Chapter 39
S carlett’s eyes filled with unwelcome tears, which she rubbed away angrily with the palms of her hands between pulling out the little clothing she had from her drawers and cupboards.
Unlike Ana?se, she didn’t own an array of colour-coded Gucci suitcases, so instead she stomped into the kitchen and grabbed a roll of black bin bags out from under the sink. Not exactly classy, but they would do the trick.
The sight of two mugs beside the sink, probably from earlier this morning before June and Andrzej left the apartment for the day, made her pause.
He was here most nights now to the point it was weird when he wasn’t, but the sight of the used mugs created an uncomfortable swelling of emotion in her chest, ambushing her with a whole new onslaught of tears.
She didn’t want to go. For all her musings and determined planning to do so after the wedding, the very idea of leaving the flat, her mother, Andrzej, Mrs Wilson, the house, and its grounds… Edward … all made her struggle to catch her breath.
This is my home.
Scarlett leaned over the sink, unsure if she was going to sob, faint, or puke. The effort to stay upright was overwhelming. She couldn’t understand how emotions could physically hurt like this, and she’d felt plenty of pain and disappointment before. This was a whole new level.
She considered she might be having a panic attack, but as she steadied her breathing, she gathered her thoughts and realised it was just the result of her heart shattering into a thousand tiny pieces.
It sounded ridiculous when she’d read about it in the past, but she began to genuinely believe that people could actually die of heartbreak because she couldn’t conceive the idea that she would ever get over leaving this place.
But she had to. She couldn’t stay, not anymore.
With a new sense of purpose, she returned to her bedroom, tearing a bag from the roll and haphazardly pushing in socks, knickers, and second-hand jumpers.
Part of her wished she’d never tracked her mother down, never found Haddon House, and never laid eyes on either of the Cameron-Reid brothers, especially not Edward!
She would’ve got over Jason and built a life again, blissfully unaware that a place and life like this ever existed.
But she had met them and, despite all her good intentions, had fallen madly and deeply in love with Haddon House and all its quirky and loveable inhabitants, not least their insufferable laird and master.
And now she would have to go through the rest of her life knowing what she was missing, which was so much worse than never having experienced it in the first place.
“Fuuuucck!” she cried out and threw the clothes in her hands against the wall, slumping down to her knees, and sobbing into the bed. It was all so horribly unfair– all of it.
The clearing of a throat made her turn with a start.
“I did knock, but the door was open so I…” Edward’s voice trailed off as he took in the sight of Scarlett and the chaos surrounding her.
Scarlett groaned, covering her face with her hands, mortified, knowing full well that her hair was wild, mascara was likely running down her face, she was surrounded by clothes and half-empty bin bags, and, worst of all, she was snotty.
“Scarlett, what’s happening here?” he asked, shaking his head.
“I’m leaving!” she cried into her hands, despite now not feeling capable of doing anything, let alone packing her things and driving a car.
“No, you’re not,” he said simply.
“I am!” She half snorted and sobbed simultaneously. “This is not cool; we can’t be related—”
Edward huffed a nervous laugh. “We’re not.”
“And everything is a mess—” she continued, not hearing him.
“It’s really not. Except for your room. This is most definitely a mess.”
“The wedding is ruined, and we’ve ruined everyone’s lives and—”
He sighed loudly. “We really don’t have that much power and influence, Scarlett. Nothing is stopping those two from getting hitched today, least of all us or a drunk maid of honour, trust me.”
“Really?” She finally dared to meet his eyes.
Edward nodded and approached Scarlett, crouching down and pulling her up to standing. He smoothed her hair back from her face and wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs, then pulled out the handkerchief from his jacket pocket to clean her nose.
Just great.
“Everything is going perfectly to plan down there. Trust me.” He moved his thumbs near her eyes and gently wiped away the tears there too– or maybe it was her smudged mascara, she wasn’t sure.
An involuntary sob escaped before she asked, “And you’re really not my brother or cousin or nephew, or anything equally weird and disgusting?”
“No, I can happily confirm we are not in a live reenactment of Game of Thrones .” He kissed her forehead.
