7. Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Cam and Elizabeth Are Trouble
Lachlan sat in the only chair in Violet’s Airbnb, and it was awkwardly tiny for his tall, broad frame. No matter how he shifted, he couldn’t get comfortable. While he waited for Violet to shower and get ready, he looked through some emails on his phone, but there was nothing that required his attention urgently.
Putting his phone away, he eyed the modest room. By the window that overlooked a tidy patch of garden, Lachlan sat in a chair at a small round table. There was a queen-size bed, two mismatched nightstands, and a large white wardrobe. Small, but cozy enough, he supposed. Anna would hate it.
Fed up with the tiny chair and not wanting to entertain thoughts about his girlfriend, he stood. What a whirlwind the past day had been. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say he felt an immense sense of relief at Violet’s recovery. The worry he’d felt through the night and morning about her had thankfully dissipated. Maybe he’d actually get some sleep tonight. A little voice in his head quipped, You think you'll sleep with this lass so near? He quickly squashed the unruly thought. And turned away from the window.
He caught sight of a few books stacked on the nightstand. With nothing else to do while he waited for the lass, he went over to inspect what books she was reading. He picked up the first book, Atomic Habits by James Clear. Lachlan smiled to himself, as it was one of his favourite books. Flicking through the pages, he noticed her annotations. He stopped on one highlighted section and couldn’t stop himself from reading her neatly printed note: habit stacking is the baby steps to your goals . He couldn’t agree more. Clever lass. Then he found himself wondering, what were Violet Munro’s goals? He literally knew nothing about her, which was ironic since he felt somehow like he knew her well. Like his soul knew her soul. Lachlan snickered out loud. He wasn’t one for fanciful thoughts.
Looking back down at the book in his hands, it occurred to him that he shouldn’t be reading the lass’s annotations. They were her private thoughts, much like a diary. Tempting as that was, he had no right to snoop, so he reluctantly closed that book and glanced down at the one below it and almost laughed out loud. It was the other end of the spectrum from Atomic Habits.
On the cover was a half-naked, overly chiseled dude dramatically embracing a voluptuous woman with wind-swept hair. He smirked to himself before curiosity got the better of him. He opened up the book to a random page and read:
Cam hadn ’ t been able to get Elizabeth out of his mind since the moment he ’ d laid his eyes on her long red locks. She was a fiery temptress. He no longer cared about propriety. No longer cared he couldn ’ t give her more than just lust. He needed her, and he needed her now. The moment their lips touched, it was like a bolt of lightning shooting through him. He ’ d dreamed of this since the moment he ’ d met Elizabeth Macduff. She tasted of honey and sin. The sweetest nectar he ’ d ever known.
Lachlan stifled a laugh, but he kept reading despite himself.
The kiss deepened. Tongues entwined. She softly moaned with his rock-hard column pressed up against her. She wantonly rubbed herself against him. Cam knew she was a vixen deep down, and nothing pleased him more.
Her body was heavy and tingly. Elizabeth didn ’ t know how Cam could turn her molten with only a look. And now he was ravishing her senseless. She couldn ’ t think straight. She could feel something building deep within her. A longing that only he could satiate. She felt his hand reach up into her long tresses. He firmly tugged her hair back, exposing her neck. His hot, wet tongue seared a trail down her neck to her breasts. Her back arched. She shuddered with ecstasy as he licked her pert nipple through her gown.
He reached down and released his manhood from his trews. A shiver ran through her. She would be a maiden no more. He positioned himself between her legs, and she felt him nudge against her. “ Cam, I need you,” she begged breathlessly. Pleasure seared through her. But then he stopped himself, and she could see in his eyes that his conscious was stopping him. “ Please, Cam,” she breathed, needing him.
“ I cannot take your maidenhead. It will ruin you. You deserve a husband.” His voice was strained.
The bathroom door opened, and Lachlan half-jumped out of his skin. He quickly shoved the book back down, as if it was on fire, and stepped back toward the window. That's when he realized he had a hard-on.
Violet scurried out, all wet, with a towel wrapped around her. His mouth went dry, and his cock tightened even harder.
“Sorry,” she quipped without even looking up. “I forgot to grab clean clothes.” She was back in the bathroom, door closed, and Lachlan let out the breath he’d held. He ran his hands through his hair and then adjusted his pants to relieve some pressure from his awkwardly uncomfortable bulge.
Then he thanked his lucky stars that Violet hadn’t looked up. Even if she didn’t notice the cock that was straining against his dress pants, he wasn’t sure he could hide his guilt over his current hot and bothered state.
Squeezing himself back into the tiny chair, he glanced back over at the reprehensible book. He turned his attention to the greenery out the window, trying hard to extricate the image of Violet wrapped in nothing but a towel from his mind.
What was wrong with him? He shouldn’t be thinking of Violet in any other way than platonic. It was probably the damned book making his thoughts go astray. As he sat staring out the window, his thoughts turned back to the book, and he actually found himself curious if Cam and Elizabeth did it or not. And then he wondered if Violet had read that bit yet.
Shite . He needed to get his head out of the gutter immediately. It wasn’t like him to have sex on the brain. That was where his brothers' heads lived, not Lachlan’s.
He definitely didn’t want to be thinking of Violet in a sexual manner. That was just plain wrong. She was a sweet lass who needed his help, needed a friend, not for him to be some lecherous creep. To say nothing of the fact that he was in a relationship. Christ. Lachlan ran his hands over his face with a heavy sigh. Anna. Thoughts of their relationship weren’t sitting well with him. Until he figured that out, though, he definitely needed to reign in this sudden randiness. It was completely inappropriate. Utterly wrong.
Agreeing to stay with Violet probably wasn’t his brightest decision, but he couldn’t back out now. He needed to focus. The only purpose he had right now was helping out a woman, a friend, he modified. One who’d been through a traumatizing ordeal. Violet didn’t know him, but she trusted him, to some extent, at least. And that meant something to Lachlan. He’d not abuse that trust. Nor Anna’s trust.
Sadly, he’d known men, and women for that matter, who couldn’t control their sexual urges. Or perhaps it was more that they chose not to control them. Yes, that was the problem: people choosing to act on their urges. Well, Lachlan would never be one of those people. All he had to do was control whatever the hell had gotten into him for the next twenty-four hours. This was not a problem.
Lasses always liked Lachlan because he was the nice guy. Perhaps because he had sisters, he was comfortable and at ease with women. He’d been told more than once that he was a good listener. Lachlan found women much less complicated than most men thought them to be. Kindness and gentlemanliness went a long way. With Violet, he just needed to remember why he was in her company. It was to help. To be a friend. Christ, he wasn’t a barbarian. He could enjoy her company and, at the same time, help her—as any friend would do.