I feigned disappointment. “So Jamie couldn’t even compare with Eric’s superior skills? Now I’m wishing I’d made out with your ex when I had the chance.”
In response, Vee lobbed the pillow-missile back at me. “Ow!” And then because I couldn’t resist … “Such a shame Eric’s ruined you for all other guys.”
“I am ruined—but not by him.” The emotions started to gather again, fueled by her admission. I didn’t need her to say the Completing or recount Jamie’s summons to Sofia to know where her mind was. A moment later, she shook her head. “I’m being a self-centered shrew. Enough with my pity party—what did you do while I was gone?”
When I told her about spending the evening with Duncan in his chambers, she pursed her lips and said, “Oh, really?”
“It’s not like you think. Duncan mostly read, and I did what I always do when I’m stressed.”
She nodded sympathetically. “Show tunes?”
“My entire repertoire.”
Although she tried to mask her disappointment, it wasn’t her best performance. “You must’ve talked some, right?”
I thought about the degradation Duncan experienced when his brother had ordered him to stay behind and babysit like he was hired help. It was as if a light had been snuffed from his spirit. In the two weeks I’d known him, I’d never seen his features so tight and lifeless. He’d closed himself off and bordered on total jerk all evening.
But Vee didn’t need to hear that. I wasn’t about to tack any more mileage on to her guilt trip. “We were a little freaked out. I wish I could tell you we sat around singing end-of-the-world duets. But we didn’t. We kind of went our separate ways—while occupying the same space. If that makes any sense.”
“Oh.” Vee frowned. She seemed genuinely upset that I hadn’t shared the same kind of cataclysmic love connection with my prince as she had with hers. But in the great scheme of things, neither event changed anything. Closeness with Duncan would not deter me from leaving the moment the bridge opened any more than her closeness with Jamie would enable her to stay. The only true difference is I would leave by my own decision.
Not wanting to let her down entirely, I added, “We did sleep together—I mean in the literal sense—in the same room, together. Well, not together together. He slept on the floor and I slept in his bed. But with him just a few feet away, I slept hardly at all. And then when I finally dozed off, I had this crazy dream where he was Spider-Man and we were building an ark with—” I realized I was rambling and abruptly stopped talking.
Vee waggled her eyebrows with significance. “But you slept with Duncan?”
“Pretty much. I mean, he slept. I just lay near him and swooned all night.”
A noise in the doorway, specifically the masculine clearing of a throat, announced the object of said swoonification present and well within earshot of my last comment. Completely mortified, I stared at Vee with huge eyes. With a grimace over my unlucky timing, my best friend dove into the bathroom. The only word I caught in her hasty retreat was “shower.”
“Sorry to intrude.” Duncan held a small silver tray in his big hands, embarrassment evident on his face. “I brought ye your breakfast, Mackenna.”
The tray contained a mug of coffee, a covered plate, and a small green vase bursting with lavender. As I leaned over the arrangement and inhaled, my childhood came rushing back. All my happy summers spent in Alloway. Even the vase was a miniature version of Aunt Gracie’s, right down to the design and shade—which made total sense, if hers had originally also come from Doon.
I breathed in again, pulling the calming scent deep into my being. “Not that you’d have any way of knowing, but lavender is my favorite flower. Thank you.”