Chapter 15 #2
“Oh.” Her hand went to the damp handkerchief she’d hung over the sink. I beat her to it, needing to be doing something. Anything.
“Can I?”
She nodded and my fingers were at her jaw a heartbeat later, angling her face, wiping along the column of her throat like it was my hand’s singular purpose now. Take care of Isla Lang.
At least while we were in this room.
“Do you think she did it on purpose? Annabelle,” she asked. I could tell the thought had been turning over in her mind.
“Yes,” I said simply, wiping the point of her chin.
“I thought so, but . . . I don’t know, maybe I didn’t want to believe it.
” She blinked, not meeting my stare. “Not because I don’t think Annabelle is capable of something so nasty.
She is, obviously – she looked me in the eye for weeks .
. . hugged my daughter, all the while she was tearing our family apart.
” Her voice thickened, and I dropped my hand, letting it fall uselessly at my side.
“I think she’s delaying our Cairn her skin was like silk – “you’re the mother of his child.
It’s likely dawning on her that there’s no cutting you out; you’re always going to be a part of Cameron’s life. ”
“Like a disease,” she said quietly.
My fingers slipped over her hip and squeezed, chiding. God, she really was insanely pretty. Dizzyingly feminine. Strong. Her words made me wonder if too many years with that prick meant she couldn’t see herself clearly.
I wanted to ask exactly what lies he’d been putting into her head.
I wanted to ask about the damn school trip he was apparently too selfish to pay for. The stack of unpaid bills on her table.
Not your damn business. “Is the skin tender?” I asked, because I could do this for her.
“No.” The catch of her breath when my fingers touched her skin said otherwise. But there was minimal redness.
“Secondly, you didn’t see Cameron’s face back there – he couldn’t take his eyes off you. And when he hasn’t been watching you, he’s been glaring at me like I’ve got something he wants.” Rat bastard. “So, tell me again, how has she won, exactly?”
Maybe I should reconsider my belief in fate, buy a lottery ticket or something, because the second the words left my mouth, a loud knock rattled the door. “Isla?”
Cameron.
Her eyes found mine just in time for me to mouth, “Right on time.” Like this was all part of my grand scheme and not a happy accident.
“Isla!” His fist beat the wood again. He even managed to knock arrogantly. “You in there?”
“You should answer him,” I said, tightening my grip on her hip.
“Y-yes,’ she called. Her eyes widened at me even as she did exactly as she was told. “What are you playing at?” she whispered.
No idea.
I dropped my mouth to her ear, allowing myself one long inhale that made my heart race. “I promised to make him jealous. Now you get to decide exactly how jealous.”
“I’m sorry about that back there,” Cameron continued, voice slightly muffled. “Annie can be really clumsy sometimes . . . she didn’t mean anything by it, I promise. I . . . uh, got you a clean T-shirt from one of the stalls.”
What a fucking hero.
“Tell him you’re being taken care of,” I said, nose half buried in her hair.
Her breath was coming in hot little pants against my collarbones.
We were barely touching, the tips of her breasts no more than a threat against my chest. It was enough to make heat pool low in my stomach.
Teasing did it for me, I guess. Because when Isla tipped her head back, pushing closer, my head felt clearer than it had in months. Nothing existed outside this room.
“Tell him,” I urged.
“I’m fine—”
“No,” I chided, pulling back just enough to stare at her – to share air as her thigh nudged between mine.
An accident, probably. She was too short to cause any friction, but I nearly groaned at the promise of it, suddenly desperate to do the same to her, and my next words came out far too roughly. “Say it, Isla, word for word.”
“Isla?” Cameron questioned again, an impatient edge to his voice.
I bet he was sighing. Checking his ugly watch because she dared to make him wait.
“We didn’t get to finish talking . . . I’m really sorry to do this again, but I need to cancel my afternoon with Teddy.
Something came up with the house. A mix-up with the new bathroom tiles.
Annie wants to drive out to Inverness to pick them up ourselves—”
My disgust for this man was so visceral, I could taste it. Invertebrates had more of a backbone than he did.
I saw the exact moment Isla made her decision. Her entire face set aflame. “Screw him,” she hissed, hands knotting in my belt, dragging me into her.
“Fuck.” The grunt was real, but I let it loose nice and loud as my fingers slipped under the hem of her borrowed T-shirt, shaping the small of her back. “Can I touch you like this? No further.”
