Chapter 4
Chapter four
Rhys
Sex Dungeon Kidnapping Situation
"Getting wet." I finish for him with a smirk. Innuendo isn’t usually my thing but doing my usual thing has left me cheated on and alone.
I can see the recognition in his chocolate brown eyes behind his rain speckled glasses.
So much for flying under the radar.
"That's what she said." He clips out quickly, like it was an automatic response, and a laugh huffs in my chest, surprising me.
It’s an unfamiliar sensation, genuine laughter.
How long has it been since I’ve been caught off guard in a light-hearted way?
And with a handsome stranger no less.
Usually I brace myself and prepare for backstage meet-n-greets, or interviews, or red carpet appearances by telling myself they’ll be over soon.
The conversations are short, predictable, and punctuated with a photo opp. Polite laughter and self-deprication working best in those moments.
Even with Mike, we often enjoyed each other’s silence, and would use unspoken words to initiate intimacy. He never whispered sweet nothings, never used my name.
Maybe the signs were on the wall after all.
My broken heart taunts me with how wrong I got it.
Not wanting to stand in the rain dwelling on the disaster that is my current love life, I turn to the handsome stranger. "C'mon funny guy, let's get out of the rain."
"So you're actually Prince Charming moonlighting as a country rock star?" He says as he pulls my jacket tighter around his shoulders. They're too broad to fit and it was loose on mine.
He’s my height. I might be an inch taller. His chest is broad and his shaggy brown hair is curling in the rain.
My heart rate picks up as I track a raindrop down his cheek to where it gets lost in the thick stubble lining his square cut jaw.
"Dang, you figured it out." I deadpan through a dry mouth as I start walking back to the car.
"Hold on, I gotta get the luggage."
"Luggage?"
"Yeah, well wait. I assumed you were going to drive me to my Granny's house. But maybe this is a sex dungeon kidnapping situation. I'd be game for that if it were by the way." When he shrugs the coat slips and he pulls it back into place.
"Unfortnately Bonn na Cnoc doesn't have a sex dungeon."
"But you can see how I might think that given the name."
"It means, foot of the hill."
"Irregardless." He waves off my explanation. "With a name like that there could be a lot of fun to be had but it's tough to get the things we’d need delivered in a timely manner up here in bumfuck Scotland." He shrugs. "I'm Duncan Paisley by the way."
"Rhys Reid." I shake his hand and it's calloused and rough. Warm. Our hold on each other is firm, like we're sizing each other up.
"Are there people who don't actually know you when you give your name?"
Another surprised laugh tumbles out and my chest warms. "Not usually, no."
"Crazy." He mutters as he walks back to the little two door car and opens the trunk.
I help him move the four suitcases over to the Range Rover and follow him around into the back seat.
"Where to sir?" Our family’s driver, Greg, asks. I turn to Duncan and raise my eyebrows in question.
"Ah, to Lorna Paisley's house please. She's just a few miles ahead."
Greg nods and we pull out onto the road.
"So you're here visiting your grandmother?" My voice rises too high at the end of my question. I have no idea how to conduct small talk with a stranger that isn’t supervised by my team.
"Yep. And you're here running away from the spotlight?"
"Yep." This time I swallow my laugh.
"Cool."
Our eyes catch for a fleeting moment, long enough to register it, short enough that I want more. Then he turns to look out the window and I do the same.
Duncan brought the scent of the rain into the car with him. And something else, something spicier.
We hit a pothole in the road and I'm jostled to the side. My hand lands on his thigh when I try to catch myself and we both stop to look at it.
I'm about to open my mouth to apologize when I see a wide grin spread across Duncan's face.
"The old, whoops I slipped move. Really?" He shifts and my hand slides a little further up his rock solid leg. The urge to explore warms my palm but I don’t know what to do with it because lust isn’t something I’ve chased. Ever. "Rhys, I'm a sure thing, you don't have to work so hard."
