Mairi had done exactly what he said, feeling his strength and heat against her as she pressed into him. The world had faded away as the bike roared to life. Not once did Mairi look back. She knew, without a doubt, that she was where she was meant to be. She was with him.
A fragile hand tightened on hers, bringing her back to the present. She blinked away the memories to look into Gladys’ understanding eyes.
“I know I should tell you not to let bitterness ruin your life, my girl,” Gladys said, “that storing up regrets is harmful to the soul, and maybe you should give the boy a chance to prove he’s grown up some since the last time. But I’m going to tell you this instead—take him to bed and have some fun. Worry about the big stuff later.”
“Gladys!” Mairi said. “That’s terrible advice.”
“I know.” Gladys smiled. “But look at those muscles. If I were thirty years younger, I’d arm-wrestle you for him.”
“And we’d beat him to a pulp,” Albert said as he glared over at Keir.
“Don’t I know it.” Gladys winked at Mairi. “Now go away. Have lunch with your boy there while I spend some time with mine.”
“I’ll go have lunch, because I’m hungry, but he isn’t my boy, Gladys,” Mairi said. “He blew that chance years ago.”
“Just make sure you aren’t cutting off your nose to spite your face, lassie.”
“Yeah, right. I’m going to take relationship advice from a woman who can’t decide between two men.”
Mairi pressed a kiss to Gladys’ cheek and wandered over to Keir, who was leaning against the nurses’ station counter. By the time she’d reached Keir’s side, Reggie and Albert had pulled up chairs on either side of Gladys, and each man took one of her hands. Mairi watched as they made Gladys smile and blush. The affection they held for each other was plain to see.
“Who knew a rest home was such a den of iniquity?” Keir said.
She glanced up to find him watching the three friends, with the same wonder she felt. Gladys wasn’t going through chemo alone, and when she got back to the rest home, the men would make sure she felt attractive and wanted, just as they had done throughout her treatment.
“Who knew you could use such big words?” Mairi said.
“Pest.” He tugged her wild hair. “Come on, I’ll buy you lunch while we wait for the treatment to finish. The nurse said Gladys’ll be here another two hours at least, and she’s got the boys to keep her company.” He looked around the waiting room. “Where’s the Wookiee?”
Jonas had been too shy to walk around Glasgow in his Wookiee outfit, so the rest of the guys had dropped him off at the hospital with Mairi.
“He went to the children’s ward to spend quality time with believers,” Mairi said. “His words, not mine. I think he just wanted to cheer the sick kids up. He does that a lot in his home town. They love him at his local hospital.”
Keir’s eyebrows shot up. “You speak Wookiee?”
Mairi couldn’t help but laugh as she held up a piece of paper. “He wrote me a note.”
Keir rolled his eyes. “Come on.” He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward the door. “I’m starving.”
His touch burned through her shirt and straight into her skin. Tingles ran up and down her body, demanding that she lean in to his touch. It was exactly the same reaction she’d had the first time he’d touched her—and every time after that. And it was the reason she’d kept her distance from him since he’d moved to Arness. One touch from Keir and her girl parts started screaming for attention. Her girl parts didn’t care that Keir had hurt her. All they cared about was getting some action.
The louder her body’s demand for more of Keir’s touch, the quieter her brain became, until all she could hear was the blood rushing through her veins. His touch was gentle but firm. His hands were big on her shoulders, reminding her of just how it felt to have them on the rest of her. When they’d been together, she’d loved that Keir was so much bigger than her. She liked feeling overwhelmed by his size and yet still feeling protected by it. And now, at a time in her life where everything she’d thought was secure was crumbling, it was tempting to turn into his arms and feel his strength around her.
But she couldn’t. She’d learned the hard way that his strength wasn’t to be trusted. He wasn’t someone she could rely on to be there when she needed him.
With gargantuan effort, Mairi shrugged out from under his hold and strode toward the elevators, already missing the warmth of his touch. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.” He followed her into the tiny space, smiling at the two nurses who shifted over to make room for them.
