Chapter 8 Ramsay #2
I was only distracted from his deliciousness by Cammie’s tension.
She contemplated the Lantern’s main door.
Quinn had been in a horrible mood the last few days and to my surprise, Ramsay covered for me about the wall.
I’d gone to the B and B the next day to apologize for my impulsive and irresponsible behavior, but Ramsay interrupted before I could take the blame.
He said he hadn’t known I’d wanted to be there for the demo and had started work without everyone.
I’d been grateful to him because I didn’t need my main contractor thinking he couldn’t trust me.
When Quinn was out of earshot, I’d thanked Ramsay and promised him nothing like that would ever happen again.
The yeti (now not yeti) had grunted at me and walked away, which pissed me off again.
I didn’t know what it was about him that got under my skin so much, but my feelings toward him were very confusing.
“Is Quinn okay?” I asked Cammie.
She shook her head, lips pressed together tightly. Finally, she sighed. “It did not go well with Taran.”
I’d guessed as much. “I’m sorry for Quinn.”
“I’m sorry for them all.” Cammie gave me a melancholy smile. “Come on, let’s grab a drink.”
“I’m heading out.” Murray stood too.
“You don’t want a drink?”
“No, we’re a man down for the chartered fishing guide, so I’m out on the boat tomorrow with a bunch of tourists.”
“Enjoy.” Cammie teased like she knew it was the last thing Murray wanted to do.
I knew Murray owned a large fishing company on Glenvulin. He had several fishermen, like Laird, who ran small crews, but he also ran chartered fishing guides for tourists. Salmon fishing in this part of the country was huge.
The man jerked his chin toward the bar where Ramsay and his other band member, Forde, now stood, before wandering out with a few goodbyes to locals.
“Come on. I’ll introduce you to Forde.” Cammie took my arm and guided me to the bar.
Akiva came over for a few pets before she returned to her dad’s feet.
I tried to avoid Ramsay’s gaze, focusing in on Cammie’s friend.
I’d seen Forde out and about because he was hard not to notice, but we’d yet to be formally introduced.
Forde Dallas owned the only mechanic’s garage on Glenvulin, and he volunteered with the Leth Sholas Lifeboat Service.
He not only volunteered to help maintain the lifeboats, but he went out on rescue operations too.
Cammie had told me all of this with real fondness in her voice because she’d grown up with him. He was Quinn’s best friend.
Forde, like Quinn, was thirty-six years old and seemed more suited to a stadium concert stage than the Lantern. He looked like a tattooed rock star turned cologne model.
What the ever-loving fuck was in the water here?
I clamped my lips shut so I didn’t gape at the man.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t used to attractive people.
Growing up in the life I did, I’d met celebrities and some of the most attractive men in the world.
However, finding a pipe band of them on a tiny Scottish island seemed farcical in a way.
If more people knew about these men, a flood of people would move to Leth Sholas.
“Forde, this is Tierney Silver, our newest resident. Tierney, this is Forde Dallas, our resident Lothario.” She shot him a mocking smirk.
He grimaced but his dark eyes glittered warmly. “You have the references of a ninety-year-old.”
I chuckled as Cammie shoved him playfully and he laughed.
Muscles, boyishly hot smile, dark hair. Perhaps an inch taller than Cammie, a bunch of tattoos that looked sort of Celtic all over his arms and even his fingers.
Forde had a rough bad-boy thing going on that wasn’t really my type, even if I could admit he had a sexy-ass smile.
Speaking of sexy-ass smiles … feeling the heat of his stare, I finally looked up at Ramsay. Now here was a man I never would’ve guessed was my type.
But my body definitely thought he was my type.
Ramsay had a pint in his hand and he gestured with it. “Want anything?”
Guessing that was his charming offer to buy me a drink, I shook my head. I needed to stay sharp around him.
“Juice instead?” Cammie asked. “Diet Coke?”
It was weird to me that they called fizzy drinks juice in this part of the world, but I’d caught on a few weeks ago when Cammie first said it. “Yeah. I’ll buy, though. What are you having?”
“No, it’s fine, I’ll—”
“What are you drinking?” Ramsay interrupted her.
“Diet Coke too.”
“I’ll get it.” Forde stepped toward the bar but Ramsay cut him off with a wave of his free hand and leaned over to get the bartender’s attention.
A few minutes later, I was situated at the counter with Ramsay while Cammie and Forde stood beside us talking about people and events I didn’t know and wasn’t there for.
I knew Cammie didn’t intend to leave me with Ramsay McRae.
She seemed to forget everything else in Forde’s presence, lighting up around him in a way that was hard to explain but that I knew I hadn’t seen from her before.
They laughed together like two kids on the playground.
Ramsay stared around the room as he sipped his pint. Akiva lay at his feet now, an actual physical barrier between us and Cammie and Forde.
Irritated that Ramsay was trying to avoid me while I stood right next to him, I asked with the deliberate intention to needle, “So, are you over your snit yet?”
His eyes connected with mine and I ignored the way my heart accelerated. Seriously, I really wanted to know how the hell he did that to me.
“Snit?” He emphasized the t.
