Chapter 24
A s they lay on the sofa, limbs tangled, breathless, covered in a blanket Edward sourced from the Indian trunk-turned-coffee-table in the centre of the room, it still didn’t feel finished . If anything, it felt endless.
He stroked the curve of her spine, and Scarlett let out a contented sigh.
“That’s nice.”
“Just nice?” he asked.
“It’s just fine .”
He could feel her smile against his chest, to which he responded with a swift slap on her arse, making her yelp.
“That was mean.” She nipped his chest with her teeth in response, making him cry out.
“Fucking wildcat with your little sharp teeth!” He rubbed where she’d bit him, but she nudged his hand away with her head, kissing the spot gently.
“If I’m a cat, that must make you a weird form of catnip.”
He laughed. “That’s definitely another first.”
“Cat kryptonite. It’s a fancy new term of endearment. All the kids are using it these days.”
“Really?”
It was Scarlett’s turn to laugh. “No. That was my attempt at being nice.” She shrugged and then rested her head on his chest. “Better than being an old, mean, and surly Scot.”
“Less of the old, thank you very much! And trust me, I could be so much meaner,” he said, half joking, more than a little aware that he did indeed have a bit of a mean streak and was, in fact, renowned for it.
But not towards her. Never to her. At least not intentionally.
Scarlett leaned up on one elbow to look at him, suddenly serious, as if she’d read his thoughts.
“So, this talk …”
Edward groaned and tried to pull her back to his chest, but she resisted, and he knew he couldn’t avoid it any longer.
“Okay, let’s talk.” He closed his eyes, awaiting the talk .
“It’s not a Scarlett talks at Edward session, it’s a two-way adults discussing adult stuff type of situation.”
He opened one eye to look at her, quickly noticing the annoyance on her face taking form. He didn’t want another fight, so he opened both eyes and focused on being engaged.
“Let’s do this then,” he told her.
Scarlett took a deep breath before starting. “What do you want from this?”
“I thought I’d been pretty clear on that front.” He shrugged playfully, but her eyes told him she wasn’t playing.
He let out a deep sigh. “I want this, I want to, you know, date you, get to know you, spend time with you… I just don’t know how we do this without everyone and his horse having an opinion.
Or making things awkward. I want us to have a bit of space and time to enjoy each other like normal people.
But it’s hard when…” His voice trailed off.
“When it’s the help that you’re fucking?”
“That’s not it. I mean, there’s a bit of that, but not how you think.”
“Go on,” she said, and he could see she was doing her best not to let her temper get the better of her.
He leaned forward to kiss her. “I will not tell you to calm down, as my balls are quite close to that elbow there, but just let me try to explain, okay?”
A smile played on her lips, and he felt her relax. “Go on,” she said again.
“Leonard has been fucking , as you politely put it, members of staff, their daughters, wives, cousins, nieces, and best friends, pretty much since his balls dropped at the age of fourteen.”
Scarlett laughed and shut her eyes tightly. “Great visual there, thanks!”
“It’s true.” He laughed. “The boy was an absolute liability. The number of scraps and questionable situations that my dad, and later I, had to get him out of are nothing short of ridiculous. A local farmer once turned up with a shotgun looking for him, accusing him of taking advantage of his daughter when she worked here one summer.” Edward shook his head at the memory.
“That was the last straw, so we sent him kicking and screaming to uni, which he didn’t want to do.
After six months, he dropped out to live in the States.
” Edward paused. “Anyway, point of the story, I don’t want people to think the same of me.
We may look similar, but I’m not like that. I’m nothing like him, and vice versa.”
Scarlett was no longer looking at him, instead focused on the small patch of hair on his sternum, which she was absentmindedly playing with. “I know that,” she eventually said.
“Which is why I’m finding this entire situation difficult.”
“So, maybe we just take a pause.” Scarlett lifted her head to look at him. “Get the wedding out of the way. Let me sort out my divorce, buy my own place, and then we can see how things are.”
It seemed like a sensible approach, but the idea didn’t sit well with him, and he struggled to keep the annoyance from his voice. “Where are you thinking of buying? In England I presume?”
She looked down again. “Not necessarily, no. I just want a bit of independence, that’s all. Something that’s mine, that nobody can come along and swipe from underneath me.”
His annoyance dissipated. She was scared, and rightfully so. Her ex had done the unspeakable.
How was she now supposed to let her guard down to trust anyone after that?
But he didn’t want her to go. The thought made him feel uneasy, which was alien and disorientating, and not something he was even remotely comfortable with.
“That could take months. I’m not going to be able to stay away from you for months .” He immediately cringed, usually being the cool, collected, and aloof one in his romantic dealings with women.
She smiled up at him. “And I’m the impatient one?”
“When it comes to moving furniture and wanting answers, abso-fucking-lutely!” He pulled her close to him and this time she didn’t resist.
Her hair smelled clean and fruity, and the feel of her naked body pressing against him felt too good. He didn’t want her to leave the room, let alone the estate, never mind the sodding country.
He needed to keep her here, he just wasn’t sure how to do it yet, even though the idea of her staying scared the living shite out of him too.
How could two things feel so true at the same time?
“Edward?”
“Yes?” His voice was gravelly from too much brandy and tiredness, thanks to all the physical exertion in the last twenty-four hours.
“This all scares me a bit.”
“Me too,” he whispered, stroking and kissing her head. “But maybe we just need to stop overthinking it.”
“I don’t know how to act in front of you and other people now.”
“We don’t need to act like anything, really. Just behave like—”
“Do not use the word normal again!”
He laughed. “Okay, how about we just behave like us, but leave the PDA for behind closed doors? Would that work?”
She was quiet for a while before nodding. “I can work with that.”
