Page 17 of How to Lose a Lass

Aidan glances down at Gavin's arm, the one wrapped around my waist. His lips pucker briefly, then he sighs. "Let's go sightseeing. Dinnae want to leave you two alone, since I dinnae want to walk in on you two snogging. Actually, I don't want that to happen when I'm not in the vicinity either. So just dinnae touch my sister at all."

Does Aidan think I haven't kissed Gavin yet? He knows full well that I am not a virgin, yet he keeps talking about me as if I'm an innocent wee lassie. I still remember the day I bumped into Aidan at a chemist's shop, and he realized I'd been about to buy a box of condoms. I think he nearly had a heart attack then.

The four of us jump into Aidan's car, which Lachlan had hired for him without Aidan's consent. It's a lovely convertible, so we put the top down to get the best view of the surroundings. Despite the suggestion that we would go sightseeing, we end up simply visiting a few shops in the nearby villages. Not that I mind. As long as Gavin is with me, I'm happy to browse the silly trinkets and postcards on display in the shops.

Aidan and Calli pretend to be browsing a different section of the shop, but their plan is dead obvious. They want to keep an eye on us while pretending not to do that. Aidan is a bad liar and a bad actor. Calli isn't much better.

Gavin leads me over to a display of socks and taps his finger on one pair. "I think your brother Rory would love these."

"Do you? Why is that? Since you haven't met Rory, I'm curious about your reasoning."

"You mentioned that Rory is known as the Ogre of Loch Fairbairn. That sounds like he's probably a Bigfoot in disguise." He taps the package of socks again. "And these must have been modeled after him."

I take a good look at the socks and can't help smiling. "There are several variations of these. Which one do you claim must be a depiction of my brother?"

Gavin crooks his thumb under his chin and taps one finger on his mouth. "It's probably the socks that show a Bigfoot being abducted by aliens."

"I must have overlooked that one."

He snatches a pair of socks off the rack and holds it out to me. "Here you go. Rory would love these, I'm sure."

Laughter splutters out of me, and other customers give me strange looks. But I dinnae care. I accept the socks and study the image on them. It does indeed show a spaceship beaming a light down on a Bigfoot. I thrust the socks at Gavin and feign being offended. "If you gave these to Rory, he'd hurl you all the way around the globe and back again."

"Damn. He's that strong, huh? Well, maybe I should pick a different gift for him. We could give Lachlan the socks."

"You would do better to give them to Aidan. He loves jokes."

"I have noticed that." Gavin leads me over to a different display, one that showcases novelty mugs. "Oh, yeah, this is definitely more Rory's style."

Laughter bursts out of me again, garnering more odd looks that I ignore. "You think the Steely Solicitor wants a cup that's painted with neon colors? Pink, blue, yellow, orange. Oh, aye, that's Rory's style."

"I thought so." He snags a scarf off another display and slings it around his neck. "See? If it looks good on me, it'll be Rory's style for sure."

"Aye, because you two have so much in common---never having met or spoken to each other." This time I struggle to restrain my laughter and partially succeed. "Neon shades flatter you, Gavin."

"Don't they? I look hot in anything, though." He snatches up a pink hat. "See? I was right."

He is adorable when he's playful. I can't stop myself from leaning into Gavin and gazing up at him with what must look like adoration. No man has ever done silly things just to make me smile, and no one else has ever made me feel so good.

Gavin decides against buying all but one of the trinkets. He insists on giving me the Bigfoot UFO socks.

I clasp them to my chest and flutter my lashes. "Oh, thank you, Gavin. I will cherish these and wear them every day."

"Yeah, Rory ought to love that."

When and if Gavin ever meets my brother, I might need to make sure Rory has drunk half a bottle of whisky first.

Gavin does buy the neon-colored mug---for Aidan. My youngest brother grins and thanks Gavin profusely, and also sarcastically. I show Aidan my new socks, and he sighs, telling me that I risk developing an incurable disease called Conspiracy Theory-itis if I continue to fraternize with an American.

"You'll catch it too," Gavin tells Aidan. "You're fraternizing with an American, you know---my baby sister."

"No, Calli is immune. The disease only affects former US Marines who are flirting with my sister."

"Ah, so it's one of those bioengineered things. You should write a paper on it for a medical journal."

Calli and I start walking out of the shop, and the men trail after us while continuing to exchange sarcastic comments. By the time we get back to Calli's house, it's lunchtime. I am unusually hungry. I reckon visiting kitschy shops takes more out of a person than it seems like it should. Having fun is tiring, but in a good way. We enjoy our afternoon meal in the backyard while sitting at the picnic table. Gavin and I are on one side with Calli and Aidan directly across from us. Aye, the meal includes a fair amount of teasing and laughter.

Once the meal is over, Aidan makes a bizarrely sudden announcement. "Calli and I are going for a drive. Alone."

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