Mairi looked up at him as the lift doors closed. “It isn’t Gretna Green, is it? Because I told you, I’m not marrying you.”
The nurses choked as they smothered their laughs.
“No,” Keir said with long suffering, “it isn’t Gretna. It would be a bit hard to get there and back in two hours anyway.”
“You haven’t booked us a slot at the council registry office, have you?”
“No.” He folded his arms. A sure sign he was losing patience.
“No judge waiting somewhere to tie the knot for us?”
“We’re going for lunch. That’s it.”
“Good.” Mairi relaxed back against the wall. “I was worried for a minute.”
The female nurse nudged her male colleague before smiling at Keir. “If you’re looking for a wife, I’m available.”
Now, that was just rude. Mairi might not want Keir, but she was clearly with him, and a woman did not horn in on a man if he was with another woman. It was a universal law. Right up there with never using the last of the toilet paper while in the public loo with your girlfriends. Women had to respect each other, and this flirting nurse was flouting the rules.
“Thanks,” Keir said with a grin, “but I’m not through trying to convince my girl here that I’m a catch.”
“Well”—the blonde gave Mairi a once-over, before dismissing her—“when you are. Call the outpatient department and ask for Debbie.”
That was it. The woman deserved to lose her hair. Mairi took a step toward her just as the lift opened. Keir blocked her path and walked her back until she was up against the wall.
“Easy, tiger,” he said. “She was joking.”
“She was not.” Mairi had seen that look before. Other women often underestimated a short ginger woman, which showed a serious lack of commonsense. Because, hello! Red hair. It wasn’t there to make her look good. It was a warning to all competition that they would go up in flames if they messed with her. “She was being a bitch.”
The doors closed, leaving them alone in the lift.
“You’re jealous.” The satisfaction in Keir’s words made her eyes snap to his face, where a smug smile just begged for someone to wipe it right off him.
“I am not.” She glared at him.
“Are too.” He stepped in closer until his body was flush against hers.
Mairi felt the air leave her lungs. Her hands flattened on Keir’s chest, ready to push him away. Only she didn’t. Because as soon as she had all that lovely muscle under her fingertips, the temptation to touch, knead, explore was just too much.
“I am not jealous.” The breathy little whisper that used to be her voice stole the steel from her statement.
Keir nuzzled his way from her temple to her ear. “You are definitely jealous,” he whispered against her, making her shiver. “I like it.”
She sucked in a breath, just as the doors to the elevator opened and people stepped inside. There was giggling, and Keir moved away from her, leaning back against the wall at her side. Mairi tried to catch her breath as she scowled at the staring teenagers, who just giggled more.
“Our floor.” Keir’s voice had dropped an octave.
He took her hand, pulling her behind him, out of the lift and into the parking garage. It wasn’t until they were at his car that she realized she should have tugged her
hand free. By then, it was too late.
Keir backed her up against the driver’s door, pinning her in place with his hips, and then he cupped her face and his lips descended on hers. There were a million things Mairi should have thought. Top of the list being “get your lips off mine.” But as soon as Keir’s mouth touched hers, every thought inside Mairi’s head vanished and her traitorous body took over.
Nobody on the planet kissed like Keir. It was like coming home and flying free at the same time. His lips were soft and firm, his movements slow and determined. He teased at the seam of her lips with his tongue, and Mairi found herself sighing into him. When he angled her head to take the kiss deeper, she was gone. There was only Keir and the magic he wove around them. Nothing else mattered. Not the past. Not the problems of her present, and not her fears for the future. Nothing mattered but Keir’s lips on hers.
♦♦♦
Keir’s mind was spinning with disbelief. After years, desperate to touch Mairi, he finally had her in his arms—and she was everything he remembered. Nothing tasted like Mairi. She was a combination of fire and spice and sunshine, all rolled into one. As her lips softened beneath his, Keir took the kiss deeper, swiping his tongue over hers and swallowing the moan she made in response. Her body went liquid against his, and he pressed in closer, determined to keep her exactly where he needed her to be.
