by Anna Durand
"Aidan, I'm so sorry. No wonder you feel guilty, with her hammering it into your head."
He moved to the side of the bed, swinging his legs over to set his feet on the floor. With his profile partly in shadow, he looked even more forlorn. "She'd always been hotheaded, but now she seems to want revenge on me. I can't understand it. I may feel guilt over the accident, but I don't have the money she wants. Spent it all on coming here, finding you."
"Guess that makes it my fault she's hounding you."
"Not what I meant." He jammed a hand into his hair. "I wasted money on this trip because I was desperate to change my life, to stop being selfish and settle down to start a family. Be responsible."
I scooted across the bed to sit beside him, one leg tucked under me, turned partway toward him. With his hand still in his hair, his arm blocked his face. I grasped his forearm, gently urging him to lower his hand. After a few seconds of stalwart refusal, he let his arm drop.
"Aidan," I said, laying a palm on his cheek. "Regret is pointless. It was an accident and you can't know why it happened, no matter what Seona says. You have to let it go. Stop giving her that kind of power over you."
"Power?" He looked at me finally, his forehead wrinkled in confusion.
"Yes." I took his hand in both of mine. "She's using your guilt against you. You know she has problems and she's obsessed with you. Why are you accepting it's all your fault just because she keeps telling you it is? The woman is trying to extort money from you. Nothing she says can be believed."
He stared into my eyes for a long moment. "Maybe you're right, but it's not so easy to get rid of guilt. Or fear. You should know about that."
Of course, he was right. How could I urge him to dump his guilt when I clung to these old fears? But I couldn't stand by while some bitch harassed him. There had to be a way to expose her real motivations.
"I have an idea," I said. "Why not have Lachlan or Rory — maybe both of them, actually — go and talk to Seona? They can find out what she's really after."
Aidan's expression grew thoughtful, and after a moment of contemplative silence, he gave me an appreciative nod. "You are very clever, mo chridhe. Seona lives in Ballachulish. I could ask Lachlan or Rory if they'll have a talk with her. Lachlan might be best, he could bring Erica along as a buffer."
"Sounds like a plan." I raised my brows and smiled. "You're going to ask Lachlan for help? I seem to recall a certain someone refusing any kind of assistance from — "
"Aye, well, I've changed my mind. You convinced me." He scrunched his mouth up, as if annoyance and humor warred in his expression. "Don't need to remind me I'm fickle."
"You're not fickle. You finally wised up to the fact overbearing brothers can be useful on occasion."
Aidan turned toward me, bending one knee and reaching for the sandwich container. He offered it to me. "Let's have our picnic in bed and forget about the rest for tonight."
"But you'll call Lachlan?"
"In the morning." He tapped a finger on my nose. "Happy?"
"Yes." I took the plastic container, popped the lid off, and gazed down at the sandwich nestled inside the little box. With a quick peek into the insulated bag, I said, "Ham and cheese? And potato chips?"
"The selection in your kitchen was rather limited."
"But I was kind of expecting something Scottish."
"Couldn't find haggis around here, anyway." He grinned at my wrinkled nose. "So you don't want Scottish food after all, eh? Turn your sweet little nose up at my whisky and now you look fit to vomit from the mention of haggis. I think I should be offended at your disrespect for my cultural heritage."
"I do love plaid," I offered in conciliation, then leaned in until our our faces were a breath apart. "Especially when you're wearing a kilt."
"You like my legs."
I slid a hand down his naked thigh and back up to his hip. "Among other things."
He sneaked his tongue out to graze my lips. "Why donnae we put off the picnic for a wee bit longer?"
"Oh yes, please." I shifted my hand to his swelling cock. "And I can think of something Scottish I'd love to devour."
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Aidan and I arrived back at the house around ten the next morning, relaxed and satiated like nobody had a right to be. After learning about his accident, I felt like I knew him so much better — which triggered a frightening, warm fuzziness in my chest. I'd sworn I wouldn't fall for him. The more time we spent together, the more we opened up to each other, the harder it got to pretend I wasn't falling.
