He took one of my hands in his and frowned as he looked down at our joined hands.
“You didn’t use to be so lazy, Sam. What happened?” he asked, running his fingers on the inside of my wrist, tickling me with his soft touch. There was a hint of a smile on his face; he was kidding—thank God. “You used to be out there, taking in the fresh air.”
I cleared my throat. “Uh, only when I was severely jetlagged or trying to escape Cecilia and Oliver.”
“Well, come on. It’s a beautiful day and there’s something I want to show you. It’s supposed to start raining later today, so we better enjoy the sunshine now.”
“Of course,” I replied sarcastically, and he laughed. Typical Scotland—when was it not raining or about to be raining? I could bet even local weathermen had the hardest time “predicting” the weather.
Unpredictability when it came to weather wasn’t one of my favorite things about Scotland, but even if I wasn’t accustomed to it yet—and maybe never would be—I was learning to tolerate it. After all, it was the unpredictability of the elements that contributed to making the scenery so unbelievably gorgeous.
I reluctantly got out of bed and watched him as he followed my every move with hooded eyes. I wondered if he knew I was deliberately going slow in the hope that he would just toss me on the bed and change his mind.
Yes, sunshine was nice and all, but nothing compared to a nice romp between the sheets. Hugh MacLeod beat sunshine every day; I didn’t need vitamin D when I could have him.
Alas, he didn’t touch me, and after a quick visit to the bathroom, I was fully dressed and ready to go.
At least he was nice enough to pour some coffee in a portable mug for me, and he had a backpack packed.
Where are we going?
He opened the door of the cottage and after he locked it, he took my hand in his.
I was surprised when we didn’t head for the car.
We were in the middle of a valley, isolated from pretty much everything.
“We’re not taking the car?” St. Martin was thirty minutes away.
“We’re going on a hike.”
He laced his fingers with mine and looked down at me, giving me a soft, knowing smile.
“What’s this thing you want me to see?”
“Just a few more minutes.”
I stared at him in disbelief, wondering what was up with him. The man could be full of surprises when he wanted to be. If there was something he thought I should see, maybe I should just get along with it and stop being so darn grumpy.
I took a sip of my coffee from the mug.
Mmmm. The warm coffee was an instant mood booster, and I decided to stop thinking about where we were going. I was going to find out in due time. I held the hand of my man tighter and walked alongside him.
A good ten or fifteen minutes into our hike, I could finally see what he’d been so insistent about, and it left me breathless.
So much so that I stopped dead in my tracks.
The heather was in bloom.
It wasn’t just sporadic patches as when I’d arrived a couple of weeks before.
It was in full bloom, and almost the entire glen was covered with it.
“Oh, Hugh.”
It was so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” I replied as a tear ran down my cheek before I could wipe it away. I tugged his hand and pulled him down to me.
“I love you,” I told him, brushing my lips against his. “Let’s go up there.”
He smiled against my mouth.
“I knew you’d change your mind,” he said with a soft laugh.
“You should have said something sooner, showed me what I was about to miss out on.” I had to admit, I was a bit ashamed of how cranky I’d been.
“Let’s go to our place,” I said, stretching up on my toes to give him a kiss on the cheek.
We walked in silence for the rest of the time, me occasionally sipping my coffee, taking in the beauty of the place that a year before had completely stolen my heart.
I had been with Hugh the very first time I saw the heather in bloom on this glen, and I had been with him a few weeks later when I ventured into the valley on a bright, sunny day very similar to this one.
“Was it over here?” he asked. He didn’t need to add more, because I knew what he meant. He was looking for the exact spot where he’d found me sitting last year.
“I think it was somewhere around here,” I said, taking a few more steps. “I remember I could see the cottage straight down from here.” I took a seat in the heather and he joined a few seconds later.
He rested his strong arms on his knees and I rested my head atop one of his biceps.
A year before, I’d been sitting in that very spot thinking about the chaos that was my life, commiserating on the mess I’d made. I remembered looking at the cottage and thinking how peaceful and wonderful it would be to live there, surrounded by all this.
At the time, the man next to me wasn’t even part of the equation, not because I didn’t like him—in fact, my crush had been hard to keep at bay even then—but because it was so unlikely that he would feel about me the way I felt about him.
Actors were self-centered and fickle most of the time, at least in my own experience, but this man . . . he was the antithesis of selfish.
He’d made so many things happen for us. He’d fought for us to be together despite circumstances. He hadn’t given up.
And now he was giving me the greatest happily ever after. Just thinking about everything he’d done for us left me overcome with emotion.
I wanted to give him everything. He deserved everything.
Ideas started brewing in my head, and in that moment, I didn’t know just how or when, but I knew I had to make it happen.
He’d made me a promise, and I would deliver on it.
The knot that formed in my throat was hard to swallow. Tears pooled at the corners of my eyes, and I wiped them away.
“What is it?” he asked in a low voice, thick with his beautiful accent.
“Nothing,” I replied. “I didn’t mean to get sappy, but I guess I can’t help it. It’s just . . . you know, so many memories.” I hesitated.
