Fire Maidens Scotland (Billionaires & Bodyguards #6) - Anna Lowe Page 0,19
with an internship at the publishing company my friend Louisa works for. She’s been there two summers now. Not only does Deshawn get out of the city for the summer, she has a vision for her future — and something relevant to put on her résumé. Louisa even found someone to help her with college applications and scholarships…”
He looked at Holly as she went on. Funny, Holly didn’t seem like the résumé type — or one to plan far ahead. But there she was, helping a young girl set a foundation for a better future.
And not just Deshawn. There was also a Jesse, a Keesha, a Cornell, and many others. Holly went on and on about each of them. All the phone calls, all the pleading to give each kid a chance, all the hiccups along the way — and best of all, the successes, large and small.
“Of course, it doesn’t work out for everyone. And it does take a lot of asking around. You know — friends, neighbors, friends of friends… Still, it makes a difference. It’s only a few kids, but they can end up helping others. That way, more people get a leg up. People who don’t start as lucky as me or you.”
Lachlan thought that one over. From what he gathered, Holly’s parents weren’t that well-off, and a family business like theirs demanded long, hard hours. But the way Holly talked suggested she was the luckiest girl on earth.
Maybe she is, his dragon whispered.
His thoughts strayed to his own parents, and he sighed. Holly was definitely lucky in that sense.
“Mungo,” he grumbled, nudging the dog away for the hundredth time. “What do you want?”
Holly chuckled. “He likes you.”
Lachlan reached up, intending to nudge Mungo away. But his fingers tangled in the dog’s wiry hair, and he found himself stroking it instead. Within minutes, he was picturing himself by the fireplace in Trevor’s study on a stormy evening, nursing a good whisky. Or doing the same by a bonfire in Wyoming, in view of the Rocky Mountains. He’d never been there, but he’d seen pictures.
Before he knew it, his dragon was soaring away on the idea, picturing him and Holly driving with the top down on a whole different continent. He pictured meeting her parents too — the way a man met his future in-laws. Maybe meeting some of the kids she was so fond of as well. He imagined sunsets, mountain vistas, and above all, Holly sharing it all with him, the way he yearned to share his favorite places in Scotland.
A full minute later, he was still petting away, more for his own benefit than the dog’s.
“Good boy, Mungo,” Holly murmured, petting the dog from the other side.
Their fingers brushed, and the flickering warmth inside Lachlan was fanned into huge, dancing flames. His soul ached. Why was it so hard to resist something he couldn’t have?
Their eyes met, and for a moment, he was teleported back to the split second before their first kiss, so many years ago. That sense of wonder, homecoming, and possibility. That fear, too — of the forbidden. Of the unknown. Of an orderly, if boring, life about to go wonderfully askew.
But something pulled Holly’s attention back to the road. Her eyes went wide, and she screamed. “Watch out!”
Lachlan’s stomach dropped as he looked forward — straight into the front grill of an oncoming truck. It strayed wide of the oncoming lane, hurtling at them at top speed.
Horns blared in his ears, drowning out Holly’s scream.
As Lachlan jerked the steering wheel left, his life flashed before his eyes. Worse, Holly’s life did. All that joy and energy, cruelly snuffed out. All the smiles she would never get to smile, all the laughter that would never buoy his day. All those lives she might never touch.
Not on my watch, his dragon roared.
He leaned left, nearly yanking the wheel off the steering column in one of those gut-wrenching, Your fate is out of your hands moments he loathed. All his calculations, all his plans — all for nothing. Even a quick-healing shifter had no chance in a head-on impact, and there was no time to take to the air and shift into dragon form.
Holly screamed, bracing her hands against the dashboard. Horns blared all around. Mungo yelped. In an ear-splitting explosion, the side mirror shattered against the truck’s grill. With a roar, the truck blasted past, just inches away. The Austin lurched as two wheels skidded off the road.