HighlandHeat

by Tilly Greene

  Stretching his legs, he put his bare feet up on the coffee table and leaned back into the couch. He stared blindly into the fire he built once Grace left with Alain. He didn’t want to think about not being there when she woke up. He didn’t want to miss loving her and watching the wonder of a new day brightens her eyes. That was where he wanted to be, with her, wherever that might be, and he couldn’t do it.

  Unconsciously he stroked a finger over his horns and thought about how they were the reason he hadn’t been there when she’d needed him most.

  Slipping away from her warm and satiated body was one of the most difficult things he’d ever had to do. This morning, before dawn, with his horns fully exposed and unable to do anything about it, he’d been sure it was the best solution available. There was no way he could second-guess this decision, nor would it do him any good to ask questions now that it had been done. He had to move forward and ensure she knew he cared for her beyond the sex.

  What he was absolutely positive about was that it wouldn’t help his case if she found herself sharing a bed with a man sporting horns.

  It had been almost impossible to keep the protruding bones hidden for two solid days. They’d started actively sprouting from the sides of his head the second she’d taken him in her mouth. Thank goodness the room had been lit in such a way that he could see her, but she couldn’t see him, at least not clearly.

  Early this morning, when he opened his eyes in the dark room, his head ached tremendously. The effort of trying to keep the horns hidden had finally caught up with him. Beyond just his head, pain encompassed his entire body. He’d used everything he could to keep her from discovering them, especially when her hands roamed freely over him.

  In his lifetime, there’d been less than a half-dozen people who had ever touched the unique bones and no one except him since he hit puberty. He was curious to know how another’s touch would feel, especially one from a lover. That’s where he stepped onto shaky ground. He definitely wasn’t ready to tell her everything, not yet and maybe never.

  Grace was the first woman he even considered bringing so deeply into his life, far enough to know his secret. He’d thought quite a bit about it this morning and if he ever reached the point where he could tell her about the horns, then it had to be handled very carefully. He wouldn’t simply let her wake up and find them there. Too much was at stake if it didn’t work out. In the end, it might be telling the truth was too high a price for him to pay.

  The worse case was what he had to think about. Generally this brought to mind the same question and today was no exception. How hard would it be to spend the rest of his life trying to keep someone he cared about from discovering horns grew from his head?

  Shrugging his shoulders, Hamish rolled his head along the back of the couch to help ease some of the tension settling in his neck. The idea of making himself vulnerable to another was not something he’d choose to do. It just wasn’t him. However, if he wanted to be with her, he most likely would have to do this to some extent. So far, everything he knew about her said she was worth the risk in finding himself exposed as a modern day monster.

  Despite this morning, it seemed to him like they were off to a good start. They had the sexual compatibility thing down and they had talked some, although nothing serious. Either way, he wouldn’t be sure until she said so herself.

  Moving his hand down to cover his hard-on, he was no longer surprised to find himself eager for her. For two days they’d indulged themselves in each other’s bodies and it had been divine. They’d spent little time sleeping, a bit talking to each other, but mostly he’d allowed himself to feast upon her as much as he wanted and to their mutual satisfaction. As far as he was concerned, it had been perfect. Their time together solidified his belief that she was going to be a part of his life. The challenge for him was not to ruin it before she had a chance to know more about him than what she’d already discovered. She was more than a love puppet and he was more than the skill in which he brandished his cock.

  Leaning forward, he lifted his coffee mug and settled back against the cushions of his comfortable couch with a snort of self-disgust before sipping the hot brew.

  Unfortunately, he hadn’t been thinking clearly enough on how to make certain Grace knew how special she was to him, in and out of bed. That had been a really stupid mistake. After speaking with her, he was sure at some point she must’ve thought she’d been a one-night stand. Okay, technically a two-night stand, which couldn’t be further from the truth. In his mind, it was obvious how much he cared for her because they hadn’t come up for air since he delivered the flowers at her shop on Saturday morning.

  How wrong he was.

  Hamish thought about it some more until he realized this was the perfect example of how men and women looked at things. These issues hadn’t mattered to him before because he’d never had a relationship where he cared. There’d been less than a handful of women who’d stayed around for any substantial length of time. Granted, even those few hadn’t lasted in his life any longer than a couple of months. Apparently he had quite a bit to learn about being a good mate for Grace.

  Frustration struggled to take hold of him as he remembered this morning, but pushed it back. There was no point in getting worked up and agitated. It would make trying to calm down enough for the horns to retract more difficult. Hamish did, however, remind himself it was understandable to be pissed. He’d opened his eyes this morning and discovered, regardless of all the pleasure she’d given him, they were still out and at full curl.

  This was new for him. Usually, once his needs had been satiated, the horns would retreat, not all the way, but down to be ridges easily hidden beneath his hair. None of this occurred with Grace, so he’d had to do something and quickly.

  Several hours had passed and they were still curled around the side of his head. There’d been a little progress in their retraction, only the bones remained unfurled far enough that they couldn’t be hidden beneath his hair. In fact, he was sure that if she chose right then to walk through his front door, no question, they’d immediately grow back to their complete curl.

