As the weeks flew by, I found myself more and more familiar with the villagers, and between my friendships with Arro, Eredine, and Will, my restored closeness with Robyn, and a job I loved, Ardnoch was starting to feel like home.
The only downside to the whole thing was my feelings for Thane. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d crushed this hard on a guy. And never one who was so off-limits. One way I tried to avoid said feelings was to avoid said man, and the best time to do this was on the weekends.
However, it was the middle of October, and the entire country was experiencing this crazy heat wave. Not that anyone other than Scottish people considered temperatures in the low seventies a real heat wave, but the Scots around me marveled at it, determined to take advantage, including Eilidh and Lewis. They’d decided they wanted to spend Saturday, the first official day of their October school vacation, at the beach, but they’d guilted Thane into allowing me to accompany them. I wanted to say no, but when they were looking up at me with those puppy eyes … argh. It was Lewis who did it for me, and I think for Thane too. Over the past six weeks, he’d grown increasingly demonstrative in his affection for me. Last night, when I was cleaning up dinner and preparing to take off to the annex, Lewis suggested I come to the beach with them the next day. And gosh, one look at Thane and I knew neither of us could deny him.
So there I was, playing happy family with Thane Adair.
I just had to pray none of the thirsty moms were at the beach, or this would give them something to chew on.
“I knew it would be busy,” Thane muttered under his breath as he parked in the last free space in the lot above the sand dunes. “October break. Everyone and their mother are staying at Gordon’s caravan park.”
Glancing to my left, I saw the entrance to a trailer park up ahead. “Is that where Robyn stayed for a while?”
“Yeah, in Gordon’s private caravan.” He glanced over his shoulder at Eilidh and Lewis in the back of the SUV. “You ready?”
Eilidh beamed, her teeth pressed together in a maniacal smile that made me chuckle, while Lewis was already unbuckling his seat belt. They both had their swimwear on under their clothes, but I’d foregone it. I’d worn a summer dress, even though I thought it was breezy. If the kids wanted to go in the water, I’d go in with them, but I was definitely not wearing a bikini in front of Thane.
I hopped out to help Eilidh while Thane grabbed the cooler, blanket, and picnic hamper from the trunk. However, as soon as I opened the passenger door, Eilidh said she wanted to wear her sandals instead of her sneakers. I’d packed them in a bag filled with extras (clothing, shoes, and towels).
“One second,” I told her and rounded the SUV.
Food was scattered in the rear of the vehicle. Thane looked up from repacking the hamper. “Bloody lock broke,” he grumbled.
“Is the food okay?”
“Some of it’s a bit bashed.”
“That’s fine.” I patted his shoulder in assurance and immediately regretted it when I felt his hard muscle. Flushing inward, I rounded his side and bent into the car. “Where’s the bag with Eilidh’s sandals?”
“I don’t—there it is.” He pointed to the darkest corner of the deep cargo area.
Unfortunately, we both moved in to get it at the same time and our cheeks slammed together. I felt the surprisingly soft tickle of his beard.
“Sorry!” we both exclaimed and jerked back. In the flailing, Thane’s knuckles brushed across my right breast, and I sucked in a sharp breath of awareness.
Our eyes collided, and I swore I saw heat in Thane’s before he looked away. His voice sounded a little hoarse as he said, “Let me get the sandals.”
Body tingling, cheeks burning, I stepped away and tried to look anywhere but at his ass. I succeeded. I failed, however, at keeping myself from ogling the perfect V-shape of his back from his trim waist to his broad shoulders. Over the last six weeks, despite trying to avoid being alone with Thane as much as possible, I’d picked up on his habits. And keeping fit was one of them. He had a small gym off his bedroom that he got up at the crack of dawn to use a few times a week. He said I could use it anytime I wanted. The offer had made me laugh.
“Not a fan of working out?” he’d asked with an amused smile on his beautifully curved mouth.
“I’m more of a yoga, Pilates, hiking kind of girl. MMA training is as close to a workout you’ll ever see me do.”
But I was more than happy to enjoy the visual fruits of other people’s labor at the gym.
“Here.” Thane hauled the bulky bag toward the top of the cargo space. “What on earth is in here?”
“Extras,” I explained. “Of everything.”
At his questioning look, I made a face. “We’re on a day trip to the beach with two children under eight. If we get through the day without needing at least three things out of the extras bag, I will be shocked.”
He grinned, his eyes crinkling attractively at the corners. “True enough.”
I ignored the flutter in my belly and dug through for Eils’ sandals. I moved to haul the large bag out of the car.
“I’ll get that.” Thane reached for it.
Gently swatting his hand away, I walked around him. “You’re carrying everything else.”
“Dad,” Lewis said behind me. “I can help.”
“You take the towels, son,” Thane said.
Once I’d gotten Eilidh into her sandals, all four of us trundled down the sand dunes onto the fairly busy Ardnoch Beach. Blankets, locals, and tourists dotted the stretch of luxurious golden sand. I didn’t blame everyone for descending upon the beach, though I preferred walking it with Robyn when hardly anyone was there.
But today, the cloudless sky had turned the water of the North Sea an almost Mediterranean green-blue. The soft sand was a white-gold up near the sand dunes, only to ombré into a rust orange where the shore continually lapped at it. The beach was secluded into a large cove, curving outward at opposite ends until it disappeared into the jutting green cliffs beyond.
“God, this place is beautiful,” I said, even as I shivered from the cool breeze blowing toward us from the sea. I clasped tighter to Eilidh’s hand as we slid a little down the dunes. Lewis walked on my right, between me and his dad.
Thane, who seemed as unperturbed as everyone else by the breeze, smiled. A hot pair of Ray-Bans hid his eyes from me. “Is She seducing you, then?”
All I heard was the word seducing.
“Huh?”
He chuckled, looking forward. “Scotland. Is She seducing you as She did your sister?”
“I think we both know it wasn’t Scotland that did the seducing,” I teased.
Laughing, Thane nodded and was about to reply when Eilidh beat him to it. “What does sepuducing me?”
Having momentarily forgotten children were always listening, I blanched and covered it with a bright smile. “Charmed, honey. It means to charm someone. You know, make them like you.”
I was pretty sure Thane shot me a grateful look, but it was difficult to tell behind those sunglasses.
We found a spot a little down the beach, near the dunes, and out of nowhere Thane produced an unfamiliar, multi-colored object and unfolded it. It consisted of four wide strips of stretched canvas with poles slotted in between each so it could fold in different directions. He placed it into the sand like a wall that curved around our towels.