Jeanie grinned back at her. “Hello, you adorable things. How’s the most beautiful couple in the world today?”
Catriona rolled her eyes. “We’re not a couple.”
Broch nodded his head in Catriona’s direction. “She willnae marry me.”
Jeanie’s smile collapsed like a Jenga tower.
“Marry you?”
Jeanie turned to Catriona and reignited her glee. Her expression skipped past the first-gear smile she’d donned upon their entry and slammed into a grin-gear somewhere past fifth. Catriona felt as if she was suddenly staring into the sun.
“He asked you to marry him?”
Catriona groaned. The last thing she wanted to do was explain to Jeanie that Broch had asked her to marry him so they could have legit sex under his archaic Scottish Highland marriage-material rules. Sure he said he loved her, but they’d only known each other for a little over two months...
“I need a check.” She decided her best bet was to ignore the current topic of conversation entirely.
“But—”
“Check.”
“But he—”
“Blank check.”
Jeanie huffed. “I swear. You’re about as fun as a butt full of cactus thorns.”
Catriona watched as Jeanie took a moment to resign herself to her disappointment. After a few seconds of quiet, broken only by one dramatic sigh, she readdressed Catriona.
“Fine. What do you mean a blank check?”
Catriona drew a box in the air with her fingers. “An actual check. Blank. I need to give an actor a temporary loan.”
“I can’t just give you a blank check.”
Catriona held up her phone so Jeanie could see Sean’s message. The payroll clerk lowered her reading glasses from her head and peered at the screen, her lips moving as she read through the thread.
“Hm. I guess I can give you a blank check.”
Jeanie pulled out an oversized checkbook and detached one. “How are you today, my fine Scottish haggis, other than having to spend your day with this evil girl?”
Broch’s expression clouded. “We’re tak’ing a jet.”
“Well that’s fun, isn’t it?”
He shook his head. “Na.”
Jeanie held up the check, hovering it just out of Catriona’s reach. “For the record, Broch, I think you’re as sweet as shortbread.”
Broch smiled and nodded slowly, eyes closed, looking like a solemn gentleman. “Thank ye, Jeanie. And ah think yer a golden ray of sunshine.”
Jeanie blushed and pretended to fan herself with the check. “Why thank ye, me lord.”
“For crying out loud.” Catriona plucked the check from Jeanie’s fingers. “Thanks Jeanie. I’ll let you know the amount as soon as I know.”
Jeanie shook a finger at her. “You’d better.”
Catriona and Broch headed toward the elevator and Jeanie called after them.
“You’d better be nicer to Broch before I steal him from you. Say it Broch!”
Catriona dropped her head into her hand as Broch cleared his throat. “Top of the morn tae ye.”
Catriona could hear Jeanie giggling as the doors slid shut. For some reason the woman loved making Scottish Broch say a cliché Irish phrase.
She glanced at Broch. “Don’t pack everything you own.”
“Ah willnae.”
“Put jeans on. No kilt.”
He grunted.
“Don’t bring shampoo, they’ll have that there if we need to stay.”
“But ah lik’ my shampoo.”
“Do not bring it. No soap either.”
“But ah ordered a new one from the jungle and it smells lik’ coconuts.”
Catriona shook her head. “I told you, Amazon is not a jungle. I mean it is, but not the one you order from.” She frowned. The Highlander had gotten way too good with computers. She’d shown him how to order things he needed from Amazon and her monthly bill had quadrupled. That was fine, since for the time being she cashed his checks for him, but at some point she really needed to untangle their finances before he ruined her with his hygiene-product budget. Growing up in filthy ancient Scotland had scarred the man for life.
He did smell like a morning stroll through a tropical garden though. A really manly tropical garden.
Her gaze drifted down to the veins in his arms roping down to the back of those large, beautiful hands—
She cleared her throat and looked away.
Back to business.
“Just bring a pair of jeans, a couple shirts and your toothbrush.”
“And mah lotion.”
“They’ll have lotion.”
“Nae mah lotion.”
Catriona gave up as the doors slid open. “Whatever. Just hurry.”
He blocked her path and peered down at her, his right eyebrow arched.
“Are ye certain we’re nae married already?”
She huffed and pushed past him, looking down to hide her amusement.
Catriona stopped at her door to slip in her key. Before she could turn the knob, Broch passed her. As he brushed past, he patted her butt.
She jumped and turned to squint at him as he walked to his door in an overly nonchalant fashion.
“I felt that.”
Broch searched his sporran for his keys, refusing to look at her.
“Are ye talking tae me?”
“You should put your money where your mouth is.”
“Ah don’t ken whit that means,” he sing-songed before entering his apartment.
Chuckling, Catriona let herself into her home and headed for her closet. The outfit she’d chosen for the day seemed too casual to wear to Vegas, so she undressed and stood in her underwear staring at her closet.
She didn’t think she needed anything fancier than jeans and a top; hopefully they’d only be in Vegas for about an hour. She flipped through her few dresses thinking maybe it would be a good idea to bring one nicer thing, just in case. They needed to find Taylor, grab him and get back, but maybe they could sneak in a nice meal there somewhere—
“Whit’s that?”
Catriona whirled and covered her chest with crisscrossed arms like a vampire in her coffin.
“What the—”
Broch stood behind her shirtless and in his kilt, a pair of jeans in each hand.
Jeezus