Hand in hand, we walked up the path to the front door. I glanced at Aidan just as he glanced at me, and we both grinned like idiots.
Oh, I was in so much trouble.
Movement caught my eye through the window beside the door. The curtains hung slightly parted, with a space of about an inch revealing a sliver of the interior. I leaned forward, squinting at the scene inside until it coalesced into a clear picture. I blinked quickly, sure I must be hallucinating.
Nope. I was seeing what I thought I was seeing.
There on the sofa, Jamie and Gavin sat side by side facing each other. Gavin had one arm stretched across the sofa's back as he kissed Jamie. Passionately. With tongues. She had one hand thrust into his hair, cupping the back of his head as they ravished each other's mouths.
"What is it?" Aidan asked.
I shuffled backward a step. "Why don't we go for a walk? The puppies must be in the backyard playing, so if we go around the outside of the house we can — "
"What don't you want me to see?" His voice rang with a certainty that I had a reason for steering him away from the house.
"No reason," I said, my voice pitched a little higher than usual. Damn. I could keep a major secret from my loved ones for five years, but I couldn't deceive Aidan about his sister making out with my brother.
He leaned over my shoulder to peer through the gap in the curtains. His jaw tensed, a muscle ticked there. Eyes narrowed, he emitted a faint growl.
"Calm down," I said, turning around to lay my hands flat on his chest in a vain effort to urge him away from the window and the house. "They're adults. If they want to — "
Aidan grasped the knob and shoved the door open.
Jamie and Gavin jumped. Her hand flew to her mouth, but he adopted a look of confused innocence. Didn't look fake at all. No sirree.
I rushed inside, shutting the door, and grabbed Aidan's arm to stall him as he stalked toward the sofa. He halted, eying me sideways.
"Let's not overreact," I told him, but he snorted out a breath.
Gavin pushed up off the sofa. "Hey, didn't think you'd be back so soon."
"Duh," I said. "Figured you wouldn't be sucking face with Aidan's sister if you thought he was about to come home."
Aidan's gaze rotated toward me again. He mouthed, "Home?"
Shit. Had I implied this was our home? Like we were a couple? A serious, in-a-committed relationship couple?
My hopes of no one else noticing disintegrated when Gavin said, "You two are living together. I knew it."
"Not the way you mean. He sleeps here."
"With you."
"Honestly, we've already had this conversation." I tugged at the hem of my shirt. "Aidan is not my boyfriend."
Three smirking people snickered.
Hands on my hips, I tried to scowl at them — but they all smiled at me and I lost my indignation. Slumping my shoulders, I let my arms go limp at my sides.
Jamie hopped up and aimed her bright, dimpled smile at me. "Gavin's not my boyfriend either, then."
I sighed. "Are all you Scottish people so snarky?"
"You like it," Aidan said, slipping an arm around my shoulders. In a low and sexy voice, he murmured, "From me, at least."
My body softened and I couldn't help relaxing into him. This man knew how to brush aside all my defenses with no effort at all. I wanted to hate him for that, but I couldn't. I enjoyed it too much, even while it scared the hell out of m
e.
"Would you mind," Jamie said to me, "if Gavin was my boyfriend?"
The sneaky little lassie had hit me with a trick question. If I said no, I'd sound like a jerk and a hypocrite. If I said yes, Aidan would feel betrayed. I genuinely liked Jamie, though, and I couldn't begrudge the two of them a chance at happiness. And yet, I didn't want to hurt Aidan.
He grumbled, as if reading my thoughts. "It's all right. Let them have their fun."
Gavin raised a brow at Aidan. "Fun? I like Jamie a lot. It's more than fun. Not like you and my sister, having sex while she says you're not her boyfriend. At least I'm upfront about it."
Ouch. He'd aimed that barb at me, for sure. Well, Aidan a little too. Mostly me.
"Upfront?" Aidan said, tensing against me. "You snogged with my sister while I was away."