“I’ve never actually watched that,” she said, another faint echo of a sob escaping from her chest.
“We can do that– together. It’s been a while, and it’s probably one of my all-time favourite books and series.” Edward smiled at her, continuing to gently stroke the dampness from her face.
“I didn’t know that.” She shrugged.
“There’s a lot you don’t know.” Edward kissed both her cheeks.
The tears finally stopped. “Like what?”
Edward paused for a moment. “I don’t like cornflakes, especially not with fruit, not even banana. And if I need to eat cornflakes, they have to be coated in sugar.”
“Why not just have Frosties?”
He let out a soft laugh. “I don’t like those either.”
“Neither do I,” Scarlett said, her breathing finally returning to normal.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Jason being here. We were having a moment– I didn’t want to ruin it or stop. It was so long since I’d had you near me and—”
“It’s okay, I get it. It was a good moment to be fair.” Scarlett looked up at him. “You should’ve told me though.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
“I can’t let you go. I won’t, especially not with him.” Edward tensed, and his face was suddenly serious.
Scarlett couldn’t help but laugh. “Edward, I have no intention of going back there, you must know that?”
His frown and pained expression told her he didn’t.
“Where were you going then?” He looked around at the devastation surrounding her.
Scarlett was finding it hard to concentrate with his deep blue eyes drilling into hers for answers.
“To my car.” She realised how ridiculous she sounded. “Genuinely had no master plan other than that.”
Edward’s face relaxed. “So, you weren’t planning on going back to him?”
Scarlett made a face, making Edward smile. “You’ve met the delightful duo. You really think I’d do that to myself?”
“No.” He took a deep breath in and out before continuing, “I don’t suppose you would.”
“What did you mean?” she asked after a brief pause.
“What?”
“When you said you won’t let me go?” Pushing, always pushing. When would she learn?
“You know what I mean.” Edward’s trademark awkwardness was returning as his eyes started darting around the room, but she wasn’t letting him get away with it. Not this time.
“Tell me.” Scarlett made to pull away, but he kept hold of her.
“You’re really going to make me say it?” He groaned at being forced to say the words.
But she needed to hear them. Words held power, especially to her.
Scarlett nodded. “Yes, abso-fucking-lutely.”
“I’ll never tell you to watch your mouth again, just so you know.” He gave her a lopsided smile.
“Don’t change the subject!” Scarlett needed him to say it.
“Aarrgghh.” Edward raised his eyes to the ceiling before looking back down at Scarlett. “I don’t function properly when you’re not with me. Literally, nothing makes any sense. When I’m not with you, I want to be and if I can’t be, you’re in every waking fucking thought. I need you.”
“You need me? For what, sex?” She couldn’t help herself.
He rolled his eyes at her. “No, I mean, aye, that’s part of it. But it’s more than that, a lot more.”
“Like what, Edward?”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“I love you, okay? I’ve tried not to, but I do. It’s impossible not to. Have you met you?”
Scarlett’s face broke into a massive goofy grin, and she no longer cared what she looked like. “I mean, that’s quite cute.”
“I’m not fucking cute,” he growled.
“Oh, but you are!” Scarlett pinched his arm, making him twist away from her hand.
“That’s not the response I was looking for, to be honest.” There was a trace of hurt in his voice.
Scarlett pulled him back to her and looked up, the smile leaving her face.
“I love you too.” It felt weird for her to say the words out loud.
She’d only ever said them to Jason, and after a while, it felt like they had lost all meaning. But with Edward… with Edward, it felt like everything.
He was everything .
Well, almost. She still had a lot about her future to consider.
He interrupted her thoughts. “You look beautiful, by the way.”
All she could see was his smile, full of mischief– that delicious smile that made her insides go soft.
She wasn’t sure she agreed with him, especially considering the state she’d been in just moments before, but she wasn’t foolish enough to check her reflection in the mirror.
“This dress is something,” he said, tracing his fingers down the deep neckline, exposing the swell of her breast. She did agree with that. Its beautiful and clever design was intended to be inviting, but not so much that it looked cheap.
His fingers caressed her nipples, making her take a sharp intake of breath. “The material is insanely soft.”