“I ken,” he replied with a small nod and a grin. The look in his eyes told me he remembered everything. This place was special for us, not only because it was drop-dead gorgeous but because after we met out there in the heather, we had started falling for each other.
We’d gotten lost in each other in the best of ways.
“Hugh.”
“What is it, Sam?”
“Last year, when we met up here . . . I wanted you to kiss me, so badly.”
“I was dying to kiss you,” he confessed, letting out a breath.
I laughed. “Why didn’t you, then?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t want to come across as too forward, I guess.” I frowned. “Also, we didn’t have that many chances to talk, and I was enjoying getting to know ye.”
“Always so sweet.”
“It’s the truth, lass,” he said, and that made me smile. I leaned in to kiss him. It was a peck at first, but it grew into a deeper, longer kiss as his lips parted and his tongue searched for mine. I wrapped it around his eagerly, succumbing to the intensity of the moment, stroking and sucking until I was breathless.
“I want you,” I pleaded, tugging on the zipper of his jacket.
“I’m yours,” he replied simply.
“Now.” My eyes were serious and full of intention, and when he met my gaze, his own eyes widened with a look of amusement as a stupidly delicious grin spread across his face. He glanced around and bit his bottom lip with a look full of mischief.
“I don’t see why not. There’s no one up here . . . let’s do it.”
Did he think his words were going to make me backtrack? Quite the contrary.
“Have your way with
me, laddie.” I took his hand and pulled him on top of me, feeling the weight of him as he covered me with his sculpted body.
“Is that a challenge or a plea, Sam?” he asked as he leaned down to kiss me.
“Both,” I murmured, my voice low and needy against his lips.
I reached for the waistband of his pants, but he stopped my hand.
“Wait.”
“Fuck no. You better not be teasing me with all your ‘let’s do it out here in the open’ stuff.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. There’s a blanket in the backpack.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Always so thorough,” I replied with a shy smile.
He spread the small blanket on the ground next to us, inevitably smashing a bit of heather. It was a beautiful day in early August, and although it was sunny, the air was breezy, almost chilly. Still, nothing would have kept me from fooling around in the heather with my fiancé.
Hugh started trailing kisses on my neck, unzipping both my jacket and the lightweight fleece I was wearing underneath. His soft, feather-like, excruciatingly slow kisses were the best and the worst. My body arched and begged for him, my underwear already soaked with the promise of his hard length. I reached inside the waistband of his pants and grabbed his warm, hard cock in my hand, stroking him up and down as he let out a hiss.
He covered my chest with more kisses as he squeezed a breast in one hand.
“Have I told you how much I love zippers?” His voice was a low rumble, his breath so delicious, teasing my skin. Mixed with the chilly air, it caused my skin to break into goose bumps.
“There’s one more,” I teased, giving him a seductive look.
He stopped, balancing his weight on his elbows.
“Oh, good thinking, bra makers,” he joked as he unzipped the front of my sports bra. I laughed and then drew in a deep breath as his tongue found its way to one of my nipples, licking and sucking hard.
One of his hands trailed inside my leggings, pushing aside the soaked underwear, finding my wet center.
“So wet,” he murmured. My hand was still around his cock, but I stopped stroking him now that he was distracting me with his finger, pushing in and out of me as his thumb pressed down on my clit, causing my legs and my entire body to tense up.
“Take my pants off,” I mumbled against his lips, heady with desire. I let go of my hold on him, reluctantly. He straightened himself up, sitting on his knees, and with a wicked gleam in his eyes, proceeded to take off my boots and pants. I was lying almost completely naked in the heather, in broad daylight, and somehow, I didn’t care one damn bit.
“You’re so fucking beautiful, Sam,” he murmured, almost as if he were saying it to himself.
“As are you.” I watched him with dreamy, lustful eyes as he leaned on top of me, anticipating what was about to happen. I struggled a bit to unzip his jacket. I needed to feel his body. My hand trailed underneath his Henley shirt and I roamed his warm skin, feeling his hard chest underneath my fingers. His lips reached for me, and I responded to his kiss, got lost in the taste of him as he parted my legs a bit wider to make room for himself. I lifted my hips and wrapped my legs around his waist. He positioned himself at my entrance and filled me with one thrust, making me moan against his lips.
He rocked his hips, filling me and stretching me as I arched my body under him. I couldn’t help but moan his name softly as he thrust in and out, brushing against my sensitive spot over and over, driving me crazy. I opened my eyes and looked up as white, fluffy clouds moved above us, pushed by the breeze blowing in from the seaside.
His hands grabbed my backside, fingers kneading my skin, as if he couldn’t get enough, as if he needed to get deeper, to own me even more than he did already.
He dragged his cock out of me slowly, thrusting in again as deep as he could.
“Christ!” he muttered under his breath. “Samhain, I—”
“Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Don’t slow down.”
His eyes were full of determination, and I saw a flash of something I couldn’t quite grasp. A moment later he gripped my hips tightly and rolled down on his back so I was suddenly straddling him. I let out a deep breath, adjusting myself now that I was on top.
