Page 46 of Italy and Forever

‘That’s why we’ve got Ginny,’ Kira joked.

Laurie laughed, which sent a prickle up Rhys’s spine. ‘To Ginny!’ he said, lifting his drink to clink with the others one more time. ‘May she keep Andreas in line for long enough to get him to the altar.’

Kira went to take a sip of her beer but choked before she could swallow. She was staring over Rhys’s shoulder. He had an inkling of who would be there before he turned. The claustrophobia of this wedding meant he couldn’t seem to get away from her.

The warm fizz in his stomach when he contemplated turning to look at her suggested he didn’t want to get away from her. In fact, knowing she was there seemed to settle pleasantly in him.

That was a change.

The cadence of her footsteps as she approached was energetic, familiar. He picked up the light flowery scent of her skin and took his time enjoying the anticipation before lifting his eyes to her. She’d taken off her make-up. No more smudged black eyeliner with a subtle wing effect. She’d changed her clothes, but he recognised her fluffy sweater and the way she clasped her hands in front of her.

It took him too long to remember that she’d overheard Laurie’s poor-taste joke. But instead of getting upset, as she had at the waterfalls, she quipped, ‘I’m glad you all know who’s in charge here, but I’m afraid keeping Andreas in line is well above my pay grade. The rest of you, though…’ She lifted a playful finger, pointing at Willard and Kira, Toni, Laurie and wavering when she reached him.

‘Are you going to join us?’ Toni asked, shuffling her chair to the side and making space for an extra one – right next to him.

His thoughts raced forward to the prospect of sitting next to her. They wouldn’t talk, because anything they’d say to each other would be charged with what had happened on the autobahn today.

Even yesterday, he might have cringed at the awkward prospect, but today, his breath caught in anticipation, his heart pounding.

‘No thanks, Toni.’

Rhys blinked. The space next to him seemed to burn as he struggled not to take it personally. Of course she was still mad at him for turning her down, although it had been the hardest thing he’d had to do in a long time and it was feeling like the wrong decision right now.

‘I’ll only cramp your style,’ she said lightly. ‘You guys enjoy your ball-and-chain jokes and I’m just going to eat something and go to bed. All this romance and commitment and love is exhausting sometimes – even on days when I don’t have a car accident.’

She turned to Andreas, one hand on her hip.

‘Just let me know if we’re calling the whole thing off, okay?’

‘We’re not⁠—’

‘God, I’m not being serious. I’m here for the canapés, the champagne and the bows, but the emotional stuff is all on you, Andreas. The rest of you might need to step up and, you know, be real friends?’

She blinked, as though she hadn’t intended to say all that, but Ginny wasn’t good at holding back and it was something he… Well, he appreciated that about her.

‘I need food, like, two hours ago,’ she muttered. ‘You all… go ahead and toast me while I stabilise my metabolism.’

They watched her go in awkward silence until Andreas chuckled. ‘She’s so agreeable and then bam! She gets you in the teeth.’

Rhys couldn’t disagree with that.

Andreas continued speaking. ‘One of the endless idiots she’s dated should have come up to scratch. They were all empty-headed lumps. She deserves better.’

She was out of earshot, heading for the bar, but something made her glance back over her shoulder. How many times had their gazes clashed like this in the gym over the past eighteen months? But this time… This time she was really looking back at him.

‘She does deserve better,’ he mumbled. But he was still going to go to her room tonight and see what happened.

19

What a fucking day.

As Ginny changed into her flannel pyjamas and brushed her teeth, she struggled to think of one thing that had gone right. The kiss… No, that had been wrong, although she was taking some convincing to truly believe that. But it didn’t matter if that make-out in the car was the hottest kiss of her life. Rhys had unequivocally rejected her afterwards when she’d been offering nothing more than a casual fling!

This wedding was the biggest challenge her pride had ever faced and taking herself to bed with a podcast was the only remedy. With any luck, she’d be blissfully asleep in minutes, a solid break from wedding ups and downs and chilly autobahns and hot kisses.

Oh, Lord, that kiss. In an instant, she was wide awake and reliving every second of it. Maybe she’d been doing dating wrong all these years. Maybe what she needed was someone she didn’t like to awaken this glow inside her.

But if he’d felt even a fraction of this heat, he wouldn’t have turned her down. ‘And he said it was one-sided,’ she muttered to herself, startled when there was a knock at the door. Grumbling about the unpredictable hours of her job, she dragged herself out of bed.