Page 109 of My Fake Dating with the Grumpiest Highlander
And somewhere above me, Cameron and Connor climb effortlessly like mountain goats, casually chatting as though they’re taking a peaceful stroll through a public park.
How exactly did I end up here?
The answer is simple.
An hour ago, someone knocked on my door.
I opened it while grumbling, sore from dancing with Mary the night before, and found the McGregor twins standing there with predatory smiles, dark wool sweaters, and deeply assessing expressions.
“We’re going for a little walk through the Highlands,” one of them had said. “Thought it’d be a good chance to get to know each other.”
I understood immediately.
It was a test.
Mary’s cousins wanted to determine whether I was worthy of their favorite cousin.
Refusing would’ve meant admitting weakness.
Accepting meant submitting myself to this torture disguised as a traditional Scottish hike.
I accepted.
Because I’m an idiot.
Or maybe because something about this dysfunctional family is starting to matter to me more than I want to admit.
My foot slips on a wet stone.
My hand slides off the rock.
For one horrifying second, I see my entire medical career flash before my eyes, along with the words that would undoubtedly be carved onto my gravestone:
Here lies Dr. Finn McLeod, who died stupidly trying to impress two lunatics and a sheep in the Scottish Highlands.
At the last second, I catch myself on a tree root that creaks ominously beneath my weight.
“You alright?” one of the twins calls from above me, and I swear I can hear the smile in his voice.
“Perfectly fine,” I growl between ragged breaths.
I’m a terrible liar.
One glance at me makes it painfully obvious I am absolutely not an experienced hiker.
I finally reach the top soaked in sweat, hands scraped raw, lungs on the verge of exploding.
The twins are waiting for me while casually talking.
Barely winded.
Their hair isn’t even messed up.
“Not bad,” one of them comments. “Come on. We keep going.”
The trail slopesdownward toward a stream.
The water is black as ink and moving fast, and the second I step closer, the cold radiating from it cuts straight through me.