"You want I should do it in front of you?" Gavin had a mischievous gleam in his eye. "All right, I will."
He pulled Jamie into his arms and mashed his mouth to hers. She dissolved in his embrace, despite the audience of two watching them.
I could relate. Aidan's kiss made me forget everything else.
Aidan pulled away from me, scowling. "Why donnae ye just tear her clothes off right in front of us?"
Gavin released Jamie, a look of self-satisfaction on his face.
Oh yeah, he'd done that solely to tick off Aidan. Men. They acted like adults when necessary, but reverted to schoolyard tactics when their egos got involved.
Jamie's cheeks flamed a bright red.
I hurried around the sofa to her, placing a protective arm around her shoulders. "Both of you, stop harassing the poor girl. Gavin, quit trying to annoy Aidan. And you Aidan, let your sister live her own life. At least she's not in Chicago trolling the clubs. My brother is a good man." I threw Gavin a chastising look. "Most of the time."
Both men turned their gazes to the floor, suitably chagrined.
Jamie murmured in my ear, "Will you be my honorary sister?"
"Wouldn't that make me Aidan's sister?"
"Not at all." She got a canny glint in her eyes. "But if you marry him, you could be my sister-in-law. Even better than honorary sister."
I glanced at Aidan, but he was still fixated on the floor. If he'd heard his sister, he didn't let on.
A breath gusted out of Aidan and he raised his head. "I'm sorry. Won't happen again."
Gavin looked up as well. "Me too. Sorry."
"I suppose," I said, "we will accept your half-assed apologies."
"We will," Jamie concurred.
My brother looked at her, then at me, a question in his eyes.
I waved a hand. "Go. Take Jamie to dinner, make out with her in the car, whatever. You're adults and we — " I shot Aidan a pointed look. " — will not interfere. Will we?"
Aidan's gaze zeroed in on mine. "You have my word."
He'd infused the phrase with a depth of meaning I couldn't quite plumb. What he was trying to tell me, I couldn't figure out. No, I did understand. He meant that I could trust his word, trust him not to change into someone else later on, trust him to be honest and faithful forever.
Maybe I could. Maybe…
Gavin turned to us girls. "Calli, I am sorry for being such a jerk."
"I know."
He took Jamie's hand, guiding her toward the sliding glass doors. As the doors whisked shut behind them, I moved to Aidan and slid my arms around his waist.
"What shall we do now?" I asked.
The dog door whacked open as Mandy and Misty blasted through it. They swarmed around our legs, leaping and licking and whimpering with glee.
Aidan hugged me closer, glancing at the puppies. "Take the furry lassies for a walk, it seems."
Chapter Thirty
We meandered back from our walk in the woods, tired puppies trotting alongside us with their tongues lolling. I held Mandy's retractable leash while Aidan gripped Misty's, a task that required the muscles of a strong man given Misty's tendency to pull with all her considerable strength. Aidan had done the impossible, taming my puppy so she walked without yanking him off his feet. As the house came into view behind the trees, an odd noise caught all of our attention.
Mandy and Misty pricked their ears, canting their heads in the direction of the hunting cabin.
Trees screened the cabin from our view, where it lay a few hundred feet away. The noise originating from that direction sounded farther away than it likely was. The woods could deceive a person's ears. The keening noise grew louder and quieter in a ululating rhythm and I noted another, less obvious sound beneath it, a noise that resembled grunting.
"Is that a fox?" Aidan asked, squinting in the direction of the noises.
A throaty, wordless shout reverberated through the woods. The keening escalated into a high-pitched scream.
Realization tingled over my skin. "No, that's not a fox."
Aidan scrunched his brow at me. "What is it…"
He trailed off as a second, louder shout echoed among the trees and a female voice screamed, "Gavin!"
Aidan's eyes went so wide I thought they might pop out of his head. "He's fucking my sister, the bastard!"
The puppies started barking and pulling on their leashes.
"We better go," I said, "before they hear the dogs."
He tried to frown, but it wound up as a rueful smile. "Guess this is my punishment for seducing you."
