Kai said nothing for a minute. His foot bobbed up and down restlessly as he stared at Ava, who was now doing her best to busy herself adjusting the weapons in her belt to be comfortable. As soon as the whiskies came, Kai downed his and ordered another. Ava stared at him, open mouthed.
“Are ye certain of this?” Kai asked her, speaking at last as he got his mind organized.
Ava had always been beyond his reach. He knew that. She was too perfect, too beautiful, too good and loyal in heart, not to mention a talented and admirable warrior. In contrast, he was broken, haunted by the past, and he had little to offer the daughter of a laird when he was just the younger brother of another laird, spending his time as a scout. She was always going to marry someone else someday, he had just kept hoping that day wouldn’t come yet.
“I am certain.” She spoke with unrestrained determination now. She even sidled a little closer to him on the bench, prompting him to lay one hand across the back of it. If he shifted his arm a little, he could have wrapped that arm around her shoulders, buthe restrained himself. “Ye ken Lyla and me. Which of us is better able to defend themselves? If Lyla was bound tae such a man…”
He nodded in agreement at once. Ava was the warrior. She could fight to protect herself if needed, but Lyla was smaller in build, and she was shy. She sometimes found it hard to fight her corner. Bound to a vicious man, she would crumple like snow.
“Ye’re desperate, arenae ye?” Kai read the emotions rolling off her. She reset herself on the bench, leaning toward him. Those hazel eyes were so close now, pleading, open and honest.
Kai often had to use persuasion to make others open up to him with his air of charm and confidence, and his ability to read their emotions made him an even better persuader. Sometimes, he was even a manipulator, but never with Ava. He had never once conned her or persuaded her into talking about something she did not want to. Her openness now, meant everything.
He couldn’t deny her anything, not when she was so in need of his help.
His whisky was put down in front of him. He picked it up and knocked half of it back, distracting himself with the burn in his throat for a minute before he allowed himself to talk again.
He had to come to peace with what he was about to do.
If I help her dae this, Ava will truly never be mine.
That feeling of being gutted by a blade grew worse, but his mind was made up all the same. She had always been beyond his reach.
“I’ll dae it.”
“Dae what?” she murmured, nearly dropping her own cup of whisky.
“I’ll give ye the coaching ye need tae seduce a man, Ava.”
“Ye will?” Ava leaned forward sharply, such a smile of relief spreading across her face that the waves of emotions rolling off her now hurt him a little.
It pained him that Ava had never considered the thought that their friendship could have been something deeper. Clearly from her smile, it had never even been an inkling in her mind.
He downed the whisky, needing more of that distracting burn.
“First lesson.”
“What? Here? Now?” Ava said in disbelief.
“Have ye got a better idea?”
“I hadnae thought about it. Time is important, I suppose.”
“Perfect, then we’ll start now.” He had no intention of letting their seduction lessons drag on any longer than they had to. “Besides, yer first lesson is an easy one.”
“Oh good.” She put down her tankard, setting her spine straight as she turned to face him fully on the bench.
“Eye contact.”
“I ken how tae look a man in the eye, Kai.”
“Dae ye?” He wasn’t so sure. He’d seen Ava get flustered more than once. She was confident on the battlefield, and she often put up a wall of ferocity to protect herself, but holding a man’s eye? No, he hadn’t ever seen that unless she was calculating how to beat one in battle.
“Of course I bloody dae.”
“Hmm, then show me.”
“What?” She pinkened. It was a delectable shade of pink. It made Kai think of other ways to make Ava blush, ways that would have her shifting in that tartan skirt of hers, rubbing her thighs together. He had to push away such sexual thoughts.
