Chapter 2
TWO
DON’T STOP
Ally
Scarlet’s lips descended on mine, and my teasing ceased. Her first tentative touch sent a shockwave straight down the centre of my body.
Ah Christ, aye to this.
There, with that press of lips, I’d broken another rule. I hadn’t intended to, but this lass drove me to distraction. Even her scent had me rigid, forcing back the bloodlust that threatened to overtake my rational thoughts.
Memories of my fucking awful previous evening rang too loud in my empty head, and I needed the disruption. Desperately. Scarlet, smart and gorgeous as she was, eclipsed everything. She always had.
I’d wanted this for too long.
She moved slowly. It wasn’t enough for me.
Palming her cheek, I tipped up her face, taking control, then I kissed her back. Hard, and with clear intent.
Scarlet received the kiss before gasping and tearing our lips apart, her eyes wide.
“Jesus,” I muttered, then glanced to the photographer.
The woman was talking with a new couple visiting her stall. In her hand, she wafted our picture, drying the ink.
“You’ve never even… I mean, I thought…” Scarlet closed her mouth with a snap and sat tall, breaking the contact between our bodies. “Was that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly.
Pink spread over her cheeks. Scarlet had freckles. Hundreds of them, across her nose and over to her temples. It went with the territory of her flame-red hair and pale skin. As a teenager, when she visited the castle, I’d teased her about them.
Now, I wanted to taste them.
“Scarlet? Alasdair? Here’s your snaps and information on ordering the cameras for your wedding.” The stall owner held out the shots.
Scarlet and I stared at each other for a beat then stood in unison, pushing each other to get to the woman first. The lass elbowed herself in front of me.
“Thanks so much! We’ll certainly consider you for our wedding!” Scarlet sang, dancing backwards with the photos clutched to her chest.
“Let me see,” I demanded, pursuing her.
She peeked at the shot then raised her bright gaze to mine, her lips clamped together.
“I want that one. The hot one. I’ll use it to keep me warm on lonely nights. Hand it over,” I begged.
Scarlet twisted on her spiked heel and flitted away through the crowd.
I gaped at her escape then got my act together and strode after her.
The doors flapping ahead showed me she’d exited the wedding faire.
I followed and found her in the corridor outside.
In her hand, she held up one of the polaroids, her phone raised in front of it.
“I just took a picture and sent it to my sister.”
“Ye did not.” Her sister, Mathilda, was married to my eldest brother, Callum. When Scarlet had come into our lives, he’d taken me aside and told me not to mess with her.
He’d never made the same demand of Wasp, my twin.
“Please tell me you didn’t.” I bore down on her and grabbed her hand, flipping the picture. It was the first one, with us smiling nicely, just sitting together.
“Brat,” I said.
Scarlet’s leer grew bigger. “I didn’t lie. I just told her I was with you at a wedding faire. She’ll get such a kick out of it.”
“Show me the other picture.” I loomed over her, backing her into the wall.
At the end of the corridor, people crossed the busy lobby. I ignored them. My blood was up, and common sense had left the building.
The past twenty-four hours had been horrible. My agent had booked me for an evening event—common for models to make extra cash. Some hotshot guy had hired a group of pretty people to party with at a restaurant.
He’d bought us drinks.
I was ninety percent certain mine had been spiked with something.
I’d been awake all night, buzzing and shaking. A few hours’ sleep had brought me to this evening, and I still felt wired.
“You can’t handle it. It’s too hot.”
“Now, lass,” I ordered. With my phone dead, I couldn’t do the same and take a picture.
I really wanted that shot.
She slipped her hand inside her off-white blouse and took the photo from her bra.
Oh fuck. That simple action had me hard as nails.
Scarlet turned the polaroid around, and I tore my gaze from her and took in the picture.
Christ. We were just moving in for the kiss, eyes closed and heads tilted.
Scarlet’s breasts strained against her shirt where she twisted at the waist, her short skirt rode up her slender thighs, and my biceps stretched my t-shirt.
The angle of our heads, and the potency of the pose…
The wedding photographer was right, we did look good together.
More than good.
“That is fucking scorching,” I said, my mouth dry.
“I know. If we’re that hot just kissing…”
Both of us stilled, staring at the other.
Scarlet’s gaze dropped from my eyes to my mouth.
She sucked in a breath. Held it.
The next move was mutual. In a flash, we grabbed the other’s arms, pulling ourselves in, then our lips met in a second kiss. This time, it wasn’t tentative. This time, nothing held us back.
We clashed. Under my insistent lips, she opened her mouth. Her tongue met mine in a seductive slide that had me forgetting everything apart from this moment.
Scarlet’s arms wound around my neck. I went the other way, gliding down her body, skimming her waist and taking two handfuls of her backside. The edge of her skirt grazed my fingertips, and she gave a moan that had me surging, needing more. Now.
