The Calum (9 page)

“
Second out of how many?”
she asked Duff.

He turned to her, one dark
eyebrow raised.

Lovie gave him a
sympathetic smile.

He lifted one shoulder.
“Outta a hundred and twenty, I reckon.”

“
Well, that’s nothing to
sneeze at.”

“
No, I suppose
not.”

Good God, he had no right
to smile like that, so flirty.

Before she could say
anything stupid, she looked away, only to find Jo grinning at
her.

“
What have you been up to
these last two days, Looovie?” She winked, curling her tongue
against her teeth like she was licking a secret. “You were fast
asleep when I got in last night.”

“
Well, I walked through
town. Took some photos.” She glanced shyly at Duff. “Oh, and
yesterday I went to a Christmas bazaar just off the river. They had
some fantastic stuff there.” Lovie omitted the part about her time
with Duff and Ginny.

He met her eyes with a
questioning grin.

“
You mean the old folks
fair at Eden Court?” Hamish huffed out a laugh. “They sell the same
shite every year. It’s for blue hairs and tourists.”

“
Well, I fall into one of
those groups, so...” Lovie was tired of being around this dickwad.
She glared at Jo who just shrugged and laughed at the smug joke
from that smugging smugster from smugtown.
Mayor, surely. No, King.

Lovie nodded at her own
joke. “I need to get some air.”

“
You do that a lot.”
Hamish eyed her, lingering a little lower than was necessary. “You
got some sorta issue with yer lungs?”

“
I just find it a
little...stale in here.” Lovie gave him her sweetest ‘fuck you very
much’ smile.

“
Eh Duffy, you should take
her up to the roof.” Hamish wiggled his eyebrows. “Lotsa air up
there.”

Subtle.

“
Yeah, sure.” Duff seemed
as thrilled with Hamish as she was, but he slid on his pea coat and
motioned for her. “Coming?”

Jo threw her another
wink.

Lovie grabbed a tartan
throw from the loveseat and followed him.

As they climbed the
winding staircase at the end of the hall, Lovie tried hard not to
stare at the firm ass of
the
man
walking ahead of her. Really, she did.
They emerged onto the flat roof, facing the lake. It was another
crisp, clear night.

Lovie smelled the fire
from the chimney on the air and missed the warmth. She pulled the
throw tighter around her and walked out to the railing. She could
just make out the shapes of the trees and a few other homes across
the way. So far away from the city, it should have been black as
soot, but the full moon hung low on in the sky. It looked close
enough to reach out and touch.

And the stars, oh. The
stars were everything.

She tilted her head back
and gazed up into space. It was Van Gogh’s Starry Night in swirls
of silver and the blackest blue. If she stared long enough, she
might be able to see what Vincent saw.

Footsteps crunched behind
her.

“
Ye awright?” Duff shoved
his hands into his pockets, hair fluttering in the
breeze.

Lovie looked back out over
the water. “Yep.”

“
I can go back in if yer
wantin’ to be alone.”

“
No, no. It’s fine.” She
looked up and caught his half-smile.

He pulled out a bottle of
Scotch.

“
I dinna come up empty
handed.”

“
Where were you hiding
that?” She laughed as he stepped up next to her.

“
Deep men have deep
pockets, ye ken.” Duff passed her the bottle. The number on the
front was eighteen. That was supposed to be a good thing, she
thought. Large black letters above it spelled LAPHROAIG. She wasn’t
even going to try to pronounce that.

“
I remember
somethin’
about
you
wantin’
to try a proper whiskey.”

“
This looks pretty
proper.” Lovie sniffed the open bottle and promptly coughed. She
would have recovered sooner if a strong hand hadn’t begun thumping
her on the back. “I’m fine.”

“
Ye sure?” Now the hand
rubbed in slow circles. Oh God.

“
Uh, yeah.” Lovie leaned
away, breaking the contact. She lifted the bottle to her lips,
Duff’s eyes following the movement.

“
Slàinte.”

Cool, liquid smoke filled
her mouth. It was surprisingly smooth and not at all unpleasant.
She looked at him, amazed.

He grinned.
“Good?”

“
Damn, I’ve been missing
out.”

His grin blossomed into a
smile. Lovie handed him the bottle and he took a much more generous
pull. Watching his lips purse over the mouth of the bottle, the
same one she’d just drunk from, did funny things to her insides.
Her brain went fuzzy when he swallowed, his Adam’s apple
bobbing.

He licked his lips. “This
isn’t the proper way to drink it, o’course, but I didna want to
risk bringing any glasses up here.”

“
Good
thinking.”

Lovie accepted the bottle
and took another, larger, sip. It tasted different now that his
lips had touched it. Sexier, somehow. Both the liquid and the
thought warmed her as they went down, giving her a nice, mellow
feeling all over. That is until a stiff wind came off the water,
pushing against her with icy fingers. She pulled the thin blanket
up to her ears. It made little difference.

Concern knit Duff’s brow.
“Cold?”

“
I-I’m okay,” she lied,
teeth chattering.

He laughed. “You’re no
okay, lass. C’mere.” Duff opened his coat and pulled Lovie inside,
her shoulder resting against his chest. He wrapped one arm around
her.

It was a startlingly
intimate arrangement, and she inhaled his warm
exhalations.

He was a furnace, heating
the side of her body that lay flush with his.

“
Better?”

She
nodded,
her stomach in
knots.

They fell silent and took
turns drinking from the bottle. Being this close to him, it was
impossible to deny her attraction. Every nerve ending was suddenly
on high alert for the slightest twitch from the man beside her. He
smelled of wood smoke and fabric softener, an intoxicating
combination.