I patted his cheek. "Your sister's an adult, this was bound to happen sometime."
"Would've rather not heard it."
"You'll get over the trauma." Clasping his hand, I led the way back to the house.
The noise from the cabin ended with another scream as Aidan and I entered the fenced yard. We released the puppies from their leashes and they took off, racing around the yard barking and jumping. Soon, a squirrel high up in a tree snagged their attention. The puppies crouched at the base of the tree, their gazes locked on the critter beyond their reach.
"They'll be occupied for a while," I said.
Aidan was staring in the direction of the cabin, his face blank.
"Don't torture yourself," I said. "They had sex, it's not the end of the world."
He turned away from the fence and what lay beyond it, hidden in the woods. "I understand how your brother felt when he found us living in the same house."
"Gavin's not sleeping with your sister as revenge. He wouldn't do anything so petty and sleazy."
"I know he wouldn't." Aidan folded an arm around my shoulders, hugging me to him. "Jamie wasn't a virgin. She'd been engaged a few years ago and sometimes sneaked back into our parents' house in the early morning, getting caught a few times. That's why she lives with Rory at the moment, for privacy. I don't think she's been with anyone for a good while, though."
As we strolled across the yard toward the house, I looped my arm around his waist and leaned my head against him. "I was a virgin when I slept with you, but Gavin had no idea about that. We don't talk about sex."
"I only know about Jamie because I saw her buying condoms." He cleared his throat. "I may have gotten slightly upset about it. She threw the box at me and said she hadn't been a virgin since she was nineteen."
"She wouldn't have told you if she hadn't been ticked at you?"
"No. I don't talk about sex with my sisters."
"You talk about it with your brothers?"
He pulled the sliding doors open and we entered the house. Without letting go of me, he pushed the door shut and turned us both until we faced each other. "I talk about sex with my brothers, but I don't share the details."
"No kiss and tell?"
"Absolutely not." He screwed up his face in fake disgust. "I don't want to hear about the adventures of Lachlan and Rory and their women."
I linked my arms around his neck. "Enough about our families. I'd rather talk about what you're going to do to me."
He cupped my buttocks in his hands, tugging me into his groin — and his hardening penis. "Tell me what you want this time."
> "I have an idea, but it might be silly."
"Got no problem with silly." He ground his erection into me, its rock-hard length a delicious pressure. "Say it and I'll make your fantasy come true."
"I know you will." Boosting up onto my tiptoes, I leveled our gazes. "Even though it's daytime, I want you to go into the bedroom, take your clothes off, and get into bed with the lights off. Oh, and shut the curtains too. Make it as dark as possible in there."
"You want to crawl into my bed in the dark and have your way with me."
"Because you invited me to do it." I coiled locks of hair around my fingers, toying with the silken strands. "And it's my bed, technically."
"Our bed. We both sleep in it."
"True. Our bed, then."
Aidan stepped backward out of my arms, whipped off his shirt, and tossed it onto the sofa. "Be waiting for you."
He strode toward the hallway, disappearing around the corner. When I heard the click of the bedroom door closing, I kicked off my shoes. While I was hopping on one foot to get my socks off, a soft knock sounded at the front door.
With one foot bare and the other socked, I hurried to the door and peeked out the window beside it, parting the curtains with two fingers.
Rade stood there, eyes on the door, arms slack at his sides. Dressed in a suit without the jacket and with his tie loosened, he looked like a CEO who'd come from the office after a long day of corporate wheeling and dealing.
I let the curtains flutter back into position and glanced down the hallway. A naked Aidan waited for me down there. But my husband waited outside, and he wouldn't leave until he'd said whatever he planned to say to me.
Besides, my car was in the driveway so he knew I was home.
Pulling the door open, I frowned at Rade.
He smiled. "Calli, I've missed you."
"What do you want?"
"May I come inside?"
Considering the naked Scot lounging in bed at this moment, admitting my husband into the house seemed like a bad idea. "Tell me what you came here to say. And make it fast, I've got things to do."