He took advantage of the position, fondling my breasts as I moved up and down on his length at the same time he moved his hips, his cock creating the most delicious pressure on my clit, blissful yet maddening, so much it made me want to scream.
I moaned, hair falling on my face, and he brushed it away.
“Let me see you come, love,” he said as he kept moving his hips faster and his cock filled me deeper and deeper. White-hot light flashed in my eyes, and my whole body tensed up around him as I cried out his name. He shook and grunted in a low voice underneath me as his hands caressed my ass. I leaned down on him, and he cradled my head as we both caught our breath, half naked in the valley lined with purple flowers.
“Did I fulfill your fantasy?” he teased.
I laughed softly. “Don’t act like you haven’t thought of this yourself,” I replied.
“Oh, aye, I have—many times.”
He took a deep breath and looked into my eyes before placing a slow kiss on my lips. I caressed his face and my eyes fell on my left hand, my ring sparkling as bright as his eyes under the sun.
He looked up at the sky and frowned. The clouds were moving faster now, and the wind had picked up.
He gave me a sly grin and another peck on the lips then lifted himself up so he was balancing on his elbows. “As much as I would like to lie naked in the heather with you, we better head back before the weather changes, Samhain,” he said in a worried tone. I went along with it, though reluctantly.
I wasn’t ready to leave our favorite place yet.
SAM
In the end, he was right. The weather started changing rapidly as we made our way back to the cottage. The clouds covered the sun and turned from white and innocent to gray and ominous.
“Well, that was nice while it lasted,” I muttered, looking up at the sky, and he laughed good-naturedly. A light, wet mist started coming down a few minutes later, and it soon turned into fat, heavy rain drops that caught up with us when we were still about fifteen minutes away from the cottage.
By the time we made it to the door, we were both soaked.
We opted to get in through the mudroom and shed our wet clothes there then we headed for the bathroom upstairs. I drew a bath and took off the remaining things I had on, namely my fleece and underwear. The uber-smart Scot had had a state-of-the-art tub installed in our upstairs bathroom. Unfortunately, we never had the time to put it to good use. We were always running to and from work and never had the time for a bubble bath. It was time to christen it.
“Take off the rest of your clothes,” I said as I started drawing a bath, making sure the water was the right temperature.
He didn’t say a word, but his eyes sparkled with a naughty gleam.
I watched him take off his thermal Henley slowly, teasing me, putting on a show for me.
“Get in,” I ordered him, pointing at the tub when he was naked in front of me.
His curly brown hair was wet from the rain, and I gently brushed it off his face.
He circled my wrist with his hand and pulled me closer to him.
“You get in now, lass,” he said in a low, husky voice.
I did as he asked, and turned around when he motioned for me to sit on top of him.
I leaned back against his chest as the warm water soothed my cold, wet limbs.
“This tub was the best idea ever,” I murmured against his neck before placing a soft kiss there. He caressed my face and kissed the top of my head.
“Better than the stove?”
“Shoot, I forgot about that other fab idea of yours. It’s a toss-up between the stove and the tub,” I said, thinking about the marvelous Viking Tuscany blue stove downstairs.
The stove was amazing, but sometimes
I felt a bit guilty. I didn’t even want to think or argue about the price tag on that one. I’d attempted it before and knew it was pointless to bring it up again.
“Have you given any more thought to when you want to get married?” he asked, running his fingers up my arm and then across my stomach. I shivered at the touch and let out a sigh. We hadn’t talked about it since our bubble got burst at the Registrar’s office. I’d told Hugh I had no problem taking care of the paperwork and he’d put me in touch with his attorney, but I hadn’t heard back from him yet. Maybe it was time to give him another call, especially after the fabulous idea I’d gotten while we were out on our hike.
I would have to make sure my Scot didn’t suspect anything.
“I have,” I said simply.
“And?”
“I want it to be soon, like you, but you need to give me time to get everything under control. Maybe start planning toward the end of our shooting schedule this season, and have it next summer.”
“So, about a year from now?” he asked, and I couldn’t help but notice the disappointment in his voice. I held on to the edges of the tub so I could turn around and look at him.
“Well, it really would be less than a year if we could get something planned for late spring or early summer. I meant what I said when Cecilia and Oliver got married, but give me time to pull it all together, okay? And, the other thing is . . . after I was so unceremoniously dismissed, I am concerned about doing a good job on set. I already have too many distractions as it is,” I said, giving him a pointed look.
“Hmmm,” he hummed, eyes sparkling with delight, fixed on my lips. Then, he frowned. “But, Sam . . . you know you didn’t get fired last year based on your performance. You really shouldn’t worry about that.”
“Debatable.”
“I’m serious,” he said, and his accent was suddenly more marked. I smiled and kissed him on the lips.
“Still, I would like to be able to focus on what I need to do on a day-to-day basis without having to worry about planning a whole wedding.”
“You know, I could help.” The tone of his voice was low, his eyes dark, and his hand traveled from my collarbone down to my breast. He gave it a gentle squeeze then started teasing my nipple with his thumb and forefinger.
A Scottish Wedding (Lost in Scotland Book 2) Page 6