“It’s silk, apparently,” she breathed.
“Nice.”
“You’re pretty dashing in the whole Scottish laird get-up you’ve got going on too.” She could feel his smile against her neck as he bent down to kiss beneath her left ear.
“Thanks. And no, it’s not just the sex. But you’ve got to admit it’s pretty damn good?” He continued to trace the sensitive skin on her neck with his mouth.
“It’s not bad.” Scarlett shrugged, a smile playing on her lips. “I can take it or leave it, really.”
“Really?” He drew back to look at her and Scarlett laughed at his frown.
“Is it true what they say about Scots and their kilts?” Scarlett cocked her head in question.
Edward relaxed, clearly putting his ego back in check.
“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Edward cupped her backside, squeezing hard enough to make Scarlett squirm against him.
With a coy smile, she reached below the front of his kilt and inhaled sharply for effect when she felt his nakedness beneath.
“Interesting,” she said, watching as his mouth parted and he let out a soft groan. She moved her hand further inside to take hold of his hardness. “And always very impressive.”
He closed his eyes and released another low growl. “If you want to make this wedding, you’d best stop that, or we’re not leaving this room for a good couple of hours.”
“I don’t actually like weddings that much.” Scarlett smiled and shrugged again. Edward gathered the back of her dress with his fingers, exposing her thighs, then slid his hand inside her panties to feel how wet she was.
“This never gets old for me,” he breathed into her ear as her head fell back at the impact of his fingers inside her. “You drive me wild.”
“I hadn’t noticed… but you do have an awful lot of clothing on… and I won’t lie, this fabric is quite itchy!”
Edward laughed. “Aye, I get what you’re saying.”
“May I?” Scarlett made to remove his jacket.
Edward nodded, and Scarlett proceeded to undress him.
First, she carefully removed his jacket, which she placed over the chair next to her bed. Next, she took hold of his wrists to take off his cufflinks and, after placing them on her dresser, she moved on to the buttons of his shirt.
All the while, Edward watched her intently, moving and adjusting himself to allow her to slowly remove each piece of clothing. She enjoyed taking her time, running her hand over the back of his exposed shoulders and kissing his biceps as she pulled the sleeves from his arms.
His body looked and felt so good. She marvelled at his toned torso as he stood shirtless with nothing but his kilt, socks, and shoes on. She was half tempted to leave them all on. It was all a bit Outlander -esque.
Instead, though, she lowered herself onto her knees, removing his belt, the sporran, and, after a few moments of fiddling around, figured out how to unravel his kilt.
She leaned back to admire him as he stood proud and rigid in front of her, at which point she couldn’t resist taking him in her mouth, making him draw in a sharp breath through his teeth.
“Holy fuck, Scarlett,” he growled at her. “That’s too good.” He grabbed her head to slow her pace. “I want to make it last.”
His eyes, flooded with want, locked onto hers as she looked up at him, doing her best to relax to accommodate all of him, which she could see was pushing him to the edge of his control.
“Enough!” he said sharply, pushing one last time deep inside her mouth before withdrawing. Groaning, he pulled her up to standing and kissed her deeply, pulling her close into him.
She could feel his cock straining against her through her silk dress, and she briefly wondered if it would dry-clean okay, but as his hands began moving across her breasts, finding her nipples again, she stopped caring.
“You forgot about the Sgian-Dubh.” Edward smiled against her lips.
“I’m sorry, the what?”
Edward laughed loudly from his belly– a sound Scarlett delighted in.
“The knife…” he told her gently.
Scarlett looked down and laughed. “Oops, sorry! Didn’t realise you were carrying!”
Edward kicked off his shoes, pulled off his socks, and wasted no time in casting the items aside.
Pulling her towards the bed, with one quick swoop, he cleared the bags and clothes from the mattress onto the floor.
“I’ll help you clear that up later.” He smiled, throwing Scarlett on top of the bed, and she squealed at the impact of his forcefulness. She watched him as he walked over to close and lock her bedroom door.
“I’ve learned the hard way. Always lock the door.” He winked at her as he returned to the bed, kissing her like only he could.
He might not be everything, but he comes pretty damn close!