“Me too.” Reaching out, I find her hand and give it a squeeze. “Let’s talk about some of the guys you were hung up on instead. How do you know thisPatrick guy?”
Kate shakes her head, ponytail swinging. “Nope. I am fixated on this. You. You and Ashton.”
I wince. “There is no me and Ashton.” I wave both hands around. “Obviously.”
“He’s out with an old friend, who happens to be Mrs. Theissen’s daughter. Ashton’s smart enough to know that will win him some favour with her. And possibly, your father.” Another raised eyebrow.
I wonder if Kate knows anything about what’s going on between my father and Mrs. Theissen.
I’m sure she does. There’s not a lot that goes on in the castle that Kate wouldn’t know about it.
I wonder if she somehow knows about the kiss.
“You should go for it,” Kate says. “With Ashton.”
She definitely knows.
I sigh, a deep sigh that I feel from the bottom of my broken toe. “I kissed him, so I’m not really sure what else I can do. “
Kate gasps. Actually gasps so I guess there are castle secrets she doesn’t know.
But the gasp also makes me understand that I’ve had no love life for a long time.
“You kissedAshton Carrington!”
I wonder how long it’s been since I stopped referring to Ashton asAshton Carrington.
“What was it like? Did he kiss you back?”
I grin. “It would have been a lot worse if he didn’t kiss me back.”
“It wasbad?”
“It wasn’t bad.”
“It doesn’t sound like it was good,” she exclaims, sounding suitably horrified.
“No, it was good,” I assure her. “It was good. Very… good.”
It was the kind of kiss that curls toes. The kind that leaves you breathless and wanting more. The type of kiss that sends shivers racing, knees weakening, and heart hammering like it’s trying to escape from a chest.
It was like a bungee jump at the Great Canadian Bungee in nearby Quebec—exhilarating and terrifying all at once.
And I did that. I kissed him. I made the first move… for once in my life.
“It was really good,” I finish with a small smile, remembering.
There’s a lot to remember. And unpack.
I’m still doing that.
“So good that you want to do it again, that you can’t look at him without wondering what’s wrong with him because he’s not kissing you senseless every minute?” Kate demands, hands clasped.
“Yeah.” My smile widens, but it’s a little sad, too. Because yes—it was a really good kiss with Ashton. That happenedonce, and never again. “That good.”
She sighs. “I want to be kissed like that.”
“So do I,” I confess.