He couldn’t get enough of her. He wanted to be skin to skin, naked on a bed of cool cotton sheets, with hours—no, days—to spend driving her wild. Instead, he had her pressed up against a car in an underground parking garage. It wasn’t the most romantic location, but Keir still felt like he’d scored the winning goal in a World Cup final for Scotland against England.
He slid a hand over her shoulder and down to her hip, where he held her fast and tight against him, luxuriating in the sensation of her soft curves molded to his hard muscle. Her full breasts flattened against his chest, their nipples firm. Keir remembered well how sensitive Mairi’s breasts were and how much he’d enjoyed caressing them. With a desperate moan, he deepened the kiss, their tongues tangling and caressing in a sensual duel.
He was lost in Mairi. The world outside of her had ceased to exist. Which was why the roar didn’t register until it was too late. A large hand clasped Keir’s arm, and he was thrown halfway across the parking garage. He landed with a thud on the concrete floor, just in time to see the Wookiee wrap an arm around Mairi’s waist and lift her from the ground.
“Let go of me, Jonas!” Mairi tugged at the big, hairy arm.
The Wookiee bellowed and strode back toward the elevators, carrying Mairi under his arm as though she were a rugby ball.
“Put me down this instant,” she yelled. “I was in the middle of something. You can’t just pick a person up and walk off with them.”
The Wookiee let out a stream of irritated warbling, which had Mairi rolling her eyes. Keir was on his feet and running after them as the lift doors opened. A family of four stared open-mouthed as the Wookiee ducked his head and entered the lift. Mairi folded her arms, still suspended in his hold, and glared up at him.
“I am not happy with you, Jonas. This isn’t how a Wookiee would behave.”
The two young kids were awestruck, and one of them reached out to pat the Wookiee.
“You’re letting the whole Star Wars franchise down,” Mairi snapped as the doors closed.
“Let go of her,” Keir shouted, just as he screeched to a halt in front of the closing doors. He was too late, and the lift went up without him.
Before he headed for the stairs, Keir thumped the metal doors repeatedly with his fists. He was going to kill that damn Wookiee. The overgrown ball of hair had ruined one of the best moments in Keir’s life. Yeah, he was going to skin the big bastard and turn him into a damn rug for the living room floor. Then Keir would wipe his feet on him, every bloody day.
Chapter 8
Even hours later, Mairi still wasn’t sure if she was pleased Jonas had interrupted her moment of weakness with Keir, or mad as hell. Her girl parts were definitely mad, but her brain was thankful. It had been a close call. Ten more seconds and she would have climbed on top of him and bonked his brains out on the hood of his car—in the parking garage of a hospital.
“I’m really annoyed with you,” Mairi told Jonas, who made a mournful noise that she assumed was an apology. “I don’t care if you’re sorry. You were bad. Very bad.”
She sounded like she was talking to a five-year-old. Give her another couple of minutes and she’d make him sit in the naughty corner. This was what her fake boyfriends did to her—they turned her into a school teacher surrounded by problem children. It was one of the many reasons why they should have remained online, where they belonged.
“He said he was only saving you from yourself,” Sebastian translated for his friend. “I agree. You can’t afford to be swayed by the mechanic’s muscles and tattoos. There’s more to a relationship than a six-pack.” He patted his slightly rounded stomach, which was covered by a t-shirt with a Stormtrooper and the words Underneath, We’re All Different on it.
Mairi cocked an eyebrow at him. “Really?”
Sebastian flushed. “I could have a six-pack, but I choose to spend my time exercising my brain, not my body. Good looks fade, but intelligence lasts forever.”
“I feel like I’m in an episode of The Big Bang Theory and I’m Penny,” Mairi said.
That set the guys off into an enthusiastic debate about whether Sheldon suffered from Asperger’s. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t heard before; they spent a lot of time analyzing the cast on that show.
