Scandalous Scotsman - M.J. Fields Page 0,34
lip.
I’m so fucked.
“Let me stay here tonight. I’ll crash on yer couch if ye want me to. I’m exhausted and don’t want to be under the same roof as her until she’s sober and I can give her the keys to her car.”
She searches my eyes for a long time then shrugs. “Fine.”
I do not claim to know everything about American women or the games they play, but I do know the use of the word “fine” is never a good sign. “Ye’re still angry.”
She nods.
“Do ye truly feel I’ve done ye wrong, Elizabeth Bloom? I mean, regarding tonight? Do ye feel I—”
“I don’t like to feel stupid. I don’t like the thought of possibly trusting someone that is going to use that trust against me or take advantage of me.”
“Aye, as I told ye, I’m a man of my word.”
She sighs, and when she looks up at me, she looks defeated. “I’m just not good at this, okay?”
I nod. “Okay.”
“I won’t kick you in the balls again. We can be friends. Sorry I overreacted.”
With that, I feel relieved, so I close the distance between us and walk toward the kitchen island. “Don’t apologize for not being good at one-night stands, needing people ye can trust in your life, or the magic ye believe in.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I hope she didn’t catch that.
She pulls her lightweight, pale pink sweater tightly around herself, covering her beautiful body, her soft curves, and looks down.
Deciding to shift the mood, change the fucking subject, I sit down. “Ye can trust me, Elizabeth Bloom. I should have told ye about tonight, so I apologize. It won’t happen again. But ye owe me a slice of pizza, at the very least for the knee to the balls.”
Her full lips turn up, but just a little bit, and then her mouth is in a straight line again.
I’m thankful that there is an island between us or I’d be all over her, doing whatever I could to make her smile again. But first, she needs to know where I stand.
“I’m not sure I can be just yer friend after being inside ye, tasting ye, and waking up with ye, Elizabeth Bloom, but I’m going to guess at some point in the near future I may have to accept that. Hell, I may even beg for it.”
She scowls, but it’s not in anger; it’s in confusion. Fuck if that doesn’t make me feel a little less sure I could swallow a piece of apology pizza without fearing it would come back up. However, in order to stay in this house, I’m going to have to try to force it down so I can get through the night to make sure she’s sober when it’s time to have the real conversation with her.
Busted
Lizzie
He barely eats his slice of pizza, as I barely eat mine before admitting, “I’m tired and would like to get my leg up.”
“Aye, that’s a good idea. I’ll clean up.”
“I can do it.”
“Go, I insist.” His eyes move from mine to my lips and then down at the island, where we’ve each stayed on our own side while pretending to eat and not saying a word.
“You can take the downstairs bedroom,” I whisper as I make my way to the stairs. “I’ve changed the sheets and bedding.”
He doesn’t say anything, and I’m thankful.
Having already showered, I make quick use of the bathroom then brush my teeth again.
Once I’ve climbed into bed, I lie here, staring at the ceiling, utterly confused by all that he said to me downstairs.
Yesterday, it was a mutually agreed upon, exclusive-ish friends with benefits type of relationship, and now it seems like two totally different things have happened.
I’m not sure who to be angry at— me for allowing myself to get so worked up, or him for going on a date with a skanky piranha who very obviously tried to stake her claim on him while passive-aggressively attempting to belittle me, or him for being … a man of his word.
When I see the door open and light from the hallway floods in, I swallow hard as he walks toward me, holding a pillow in one hand and something else in the other.
“I ken ye said take yer bedroom downstairs, but —”
“This is my bedroom; the one downstairs was my parents’.”
He looks around, and only then do I realize this room still very much resembles that of an adolescent tomboy with its shelves full of completed Lego sets, a total nerd with Harry