Page 34 of Dissonance

“I’m still forming my conclusions.” Her lashes flutter as my fingers reach the inside of her knee. “You never actually told me what you do.”

“I keep people out of trouble,” I say, vague as hell.

She narrows her eyes, deciding whether to push. She doesn’t. Just studies me over the top of her glasses with a small smile. “Mysterious.”

“Boring,” I correct.

My hand keeps moving, her breath catching as I reach her inner thigh. She’s trying to maintain the conversation, but is struggling. I can see it: the slight press of her lips, the way she keeps her eyes from closing. I like it. I like watching her fight to stay composed when her body’s decided it doesn’t want to.

Reaching out, she brushes her fingertips lightly over the scar beneath my pec. She traces the edge of it, then moves to others scattered lower, her touch curious rather than cautious, unhurried, mapping every mark.

Her eyes lift to mine, and I answer the question circling behind them without her having to ask.

“Navy. Special Ops.”

“How long?”

“Ten years, then got out.”

She wants to ask more; I see it in the slight parting of her lips, more questions forming, but instead, she nods, like she understands there are doors here she doesn’t have the right to open.

“I bet that wasn’t boring,” she says quietly.

I shake my head. “It wasn’t.”

She smiles, fingers still resting on my chest before settling back against the headboard.

“So…Scotland,” she says, voice losing its steadiness as my thumb moves in slow circles on the inside of her thigh. “Is it really all castles and bagpipes?”

“Castles is a bit generous,” I say. “But there’s a family estate.”

Her eyes go wide behind her glasses, the green in them shining bright. “Oh my god, really?”

“Aye. My older brother’s the laird now.”

“The laird,” she repeats, tasting the word. “So there’s land?”

“Enough of it.” I shrug. “Hills, mostly, some farmland. A loch if you squint at it right.” I pause, watching goosebumps pebble along her skin. “Archie takes it very seriously. Wears the title with honor.”

“And you?” she manages, hips shifting almost without her realizing it as my fingers move higher.

“Not really my thing.”

Her thighs press together around my hand before easing apart, her lower lip disappearing between her teeth.

“You’re doing that on purpose.”

“Doing what?”

The tips of my fingers brush her pussy.

“That.”

“Is it distracting you, lass?”

Her head tips back against the headboard, eyes fluttering shut. “Yes.”

I shift closer, and the sheet covering my waist slips off, my cock half hard as I roll onto my stomach, settling between her legs. She watches me, eyes darkening. A flush spreads down her throat, across her chest, her skin heating and faintly damp from the morning air coming in off the ocean.