The Place We Call Home

I should feel offended. Like, am I that tired looking that my employees told me to take a week off?

A week off? Really?

What the heck will I do in one week?

I sighed. I knew what I should be doing. Writing. I need to finish editing the book that I was working on, but the procrastinating god has been calling me.

Who am I kidding?

Between learning the ropes on how to manage The Belle, I was also able to revive my love for writing. Being away from the people who looked down on me gave me the courage to write a whole thing.

A year after we settled down, I was able to pen down a whole darn book. Jane loved it so much that she let other people read it. After two months of its creation, Highland Wolf became a hit and the name Nicollette Claude became a household name in the world of paranormal romance.

Three years later and six books later, I am an author and the innkeeper of The Belle. Add in the mix of being a mom, relaxation was never part of my vocabulary.

Who am I kidding? I never had time to relax. It was like when I did, something bad would always happen. I have learned never to be complacent.

I looked around and could not help but smile. This little town where we are now is a place that I could truly call home.

Strathpeffer, was a town in Scotland that was known for its Victorian atmosphere. The mixture of the old and the new drew me when Jane started telling me about her hometown.

My kids loved this town so much, that I may not have enough time to explore it, but they have. From the townspeople to the creatures that lived in the back forest of the inn. Each day was like a new adventure for them.

I never liked talking on long walks, but this day was an exception. I did not walk out of The Belle's ground, I'm too lazy to get out of the vicinity.

Several trees lined up the driveway leading to The Belle. My kids have played with the staff kids here numerous times, and they were able to make a story out of those adventures of theirs.

I stopped in mid-stride and listed. Instinct was telling me to go back, so I did. I was about to go back inside the house, but I went out back.

I went to the little wooded area behind the inn. Up ahead, I could hear a loud bark and the sound of my kids' laughter.

Duncan had asked permission to take my kids somewhere. I was expecting them to be in town. There was this bake shop that even The Belle's chef was raving about.

The closer I drew to the sound, the louder I hear my kids' laughter accompanied by bark and wack.

Heh? Someone was chopping wood?

Curiosity drew me, and I slowly followed the source of the sounds. There was a well-worn path that led to the small wooded area behind The Belle. The afternoon sun cast the walkway a lovely shade of orange.

I smiled. Scotland was a magical place. Even the normal things around me have this magical feeling each time I look at the things around me, they also change.

When I reached a small clearing, I had to touch the nearest tree for support. My legs suddenly felt weak, and my heart began to beat wildly as my eyes examined the man in front of me.

"My gods," I whispered.

Was I drooling? Not really but, I might be, I was not sure.

Gone was the man who wore clothes that covered his hard body, the man standing in the middle of the clearing chopping wood was a god. There were just no words to describe him.

Duncan's muscles flexed as he raised the ax and swung it downward with little effort. His shoulder looked so board, that he could carry the weight of the world with it. His upper body was perspiring, and I could see how well-defined his exposed body was. I had to take my glasses off so I could see him.

Duncan had this sculpted chest that I had only seen on the book cover models. My publisher handles those ends, he just told me to write.

The man had no ounce of fat in his body. He was lean, and the way I could see those muscles move with each movement, I wanted to trace each one of them just to feel each flex and just to feel them harden underneath my fingertips.

My eyes traveled downward only to close them, as I uttered a sound that was a cross between a moan that was either pain and more on pleasure.

Duncan had six-pack abs that men who frequent the gym would die for. It looked so hard and firm from where I am.

I need to get laid, I thought. Finally seeing Duncan half naked was not going to help me.

I had been fantasizing about the damn man for the past few days. And each time I wake up, my pussy would need to relive myself before taking a bath each morning.

He was the perfection I have only read in books. Duncan was my version of yumminess and the epitome of beauty that I knew I could never have.

Yeah, I know, I can be shallow, so who cares? I like what he looked like. It's not like he would be liking me or anything. for I know he was just toying with me and that he wanted to be with me.

Damn it! Why am I even entertaining these thoughts? I should be worrying about my kids. They were playing with a dog than was taller than them. But what was inside my head? What would Duncan's muscles feel like?

I watched in horror as Nicole lost her balance and fell into the soft ground. Instead of crying, like she usually does, my little girl stood up, dusted her injured knee, and went to the man who was putting another log to chop.

Duncan stopped and knelt so he could understand what my daughter was saying. Whatever the man has said must have pacified Nicole, because she ran back to her Kuya and Fall.

I wanted to be frightened of that deerhound, but how could I? He hunched down and let Nicole pet and hug him. Claude, on the other hand, looked at his sister's wound and wiped the dirt from it.

I must have made a sound because Duncan looked at the place where I was. I quickly hid and held my breath.

Then I did the stupidest thing I can think of.

I ran.