  Despite the ups and downs he was going through right now, this was actually an interesting and exciting period in his life. It was full of new adventures and experiences, all because of one particular woman. One thing he was going to have to do was reinforce his power over his body. For the first time in years, he was faced with having to take back control over the horns and he knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

  Bringing the mug to his mouth, he took a sip of the brew and realized he couldn’t dwell on the mistakes he’d already made or trials he’d have to face to keep her in his life. There was little doubt in his mind that this morning wasn’t going to be the last gaff he’d make. Unintentional or not, they were sure to happen again. What he had to do was stop wasting time and come up with a plan for keeping her at his side no matter what he did wrong in the future.

  So what did they have going for them?

  Obviously they were compatible sexually. They’d also already had a chance to talk about their mutual interest in property development and the various aspects of it. They both worked hard and were successful because of it. There were more things he knew about her personal and professional life, but not from her own lips, so he didn’t include them.

  It was a substantial list, with much more to learn. By no means did he want to know everything about her, instantly. There was great joy in discovering what made her special. At the same time, he wanted the opportunity to unearth her secrets and desires, hopes and dreams, as well as those things that made her sad and fearful. Those were the reward of a true lover.

  If he pulled everything together, then the ultimate goal was both simple and convoluted. He wanted Grace to love, know and respect him, no matter what. To do this she had to want to bring him inside her heart, like she had her body, and from there he’d find a way to her soul. Of course this wasn’t going to happen in one night or two, although he cou
ld get things started.

  The earlier he did that, the sooner she’d be his.

  Alain chose that moment to come back to the house. His longtime cohort didn’t say a word on his way into the kitchen or once he settled on the other end of the couch drinking from a mug, watching the flames. There was something different about his cousin. He wasn’t being his usual teasing and cheerful self.

  “Thanks for coming over here to help me out this morning.” It was the truth. He knew the timing of his call had interrupted the other man with his own bed companion. Without looking at him, his cousin broke his silence.

  “I like her.”

  “Who?”

  “Grace, you fool.” Alain finally looked at him and was frowning.

  “Well,” said Hamish, “I didn’t know if you were talking about the woman whose bed you left when I phoned or mine. I had to ask to be sure we were on the same page.” There was something definitely going on with the man. It wasn’t like him to be so short.

  “Sari is complicated. Your Grace isn’t, she’s delightful. She blushed so prettily when she realized how much time had passed while playing with you upstairs.”

  “What do you mean complicated?” Interesting. He’d never known the other man to describe a woman with such a term. Before Grace, they were of the same mind. Women were for pleasure and there was nothing convoluted about that. It’d been a while since his cousin had dated anyone seriously. Although, if he remembered correctly, there had been one particular woman his cousin had described as problematic. It was back when Alain was at college and ended up having his heart broken. What was her name again?

  “Leave it, Hamish.”

  “Why? I could do with not having to think about my own problems for a few minutes. Call it a diversion, whatev—”

  “No.”

  Warning bells went off in his head. Now wasn’t the time to pursue this, they’d have to talk about it later though. He had a gut feeling that this was an area his cousin needed to talk to someone or it could eat him alive. In his opinion, when things weren’t going smoothly, it never helped to keep them bottled up inside. Nothing was ever solved that way.

  “Fine. For now, but you aren’t off the hook about this.”

  “Your hands are full with your own lady right now. Why don’t you focus on her and let me deal with mine.” Alain’s irritation was palpable. They’d definitely have to come back to this. Just because his own life was all in a tumble didn’t mean he wouldn’t be there to listen to his cousin open up. For the time being, he’d do what Alain was asking of him.

  “How was Grace when you saw her?”

  “Scared. Lost. Confused. Poor thing didn’t seem prepared to be left in a dark room all alone after days filled with debauchery.”

  “Take the attitude down a notch, cousin. I know she’s pure gold and there was nothing depraved or wrong about our time together.” There wasn’t any anger in him because he knew his cousin didn’t mean to sound so cold-hearted. Not Alain and not about someone he knew was important to Hamish.

  “Damn! You’re right, I’m sorry.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about this Sari?”

  “Yes, yes, I’m sure. How did it go? Is Grace yours now?”

  “Nope, closer, but no, she’s not mine yet.” There, he’d finally said it out loud. It was hard to admit, and yet after all his soul searching this morning, he’d concluded he didn’t have a clue how to woo this woman.

  “What do you mean? This morning she looked very satisfied to me, albeit irritated with you for leaving her to wake up alone.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, she’s very happy with her time spent with me and in my bed. We’re very well matched when it comes to sex. However, I have to admit to having fallen short in almost all other areas. Apparently I should’ve left her a note saying I wasn’t here and that I’d call her later.”

  “I suppose something like that would’ve been better than nothing at all. That’s a simple mistake, though.”

  “Actually I’ve made a couple of slip-ups, such as living down my rude comments made to her during our introduction.”