Lovie looked back out over
the lake. The silvery edges of the waves glimmered in the
moonlight, and she could just make out the silhouettes of animals
foraging along the shore.

“
Anything out here other
than foxes?”

“
Other wee beasties, but
none to be afeared of.” His near-whisper matched hers. “I lived
here most of me life and never caught a glimpse of ol’ Nessie.” A
chuckle vibrated from deep within in his chest.

“
Oh, of course. I hadn’t
put the two together. Loch Ness, right?” She nodded toward the dark
water.

“
Yep. Spent a lot of time
out there as a boy. We’d fish in the summer.”

“
You and Hamish?” He
nodded. “It’s hard to picture you guys hanging out together. You
two are so different.”

“
Are we?” He shrugged. “I
s’pose we are, yeah. It was always him and me
growin’
up,
though.”

“
You met at
school?”

“
Aye, at primary school. I
was small for me age, always
gettin’
picked at by the older kids.
One day, a few of the boys had me out in the field. They
were
wailin’
on me
somethin’
fierce.” Duff gestured with his free arm,
animating the tale as most Scots did when telling a story. “Up
comes Hamish, this big, braw lad with all that red hair,
roarin’
like a
lion. ‘If ye don’t leave him be, I’ll beat every one o’ yer
arses!’”

Lovie laughed, picturing
it. “Oh my God, how old were you?”

Duff chuckled. “Eight and
nine, I think, though Hamish was already taller than everyone else.
Scared the shite outta those boys and me as well. We were fast
friends after that. Me ma practically adopted him.”

Lovie smiled. “Tell me
more about her.”

He glanced down at her.
“Me ma?”

She nodded.

Duff took a slow breath
and a slow pull of whiskey. “Why d’ya want to know.”

“
I just do.”

He was quiet for a moment.
Lovie thought he would ignore the query.

Duff tucked her head under
his chin. It felt...right, somehow. “You remind me o’ her, a little
bit.”

“
Me?”

“
Aye.” He nodded against
her crown. “Caring. Honest.”

She flushed with heat from
the compliment. “You have a high opinion of someone you’ve only
known for two days.”

“
I’m a good judge o’
character.”

“
I bet.” Lovie tipped the
bottle in his hand to her lips. “So, your mom?”

“
Well, she was an artist,
afore she met my father.” He was silent for a moment. Lovie could
almost hear the thoughts running through his head. “Not so much
after. She had to work to help put food on the table. She was
proud, ye ken. Wouldna take any help from me gran and
granda.”

“
You’re right.”

“
About what?”

“
We are alike, at least in
that way.”

“
Oh yah?” He smiled down
at her. “Are ye stubborn as well?”

Lovie arched an eyebrow at
him. “What do you think?”

Duff laughed, his
shoulders shaking as he buried his face in her hair. “Aye, well, I
wouldna call you fragile. Sensitive, maybe, but no fragile.” He
sobered. “Me ma...she wasna built for this world. Not for him,
anyway.”

“
Your dad?”

He ran a rough hand
through his hair and nodded. “I dinna want to talk about it
anymore.”

“
Okay.”

“
Sorry.” He took a sip
from the bottle.

“
It’s okay.” The quiet of
the night wrapped around them like a blanket. “It’s sort of wild
and magical here.”

“
Aye.” His arm tightened
around her shoulder and Lovie couldn’t stop the sigh that escaped
from her lips. The way Duff stiffened meant that he hadn’t missed
it.

She turned her face into
his chest, and his hand slid under her hair to cradle her head, his
fingers kneading the nape.

Duff took a deep,
stuttering breath.

Lovie wasn’t sure if it
was her heart she heard pounding in her ears, or his.

Screwing her courage to
the sticking place, she lifted her face to find him looking down at
her, his lips slightly parted. Even in the low light, she could see
the unmistakable desire in his eyes. He scanned her hair. Her face.
Looked down at the non-existent space between them.

“
This is a verra bad idea,
love.” He barely breathed the words.

“
Yeah.” She echoed his
tone, shivering as his hand tightened, pulling her close. “The
absolute worst.”

Duff tilted his head and
brushed his mouth over hers and then he claimed it.

Lovie was no blushing
virgin, but nothing had prepared her for this kiss. It was, at
once, delicate and luscious. Tentative and demanding. Something she
thought only existed on the silver screen, or in the pages of Jo’s
tattered paperbacks. He nibbled at her with lips and teeth. His
tongue curled around hers, hot and sweet, and every synapse in her
brain misfired.

Duff broke the kiss, set
the bottle down and pulled her closer, tangling his fingers in her
hair. Lovie tingled from her scalp down to her toes.

She slipped her hands
underneath the coat and around his back, her fingers sliding over
solid muscle and searing heat. They stared at one another,
breathing heavily.

Lovie
licked
her lips before they
came together again.

This kiss was decadent and
full of promise. His mouth was soft, warm and urgent. He tasted
like power restrained.

She gently bit down on his
lip, running her tongue along the edge to soothe it, and Duff made
one of the sexiest sounds she’d ever heard. She wanted to take him
down to her room and see what other sorts of noises he could
make.

His hand drifted down and
over the front of her sweater.

Lovie’s nipple peaked
against the warmth of his palm, and a soft, needy sound escaped her
throat. Her mind hovered in the shimmering haze between fear and
desire. Desire won.

She placed one hand over
his, pressed it harder against her flesh and squeezed, knocked even
more breathless by his answering groan.

Lovie came up for air, but
there wasn’t enough oxygen on the planet.

Duff leaned back, gave her
a little ‘wow’ and moved in for the kill, sucking on her bottom lip
as if it was candied.