Sneak Peek
Scotch Series
S cotch & Dreams : releasing in the spring of 2025
1
She had zero recollection of how she got here, how long she’d been here or even where 'here' was. Deep blue eyes were intense on hers. Concerned. Intimate. Caring. They weren’t familiar eyes, but in her haze of confusion, those eyes brought her an unexpected yet solid sense of comfort.
“How are ye feelin’?” The man spoke slowly, gently. His bur was deep, rich and as warm as honey on her fractured thoughts.
“I-I don’t know. My head hurts,” she said in a voice that didn’t feel like her own as she touched her swelling forehead. She felt strange, her thinking muddled. It was odd, she was certain she didn’t know the man who was kneeling inches from her, but he felt safe somehow. Not lock-your-doors safe, but fall-into-my-arms-and-I-will-catch-you-safe.
Panic was lurking around the outer edges of her mind, ready to choke her, but his touch, his voice, and his presence were helping to pull her from its sticky grip. Strong hands gently, but firmly held her shoulders. Deep blue eyes anchored onto hers and wouldn’t let her go. Later she would recall the strange intimacy of it, but at the moment everything felt off, unfamiliar, fleeting.
“What’s yer name, lass?” His voice was a salve on her battered mind.
“Violet Munro.” The name tumbled out without a preamble. When she tried to retrieve thoughts, they seemed to flit around like uncatchable fireflies. She was certain of her name, but how or why she was certain of it felt like a complete mystery. It was just there. Her name was clear and rose to the surface all by itself. A moment’s relief seeped into her.
“Verra good,” he smiled at her with the warmth of an embrace. She found him mesmerizing. This stranger. Finding an escape from her jumbled thoughts she let herself fixate on the details of his features. He was a magnet for her mind, visceral, technicolour in her haze of grey confusion.
Studying him brought a desperate focus to the heap of disarray in her brain. His white button-down shirt was crisp with navy pinstripes, and there was a sharpness to his navy blazer. The way the golden skin of his neck looked in contrast to the white of his shirt. His straight nose ended in a slight flare to his nostrils. Blue eyes so deep and rich they tugged at her very soul. And his smile with its slight crookedness, imperfectly perfect. She felt a sudden wild urge to press her lips to his, to see what it would feel like to be kissed by such a contradictory mouth.
Her senses felt heightened in some ways, so aware yet so out of sorts. Bewildered as she felt, one thing was crystal clear: this man was an angel in the ashes. The kind of man every woman’s fairy tale heart yearns for. The strong hero who could love her to the furthest reaches of her soul. He was warmth, comfort and sexiness. Violet concluded as she stared into his otherworldly blue eyes, that she had to be dreaming. Her world was as solid as a puff of smoke but for this man.
“Do ye ken where ye are, Violet?” She made the mistake of breaking eye contact to view her surroundings. A beach, the sea’s waves washing gently onto the white sandy shore. The air was mild. Long tufts of grass grew at the back side of the sand. She could see a pier all lit up with fairground lights in the distance and a smaller wooden pier directly in front of them. The sun was setting, casting a pinky-purple hue.
Violet looked down beside her and noticed that she was sitting on the long grass. She ran her fingers through the green-gold cool blades. Hot tears pricked her eyes. I’m on a beach , she thought to herself. But I don't have the slightest idea how I got here. Oh fuck.
The dream man gently wiped away a tear that rolled down her cheek. She leaned her face into the palm of his hand. She desperately sought the comfort he so freely gave. “I-I don’t know where I am.” She swallowed, trying to hold back the fear that threatened to drown her. “I don’t recognize any of it.” She looked into his eyes, searching for something, but she didn’t know what. She was lost. “How did I get here?”
Quiet tears spilled down her face as grappled with the knowledge that she couldn't recall anything, save for her name. She shivered maybe from cold, maybe from shock, it didn’t matter.
“It’s going to be okay lass,” he murmured as he slipped off his blazer and draped it around her shoulders. Then his strong comforting arms wrapped around her, like they belonged there. She settled against him but was still unable to quell the shivering that wracked her body.