I wrap my leg around him. “Guess it does.”
“Thank god. I could do with a proper bed tonight. My back is killing me.”
“Is that what this is?” I tease, but a sliver of real doubt shines through. “Using me to get to my nice hotel room?”
“Well, it is pretty nice. And I did enjoy using you,” he teases back. Then he sobers. “Of course not. This is…”
“Yeah.”
We trail off. What’s happened, what we’ve done, has crossed the line we’ve been skirting the whole walk. There’s no pretending to be friends now. No going back. We’re in uncharted territory, without a map.
Tomorrow, we’re going to his farm. To my sister’s wedding.
I don’t know what that will look like. What this means.
And, right now, I don’t care. Don’t want to look at this too deeply, to scare myself – or him – away.
Right now, in Angus’ arms, everything is perfect.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Angus
A fist banging at the door jolts me from sleep. I shoot upright, disoriented by the crisp white sheets, the heavy down duvet, the walls. This isn’t my room at home, which is cluttered with books and half-finished projects. And it sure as hell isn’t my tent. A woman stirs muzzily beside me, pulling the pillow over her head as the banging starts again.
It comes back to me. Last night. Rowan. The feel of her coming apart on my dick.
The bastard stirs with remembered excitement.
The knocking comes again.
“Fuck off! I’m coming!”
Rowan sure as shit doesn’t look like she’s about to move, so I rummage around the floor until I find my boxers and trousers and pull them on. I stalk over, ready to slam the door open, not bothering to hide my disgruntlement at whoever thinks it’s acceptable to bang on a stranger’s hotel room at the ungodly hour of—
I check my watch.
Eight o’clock.
Not so ungodly then.
Dread sweeps through me. Ross is coming to pick me up this morning. I haven’t checked my phone yet, but…
“Receptionist told me what room you were in.”
Ross’s ugly mug greets me on the other side of the door.
“How did they know? It’s not my room.”
“Oh, I can see that. Nah, I asked them if they’d seen a tall bugger, looks like he lives in the woods, face like a sour grape. They knew who I meant. Say you’d disappeared upstairs with the lady from 106 wearing the fluorescent clothes.” He eyes up Rowan’s discardedZestyhat. “That is quite… something.”
I grunt. “It takes a bit of getting used to.” I block the door. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to pick up my big brother and bring him home from his long walk.”
“At eight o’clock? Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”
“Lucy’s an early riser, okay? I’m learning to embrace the dawn.” He shoots me his usual shit-eating grin. “Nah. Stuart’s having a breakdown. Asked me to come fetch you. Well, to be exact, he said ‘Do something useful for once and tell your brother he’s had more than enough alone time and I need him here’. Although… looks like it hasn’t been such a lonely time after all.”
