And there, standing in front of her rental, was the asshole from the market.
Chapter Nineteen
A Bitter Chill
The wind chased down through the mountains and across the loch’s icy waters, bringing with it a bitter chill. Seeing the man from the market standing in front of the cabin was a complete shock to Nora, and the sting of the icy cold wind felt like a slap across the face from the universe itself.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, setting her bags down and placing both hands on her hips in a defensive stance.
“Me? What areyoudoing here? This is my rental,” he said in his irritatingly arrogant tone.
“No, you’re mistaken. This here ismycottage. See,” she said, holding her phone out to show him the reservation.
He looked down at her phone, a look of confusion creasing his brow as he took out his own phone.
“Can’t be. Look,” he said, holding his phone out to show her the exact same reservation instructions: Cabin 5, last cabin on the walk, pin code 1667.
“I don’t understand,” she said, confused, as she looked back down at her own phone. “It’s obviously some kind of mistake.”
Just then a small black wiry dog came skulking out from the edge of the cabin, stopping in its tracks when it saw the two of them. Nora was taken aback by the dog’s mismatched eyes—one blue, one brown—as it turned to glance in her direction. After a moment, it shifted its attention toward the man and emitted a low growl followed by a series of sharp barks. The dog stood firm, its hackles raised, refusing to look away from him. Nora couldn’t help but recall the saying about dogs sensing evil as she watched the man take a step back.
“Yours?” he asked in an annoyed tone.
“No, not mine,” she snapped back.
He lifted his foot in a defensive stance, and Nora busted out in protest, “You better not even think about it.”
“If he comes for my ankles, I have no problem booting him into the loch like a football.”
“Asshole,” Nora said under her breath as the little dog looked at her and darted off into the brush behind the cabin, leaving her to deal with the man by herself. The man watched the dog disappear and then turned back to the door.
“I’m sure there is another cabin around here somewhere. Maybe you should go find it,” he said, punching in the code to the door, opening it, and then abruptly slamming it in her face.
Nora stood stunned, her face turning red as the anger boiled up inside her. She had had enough of this jerk, and there was no way she was going to let him take her cabin. She punched in the code and walked in behind him.
“Bloody hell, you’re like a magpie at a picnic,” he said as she stormed in.
“What the hell does that even mean?” she asked, parking her suitcase against the wall.
She was about to give him a piece of her mind when the sight of the inside of the cottage temporarily silenced her. It looked nothing like the images online, which had been of the newer cabins only. If not for the annoying asshole standing in the center of it all, the cottage’s next-level rustic charm would have been a welcome sight.
“Well, I’m not going anywhere. This is my cabin,” she said, trying to sound as resolute as she could.
“Listen, love, I have just as much right to this cabin as you, so why don’t you bugger off and find some other person to annoy,” he said, falling back onto the leather sofa and kicking his feet up onto the small wooden coffee table in front of it.
“Yeah, not likely,” she told him as she pulled out her phone and dialed the number on the Airbnb page.
“Hello,” a woman’s voice answered on the other line after one ring.
“Hi, my name is Nora Cameron. I am staying in cabin number five in Letterfearn.”
“Aye, yes. Hello, Nora, how are you finding everything?” the woman asked in an overly cheery tone.
“There is a bit of a problem here. It seems that you might have double-booked the place as there is a strange man sitting on my sofa.”
“Oh, goodness me, I am so sorry. Give me a minute, please, so I can look this up.”
Nora could hear the woman tapping away at keys and cursing under her breath before she picked the phone back up.