"Maybe I like working hard." I say and the flirtatious line surprises me. His eyes sparkle behind his glasses and my entire body heats as his gaze darts from my face to my hand to my body tilting dangerously toward him. I pull back before the flames engulf me. "Sorry Duncan."
"Why? That was a great line." He insists with a smile that consumes his entire face.
"Yeah, but, I'm, well…" I don't do casual hook ups. Does it get lonely? Yes. Do I crave physical intimacy? Yes. Am I willing to risk someone exploiting me? No. "I'm not looking for a relationship right now."
He scoffs. "Same bud. I'm not looking for a relationship…ever."
"Ever?"
"Nah, I mean, where's the fun in that?"
"Well," I start but he holds up a hand to stop me.
"Don't bother. I've got buddies in their relationship era and I've heard their arguments. But it's not for me." His jaw ticks as he looks out the window.
"Alright, fair enough." I concede. It's oddly refreshing to talk to someone who doesn't seem interested in locking me down. Every fan who gets a one-on-one tends to be overly flirty and suggestive.
It's taxing.
I left home to make music, the fame just sort of happened. I’m a quiet, reserved man who loves to write songs and now I also sing them on stage for thousands of fans.
Coming home to Scotland is a reminder of how different my life is now than it could have been.
"It's the next drive on the left." Duncan says to Greg who nods.
We pull up the lane to a modest and tidy home. A large oak tree sits just off to the right of the yard and flower beds full of spring greenery dot the perimeter. Greg pulls to a stop, with my side of the car facing the house, and we all climb out at once.
My boot hits the gravel with a crunch and before I can settle my other foot on the ground, I’m startled by a piercing yell.
When I look up, a flying object is headed straight at me so I duck and cover. The sloppy wet thing hits my back and falls to the gravel with a plop.
"Give no quarter mateys!" The hollered words come out of nowhere before I'm struck along the back with what feels like a broom.
"Granny! Stop!" Duncan yells.
"Duncaroo?"
"Yes, geesh, what did you think you were being commandeered?" Duncan sounds a little exasperated as he joins me and brushes off my shoulders.
"What was I supposed to think when a giant battle vehicle comes slowly up my drive?"
"We tried to stop her." A pretty woman says as she hands me some paper towel. "Sorry about the beetroot."
I glance down and see a pile of pickled beets at my feet.
"Aye, but they stain so everyone in the village knows you're one to watch out for." Granny says as she leans against the broom handle looking satisfied.
"He didn't need the beetroot for that." Duncan says as he walks past me holding two suitcases. "Granny, Delilah, meet Rhys Reid."
"Holy fuck." The young woman says.
"Nicola and Andrew’s boy?" Granny says as she narrows her eyes at me.
"Aye, good to meet you." I extend a hand. She eyes it skeptically but shakes it anyways and then I turn to where Delilah, I’m assuming Duncan’s sister by the resemblance, is gawking. "Nice to meet you too."
"Right, yeah, umm, sure thing." She fumbles.
"Smooth." Duncan teases as he walks past her to the trunk again for the last of the bags. "Well that's everything."
"Right." My throat clearing serves as punctuation to my sentence.
"Thanks for the ride. Shame we didn't get to explore more together." Duncan smirks as he slides my coat off his shoulders and hands it to me.
I reach for it and the weight of the fabric pulls at my muscles, or maybe it's that I'd rather feel his weight in my arms.
How can I go from heartbroken to smitten in the blink of an eye?
"Well, maybe we can while you're here." I toss up the hail mary.
Delilah’s head whips back and forth between us and I see her fingers fly up to tap against each other over her chest.
The fluttering matches the feeling in my stomach.
"Maybe. If we run into each other again we'll see where it goes." Duncan winks.
The split second gesture stokes the wildfire in my chest.
He nods and takes two steps backwards before turning and pulling his sister under his arm and messing up her hair.
In a daze I get back into the car. I roll the jacket and keep it tucked in my lap as we drive away. My thumb brushes the collar and I swear I can feel the heat of his throat lingering on the fabric.