16. Emma

Chapter 16

Emma

W hen the alarm goes off the next morning, my eyes are gritty, and my head is banging. I stumble to the bathroom for paracetamol and splash my face with arctic water that wakes me up quicker than lightning.

Making my way down the hallway, creeping past Anna's door where all is quiet, I get the coffee on and pour a big mug, eager for the caffeine burst to get my arse in gear. Lots to do today.

The loud knock at the door interrupts my musing, and I cross over to open it a fraction to peer out.

"Oh, fuck no!" I spit out when I see the handsome yet cheating face of Carrick Glenn on my doorstep. Flinging the door wider, I glare at him. "What the fuck are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"Well, hello to you too, Ems," he drawls, leaning on the doorframe. "Took me a hot minute, but here you are."

"And here you are. Why? Why have you travelled a million miles to track me down?"

His smirk is infuriating. "Hardly a million miles, but a quick flight from London to Inverness. I miss you, love. London doesn't have the same spark without you."

"Cut the crap, Carrick," I snap, my fingers tightening around the door. "You cheated, remember? There's nothing here for you."

He shrugs, looking annoyingly unbothered. "I realise I made a mistake. Thought I'd come and see if you'd give me another shot."

I laugh, but it's humourless. "You came all this way to try to get me back? Do you have a screw loose or something?"

He frowns at me, clearly put out that I'm not fawning all over him, grateful for his arrival on my doorstep. Which, by the way, how did he even know where I lived?

"Look, I heard you'd moved up here to take over your dad's hockey team. I figured maybe we could give it another shot, and I could get some snaps while I'm here, you know?" He shrugs.

The penny drops. "Oh, okay. That makes sense now. You want to photograph the players, not really get back in my knickers."

He raises an eyebrow. "I do, Emma. I miss you. But, yeah, you know. I'm sick of fashion photography. I want to branch out into sports. You know this. We talked about it."

He says it as if it's supposed to make this creepy stalking all right.

I cross my arms, giving him my best unimpressed glare. "So, you think coming all the way up here after cheating on me is going to get you what you want? Unbelievable."

Carrick's smug grin doesn't falter, his eyes scanning my face for any sign of softening. "Emma, come on. We had something good."

"Yeah, and then you went and fucked it up." I feel a surge of anger rising in my chest and take a deep breath to keep it from boiling over. "You have some nerve showing up here, thinking I'd just forget everything because you're bored of fashion photography."

He looks genuinely puzzled. "I thought you'd be happy to see me."

"Happy to see you? Are you delusional? I blocked you!" My voice is getting shrill, but I can't help it. The cheek of this guy. "I've moved on, Carrick. I've got responsibilities now that don't involve babysitting your fragile ego."

His mouth falls open as if I'm the first person to ever talk to him this way. Who knows? Maybe I am. He is a good-looking, successful guy with an alpha male personality. I doubt anyone would dare, but he has pissed me right off.

Before I can slam the door in his face, I feel a warm body come up behind me and kiss me on the side of my neck. Startled, I jump, but when Jamie's cute face comes into view, I turn my head and narrow my eyes.

"Hey babe," he murmurs, all adorable bedhead and rocking hard hockey god bod in a pair of Calvin Klein briefs tight enough to see that Anna is one lucky lady. He fixes Carrick with a glare. "Who are you?"

"Who the fuck are you?" Carrick spits out.

"Jamie Lark. Emma's boyfriend."

Carrick gapes at me and then at Jamie who is putting on a real good show of pretending to be my lover. This has Anna written all over it.

The shock on Carrick's face is pure gold, and Jamie's timing couldn't be better. I have to clamp down on the urge to laugh, focusing instead on maintaining my composure.

"Jamie. This is my cheating ex, Carrick."

Carrick splutters as I lay it on the line.

I shrug, playing it cool. "It's what you are. I've moved on." I gesture to Jamie, who wraps an arm around my waist with a possessive flair.

Jamie gives Carrick a look that could freeze the Thames in July. "Seems like your time has passed, mate."

