But now Lydia had sent me a pinned location.No message, no explanation.Just a pin about 500 feet from the carpark.I unpacked, checked in, and dumped my bag in my modest, tartan-patterned room, then jogged through a gate, eyes on my phone, following the flickering blue dot that told me where she was.Past some trees, into a clearing, then down a grassy path that opened on to a small loch.And there she was – a blonde head by the water, her knees pulled tight to her chest, staring out at the view.It was dead quiet, no one but us and the sounds of the water gently lapping against the loch’s bank.
I sat next to her.We stayed silent for a moment before she opened her mouth first.
‘I don’t think I’ve seen anything more beautiful.’
She was partly right – as the sun was setting, the sky of oranges and pinks reflected on the water below, bracketed in by the dark, broody mountains.
‘I have,’ I said, eyes on her instead of the view.‘Seen something more beautiful, that is.’
She turned, finally looking at me, her head resting on her knees.She gave me a soft, shy smile that I wasn’t sure I’d earned.
‘I—’
‘Ren—’
I chuckled.‘You go.’
Lydia took a breath in, and began, ‘I’m not going to apologise for what I said the other night.It was a long time coming and it felt good getting all that off my chest.I’d been keeping it locked up for so long.So I’m not going to apologise.Even if it was public and messy and not usually how I do things.I feel lighter for it.’
I nodded.‘Fair enough.All I’ve ever wanted was for you to be honest.And to be yourself.Your true self, underneath all the smiles and people-pleasing.And I hurt you, so you should tell me how you feel.Shout at me.Whatever you want, Lyds.’
‘But I don’t want to hurt you too.’
‘You didn’t say anything I didn’t already know, Sunshine.And about Lexi—’
Her shoulder tensed.A telling sign that she was still thinking about this.
‘Lexi is married.’ I pulled out my phone, showing the smiling faces of a couple – Lexi, with her platinum-blonde, poker-straight hair, and next to her a man with a wild, dark mullet – ‘That is Lexi and Tim.Odd couple, but it works.She’s a posh Londoner, he’s a typical Aussie.They met travelling a couple of years ago, eloped in Peru.Now they have a place in Mexico City, but travel all around the world.I met them on my first day at Nocturne.They ordered my favourite drink and we hit it off.’
I put away my phone and glanced at Lydia, her face unreadable.
‘Lexi was texting about you.Yes.Because she knows about you – I confessed it all drunk one night.That I had a best friend I had hurt and I missed her so much.’ I chuckled, remembering the way Lexi had recoiled when I told her what I did and who I left at home.‘She smacked me on the arm.Girl code, she called it.Then, after a few weeks, she said I had a sadness in my eyes.She made me realise I wasn’t happy.Then, she suggested I come home and make it up to you.’
Lydia exhaled.‘Well, I feel fucking stupid.’
I ran a hand down her ponytail.‘You’re not stupid.If I’d read that on your phone, from Casey or someone – I would have thought the same.’ I clasped her chin, making her look at me.‘But there is no one else, Lydia.No one but you.And I know it doesn’t erase the fact that I left in the first place, but I was in the airport, boarding a flight back to you when Liam called and asked if I would come back.’
Lydia inhaled sharply.
‘I came home foryou. Not for Liam.Not for Lily’s.I would have got a job at a drive-thru if it meant I could be with you.’
Lydia’s eyes caught on my lips, then she stood and held out a hand for me to follow.Then she kicked off her trainers and socks and pulled her baggy gym tee over her head.Heat and desire rocketed right through me.Followed shortly by confusion.
‘What are you doing?’
She pulled down her leggings, slowly, like I’ve imagined doing again and again since our night in that tent.
‘What do you think?’ She smiled mischievously.‘Skinny-dipping.’
A laugh stuttered out of me.‘Lyds, this is Scotland.It’s going to be—’ my voice died when she pulled her bra off, then her thong and she was standing naked before me.Blood rushed to my cock as I stared at the defined lines of her stomach, and her strong legs, up to her breasts, that were small, but perfectly shaped, her dusky pink nipples hardening as the spring breeze caressed her.God, she was a goddess.I wanted to trace the dusting of freckles on her thighs with my tongue.I wanted to sink my fingers into her soft hips.I wanted to make hermine.
‘Come on, Ren,’ she said, humour in her voice, even as I could hear the gravelly desire there too.She turned towards the water, then shot me a sexy smirk over her shoulder.‘Don’t go mute on me now.You said you were so good with that mouth.’
I choked a laugh.God, I wanted to wipe that smugness off her face with my mouth.But all I could do was stare at her beautiful, round arse as she walked into the loch, her shoulders tensing as the cold hit her legs.She didn’t hesitate, only gave a graceful dive before coming up, and smoothing her wet hair off her face.
I stared in awe, as she grinned at me, looking all the part of a water nymph or siren, destined to drag me to a watery grave.
‘Ren.’ God, her voice was… seductive.‘We don’t have all night.’