Isla’s head knocked the door as she nodded her agreement. “I’m – god—” I dragged my lips up her throat without pressure. The ghost of a kiss. Her entire body bucked, making the wood creak beautifully. “I’m being taken care of,” she said loudly.
I grinned into the curve of her shoulder.
“So good, Isla.” A groan rumbled from deep in my chest. Loud.
Deliberate. My fist thumped the door over her head when her cold fingers scraped over my hipbones.
I had enough sense to keep my groin as far away from hers as I possibly could.
“Your turn, better make it good,” I whispered, hardly even aware of what I was saying.
Her lips were parted, pink. So pretty. If I kissed her right then, I had a feeling she’d kiss me back. Let me finish what I’d barely even started yesterday in Brown’s.
Her hot breath felt as sticky as my skin in the few places where our bodies touched, and yet, I didn’t think I’d ever been so turned on in my life.
Her fingers dragged higher. I glanced down, every muscle tightening at the sight of her rings against my ribs while her hips bucked in the smallest roll.
Fuck, was she as turned on as I was? I wanted to know. It was suddenly all I could think about. Kissing all the way down her stomach and feeling those hands curling into my shoulders. Isla’s jewelled eyes staring down at me as I hiked her skirt up around her hips.
Would she let me if I asked? If I told her I only wanted to look. Only a glance to find out if she was soaking through her underwear.
“Isla.” I’d never heard my voice so frantic.
Like I might break apart the second this ended.
My tongue let loose without my permission.
“I could make you feel so good, honey. Flip that silly little skirt up and let you ride my thigh. Make him regret the day he was born, what do you think?” She gasped, and I realised I’d fucking whispered it. Those words for her, not him.
I started to draw back, but she clung to my shoulders, hooking a leg around my thigh.
Is this real? I couldn’t be sure, even as my cock brushed against her hip and she flexed in answer. Seeking and testing.
We were just high from all the tension. Our bodies getting caught up in the act, I reasoned.
But when she whispered, “I think I can definitely give him one more.” I didn’t hold back, rolling my lower body against hers in a way that had her sighing, squeezing her eyes shut. I squirrelled her reaction away into my long-term memory, so I could replay it until the end of time.
“Alistair,” she whimpered. Begged.
But hearing my name was like being doused in cold water. What the fuck was I doing?
I flinched away, backing up until I hit the sink. Ending the moment almost as quickly as it began. Smoothing my hand over my face like it might possibly put me to rights.
We stared at each other in the dim light. Her features so innocently shocked, I wanted to laugh.
She looked as stunned as I felt.
Finally, I asked, “Think we lost him?” Trying and failing to sound teasing.
“He probably took off after the first groan.” Isla’s chest was heaving, legs slightly spread, T-shirt still rucked up around her waist. She looked like she’d just been fucked against the door.
Another ten seconds and I had zero doubts we would have been doing exactly that.
“I need to find Teddy,” she said, dragging a hand over her hair.
“She’s going to be gutted when she finds out about Cameron. ”
“Probably.” Neither of us moved.
The space between us crackled, like we’d hooked ourselves up to a generator. Fully charged with nowhere to expend it.
“Alistair—”
“Just part of the act, right, Lang?” I cut her off. No clue what she’d been about to say, but I knew I wasn’t strong enough to hear it. “Maybe we should have outlined this part a bit more thoroughly in the guidelines.”
Had that truly only been that morning? It felt like a lifetime ago.
“Right.” She nodded, finally unpeeling herself from the door. I turned to the mirror, watching her reflection as she tied the front of the T-shirt into some kind of knot, exposing a pale strip of skin above her skirt.
I cleared my throat, remembering the reason we were here in the first place. “Your stomach looks fine, might want to ice it later to be on the safe side.”
Her reflection glanced at mine, eyes locking in the mirror. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” So formal. I grabbed my jumper, punching my arms through the sleeves. “We should get going.”
I felt strangely pulled apart as I stepped out onto the green. Like my insides had been rearranged and put back in the wrong order. The sunlight was a little blinding. The air a little too clear. Voices too loud.
I felt the eyes of onlookers on us, and my cheeks burned a little, like I was doing the walk of shame. I looked to Isla, ready to apologise. But she was . . . laughing?
“Well, if they didn’t believe us before, they certainly do now.”