19.Tierney
Iwas wearing a summer dress.
With my sneakers.
There hadn’t been a day since I’d moved to Scotland when I hadn’t worn jeans, and I found the dress in the back of my closet. Most of my stuff was in storage, but I’d packed a couple of nice dresses in case.
Tonight was my first “in case.”
Still, I couldn’t quite bring myself to don a pair of matching heels, considering we were taking Ramsay’s boat over to Stòr. But I wanted to wear a dress. My legs were my best feature. At least I thought so, and people had told me over the years that I had great legs.
Ramsay hadn’t gotten a chance to see my best feature and although he would have eventually, I wanted to look and feel good tonight.
The dress paid off.
As Ramsay helped me down into his boat that evening, his gaze was practically glued to my legs.
Ramsay waved away my offer of assistance, so I sat in the boat and Akiva rested her head on my lap. Ramsay untied the small vessel from the dock and then started the engine. He drove us over to Stòr without saying a word. I noted his wet hair and the fresh scent wafting toward me. He’d showered somewhere. Probably at Quinn’s.
Instead of being nervous about his renewed taciturnity, I enjoyed the cool breeze off the water and the way the sunset sparkled across the sound in deep pinks and mauves. I wanted to talk about how this was my first pink sunset in Scotland, but nerves clamped my mouth shut.
Last night I hadn’t been nervous. Some bold woman overtook my body, and I was more forthright with Ramsay than I’d ever been with any man. That’s how much I wanted him.
Now, however, I had butterflies.
And I didn’t know why.
We were heading over to his island to have sex. There would be no rejection.
He wanted this too.
Right?
Looking back, it was ridiculous of me to worry that a grown-ass man with such decided opinions as Ramsay McRae would ever do anything he didn’t want to do, but in that moment, my insecurities got the better of me. Because the man had not said a single word since he’d picked me up from my apartment. His damn dog showed me more affection!
Hadn’t Ramsay told me before I was too young?
Too sweet.
Maybe he was remembering that I wasn’t his type after all.
To my surprise, we didn’t pull in to the small dock at the white cottage. Ramsay had a second dock closer to his house. Once we were safely anchored, he wordlessly helped me onto shore and Akiva ran ahead.
I tried to catch Ramsay’s eye, but he avoided it.
Shit.
Then …
He wrapped his big hand around mine, his callouses scraping deliciously against my skin, and he led me upward through the thicket of grass and onto a trail through the woodlands. With his free hand, he switched on his phone’s flashlight and led us through the woods.
Biting my lip against a cheesy, girlish grin, I followed, my gaze veering between the path in front of us and his hold on my hand.
It felt like forever since someone had held my hand.
An ache scored across my chest.
Akiva barked in the distance and I understood why when the trees opened up to the clearing and Ramsay’s home. His beautiful dog stood on the porch, impatiently waiting to be let in.
