Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Faelan
Luch had driven about fifteen minutes or so out of Loren Brae, following the road that wound along the rocky shores of Loch Mirren toward the hospital, before pulling off onto a nearly hidden dirt and gravel lane that rolled up the sharp crevice of a hill.
Once we’d reached the top, he’d parked and hooked a backpack over his shoulders that he’d pulled from the boot of the car.
“This is beautiful, Luch.”
“Aye, it’s a favorite for sure.” I followed him down a thinly trodden trail, the wind rustling the long grasses and flowers that brushed at our sides as we walked.
Oban all but disappeared in it, and I laughed when I saw him bound, his little head popping over the top of the flowers before disappearing once again.
I recognized many of the flowers as those of the bouquets I’d been receiving, and my heart warmed as I thought about Luch walking out here, gathering wee blooms for me.
Damn it, but I didn’t want to like this man.
My instincts were signaling that something was up with him.
But from the outside, he was handsome, had a super dog, took care of people for a living, and gathered flowers for a newcomer in town.
There were a lot of green flags here, and what would it hurt for me to give him a chance?
If I was meant to be settling down and starting a life here, wouldn’t a romance be the next thing in order?
Particularly now that I was also making friends.
At the very least, I could maybe talk to Sophie about it.
She’d know who Luch was and would tell me if there were red flags to be wary of.
That was the benefit of small towns. You could get the backstory on your dating companion pretty quickly.
“Did you know there are standing stones out here?” Luch asked.
“I didn’t know that. But I’m not surprised.” There were standing stones all over Scotland, many rich with history, even more with magick. I tended to steer clear of them, never sure if I wanted to dance with any power that played there, and hoped he wasn’t taking me to a circle now.
“I’m told the locals believe you can make a wish at Christmas and it will come true.”
“Is that right? I hadn’t heard of it.” Even more reasons to believe that Loren Brae was the place for me if the locals believed in a Christmas wish at the standing stones. They’d probably not blink an eye at one more witchy woman being added to their mix. The thought cheered me and I smiled.
“Do you believe in that stuff? Magick and all that?” Luch asked.
There was a note to his voice that suggested he most definitely did not, and I tried not to bristle at his line of questioning.
Despite my initial hesitancy toward him, I truly doubted he thought I was magick, and especially given his medical and science background, it made sense that he doubted magick’s existence.
So there was no reason to take offense to something not stated.
Being questioned about magick was my own private trigger, borne of years of speculation and distrust from others.
“It’s more fun to believe, isn’t it?”
“It depends on your definition of magick,” Luch said. I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t.
“And what would your definition of magick be then?” Luch scrambled down a few boulders and then turned and held his hand out to me for assistance as I followed.
I almost hesitated touching him, since the last two times had resulted in a visceral shock, but it would have seemed even more odd of me to refuse.
My hand clasped his.
Our palms warmed together, that crazy heat trailing up my arm and through my belly, and my heart fluttered in my chest.
He didn’t move back as he helped me down, and I almost bumped against his chest as I found solid ground again. Raising my eyes, I held his gaze. There was a question there. And a challenge.
Flecks of gold shone in those mossy-green eyes of his, and my thoughts scrambled as he loomed over me—all muscles and man and rugged confidence.
“This.”
“This what?” I’d completely forgotten about my question but then his lips were on mine and any thoughts I had scattered for the hills and all I could do was feel.
Bloody hell, but this man could kiss.
I’m talking instant heat, everywhere in my body, curling up from my toes, all the way to the roots of my hair.
His kiss was a possession, and ownership, as though he had the key to unlock every secret of my body and had no problem whatsoever using it.
I went limp against him, and he dropped my hand, wrapping his arms around my waist, and pulled me more tightly against his muscular chest.
A chest I’d dreamt about every night since I’d seen him without his shirt.
Mewling into his mouth, I licked deep, my arms going around his neck to pull his head closer. He slowly tasted me, as though I was an exquisite dessert, his kiss both slow and plundering, and somehow, sweetly exploratory.
