Chapter 15
MAIRI
Mairi’s stomach bubbled with nerves as she waited for Jed to pick her up from the Harry Reid International airport.
People bustled around her pulling cases and talking, but she barely acknowledged they were there.
She was too busy searching for Jed. Her insides on tenterhooks, knotting and unknotting each time she thought she spotted him before realising it was a stranger.
She’d decided to visit Jed on impulse after Quinn had told her his best friend was competing in a ski event in Nevada and staying in Las Vegas for a week.
She’d booked a flight, then messaged Jed a few seconds before she’d boarded the plane from Edinburgh, asking him to pick her up before switching her mobile off.
It had been a calculated attempt to ensure he couldn’t tell her not to come.
She still couldn’t believe she’d been so impulsive, so reckless. But somehow, she’d known the time had come. After a lifetime of adoring him from afar, she’d had to take a chance. So now she was plunging into the unknown, putting herself and her heart on the line – and she was terrified.
She gulped. What if Jed had called her brother? What if he didn’t come to the airport – or worse, arrived and told her to leave?
He’d never given her cause to think he had feelings for her. But there had been something about his long looks the last time she’d seen him; the hint of pain she’d seen in his eyes when he’d watched her marry Mike; that had given her hope.
‘Mairi?’ Suddenly she heard Jed’s musical voice through the chatter of the crowd and spun around.
Her blood pressure spiked and her insides leaped as her eyes sought him out.
He moved towards her, his movements graceful like they were on the slopes, and her heart crawled into her throat making it impossible to breathe.
‘Hi,’ she croaked as she drifted across the airport to meet him, trying not to stare.
‘Hi.’ His voice was soft, and she had a sudden urge to leap into his arms – to tell him exactly how she felt. Instead, she offered her cheek and tried not to moan when he leaned down to kiss it.
Did she imagine that the press of his lips lasted longer than necessary for a mere greeting? Her heart hammered. She could feel the heat from Jed’s body, could smell the familiar scent of snow and pine forests and felt her knees wobble.
‘Does Quinn know you’re here?’ Jed asked as he stepped away and gave her a thoughtful look, his blue eyes darker than she remembered.
She pinched her lips and shook her head.
His lips curved and he grabbed her bag and threw it over his shoulder. It was almost ten kilos, but he made it look like it weighed nothing. Mairi tried not to think about how it would feel if he did the same to her.
‘Aye, well.’ Jed held her gaze – his cool blue eyes heating and instead of asking why his friend didn’t know, he swallowed and jerked his chin. ‘I think we’d better find a bar.’
Mairi nodded, waiting for him to move. But he continued to stare, his mouth moving as if he were arguing with himself. Then his body shuddered and he leaned down and kissed her again.
This one wasn’t a friendly peck on the cheek. This one went deeper. It was a meeting of souls, a statement of intent – perhaps even a warning that this was what Jed wanted and if she wasn’t on the same page, she should probably run.
But Mairi did want this. She wanted it all. So she let herself melt into him as their tongues twined. Then started to choke as her mouth and nose were suddenly smothered by hair, making it impossible to breathe…
‘What the hell?’ Mairi sneezed and batted a hand across her nose. When she made contact with a large furry object, she opened her eyes and stared straight into a set of large green ones.
Miaow. Shadow sniffed before turning to give her a view of his generous backside, then he began to pummel his paws into her chest and purr.
‘What are you doing?’ she squeaked, jerking into a sitting position, holding onto the cat so he didn’t fly off the bed.
Looking down, she expected to see the jeans and T-shirt she’d been wearing at the airport, but instead a hot pink silky nightdress came into focus.
She brushed her fingers over the sheer material which reminded her of angels’ wings.
She’d always had a weakness for pretty lingerie but wished she’d packed pyjamas instead.
Mairi sighed and then almost levitated when the alarm on her mobile went off signalling it was after midnight. She scrambled around in the dark trying to find it on the bedside table – when she did, she thumped it repeatedly until it stopped. Then she remembered. It was her turn to check on Effie.
‘Daingit,’ she grumbled, shivering as she swept the duvet back, almost unbalancing the cat again who immediately found his feet and hopped into the warm spot she’d just vacated.
‘I’m coming back,’ she told him sternly as she slid on her slippers and grabbed a cardigan from the back of the chair in front of her desk.
She didn’t want to turn the main light on.
