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“Ha! Your face, though!” Jamie grins and does a wee dance. “You’re so easy to wind up.”

I shake my head but can’t bring myself to get annoyed with him. I’m just relieved I don’t actually have to deal with any of that stuff. After all Iona’s teasing, it would have been awful if something else had delayed our date in my bed.

“Well, how did the weekend go?” Elspeth asks, tilting her head.

“Aye, it was really good. Iona loved the book event, and today we did the castle and a few other touristy things.”

“Come on, tell us the good stuff!” Jamie leans in closer, lowering his voice to a whisper. “How was the sex?”

“Jamie!” Elspeth rebukes.

He really is the absolute worst. Why would he say that in front of Iona’s maw?

“We slept in separate beds, and there was no sex,” I report. It’s the truth. There was a pretty hot scene in a bathroom, but no contact was involved.

“Bloody hell, you and Iona are so boring!” Jamie complains.

“Thanks, Jamie.”

“Is Iona back in the house?” Elspeth asks.

Her smile has tightened almost imperceptibly. I get the strangest impression she’s disappointed by my announcement that I didn’t sleep with her daughter. Maybe I’m misreading her. No doubt she’s just anxious that everything goes well between me and Iona, but even so, I’d rather she didn’t have opinions about our sex life.

“Er, aye, she’s across the road,” I confirm.

“Great, I’ll just finish up in the kitchen then go over and chat with her. Hopefully, I’ll get more out of her about the weekend than I’m getting out of you!”

“Oh . . .”

Shit, while I’ve no desire to talk about anything sex-related with Elspeth, the days of sneaking Iona up to my room are gone—Iona and I discussed this on the drive up and were in agreement about it. We’re adults, and if she’s going to be spending the night with me, we’re not going to hide that from anyone.

I need to set the record straight about what’s going to be happening—tell Elspeth that Iona won’t be available for a chat tonight—but I’ve no wish to have an extended conversation about the matter. That’s why I casually make my way towards the stairs. With one foot on the bottom step, I say, “Er, maybe you could catch up with Iona tomorrow? The thing is . . . she’s going to be staying in my room tonight.”

A spark of surprise—and then, I think, delight—flickers in Elspeth’s eyes, while Jamie whoops enthusiastically. He says something about knowing for a fact that my room isn’t a twin room, but I ignore him and set off upstairs.

I’ve barely closed my door behind me when my phone pings. I check it—it’s the McIntyre Clan Group Chat.

Jamie

Cat, Ally, I have some BIG news about Lewis and Iona!

Bloody hell, he didn’t wait long. Shaking my head, I choose to ignore the barrage of subsequent pings. It seems Ally and Cat are just as interested in the news as Jamie.

Going over to close my curtains, I glance across the street and notice that Iona’s are already shut, although the subtle glow around her window tells me her light is on.

I leave my curtains for the moment and lift my phone. Ignoring the messages that have come in from Ally and Cat, I send one to Iona.

Lewis

A spreadsheet. On the cloud. I’ll add my fantasies, and you can add the scenes from your romance books.

Iona

Perfect! We can have columns for recording your rating, my rating, any comments/observations . . .

Nice, I like the idea of rating each entry. That’s hot.

All this chat about sex is amazing, of course, but this relationship is about so much more than that. This is my best friend, the only lass I’ve ever loved. She wanted to put off sex until we’d re-established the strong friendship we once had. I’m delighted she thinks we’re ready to take the next step, but I hope I haven’t been too sex-focused today. It’s important she knows just how much she means to me.