The heat between us would burn our clothes off any second.
In her hand, her phone trilled.
“Ignore that,” I ordered, going in for another kiss.
Scarlet reared back an inch. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
“I know.”
“Come to my room.”
That made it through the haze of sex hormones. “What?”
“This kissing… I like it. I always wanted to try. But I never knew you wanted me, too, until now. At least, I think I know that.”
“Aye. Always have.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Fuck it. What did it matter?
“We’re away from home. No one has to know. I’ll text Dad and tell him I’ve gone to bed early. Let’s get out of sight and do this some more. It’s been a really long time since I kissed anyone.”
Inside, somewhere deep down, I winced at her offer. The far bigger part of me rejoiced at what we were about to do. But still. She wanted a clinch. A one-night stand, maybe.
If she’d asked me this a year ago, I, the king of one-night-only deals, would’ve bitten off her arm to take up her offer. But my last encounter had changed my mind about sex.
I’d slept with a friend. Kaylee had come to me upset and asked me to help her forget her pain.
Years ago, she’d been the first person I’d slept with, and we’d stayed friends after.
That night, we’d had sex, and I’d never heard from her again, despite checking in with her multiple times in the nine or ten months since.
She’d regretted me, that was for sure.
If I slept with Scarlet, a woman I’d wanted so badly for such a long time, the same thing would happen. Except at Christmas and birthdays, she’d be there.
Unlike Kaylee, this lass couldn’t avoid seeing me.
And, idiot though I was, I’d learned enough to make the right decision.
“No,” I ground out, wanting to punch myself in the balls. “It would be a mistake. It’d make things awkward.”
“Don’t say that. We don’t have to regret this if we don’t want to. I don’t have time to date anyone, but I miss… You know.”
“I know what?”
She pursed her lips. “Sex. There. You made me say it. One thing I’m learning in business is you go after what you want. We’d be good together, you know it.”
I lifted my chin. She and I would light up the bedroom.
Scarlet’s jaw set in defiance. “So we’ll make the rules.
I visit the castle once or twice a year, tops.
You are barely there anymore, with your career taking you around the world.
” She advanced and pressed her chest to mine, gazing up at me as she pushed me against the wall. “I really want to do this.”
“I really want to do this, too,” I echoed.
“Then don’t stop us.”
Her phone bleeped again. Her gaze jumped and found her screen. “It’s my sister sending messages. Wait, lots of messages.” She retreated, removing her warm body from mine. Scarlet scrolled through a multitude of texts. “She says to call her now. Callum needs to speak to you.”
“Me?” I stood tall. “Wasp was trying me earlier. Shite. Something’s wrong. Call Callum. Put him on loudspeaker.”
Scarlet complied, and the phone rang. Then she peered left. “Crap. It’s Devon and Dad coming our way.”
Down the hall, two men approached. Simultaneously, the call was answered.
“Scarlet? Put Alasdair on,” my oldest brother barked.
“I’m here. What’s happened? Is everyone okay?” I clutched Scarlet’s hand clamped around her phone.
“Everyone’s fine. Don’t panic.” He drew a heavy breath. “Ye need to come home.”
“Why?” I exchanged a confused glance with Scarlet.
“Just get on a plane, will ye?”
“Cal, if something has happened, ye need to tell me. I’m meant to be working tomorrow. I’m going to need a really good reason to cancel. Jennie will end me.”
My brother paused, and my heart sank to the floor. Behind Scarlet, her father drew closer, his gaze taking us in and a frown stamped across his face.
“I’m sorry to tell ye this over the phone, but we’ve had news…” He trailed off, so untypical of him and his bombastic way.
It had to be bad. Whatever this was.
“What happened?” I yelled, jamming my free hand into my short hair. “Spit it out. You’re killing me here!”
“A woman has come forward claiming ye fathered a child.”
Callum’s words dropped on me like a bomb.
I opened my mouth. No reply came.
“A baby?” Scarlet squeaked.
“Alasdair, take me off loudspeaker now,” Callum ordered.
Three pairs of eyes watched me. I only stared at the phone. None of this made sense. I’d never even had a girlfriend, and though I’d slept around plenty, I’d always been careful. It wasn’t possible.
“I…” I started.
“Scarlet, why don’t you come with us and we’ll let Alasdair carry on with this interesting conversation on his own?” Scarlet’s father said. His voice held a strange note.
“This is Scarlet’s phone.” I finally found my voice. Then my brain reengaged. “Callum, give me ten minutes and I’ll ring you back.”
I killed the call and dragged my gaze to meet Scarlet’s. “I need to go.”
Without waiting for an answer, I ran.
And I didn’t look back.