“Yeah. I mean, I apologized, and you still grunted at me like a caveman.” I was only half teasing.
Ramsay raised an eyebrow. “Silver, you almost brought a seven-thousand-square-foot house down on yourself.”
“I apologized.” I shrugged. “And promised to never do anything so reckless again.”
“Are you in the right state of mind to be making those promises?”
“Yes. Trust me to know that.” I sipped the soda and wrenched my gaze from his since looking at him made me feel like I’d injected espresso into my veins.
“You ever planning to tell me what sent you to drive a sledgehammer through the wall?”
“Are you ever planning to tell me why you live on an island by yourself?”
He gestured to his beautiful dog. “Not by myself.”
“Mature response.”
“You know all about those.”
“It’s not my fault you’re very annoying.”
Ramsay’s eyes searched my face, glittering with … intensity that felt sexual. “Is that what I am?”
“Yes.” The word wheezed out, and I cleared my throat, my cheeks hot. “Somewhat.”
His lips twitched. “You’re somewhat annoying too.”
Even though I knew he was joking, part of me still wondered if he wasn’t. I didn’t want to think about that too much or why it bothered me. “I’m a goddamn treat,” I replied instead, shrugging off hurt feelings.
He grinned, and it knocked the breath right out of me.
Ramsay’s eyes sharpened ever so slightly before dropping to my mouth. My lips actually tingled beneath his attention.
“You shaved. And cut your hair.”
His attention jumped back to my eyes. “I do that occasionally.”
“It looks good. Hygiene-wise, I mean.” I shrugged.
His lips twitched. “Right. Hygiene-wise.”
I tried not to, but my lips strained against a laugh and too late it huffed out, my cheeks hot. Ramsay’s eyes warmed with amusement. I was breathless again. I wanted to reach up on my tiptoes and press my lips to his to settle this overwhelming awareness between us.
“Ramsay!” A woman suddenly shoved past Cammie, knocking her slightly into Forde and me out of my Ramsay stupor. “Oh, sorry!” she apologized cheerfully, almost stepping on Akiva who jumped to her feet and growled in warning. “Goodness!” The woman halted in fright, staring down at the dog.
“Akiva, heel,” Ramsay ordered, patting her head in reassurance. He eyed the newcomer, a pretty, very tall, very voluptuous brunette who had attractive laughter lines around her eyes that told me she was perhaps a decade or so older than me. “Ava, what are you doing here?”
She eyed Akiva warily again as she shimmied past me, forcing me backward so she could press a hand to Ramsay’s chest and lean up to kiss his lips.
Oh.
Okay, then.
When she pulled back, it forced me to retreat farther, and I had to apologize to a tourist I’d knocked into. Cammie scowled in annoyance at the rude newcomer.
“You might say excuse me to people,” Cammie told her bluntly.
The woman’s eyes widened, and she glanced over her shoulder, flushing when she saw she’d shoved me out of the way. “I’m so sorry! I’ve just come barreling in. I’m Ava.” She turned back to Cammie. “I’m Ramsay’s—”
“What are you doing here?” the man in question repeated gruffly, seeming pissed.
The brunette slumped. “I’m late. I know. I caught the ferry over ages ago so I didn’t miss your gig, but then I fell asleep in my hotel room.”
“You came over for the gig?”
“Aye, I wanted to surprise you.” She beamed sweetly at him.
That’s when I remembered Cammie telling me Ramsay was seeing someone from the mainland.
Apparently, it was more than a casual fling.
Crushing disappointment made my feet feel like they were sinking into the floor.
“And you’re staying in Leth Sholas?” Ramsay’s expression hadn’t cleared beyond stony confusion.
“I missed you.” Ava shrugged. “I know you were planning on staying with Quinn tonight, but I thought you could stay with me at my hotel. I’m better company.
” She flicked me a look, as if suddenly remembering I was there.
And she paused. She studied me as if she was seeing me for the first time. “Sorry … who are you?”
There was a change in her tone. A wariness. “I’m Tierney. Nice to meet you.”
“Are you here on holiday?”
“No, I live here.”
Ava’s jaw clenched ever so slightly as she turned back to Ramsay and cocked her head in accusatory question.
And that was my cue to leave!
“I think I’m done for the night,” I told Cammie as I put my half-empty glass on the bar top. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Cammie jolted from whatever softly spoken conversation she was having with Forde. “Oh. Shall I walk you out?”
“No. I’m a few doors down. Nice to meet you, Forde. You too, Ava.” I didn’t look at her or Ramsay as I thanked him for the drink and then lowered to my haunches to say goodbye to Akiva.
The Malamute bussed into my pets, her beautiful pale eyes staring into my soul in the same way her damn owner’s did.
I kissed the bridge of her nose. “Good night, beautiful girl.” She tried to swipe me with her tongue in response and I laughed, evading it before I rubbed behind her ears and turned away.
The Lantern was now elbow-to-elbow, and I had to squeeze through to make my way out. Some locals nodded good night, which warmed the disappointment chilling my limbs.
Unable to stop myself, I glanced back at the bar.
Ramsay was so tall I saw him over the crowd.
Our eyes locked as he watched me leave.
With a frown of confusion, I turned away and walked out.