“Sure.” I nodded quickly.
Lachlan made me feel things I had never felt before, and all I knew about him was his name—and the fact that he had an accent so freaking hot my panties were trying to melt off my hips. I wasn’t the kind of girl that met a random guy at a party and took a walk with them. Was that code for something else? Did I agree to something I had never done before—with anyone?
Even in my wildest days, when I was working my way through the list of all of the things a teenage girl could do that her parents wouldn’t approve of, I never lost my virginity. I came close a couple of times—close enough that most people assumed the guy who smeared my lipstick got lucky—and he certainly wasn’t going to correct those assumptions if I didn’t.
“Ye don’t sound like yer from Georgia.” Lachlan looked over at me as we walked away from the bonfire.
“Neither do you.” I took a sip of my ale. “Or is the accent part of your disguise for the festival?”
“It’s no disguise, lass.” He shook his head. “I grew up in Scotland—I moved here after I graduated from high school.”
“How did you get from Scotland to Georgia of all places?” I raised both eyebrows in surprise.
“My uncle…” He motioned back towards the bonfire. “Ye probably met him. He’s the one who won’t stop talking about William Wallace.”
“Ah, yes.” I nodded. “He did tell a few stories after I arrived.”
“He moved his company to Georgia when I was a lad. There were better business opportunities here, or so he claimed.” Lachlan shrugged.
I could have listened to Lachlan talk for the rest of the night and never lost interest—no matter what he was saying. He told me about growing up in Scotland, visiting his Uncle Douglas during the summer, and moving to America because he enjoyed a different level of freedom without his mother’s watchful eye on him at all times. I could relate to that. It was part of my motivation for leaving California and going to school so far away from my childhood home, except my perspective changed before the day actually came.
Lachlan seemed to have reached a similar conclusion once he had the freedom he was searching for—although he was older than me, and it sounded like it took him a little longer to get to that point in his life.
I was surprised to hear that he gave up a comfortable job in New York to move back to Georgia so he could be a professor—at the same college I was attending. In fact, I knew which professor he was referencing when he told me that the job offer was rescinded because the one he was replacing decided to stay another year. I had a class with that professor, and some of the students groaned about his decision to keep teaching because he was supposed to be rather tough. A couple of them said they waited an extra year to take the class because they heard his departure was inevitable and hoped his replacement would be better.
I don’t think I would be paying attention in class if Lachlan was my professor…
“Are you going to go back to Scotland at some point?” I took a sip of my ale and looked over at him. “Especially now that the job isn’t going to work out?”
“To visit, definitely.” He nodded. “I’ll be okay until I find something else. I miss my home sometimes, but I do like it here.”
“Plus, you get a taste of home every year…” I motioned to the festival booths behind us.
“Aye, I guess ye could call it that.” He chuckled under his breath. “Alright, lass. I’ve told ye everything about myself, and I don’t know a single thing about ye.”
“Well…” I sighed. “There really isn’t much to tell. I grew up in California, and I moved here because I got a scholarship.”
“Ah, yer in college?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yes.” I nodded. “I started last week.”
“Oh!” He blinked in surprise. “Yer younger than I realized…”
“Most women take that as a compliment.” I looked down and smiled.
“Aye, but if things had worked out the way I planned—ye might have met me on the first day of school.” He grimaced. “I could have been yer professor.”
“You never know.” I lifted my head and shrugged.
Not could have been—would have been. I think I’ll keep that to myself because I don’t want to scare Lachlan off…
“I guess it doesn’t matter now.” Lachlan sighed and turned back towards me once we were at the edge of the festival grounds. “Still, yer a little young for me—even if ye are a bonny lass.”
“What difference do a few years make?” I looked up at Lachlan and got caught in his mesmerizing stare like I was when I first laid eyes on him.
“A few years mean yer not old enough to be drinking that.” He motioned to the ale in my hand.
“You waited until you were twenty-one to have your first drink?” I tilted my head to the side.
Based on what he’s told me about his uncle, I seriously doubt that’s the case…
“That’s not the point…” He exhaled sharply. “We should probably get back to the party—I’m sure my uncle will be wrapping things up shortly.”
“It doesn’t look like it’s going to be ending anytime soon.” I looked towards the bonfire and then back at him.
“Maybe not, but I’m sure it’s past yer bedtime, lass.” He narrowed his eyes and reached for my ale. “I’m going to have to confiscate that.”
“Fine.” I let him take it from me, and our hands brushed together as he did. “You realize it’s not the first drink I’ve ever had, right?”
“I’m sure.” He nodded. “But, I’m not going to be responsible for yer juvenile delinquency.”
“Juvenile? Really?” I raised both eyebrows and felt a hint of annoyance. “I’m not that young. I certainly don’t have a bedtime.”
“Come on, lass.” He ignored what I said and started walking back towards the bonfire.
Whatever connection we had—whatever instantaneous spark ignited when our eyes met for the first time—it fizzled out when he realized how young I was. He dumped out my cup of ale, finished his, and handed both cups to the woman at the tavern booth.