He’d push, opening my mouth wider, licking deeper, and then retreat to nibble softly at my lips while we both caught our breath.
Then another kiss, this one soft, before sinking his teeth into my lower lip and causing me to gasp with excitement.
It was a dance, a thorough seduction, and one he led masterfully.
By the time we separated, little dots floated in front of my eyes, and I slapped a hand on his chest to steady myself.
“Holy hell. I need a moment.” I wasn’t lying.
I was thrown completely off course by his kiss, unsteady but in the best way possible, and all I could think about was getting this man into my bed.
Or to the ground. Or to whatever available surface would allow us to explore, in great detail, whatever the hell chemistry this was. A fine tremor rippled through my body.
“Would it be rude of me to say that I’m pleased to hear that?
” Luch took my hand and turned it over, placing a kiss in the center of my palm, sending a tingle across my skin.
Then he folded my fingers over my palm, as though he was giving me a kiss to keep for later, and tugged my wrist to continue to follow him.
Bloody hell, this man was going to do my head in. I’d known it from the moment I’d set eyes on him, hadn’t I?
“I’d say it’s a touch egotistical, but since you’ve proven your kisses are worthy of a big head, I’ll allow it.”
“She loves my kisses? A compliment?” Luch shot me a delighted grin over his shoulder as he continued down the path. “I’ll take it.” How is he able to simply walk on? My heart’s beating frantically and I want more … and yet he’s sightseeing?
“As I’ve only got one kiss to go on, I can only offer feedback on one instance. Correlation does not imply causation.”
Luch whirled, grabbed my shoulders, and pulled me sharply against him before claiming my mouth once more.
This time, he feasted, taking me straight into the heat, and I gasped for air as his kiss stole every thought from my mind.
I became one big nerve ending, craving his touch everywhere, my body warm and liquid with need.
When he broke away, a knowing grin danced across his lips as he took in my likely shell-shocked expression.
“There. More data for your study.”
“Who said I was conducting a study?” I asked. Though as studies went, it was a touch more interesting than the one I’d been reading on pain receptors and arthritis in aging dogs.
“You’re the one who brought up causation,” Luch pointed out.
“Well if I’m conducting a study, then I’ll need a larger sample size, won’t I?” I held up a hand when Luch turned back, his eyes almost feral as he reached for me again. “Nope, I didn’t mean a sample size of kisses. I meant perhaps I need more participants.”
“But that would change the scope of your study, wouldn’t it?”
“Not necessarily,” I argued, following him down a small gully and around a turn in the path.
“Surely it would. If you’re positing that all my kisses leave you breathless and needing to ‘take a moment’, then the only way to expand the sample size is to add more kisses.
If you’re positing that all kisses from all men leave you breathless and craving more, then, yes, you’d need a large sample from a variety of different participants. ”
This is what I got for arguing with a fellow doctor.
Luckily, I was saved from answering when Luch stopped around the corner of the bend we’d just taken and held out his arm.
Holy shite. What was this place?
“Oh, wow. Okay, just wow. I see now why this is your favorite spot.” I brought a hand to my heart as I took in the view before me.
We were at the bottom of a gully of sorts, cocooned on both sides by hills covered in wildflowers, with a rocky outcropping that formed a ledge covered in soft green moss.
About five meters below the ledge, the waters of Loch Mirren lapped against sharply-edged rocks jutting out of the surface.
It was like being cradled in a blanket of wildflowers while floating on the water.
It was dizzying, almost as dizzying as Luch’s kisses, to be surrounded by so much beauty, the earth, loch and sky, all meeting together in one perfect spot.
“It’s a cracking wee spot, isn’t it?” Luch sounded pleased that I was so taken by his choice.
“It’s glorious. Is this where you’ve been collecting my flowers from?”
“It is. I imagined you here. Wait …” Luch bent and, plucking a white wildflower from the ground, he reached up and tucked it in my hair.
My breath caught. It was a casual gesture, but so like the one my mum used to do.
I hadn’t let anyone else close enough to do something like that again.
“Much better. Faelan of the flowers. A beauty among the beauties.”