“Good.” He sighed, grateful they’d found a way to relieve the tension and anxiety that had built up between them since their return to Haddon. “Do you need to go home?”
“I don’t know, probably. I’ve upset my mum, so yeah, I should maybe attempt to smooth things over.”
He stroked her back and nuzzled his face into her hair. “At least you’re not calling her by her first name anymore.”
They both laughed.
“And you could come back after dinner? Stay the night.”
“She’d know if I don’t sleep there.” Scarlett sighed.
There seemed to have been a lot of those these past few days– on both sides.
“I suppose,” Edward conceded half-heartedly.
“We should probably both get some rest, anyway. I’m going to end up with an infection at this point.”
“We’ve been careful– and I am clean!” he said with a tad too much force.
Scarlett laughed before straightening her face at his incredulous look. “I didn’t say a STI!”
“What’s the difference?”
“A bladder infection, UTI, whatever you want to call it– you get it from too much sex!”
“Oh. Ouch.” He didn’t fully understand, but at least he wasn’t being accused of spreading diseases.
“Exactly.”
“But I am clean and always careful.” His voice was firm.
Scarlett nodded. “I know, I can see that. Plus, I’m also on the pill.”
“Well, there we go– all bases covered. But I still want you to come back and sleep here.”
“Not tonight, oh demanding one,” Scarlett told him, patting him on his chest.
Edward sighed and then groaned, disliking his sudden need to have her in his bed, but also knowing that a night away wouldn’t kill him and would probably do them both some good.
And for fuck’s sake, we’ve known each other for barely a fortnight. Get a grip!
Lost in his thoughts, Scarlett brought him back to the room when she kissed him before untangling herself and standing up– she really was nothing short of magnificent.
He studied her full breasts, her curves, and the glistening remnants of their sex at the top of her thighs as she bent down to find her clothes and began dressing in front of him– her eyes locked on his. It was erotic as fuck.
“What time is your dinner?” she asked, breaking the spell.
He groaned again, rolling onto his back and covering his face with his hands. “I don’t want to!”
“You’ll be fine. Jump in a cold shower, wake yourself up a bit, and put on a smile.”
“Leonard is being a particular fuckwit at the moment, not to mention he went and employed…” Edward wasn’t sure he wanted to drop this particular bombshell at the moment, but he’d started so had to finish. “He’s brought someone in to sort the catering for the wedding.”
Scarlett’s face brightened. “That’s great news! We were worrying about the short timeframe Mrs Wilson had to sort it all.”
He knew the brightness would fade when he told her, but she needed to know. “The woman he’s brought in, well, she’s my ex.”
“Lily’s mum?”
“No, someone I was with for a couple of years after the divorce. Her name is Briege.”
He watched Scarlett’s face and demeanour change as she processed the information.
“I see,” she finally said, some of her self-assuredness fading.
“There’s nothing between us anymore. We haven’t spoken in an age, and I have zero interest in her.”
“How come she’s doing the catering?” Scarlett took a sudden keen interest in her feet.
Edward sighed. “Because Leonard is an arse.”
“So he knows her well, too?” She looked back up at him and he hated Leonard even more than before, if that was even possible, for putting those clouds of doubt in her eyes.
“Kind of. They’re not exactly friends, more like acquaintances.”
“Because of you?” she asked.
“Our families know each other.” He winced, knowing how this must all seem to her.
“Right, okay.” Scarlett sat on the chair positioned away from him to put on her trainers.
“Scarlett…” He didn’t like the way she was closing herself off to him again. “There’s nothing to worry about here.” He sat up, suddenly feeling underdressed with nothing but a blanket covering his bottom half.
Scarlett sighed and then met his eyes again, offering a half-smile and a shrug. “I’m actually not usually this insecure.”
Edward stood, letting the blanket fall to the floor, and strode over to her, pulling her up to standing.
The mischievous sparkle he was becoming increasingly fond of returned to Scarlett’s eyes as she looked down at his cock.
“Focus,” he said sternly, which made her look up with a genuine smile. “Briege, and Leonard for that matter, are colossal pains in the arse, but,” he kissed her, “neither is anything for you to worry about. Okay?”
Scarlett’s eyes bore into his for a long moment before she spoke. “Okay.”
“So, is that still a no to coming back later?”
Scarlett laughed. “It’s still a no. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”
“Alright, as you wish.”
“Enjoy your dinner.” She smiled and went on her tiptoes to kiss him. “See you tomorrow.”
He reluctantly let her go so she could make her way to the door.
“Goodnight,” she said, and blew him a kiss before closing the door behind her.
Realising he was standing in the middle of his office naked, he went in search of his clothes.
He really wasn’t looking forward to sitting through another meal with them all again.
Lily was already back in Perth. She’d texted him earlier, questioning him further on his whereabouts the night before, which he swerved by avoiding giving her a direct answer, to which she’d responded by telling him he was boring and she was off home.
It would therefore be a dinner with the undesirables.
Great.
And as for the whole Briege debacle, he’d simply swerve her too.
He genuinely didn’t have any concern on that front. As long as they all stayed away from Scarlett and left them both alone, everything would be just fine .
Edward shook his head. This whole wedding farce would be done and dusted in a matter of weeks, and life on the estate could then return to some semblance of normality.
Not that he was entirely sure what that looked like anymore. The pre-Scarlett era was quickly becoming vague and unmemorable, despite her short time with them. And although he was sure he didn’t want her going anywhere else, he wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about her staying, either.
Scarlett offered many things, but peace and quiet certainly wasn’t one of them, and wasn’t that what he wanted from life?
Had he not sworn off women and the effect they could have on his inner and outer peace?
But Scarlett wasn’t just any woman and that, if nothing else, was something he was absolutely certain of.