I returned to Chrissy’s side, and she asked where I went—but I played it off by telling her that I just went to walk around for a little bit. She had been too deep in conversation with the people we met to notice that I wandered off with Lachlan—so much so that she didn’t seem to be anxious to leave.
He’s the hottest guy I’ve ever met, and now he won’t even look at me…
The party wasn’t winding down, and Lachlan’s uncle was still entertaining everyone with stories about his ancestor whenever he got a chance. Lachlan sat down on the opposite side of the bonfire, talked with a few people, and played around with his phone—seemingly doing everything he could to avoid looking my way. It was annoying and insulting at the same time.
Simple math, based on what he had told me about his life, indicated he was in his thirties. While I understood that an age gap like that could be challenging, I didn’t think it was fair to just completely shut the door in my face—right after he called me a bonny lass.
It sounded so hot when he said it…
“I’ll be right back…” I leaned forward and started to stand—Chrissy barely acknowledged my departure.
I wasn’t ready to completely give up on Lachlan, because he had ignited something inside of me. It was obviously mutual before he found out my driver’s license said I wasn’t old enough to drink. I didn’t know how he would react to what I planned to do, but I had to try and see if I could get his attention again. If he ignored me, then so be it—but I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself if I didn’t take one more shot. It wasn’t like a relationship between us would have been illegal—I turned eighteen during my senior year of high school and would be celebrating my nineteenth birthday soon enough.
“Can I have another ale, please?” I walked up to the tavern booth and smiled.
“Of course, right away.” The woman nodded and poured one for me.
I
took my ale, lifted it to my lips, and made sure Lachlan noticed before I started walking towards the booths near the front gate. I had no idea if he would follow me, or simply ignore what was so obviously an open invitation for him to do so.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw him stand up. A smile crossed my face as I slipped into the darkness between two of the booths and waited. There was a chance he would just take my drink away—possibly even have his uncle kick Chrissy and me out—but it was worth the risk. He was the only thing that had kept me there. I would have been well on my way back to the Pi Beta Phi house if he hadn’t asked me to go for a walk with him.
“Looking for me?” I stepped out of the darkness as soon as he walked by.
“Aye.” He nodded and took a step towards me. “I didn’t realize I had to tell them to stop serving ye—didn’t ye get the hint when I took yer last drink away?”
“I guess I don’t listen that well.” I shrugged, and a sheepish grin formed on the edge of my lips.
“No, which is why I’m going to have to ask ye to leave now—and yer friend.” He motioned to the bonfire where Chrissy was sitting.
He’s going for that option. Damn…
“You really want me to go?” I looked up at him.
“It’s…” He blinked, and I saw a hint of hesitation in his eyes. “Ye have to understand why it’s the right thing for me to do.”
“Why are you so worried about the right thing?” I lifted my ale and took a sip. “Doing the wrong thing isn’t that bad…”
“I…” He exhaled sharply. “Ye just don’t get it.”
“Maybe you’re underestimating me.” I tilted my head to the side. “Maybe I like older guys…”
I’ve certainly been attracted to a couple of men that were older than me, but there’s more to this than just the age difference.
“It’s time for ye to go.” He reached for my cup of ale, and our hands grazed for the second time that evening.
“Okay…” I let him take my ale, but I snatched his phone out of his other hand at the same time. “We can trade.”
“Hey!” He reached for his phone, but I spun around before he could get his hands on it. “Give that back to me, lass.”
“Here.” I quickly typed my number into it before I gave it back to him. “You have my number—if you decide that you shouldn’t have been so quick to throw me out, call me.”
“Yer impossible.” He sighed and stared at his phone for a second before he looked up at me again.
“I’ll make it worth your while if you do.” I winked at him and walked back to the bonfire.
I can’t believe I just said that to him…
I managed to convince Chrissy that it was time to go without letting her know we had officially been kicked out of the party by Douglas’ nephew. A few mentions of Kira and the Pi Beta Phi party we were supposed to be at brought her back to reality. Lachlan watched from the booths as we left, and I couldn’t resist giving him one more wink on the way out.
The look on his face didn’t reveal if he would actually call me at some point or delete my number as soon as I left. I hoped it was the former instead of the latter, although it might become quite complicated if he did. My words wrote a check that I didn’t know if I could actually cash, even if the twinge of lust that made my panties wet said otherwise.
I promised myself that I wasn’t going to be the girl that started hooking up with random guys once I got to college—but there’s something about Lachlan that I just don’t know how to ignore.
“Do you think Kira is going to be pissed if she realizes we left?” Chrissy pulled out her phone and started looking through her email.
“Not if we get back to the house in time to clean up.” I shook my head. “I think we came this way…”
“I found the map, but we need to be closer to campus.” She sighed.
“Let’s try GPS.” I pulled out my phone. “That should get us to the right street, at least.”
“That’ll work.” She nodded in agreement.
The GPS worked a lot better than the map Chrissy had, so we made it back to the street where our sorority house was located a lot faster than either of us expected. The party was still going strong at the Pi Beta Phi house, and my beer was on the windowsill, exactly where I left it—obviously too warm to drink considering how long we had been gone. Chrissy sat down on the swing, and I sat down beside her. We talked for about an hour until a few frat guys walked through the front door, and it appeared that they were done partying for the evening—at our place, at least. Some other frat guys came out a few minutes later, and they each had a Pi Beta Phi sister leaving with them. Their party obviously wasn’t over.