Carrick's eyes narrow. "Emma, really? Some random bloke?"

"Not random," Jamie corrects smoothly. "We've known each other for years."

Carrick looks ready to argue but then seems to think better of it. He shakes his head and steps back from the door, giving Jamie one last glare before turning his attention back to me.

"This isn't over," he says, his voice low and full of unspoken threats.

I raise an eyebrow. "Yes, it is."

He finally turns and walks away, leaving me with the lingering anger and adrenaline coursing through my veins. Jamie waits until Carrick is out of earshot before he says, "What a cock."

I snort and shut the door. "You don't say. I can't believe he came up here looking for me to help him out."

"He is seriously fucked in the head!" Anna says, marching into the living room in a slip of a nightgown, which shows off her gorgeous curves. Jamie goes to her instantly and kisses her, wrapping his arms around her as she gazes up at him. My heart swells with joy at seeing them being so fucking cute together.

"Thank you for the rescue."

"Anytime," Jamie says. "You are my boss, after all, and Annie's best mate."

Annie? She usually hates that! I give her an amused look that she purposefully ignores, which ignites the laughter, and I have to let it out, which doesn't endear me to her at all.

"But uhm," Jamie starts. "When you tell the guys about this, make sure I'm the hero and not the guy trying to swoop in on their territory, yeah?"

"Oh, without a doubt," I say, settling down. "Not all heroes wear capes, Jamie-lad. Some of them wear tight boxers."

Anna guffaws so loudly that it startles some birds outside in the big tree into taking flight, protesting loudly. "Did you see Carrick's face when he took in Jamie's bulge?"

"What? No! Dammit, I was too busy trying to think of ways to make him fuck off!"

"Erm…" Jamie stutters, red-faced and trying to hide behind Anna, which is impossible for a man of his size. "Can we not talk about this?" he begs.

Anna giggles and gives him a playful pat on the chest. "Okay, okay. We'll stop embarrassing you, hero boy. Not that you have anything to be embarrassed about…" She gives him a lingering once-over, making me turn away as things get heated.

Then I sigh, running a hand through my hair. "I can't believe he just showed up like that. I mean, really?"

Anna huffs. "It's typical Carrick Glenn, isn't it? Always thinking he can charm his way back into people's lives with that smarmy grin of his."

Jamie nods in agreement. "Fucker's got an ego the size of Loch Ness."

Anna wraps an arm around my shoulders reassuringly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just surprised he could be so brazen about wanting me to give him his shot after what he did. And coming all this way? How did he even find out where we live?"

"Yeah, that's concerning. But I think Jamie scared him off. He won't be back."

"Hopefully." But I'm a bit worried. Carrick, when it comes to his work, is a bit cutthroat. Some of his stories about who he screwed over to get ahead made me a bit uncomfortable, and now I see that none of it was made up.

"You need to tell the guys," Anna murmurs. "So, they know to be on the lookout for him."

"Yeah, I know. I will." I take a deep breath, trying to shake off the lingering bad vibes this unexpected visit has caused. I've got too much on my plate today to worry about Carrick. "Right, well, I'd better get down to Highland Spirits. I want to give them a piece of my mind before we reconvene later to visit some of the local businesses."

"Oh, that reminds me! Ben Jarvis, the owner of the estate agent, is down for this." Anna holds up her phone. "Fiona just messaged. She said when she put it to him, he was ecstatic and enthusiastic."

"Yay!" I say, clapping my hands and forgetting about Carrick as I get excited. "This is going to work, I know it!"

"It will, plus the calendar."

"I had an idea about taking some of the photos and putting them on Social Media but with blurred-out bits so they can't see the whole thing. It will entice people to buy to see the whole thing," I tell Anna.

"Perfect! This is going to be amazing."

I grin at her and glance at Jamie sprawled out on the couch. "Okay, well, I'm going to get ready. Have fun, you two! I'll see you later."

"We'll be here!" Anna calls as I make my way to the shower, ready to face this confrontation with Highland Spirits, and put Carrick's visit behind me, once and for all.