  “Hmmm, that was pretty bad, but I think it became worse when she discovered she didn’t know the address of where she was to arrange for a cab to pick her up.”

  “See what I mean? My stupid mistakes are causing problems with my love life.”

  “I take it you’ve called Grace and explained what happened to you this morning?”

  “Kind of and I’m sure I haven’t heard the end of it yet. She couldn’t decide whether to be pissed or pleased to hear from me.”

  “Smart cookie that one.” The first real smile lit Alain’s face and his own matched it.

  “Oh yeah, that she is.”

  “So, I’ve been curious about something. What exactly happened that caused the lass not to realize two days had passed her by?”

  “A little this, a little that.”

  “I seriously doubt there was anything little about what you two did. I don’t want to know the details, but tell me how, after all that time passed actively involved in more intimate pursuits shall we say, she doesn’t know you have the horns of a ram. They are out when you come and I assume you did quite a bit of that during your time together.”

  “A mixture of things. If it wasn’t dark or the light on her alone, then her hands were confined so she couldn’t touch me. Other times I focused on keeping them from unfurling. I have to figure those were all enough because she didn’t mention it during our conversation. She’ll see me again, so I have to assume she still doesn’t know about them.”

  “Oh man, I’m surprised you were able to pull it off.”

  “Tell me about it. To me, it seemed like they were always there, curled about my head and trying to impress her. I’ve never had to work so hard to keep them hidden. That is a big problem because she likes my hair and keeps trying to run her fingers through it.”

  “Really?”

  “Alain, I can’t explain to you how much I wanted to allow her to do that. I almost relented at one point because I wanted so badly to feel her hands on my horns.” Hamish couldn’t stop himself from rubbing a finger over the blunt tip of the bone as he imaged her hands on him.

  “Seriously? You hardly know her—”

  “She’s a good person, Alain. You’ve seen that for yourself.” Wanting to believe she wouldn’t turn from him and his horns in revulsion wasn’t enough to push Hamish over the edge and tell her all of his secrets outright. That was too big a step to make right now, maybe ever. “We’re going out to dinner tonight.”

  “That sounds good, if you can figure out how to get those things down and to stay down.”

  “You know to some extent I can keep the bones from pushing for air by controlling my emotional responses to various things. For the past couple of days I’ve tried everything to keep her from seeing them. It wasn’t easy to do though. All the energy I spent doing this was exhausting. Maybe because my attention was fully on her, pleasing her, I found it even more difficult to do. In time, the random headaches the fighting against my nature rolled in to one big one. I was weak and couldn’t let her discover the truth that way.”

  “Not that I don’t already know the answer, but I have to ask. Was it worth it?”

  “Let me tell you, Alain, no matter how much it hurt, it was worth it to eat dinner with her in bed, take a shower with her, everyday things lovers do together.”

  “You haven’t had to expend so much energy to keep them down since you were a kid.”

  “It hurts more to do it now than it ever did back then.”

  “Maybe because the horns are larger.”

  “Could be, but I think there might be something more to it.”

  “Like what?”

  “I’m not exactly sure. When I think about sex, then Grace comes to mind and the horns appear. When I think of how I’m going to spend my day, there’s Grace. You see, all of sudden Grace and my life are all mixed up together.”
>
  “But you two just met, fucked quite a bit, talked a little. That isn’t knowing a person. How can she be imbedded in your life so deeply, so quickly?”

  “I don’t have a clue how it happened, only that it did and I’m not unhappy about it. It’s like we’re connected in some way and with that brought out a new dynamic to my horns.”

  “Explain.” Alain took another sip and turned to look at him.

  “I’ll try. I see her, I need her and the horns push out for air without delay. Of course my emotions are soaring out of control and that could be a part of the bones coming out. Although I don’t think so. I’ve been thinking about this and I keep coming back to the same idea. Remember at the party when I said it felt like I was hunting something?” He waited for Alain’s nod before going on. “Well, I was. It’s almost as if the part of me that is an animal takes over where she’s concerned. I swear Alain, it’s like my horns have a mind of their own and want to get her attention with their presence.”

  “Shit, that’s weird, Hamish.”

  “I know it. At the same time as the ram side is there, trying to impress her with the horns, my body is doing the same thing with my cock. Look at this. I’m still hard after two days with her.”

  “Interesting. You may be on the right track.”

  “I think so. I’ve become complacent about my horns over the years, but I can’t remember them ever having pushed to be free so forcefully before. With Grace, I have to struggle to keep them down and I’m not winning the fight.”

  “You might be right about it having to do with her. She’s the one thing that’s new in your life.”

  “If I need an answer for what’s happening, then it works for me. That said, I don’t think I need to find answers or make excuses. What I feel isn’t just physical. She makes me happy and allows me to think anything is possible.”

  “Be careful, Hamish. Seriously, if we were back home I wouldn’t be so worried. Down here in London, so far from family and friends, I don’t know. I just don’t have a good feeling about you being out in public with the very person who’s making it difficult for you to keep them hidden.”