heating up for a whole different reason now. Embarrassment. “Oh my God. I’m so—” She gulped.
He winked. “Ya definitely are, lass.”
Lass? Did he call herlass?“Okay, first of all, a lass is young, which I most definitely am not…”
He chuckled. “Younger than me, I’m pretty sure. And sweet to boot.”
Sweet? “Who are you again?”
He stepped forward, hand out. “Gavin Blackwood. I came to give ya a lift to the rehearsal dinner.”