Hopefully, she could check on Effie and get back to bed without waking properly.
It was going to be a busy day tomorrow with the honeymooners arriving and keeping Greer happy.
Also, Kenna was going to start hounding her about finishing the book.
She shuddered again as she pulled the cardigan on and then headed into the hallway.
Effie’s room was a few doors down from her own and she quickly skipped down the corridor and knocked on the door, trying not to trip over Shadow, who’d decided to follow.
It was quiet when she let herself in and she tiptoed across the room, stopping to check on the large bunch of flowers that had appeared on the bedside cabinet.
They hadn’t been there the last time she’d checked on the older woman.
‘Is that you, lass?’ Effie croaked and Mairi winced.
‘I’m sorry, did I wake you?’ she whispered as the cat bashed the back of her leg with his tail, making her jump. ‘Sorry,’ she hissed. ‘Looks like Shadow followed me from my room, I think he wanted to check on you too.’ She scowled at him. ‘I’ll take him away when I leave.’
‘Ach, let him stay, he can keep me company,’ Effie rasped, coughing a little.
‘Do you need anything?’ Mairi asked.
‘Nae, hennie, Jed popped in to see me an hour ago – brought me water and some medicine. Douggie popped in before he went home too, brought me those flowers.’ She smiled.
‘Douggie?’ Mairi repeated, wondering if the pink flush on Effie’s cheeks was the fever or something else.
‘Aye.’ Effie giggled. ‘I’m grand. You could—’ She paused as if reconsidering, or perhaps she’d gone back to sleep?
‘I could what?’ Mairi whispered, stepping closer to the bed.
‘Check on Jed.’ Effie yawned. ‘The lad doesn’t sleep well, I often find him in the sitting room in the morning when I get up, watching those pointless videos.’ She sounded unhappy.
‘Videos,’ Mairi asked, surprised. ‘What videos?’
She waited for the older woman to respond but instead heard the gentle sound of snoring which merged with the purring from the cat who’d already snuggled in next to her.
She pulled a face and tiptoed out of the room, then stood in the hallway for a moment, trying to decide what to do.
Should she find Jed, or go to bed? He wouldn’t want to speak to her.
Aside from those long looks when Adam had been singing Elvis songs, he’d avoided her, but she didn’t have much choice.
Mairi could hear the sound of laughing and cheering as she approached the sitting room. Did Jed have company? She knew it was unlikely to be Bonnie, but that didn’t stop the sharp stab of jealousy.
She tugged her cardigan tighter as she crept closer. She could make sure Jed was okay, do as Effie had asked, then she could head back to her bedroom and he – and his guest, whoever they were – would never know she’d been checking on him. She knew he wouldn’t like knowing she had.
But there had been something odd about the worry in the older woman’s voice. Jed had always been so impenetrable, so able to handle anything that was thrown at him. But after his revelations today and Effie’s obvious concern – perhaps she’d got that wrong?
Mairi spotted him as she drew further into the sitting room.
He was alone and slumped in the red high back chair he’d been in before and Bear and Midnight were both lying at his feet.
Jed’s injured leg was still propped on a stool – the peas had obviously defrosted because they lay abandoned on the rug.
He was still wearing the clothes he’d worn earlier.
Mairi heard the sound of slow breathing and stood watching the rise and fall of his chest. Was Jed asleep?
Something pinched in her chest. The last time she’d seen him this vulnerable they’d been in bed together and she’d been watching him, marvelling at how they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. She pushed the thought away and moved closer.
That’s when she noticed the computer propped on the table in front of him with something playing on the screen.
Was this one of the videos Effie had talked about?
As she drew nearer, she could see a half-full bottle of whisky on the coffee table and an empty glass beside Jed’s hand.
She took another step, and as she did, she heard a loud gasp from the computer and twisted so she could see what was playing and her stomach dropped.
It was a meme – someone had obviously created a technicolour video of Jed’s fall, and he was playing it on repeat.
She could see him spinning on the slope over and over, skidding back and then forward repeatedly while a comic tune played in the background.
The whole thing was overlaid with squeals of laughter and a few excited boos.
The meme had been shared a gazillion times and there were thousands of comments under it.
Mairi read the first which said, ‘Has been’ and a second which called him an ‘Eejit fool’ and decided not to look at it anymore.
Irritated, she snapped the lid shut. As she did, Jed jerked and sat bolt upright.