Page 89 of Scotch & Dreams

"I would have been there for you, you know. I could have helped with taking care of Sally or listening or anything really,” Violet said, and he loved her for it.

"I should huv talked to ye. I thought about it so many times last week. I wanted to tell ye, let ye in, but at the same time, it's like I didnae want anything to put a damper on the beautiful thing between us. I felt so helpless last week. I didn't even ken how to tell ye about it.”

"I suppose I can understand that. I can't imagine what you all went through. But just so you know, you can tell me anything, Lachlan. I will be here for you."

He looked up into her mossy green eyes, and his heart felt cracked wide open. God, how he adored her. His hand found the nape of her neck, and he pulled her mouth to his, needing to taste the whisky off her lips. And as soon as he did, she opened her mouth to him, and he swept his tongue against hers, tightening his grip on her in his lap.

"Oi, ye two."

Lachlan cracked an eye open and saw Drew's grinning face, far too close to his and Violet’s for Lachlan’s liking.

"Time to get a room, aye?"

Violet snorted, hiding her face in Lachlan's shoulder.

A short time later, they'd said their goodbyes, gotten in an Uber, and arrived at Lachlan’s. After letting Sally out, he slid his fingers through hers, holding her hand in his and led her upstairs to his bedroom. It was hard to believe it was only this morning she'd kissed him goodbye in this very room and then some. They both washed up and got into bed. They lay side by side, looking at each other in the darkness.

Violet's head was spinning a bit from the cask-strength whisky she'd drunk, and she could tell she wasn’t the only one feeling its effects. It was a comfy, lazy sort of buzzed state they found themselves in.

"Do ye ken how glad I am ye are here with me, lass?" Lachlan said.

And it felt good when she realized that she did. There wasn't a doubt in her fuzzy, drunken mind. She leaned in and kissed his lips in the darkness, and he sighed against them and then laid his head with his nose against her neck, and he breathed her in. That was the last thing she recalled before falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Violet awoke to the sun streaking across her face through Lachlan's bedroom window. She felt a touch of a headache, but it was better than she imagined. She glanced over and grabbed the water she only now remembered Lachlan had put on the nightstand for her—he was always taking care of her. She gulped it back and then lay back down, stretching with a smile on her face as she looked over at the thoughtful, handsome man sleeping beside her.

Tucking her hands together beneath her pillow, she studied his face. Morning stubble graced his strong jaw, and his Adam’s apple bobbed slightly with his steady breathing. His nose was strong and straight with slightly flared nostrils. His lashes fanned out against his skin. She loved to see his dark brows quirk in an arch, and his lips? Oh, those lips of his… She wanted them on her.

As if hearing her thoughts, he stirred. His cerulean blue eyes opened, and his lips lifted into his crooked smile. "Good morning.”

"Good morning," she said back as they lay watching each other in what felt like some kind of warm love bubble.

There was no denying it. She loved him with every ounce of her being, and she was certain that he had strong feelings for her, too. Perhaps love, like Drew had said, but in the light of day, was it true? Did Lachlan love her? Maybe. She was going to try not to get hung up on it. She felt so much better knowing why he had gone MIA last week, and she didn't blame him. She couldn't imagine the trauma of what he and his family had endured. It was a relief that his sister Orlagh was going to be okay.

Violet still had one thing niggling her, though.

Chapter 53

Whispers in the Bedroom

"Whatisit,love?Ye look a thousand miles away.”

She felt petty bringing it up, but if they were going to move forward, she needed to know. "How did Anna get my note?"

A slight tick in his jaw made her almost wish she hadn't brought it up. "I'm sorry. I don't want to make you angry, but if there is going to be an 'us,' I need to know.

A lazy grin spread across his face. "Always apologizing, my little Canadian, with absolutely nothing to be apologizing for.”

She couldn’t help but smile. He laid his big hand over hers, warm and comforting. "I promise ye, lass, I will never intentionally keep anything from ye, and I want ye to ken that ye can ask me anything. I want ye to ken my soul."

Violet nodded, overwhelmed and so relieved by his response.

"Anna and I dated for about three months. That night of your accident, when ye and I met, we were still a couple.”

Violet suspected as much, but it still made her gut churn.

"Anna was in France that weekend.”

"Why didn't you just tell me then?" She thought back to that day and night they'd spent together. "You had every opportunity to tell me you were in a relationship. God, Lachlan, I even kissed you.”

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