Under Loch and Key

by Lana Ferguson

My entire life, I have been told to fear this woman, the one I didn’t know existed until just now—but she certainly doesn’t look like the end of the world as I know it.

We do not lust after assholes, damnit.

As I pull away from the curb, I wonder to myself if hitting someone with your car warrants the same punishment here as it does back home.

“But Nessie has always been a girl!” “I did try to hint at the falsity of that, you remember,” I remind her. “Outside of Loch Land.” “Yeah, but I just thought you were being a dick.” “No, I was trying to tell you that Nessie has a dick.”

She looks excited, damn her. Why does she look so bloody excited? Can’t she be properly terrified of me? I’m a monster, for fuck’s sake. Not a fucking puppy.

I hate how fucking lovely she looks when she’s being a pain in my arse.

Did Lachlan and I almost kiss just now? And what’s more…am I disappointed that we didn’t?

“I told you,” he says, his deep brogue heavier and his voice sounding gravelly. “I don’t lose control.” His lips skirt along my throat until he can kiss the sensitive spot beneath my ear. “But you make me fucking want to.”

“Anything you say, princess.” I grin. Okay, maybe it’s not as annoying as I thought.

Telling her that I am afraid, but that I think she might be worth it.

Was I really so busy hiding behind all the things I thought I should be feeling about her that I was blind to what I actually was?

Her lips find mine, her kisses almost desperate, and it occurs to me all at once—there’s a good chance that I’d give Keyanna MacKay anything she asked me for.

I hope that somewhere she knows that I will take care of her family, that I will never take them for granted. Because they’re mine now too.