Had she woken, would they have shared another kiss? When wearing so little, sharing the same bed, could more have happened between them?
She dithered as she stood from the bed, her whole body trembling with excitement at the thought.
Would Kai have kissed other parts of her body? Would his lips have wandered down her chest, to the curve of her waist and hip, maybe to the inside of her thigh, his fingers wandering to that spot between her legs where –
“Ava?” a voice called as a knock sounded at the door.
“What?” she stammered loudly in surprise. It was Thora’s voice.
“Why so sharp this morning? Did ye sleep badly?”
“Something like that,” Ava muttered. She pulled on a robe over her dressing gown and moved toward the door, opening it wide to find Thora bouncing impatiently on the balls of her feet.
“A few of us are going intae town tae see the market. Do ye wish tae come? I daresay Laird Blair Grant may follow ye down there if ye dae come.” Thora giggled with delight.
Ava had to force herself to smile though it was the last thing she felt like doing. The mention of Laird Grant’s name made her feel as if a cold breath of wind had rustled into the room. All warmth which had encapsulated her body by thinking of Kai was gone in an instant.
“Aye, Laird Grant,” Ava murmured, reminding herself of the imperativeness of her mission.
I cannae afford tae be distracted. Even fer Kai… what would become of me sister if I did?
She couldn’t help glancing back at the bed though. Had Kai been there when she had awoken, she would not have thought of Laird Grant or sister. Her thoughts would have only been for Kai.
“Ye well?”
“Aye, aye, perfectly,” Ava said hurriedly, shrugging off any concern Thora might have had about her odd manner before it could spread. “Aye, I’ll come with ye tae market. I’ll see ye downstairs shortly.”
“Excellent.” Thora smiled and turned to walk away, throwing her last words over her shoulder. “Oh, Kai is coming too.”
Oh, is he?
Ava couldn’t quite level out the mixture of excitement and fear at this news. It wasn’t fear to be around Kai, but fear that the longer she spent in Kai’s company, the more she would be unable to resist him.
“Wonderful, I’ll be there soon,” she called, maintaining that falsely cheery tone. As she shut the door and laid her forehead against the wood, she tried to banish all thoughts of Kai. She was not going to think of his lips in the crook of her neck, nor the way his arm had threaded perfectly around her waist. Neither would she think of how he had pulled her into his side, so that she slotted against his body, feeling the tone of his muscled chest as she had bid herself not to explore with her hands. “Why are ye such a distraction?” she cried aloud when she realized that for all her determination, her mind was weak. As fast as she bid herself not to think too much about Kai, he was all that she could think about at all.
Thora and Lyla crept off to the side of the market, staring at scarves and fine furs. Kai gestured for Ava to go with them, but she narrowed her eyes, prompting him to chuckle.
“I ken,” he said softly. “Ye’re rather buy a new dagger than ye would a fine silk, wouldnae ye?”
“Ye think me tastes are that of a ruffian?” she teased him back, walking alongside him to the next stall, where there was a display of scabbards and belts.
“Hardly.” Kai leaned against the stall as he watched her. When they had first ventured out into the snow to this market, he had thought Ava was nervous about something. She had avoided his gaze consistently as they wandered the market, but in the last few minutes all of that had disappeared. Now, she caught his gaze at every opportunity, and he could hardly miss the blush across her cheeks. “I ken ye have excellent taste. Ye like me, dae ye nae?” he teased her in her ear as she leaned forward to look at a particular woven scabbard with triskele detailing.
“Ha! Ye are proud today,” she whispered back.
“Perhaps I slept very well. It has put me in a good mood.”
“Aye, I slept well too.”
“Oh, pray tell why?” He followed her as she took a step along the stall, reaching out to a second scabbard, this one marked withroses. “Was there something about last night that put ye at ease? That even… excited ye a little?”
She bit her lip, clearly determined to look at the wares and nothing else.
“I rather like it when ye blush,” he went on.
“Ye’re lucky this scabbard has nay blade in it.”
“Ah, am I due some punishment?”
