Page 23 of Her Scot of Bygones
Or should I say clearer, because as my eyes met Hazel’s and warmth coursed through me, things became muddled in my mind before a veil seemed to peel away, and I saw her sitting there in front of the fire next to me, only she was younger. A blink later, she returned to normal, but I could still see her younger self in my memory.
Then I could see so much more.
“Oh my God,” she whispered, clearly experiencing the same vision because her eyes welled with tears. “Lucas?”
She shook her head, looking at me like I was undoubtedly looking at her. Like a long-lost friend she hadn’t seen in years. More importantly, she was looking at me with her heart in her eyes.
“Aye,” I managed, my voice deep with an emotion I had forgotten how to feel, just as taken with her now as I had been in my youth. “I remember you…us.”
A surge of anger blew through me because how could I have forgotten her, then a surge of love so strong I nearly leapt to my feet and pulled her into my arms because someone had stolen her from me, and now she was back. Right here, only older and,if possible, even more beautiful.
“I don’t understand,” she said hoarsely, still shaking her head. A tear slipped down her cheek. “What…how…”
I had the overwhelming need to comfort her, so I stood and pulled her into my arms, after all, gathering her close like I knew I had before. Resting her cheek against my chest like I knew she liked, I lowered my head and breathed in her scent because it was mine.Shewas mine and had been taken from me for far too long.
And shehadbeen taken from me.
I was certain of it and implied as much when I murmured, “But I took ye back…and want ye always, lass, right here in my arms.”
Though she offered no response, I felt her body tremble against mine and the warmth of her tears. Felt the same love radiated back, not just from her inner dragon but from her human half.
“ButamI truly yours?” she finally said softly, her voice choppy with emotion and her brilliant emerald eyes glassy and dull with a sad sort of hope as they met mine. “I’m certain I felt like I was, but what if I wasn’t? What if I was meant for…”
There were countless things we should talk about and try to understand, but I refused to let her finish her sentence and say Evan’s name when he had no place in this moment, so I cupped her cheek and closed my lips over hers. I finally did what I’d wanted to do since the moment I spied her sleeping on the sofa in the colonial six hundred years in my future.
I kissed her soft lips, and it was like coming home.
Nothing had ever felt so good or right as her mouth opened to mine, and we kissed like I knew we had before. Kissed like it was our first time all over again, because we had been each other’s first kiss.
That I knew for certain.
I could still feel our nervousness as our lips touched. Felt the elation that rocketed through me. Unlike our first kiss, we didn’t pull away and meet each other’s eyes shyly with young wonder. Nay, this time was different. Our kiss deepened, our tongues tangled, and she released a throaty little moan of need. Of anticipation.
One I had heard before.
It seemed she realized the same thing because she slowly ended the kiss, looked at me with surprised wonder, and cupped my cheek. “It wasyou…you were my first…and I was yours.”
No moment was ever stranger than thinking you knew who you had been with your first time, only to realize there had been someone before that. Someone who had been stolen from your life and memory.
“Aye,” I said roughly, remembering what it had felt like to spread her innocent thighs and make her mine, however awkward I might have been back then.
“I’m so sorry I forgot you,” Hazel whispered, anguish in her voice. She searched my eyes. “Forgot such an important moment.” She shook her head. “So many of them besides how we first met and how we parted.”
“’Tis a mystery to be sure because I dinnae remember either.” I ran my finger lightly along her silky, soft jawline. “I do remember ye loved me as fiercely as I loved ye.” Although I wanted his name nowhere near the moment, I felt it needed to be said. “And although I dinnae recall the details, I know ye chose me. Wantedme, not Evan.”
“I did,” she agreed, not denying it. Seeing things more and more clearly by the moment. “I’m not sure why you think Lilias was the reason you and Evan went your separate ways, because I’m pretty certain it was me who caused it.” She shook her head again. “Somehow, I don’t think Lilias had anything to do with it.”
“I dinnae think so either,” I said, shocked that my mind could have been so muddled. “’Twould have taken considerable magic to make me, and my dragon forget so much. And I cannae see how or why I would have kept you from my kin.”
“Yet you created all this without them knowing.” Her gaze swept over my lair, and the look of recognition she’d worn since we returned gentled into a soft knowing. “You created this for us when we were children.”
“Our very own secret lair because you didn’t want anyone finding out you were here,” I said, remembering the hopeful look in her young eyes when she made me swear I would keep her a secret. “I cannae recall why, but Icanrecall there wasnae anything I wouldnae do for you.”
“Or I, you.” She rested her hand on my chest, flattening her palm like she once had because she liked the feel of my steady heartbeat. One I swore would always beat for her. “I know we should talk and try to figure things out because I loved Evan too, but…” Her eyes slid shut, and she inhaled deeply, pulling in my scent like it was the most delicious thing she’d ever smelled before her eyes opened to mine again. “I need you more…need what comes next.”
I didn’t need to ask what she meant because I understood. Like me, she wanted all we could have right now. This very moment.
So I closed my mouth over hers again, and I took.Wetook. Every single moment, as we reintroduced one another to who we were today. There was no need to tell each other what we liked and didn’t like because it was all right there in every touch and caress. In the way I looked at her as I dropped to my knees and, inch by inch, peeled her clothes away.