They were in the Highland Pub in Campbeltown. Mainly because Mairi couldn’t take another evening under siege in her tiny apartment, so had invited the men to the pub after they’d dropped Gladys back at the home. Thankfully, it was a Tuesday night, so it was quiet. There were only one or two regulars in the pub to stare at the group in bewilderment.
The boys had pulled several tables together in a long line under the large wall-mounted TV. Most of them were wearing jeans and t-shirts emblazoned with geek slogans. One of the twins, Damien, was wearing a suit—because it was a night out, and when you went out, you wore a suit. She’d just patted his head and moved on. Then there was the Wookiee.
She glared at him, and he warbled again.
“You know,” Sebastian said, “if you’re kissing people to see if you have chemistry with them, you should keep it fair and kiss each of us.”
It was as though someone had put the pub on mute. All eyes shot to her.
“Do I look like something you can try before you buy?” She stood and slapped the table. “No. I am not kissing everyone. I’m going to go sit at the bar for a few minutes to give you time to think about the wrongness of that idea.” Damn it, she sounded like a kindergarten teacher again.
Past caring, she stomped over to the bar. A glance at the clock told her they’d been inside exactly ten minutes, not even long enough to get in a round of drinks. Time was slowing around the men. If she didn’t get rid of them soon, she’d end up trapped in some sort of Groundhog Day cycle, where she wasn’t allowed to move on until she picked one of them. Or—she eyed their numbers—she could just wait until they all got bored of chasing her. They’d lost a few of the group already, due to discouragement or lack of interest on their part—because her obvious lack of interest was gamely ignored. One of the guys had gotten lost in Glasgow when his scooter couldn’t keep up with the pack. Surely, it was just a matter of time before the rest wandered off too. She looked over at them and shook her head. Who was she kidding? The remaining men had settled in for the long haul.
Mairi climbed onto a stool beside the bar, which wasn’t easy, because the stools were made for giants, not normal people, like her. No matter how hard people tried, no one could convince Mairi that five foot two was anything but normal, and woe betide anyone who uttered the word “short” in her presence.
“I need a drink,” she told Ewan McKenzie, Keir’
s cousin and owner of the pub. “Something strong.”
He slammed a can of 7UP in front of her and cocked an eyebrow.
“Oh, come on.” Mairi picked up the can. “You can see what I’m dealing with.” She pointed at the guys. Two of them had calculators out, as they figured out how much each person should put in the pot to fairly spread the cost of a night on the town. Their words, not hers, because Campbeltown wasn’t actually big enough for anyone to have a whole night on it. They hadn’t even ordered a drink yet, and if they kept arguing over how to split their costs, they never would.
“Aye, I was wondering about that.” Ewan frowned at the men. “What’s going on?”
“I’m on a date.”
“With all of them?”
“Welcome to my life. Now, please, give me alcohol.”
“You don’t get alcohol. Not after the last time. You’re lucky I let you back in my pub.” Ewan folded his arms and glared at her.
“Don’t be such a sissy. People get drunk in here all the time. If you cut everyone off that did, you wouldn’t have any business.”
“You’re the only one that starts a fight every time you get drunk.”
“Twice. I did that twice. And to be fair, it wasn’t really me. It was Agnes.”
He snorted. “It was both of you.”
“Well, Joanne Granger shouldn’t have called Isobel a whore.”
“I agree, but you shouldn’t have jumped on her back and tried to pull out her hair, either. You can’t argue your way out of this. You’re on soft drinks or nothing at all. Be grateful I let you in the door. Other pub owners wouldn’t have.”
She popped the tab on the can and gulped the 7UP while she gave him the death stare. He didn’t even flinch, which made Mairi think she might be losing her touch.
Arguing broke out behind her, and she looked over to see that one of the men had produced a whiteboard marker and was using the window to explain how to divide up the cost of their evening. Mairi groaned.
“You going to deal with that?” Ewan said.
With deep reluctance, Mairi climbed—okay, possibly fell—off the stool and dragged herself over to the men. She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. There was instant silence.
Can't Tie Me Down! Page 6