What she hadn’t expected as she did this was for Cal to reach out and squeeze her hand – tight. It was such a gesture of intimacy that Bea blazed withaffection for all that she had found in this magnificent Scotsman. And when he hardened to the point of no return and his deep body groans filled the room, Bea felt her heart flap and flutter like the wings of Capercaillie beating in flight across the loch outside.
Chapter 45
Cal
They sat on the veranda with blankets wrapped round them, sipping whisky. The moonlight illuminated Bea’s skin and dappled golden highlights onto her hair, unkempt from their lovemaking.
‘You’re so beautiful.’ Cal tucked one of her strands of hair behind her ear.
She turned. ‘Thank you. So are you.’
Cal kissed Bea and remarked how she still tasted so decadent. He could have stayed like this forever, next to this woman who was changing his life with each moment she was in it.
The following morning, Cal awoke early again. For a while, he lay curled round Bea, trying to commit the feeling of her naked skin touching his own to memory so he wouldn’t forget it when it was over. When she was gone. Knowing it was fruitless and that memories could never replace the real thing, he gently prised himself from her and climbed out of bed.
It was a perfect crisp autumn morning with a soft golden sun lending a tenderwarmth. Cal stood on the veranda and inhaled the fresh loch air and the breathtaking view. God, he loved this country. Okay, it didn’t have the glorious sunshine of America or the palm-fringed beaches of Australia but all the rain meant it was lush-green and in a season like autumn, it was stunning.
Cal’s phone beeped with a message and the name Elisabetta flashed onto the screen. He didn’t want to read it but there might be a problem with the baby so he figured he’d better.
Hey. Didn’t know about your dad’s party. Hope you have a brilliant time. Wish the family well from me.
Cal frowned. There was something odd about this message. Of course Elisabetta knew about the party. It happened every year and he’d talked about this one for some time. But why was she mentioning it now? Was she making a point about not being invited? Why on earth would they have invited her? As for ‘the family’, why not ‘your family’? She talked as if they were her family too. It was so hard to tell if the message was sarcastic or not. There weren’t any emojis, such as hearts or even kisses to suggest sincerity, and Elisabetta was a big fan of emojis. Something about the message worried him. But he knew he had a tendency towards cynicism, and one thing he was learning from being with Bea was to be a little less bleak and more positive. It was just a message from someone who knew and liked his family (even if they weren’t massive fans of hers) wishing one of them well.
Thumbs moving quickly to get it over with, Cal messaged back,Thanks, will pass that on, then put the phone down and went in to meet Bea as she emerged from the bedroom in a robe, glowing with as much natural beauty as the scenery outside the veranda doors. ‘Morning, beautiful.There’s no almond milk here, so I made you a cup of black decaf tea. Hope that’s okay?’
Bea smiled. ‘You’re funny. Thank you.’
They sat outdoors and drank their hot drinks. ‘I can’t wait to meet your family.’ Bea wrapped her hands around her tea. ‘Do you think they’ll like me?’
Cal was slammed with a realisation of what he was doing. He was taking Bea, a woman he was having a no-strings fling with, to meet his family. They’d love her, but then she’d go back to the US. Why was he pursuing this so doggedly? He’d justified it to himself as being to show her Scotland and to show his father he could get a good woman, but those reasons were flimsy now.
You’re playing with fire.
‘They will absolutely love you,’ he told her because it was true. How could anyone not? God, maybe he should tell her he was failing at this no strings thing. Just come clean and get this weight off his chest.
But then Bea’s attention was diverted by the sound of her phone that she’d just turned on and a message that made her frown.
‘You okay?’ Cal leaned towards her.
‘What?’ Bea glanced up from her deep concentration. ‘Oh, um… yeah. Just a message from my best friend back home.’
‘You missing her?’
‘Oh, for sure. Friends like Amira are one in a million. She’s been monitoring my scheduled social media since I’ve been here. I do some check-ins from time to time, but mainly she’s on it. Telling them I’m fully focused on bringing them the best book possible.’
‘And how’s that going?’
‘Good. Maybe not quite as quickly as I’d like because of being distracted but, you know, a girl’s got to research.’
Cal hoped she meant researching the scenery and customs of Scotland. The last thing he wanted was to be the centrepiece of some racy book. He enjoyed listening to Bea read them and being racy with her but being in a book was another thing altogether.
‘So, that’s why it’s great that we’re here.’ Bea motioned to the horizon. ‘How could a girl not be inspired with all this in front of her?’ She diverted her gaze to Cal and ran her toe up his leg, giving the sentiment a double meaning.
‘It’s pretty spectacular.’ Lifting Bea’s leg onto his lap Cal skimmed his hand to above her knee. ‘So are things okay with Amira?’
‘Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, I think so. I don’t actually know. All she said was “call me, I have something super important to tell you” but she sent the message several hours ago and she’ll be asleep now.
‘Right.’ Cal considered the message on his own phone and wished Elisabetta was in a different time zone. Australia preferably.
