Page 14 of You, As You Are

“I haven’t asked you what you do,” she said, the ocean foaming where it hit the rocks below them.

“Nothing special. I work in a showroom selling kitchens and bathrooms.”

“Why is that not special?”

“It’s tedious,” he said, and Maisie had to strain her ears against the wind to hear him answer. “Nothing ever really changes.”

Maisie knew that feeling. She’d worked a bunch of jobs through university and straight afterward before she’d landed at her current company. Things that were okay at the time and paid her bills but didn’t stir her imagination in any way at all. From what she’d seen so far, she couldn’t even hazard a guess at what might get Iain’s juices flowing like designing did to hers.

“You’re bored with it,” she noted, glaring at a lump of embedded stone in the ground that she stepped over.

“An understatement.” Iain’s unimpressed tone really meant it. “These walks are the highlight of my week.”

Okay, thatreallygave Maisie more insight into him than maybe he wanted to reveal. Perhaps he did simply enjoy being outside with spray from the ocean hitting him and his dog and a bunch of OAPs, or maybe he was more like her than anyone looking at them might think. Simply seeking colour and vibrancy in their lives. However, her blue and pink boots, berry trousers, red waterproof coat, and green headband next to his dark, earthy tones said that they were two peas from vastly different pods.

“So you don’t do anything else to relax?” Maisie managed to look over her shoulder when Iain was quiet, in case he hadn’t heard her.

He looked guilty for a second. “I play for Aber’s rugby team.”

“That doesn’t sound relaxing at all.” She would’ve laughed if she weren’t so close to being short of breath. Her kneesreallyweren’t prepared for this kind of climb.

Iain stared at her through his dark lashes and Maisie wished that – for the sake of her already quivering thighs – he wouldn’t. “Well we’re not professionals,” he said, “and most of us don’t enjoy getting injured, so we don’t do contact quite as hard.”

“Sounds like you all just enjoy one big group hug.”

A twitch of a smile touched Iain’s lips.

Triumphant, Maisie was sure she could get an actual laugh out of him. “Hey, there’s no shame in a group of guys gently having contact with each other.”

His tongue poked inside his stubbled cheek where the beard tapered out, and Maisie took that as a win.

Even with her being a step ahead, he looked down at her, brows askew, likely wondering what had happened to the bumbling, shy woman he’d saved from falling out of a minibus earlier. This is what happened once she was marginally comfortable with someone – or she could blame it on the fresh, salty sea air. So the only way was up now.

Literally.

The hike continued like that for another hour; up and down, up and down. The incline decided to kick into the next gear and really kick Maisie’s butt. She nearly slipped on a section that was purely rock right when she’d thought the land might be kind to her, and ever since she almost fell on her arse, which wouldn’t have been enough in its generous size to break a fall, Iain led their pairing.

Right at the steepest points was where the trail seemed to veer closest to the very high edge of the cliffside. Maisie didn’t dare lean and attempt to watch the greyish ocean foaming over the rocks, instead keeping her eyes on the trail and Vera with her purple cast up ahead.

They met another gate on a decline, and a yellow sign boldly read‘Cliffs Kill’ in two languages, just in case the message wasn’t clear, which didn’t exactly fill Maisie with hope.

“I’ve walked this before,” Iain said when he saw her looking at it. “You’ll be fine. Just stay close to the land instead of the drop-off.”

Maisie tugged the zip of her coat to her chin. “You say that as if it isn’t really,reallywindy right now.”

“You can hold onto me if you need to.”

As much as she would like that, she stammered through saying, “Oh, I’ll be fine,” because the thought of Iain touching her in any way again caused some sort of tiny reaction in her. More than that, the offer actually sounded genuine.

Her gaze wandered to where there now lacked a mound of grass between the trail’s edge and the cliffside. If she slipped sideways, it’d be her final bow. But as soon as she was through the gate, her attention was swept up by a single white house sitting at the base of the decline, above a tiny little pebble beach.

“Welcome to Wallog,” Iain said from beside her.

Maisie wouldn’t even try and replicate the throaty sound of the double Ls. She’d only butcher the language that Iain sounded so protective of.

“Someoneliveshere?” They must do, because lights glowed behind the windows and a car sat outside of the house. But there was nothing else around. The white house, across a bridge where water fed out in a rapid stream to the sea, was completely alone.

“I suppose.” Iain watched where Ted pawed at a patch of tufted grass, his little boots doing good work at stopping dirt from getting under his claws.

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