“Kira turned the music off.” I leaned forward and started to stand. “I guess that’s our cue to go back inside.”
“Yeah, I think so.” Chrissy nodded. “Time to clean up the mess and hopefully get some sleep before we have to go to Sunday brunch.”
“Fuck.” I groaned. “I forgot about Sunday brunch.”
The sorority house looked like a tornado had hit it, but there didn’t appear to be any damage—it was just really messy. Chrissy and I joined the other new recruits on clean up duty while Kira and a few of the senior girls barked orders. That didn’t last long. Once we were hard at work, they went to bed.
Some of the girls that had been in our shoes the previous year stayed downstairs to help, which made it go a lot faster than it would have without them. One of them suggested that we remember to do the same when we were welcoming new recruits to Pi Beta Phi in the future. It was the first semblance of sisterhood I had seen since I walked through the front door of the house for the first time.
“Maybe it won’t be so bad here…” Chrissy picked up a bottle of tequila that had lipstick smeared around the top like someone had been guzzling it. “But I’ll never have this much fun.”
“Yeah, that’s a little hardcore for my tastes too.” I chuckled under my breath.
“Thank you for going with me tonight.” She tossed the tequila bottle in the garbage bag she was carrying. “It was a lot of fun. I didn’t expect to meet anyone here that wasn’t planning to spend the next four years making more mistakes than they could count.”
“I had fun too.” I looked at her and smiled.
Although I might be changing my stance on making mistakes—especially if Lachlan calls…
Chapter Four
Lachlan
“Alright, old man—it’s time to go.” I patted my uncle on the shoulder.
“Who ye calling old man.” He glared at me. “I can still drink circles around ye.”
“That’s not up for debate.” I grabbed a bucket of water and made sure the fire was out. “However, I’d like to get to bed before the sun comes up.”
“Aye.” He nodded. “I can sleep through anything, but I can’t fall asleep with that blasted fireball in my face.”
Uncle Douglas might have been able to drink circles around me and walk a straight line while he did it, but I wasn’t going to let him drive us home. I took his keys when he pulled them out of his pocket and ignored his protests as I climbed into the driver’s seat of his truck.
The alcohol finally caught up with my uncle, and he started fading once we were on the road, so it was a damn good thing I was behind the wheel. I gave him a quick nudge once we were at the house, and he woke up long enough to walk into the house and crash in bed. I wasn’t far behind him. I locked everything up, put on a pair of boxers, and stretched out on the top of the covers. It was too damn hot to even cover myself with a sheet—the air conditioner just couldn’t keep up with the Georgia heat—it also made sleep difficult, even though I was worn out.
That isn’t the only reason I’m wide awake right now.
The other reason had a name—Amelia. She was beautiful, practically a goddess from heaven that somehow managed to assume human form, but she was barely old enough for me to even look at her. Sure, she was at least eighteen and possibly closer to ni
neteen than her last birthday, but it was still wrong for me to notice how incredibly hot she was. If the job I applied for had worked out, then I would literally be waking up on Monday morning and going to teach a class full of students her age.
I need to get some fucking sleep. Maybe I’ll forget all about Amelia when I wake up tomorrow…
I forced my eyes to close and willed myself to sleep—or some semblance of it. The instant that I faded from consciousness to dreams, I was back at the festival, but it was different. The bonfire was going—bagpipes were playing—but there was nobody around except for a girl with tight blonde curls and bluish-gray eyes that reminded me of home.
I knew it was wrong to approach her because I had already done that once when the ground beneath my feet wasn’t a figment of dream-fueled imagination, but I didn’t stop walking. Instead of pushing her away—I pulled her close—instead of telling her that she was too young—I kissed her. What could have been didn’t feel like the nightmare I believed it would have morphed into, and when I woke up the next morning, I was covered in a cold sweat—I couldn’t blame that on the Georgia heat.
Fuck, I need a cold shower. Maybe I need to just fill the tub with ice water and drown myself in it…
“Ye finally awake, lad?” Uncle Douglas looked over at me from the couch when I stumbled into the living room with my clothes for the day in my arms.
“Aye…” I nodded, but I didn’t stop walking towards the shower.
He drank more than I did, and he looks like he just woke up from the best night of sleep he’s ever had.
Amelia was stuck in my head. She was more than a dream, and her smile haunted my thoughts. Her eyes glimmered like diamonds, even when I shut mine. Forgetting her was almost impossible. My cock certainly wasn’t ready to forget her—or those gorgeous curves.
The shower was as cold as I could make it, and I still felt lust surging until my dick was hard as a rock. I lathered up with soap, and when my hand slid across my length, it throbbed in my hand. It had been way too long since I had gotten laid—hell, it had been way too long since I rubbed one out. I couldn’t solve the first part of that problem, but I could definitely take care of the immediate one.
Daddy’s Kilted Friend Page 3
