Page 29 of Charlie

This can't be happening.

I pivot and hightail it past Lach to the front door, wrenching it open. Jack catches the door before I can slam it closed, cornering me in the front entrance.

The wind howls around us, my hair lashing out at him. He traps it with his hands, cupping my face.

"How are you even here?" I whisper, horrified. "I'm in my robe and slippers, for fuck's sake." And I just slept with Lachlan. Well, not slept with him, but still. Oh. My. God.

He growls, "How am I here? How are you here? How do you know my sister? How do you know Lachlan?" He brushes his thumb over my cheek, his gaze clinging to my lips.

"Isla's your sister?" Suddenly everything is crystal clear. "You're Jay," I whisper, groaning into my hands.

Isla bursts outside. "Will one of you please explain what's going on?"

"Charlie's the girl," Lachlan says from behind her.

"The girl?" She looks confused for a second. "The girl." She gapes. "The one you've been looking for?" Her eyes narrow. "Wait, you knew who she was last night, didn't you?" She turns to me. "But you..." She spins toward Lachlan. "And you! Oh, this is going to be messy." She grins.

I turn to Lachlan, "Did you know about this last night?"

He shrugs. "He wanted to tell you himself."

"Of fucking course," I mutter.

"Some privacy, please." Jack grinds out, his patience evaporating.

"You better tell me the whole story later," Isla pouts. Lach slips out the door before Isla goes back inside. I watch as he walks down the path toward the cottage.

"I feel like such an idiot," I groan once they're out of earshot. Embarrassment doesn't sit well with me, and I'm absolutely mortified.

"Stop," Jack says gruffly, his hands pressed to the wall on either side of my head, trapping me between his arms. His hair tangles with mine in the wind, strands of red, brown, and copper melding into one. His eyes are pools of molten gold – lion's eyes. Alarm bells clang through me.

"Don't even think about it," he growls.

Danger.

I duck under his arm and run down the path to the cottage. I don't know how to do this. My heart will shatter into so many pieces and I'll never be able to find them all.

"Charlotte." He grasps my wrist and spins me toward him. He looks wounded and more than a little pissed off.

"I'm sorry," I pant, trying to come up with the right words to tell him how I feel. To tell him about Cameron and Lach. To tell him I'm still healing from Rob.

"I'm not him, Charlotte. Whoever you're thinking of, I'm not him."

I laugh, "No, you're so much worse."

He glowers at me.

"This," I say, pointing between us, "is dangerous. I know you can feel it. It's like a tempest that will destroy everything in its path. I have a life back in the states." I gesture toward the castle across the loch. "And you, you have a fucking castle, Jack."

He exhales sharply through his nose. "None of that matters," he insists, "You belong, Charlotte. I can feel it in here." He taps his hand to his chest.

I know. God, I know.

This wild and untamed man is like the missing piece of my soul that I've been looking for my entire life. A piece I knew would fit perfectly if I could manage to rearrange all the others. I rub my breastbone to relieve the ache.

"Give me a reason, Charlotte. Just give me one reason and I'll never talk to you again."

I can't stand the thought of never talking to him again, but I'm not ready for this.

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