Page 124 of Some Like It Scot
“It has to be one of the last dances of the night,” Graeme said, lowering his mouth close to my ear. “And I’m happy to spend it with you for as long as I can.”
The idea of forever teased my happy heart.
“That sounds lovely to me.” Because tomorrow was already here. And words needed to be spoken.
“Graeme—”
“Katie.”
We both chuckled at our twinned responses, and he nodded for me to continue.
I held his gaze and squeezed his hand holding mine in an attempt to break the news. “I... I have to leave earlier than planned.”
The V in his brow made an appearance, so I explained the change only to have the V deepen. “How early?”
I cringed. “In a few hours.”
“Thatearly.” His shoulders dropped with his sigh. “I’d hoped for more time to talk.”
“Me too.”
He nodded. “But we could phone each other?”
I smiled at the suggestion. A definite start in the right direction. “That sounds great. I’ll be in constant work mode for the next three days, but after that, I’m back at the farm for a while. And I’d love to... talk.”
“Aye.” His gaze roamed over my face, saying things I wanted to interpret in the most forever of ways.
“My schedule isn’t ideal, I know, but I’ll make it work out.”
His expression suddenly shifted. He firmed his jaw as if preparing for battle. “I want you to know that we can take this between us... slow, easy-like.” He released a long breath. “With no strings attached.”
The sweet warmth of all those happily-ever-afters sudden came to a screeching halt. No strings attached? I’d been living with no strings for so long, it was the last thing I wanted. I wanted declarations. Promises. Strings so tight that they tied me to him for as long as we both shall live.
But I swallowed down my disappointment. My job wasn’t an easy pill to swallow for someone whose heart and life was grounded in oneplace. No wonder he wanted to take things slowly. “Well, I definitely plan to make another trip to Mull really soon.”
“That’s good to hear.” His palm tightened on my waist, and he looked away. “We’ll take the time we can find with each other and see how it works out. Nothin’ serious. Free to follow... our... dreams.”
He grimaced as if he didn’t like the taste of those words.
Well, I didn’t like the sound of them. Nothing serious? I’d never wanted anything to be more serious in my life. For the first time in a long time, I was ready to stop running away and runtowardexactly what I wanted.
Him.
But I needed to readjust my expectations because, clearly, he wasn’t as sure.
He faltered.
Was it doubts inspired by his meeting with Allison? Or him second-guessing my ability to survive another year? Or maybe he really wasn’t sure about the fact that my life consisted of social media videos, strange conversations with a phone screen, and multiple flights away from home.
It all made sense. Every hesitation.
His heart was tethered to this land. Lachlan needed something stable.
And... maybe what I had to offerwasn’tenough for him.
Maybe I wasn’t worth the risk.
Because me, my life, and my brokenness were a lot to take on.
