Page 64 of Italy and Forever

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Perhaps Ginny shouldn’t do this to herself, but she couldn’t stop now. She needed to know everything about him and maybe they had only a few days – at the most, she had until he left for his next assignment, when she’d join the list of other women he’d briefly shared a bed with.

His arm was still around her, a touch she’d never expected and was now desperate to prolong. She didn’t look at him, wanting him to continue both the talking and the touching – and then maybe she’d hop in his lap and wipe it all away again with this intense physical response they had to each other.

She was relieved Annie hadn’t witnessed the fall, although that meant she still didn’t know what had happened to destroy their relationship.

Staring at the ceiling, Rhys told her. ‘Just seeing me after the accident was bad enough,’ he said flatly. ‘She flew out to Chile as soon as she heard the news.’

‘Oh,’ Ginny said, realising that she should have put this part together earlier. ‘You didn’t recognise her. Did it hurt her feelings? She should have understood that. Didn’t the doctors tell her? Maybe they didn’t speak English. But still, she should have given you a chance to⁠—’

‘To what?’ he prompted when she didn’t continue. ‘Heal? That part of my brain didn’t heal.’

‘To get used to it,’ she settled on.

‘Ginny, it was me who didn’t give her a chance. When the relationship got complicated, I ended it. I told her to go home. Didn’t Kira tell you it was my fault?’

‘She did, actually,’ she mumbled, still certain something here didn’t add up. ‘But if you loved her and she loved you…’

He shrugged, rather callously, she thought. ‘It obviously wasn’t enough.’

‘I don’t understand. Didn’t you see each other again afterwards? Or did you completely ghost her? How is that just “it”?’

‘I think I guessed you wouldn’t understand.’

That reached Ginny in the guts.

‘I shouted at her to leave me alone. I told her everything had changed and I couldn’t see us staying together. What she did was what I told her to do. We didn’t contact each other for over four months and when I did reach out…’

He seemed to reconsider what he’d been about to say, which only made Ginny sit very still and listen harder.

‘It was my fault. There’s no other way to look at it. If she found a new partner in that time, then good for her. I didn’t want her to go through the rehab with me anyway. I thought my brain would never operate normally again and, while that’s true, it’s…’ He shook his head as the end of the sentence dissolved. ‘I just don’t think I can do it, let someone all the way in. And I don’t want to hurt anyone else.’

Ginny had nothing to say. She thought perhaps she should regret making him talk, and she would if he did what she suspected he was about to do: ask her to go back to her own room. But although it proved his point down to the detail, she’d rather have had this glimpse of him, trauma and all, than stay on the outside.

‘Enough of a red flag for you?’ he joked half-heartedly.

‘I can’t fault your reasons,’ she said softly. ‘But I can’t help thinking that I’d be much harder to get rid of.’

‘Ginny,’ he said, his voice low with warning.

‘I know.’ She waved a hand to dismiss his concerns. ‘I’m not supposed to be inserting myself into other people’s relationships and this—’ she gestured between them ‘—isn’t a relationship. It’s casual sex. Very hot casual sex. I feel it’s important to point out how hot it is.’

‘You don’t need to point it out to me.’

‘I was just a bit worried you were going to kick me out. I could promise to give your shirt back—’ She lifted the hem.

‘Why would I kick you out? You’re the best thing about this wedding – even with my shirt on.’ He gave her a crooked look. ‘Especially with my shirt on.’

She hopped up on her knees on the bed, facing him. ‘I could leave it on,’ she quipped. ‘But here.’ She rummaged in the pocket of her discarded jeans and came back with a little woven hair tie. Taking his hand, she slipped it onto his wrist, next to the two leather braids and the silver bracelet. ‘Now we’re even.’

‘I’m not sure it’s a fair exchange.’

‘No, but I really want to keep your shirt as a souvenir.’

‘Just when I’m starting to think I know how your brain works…’

‘You’ll never know how my brain works,’ she insisted. ‘I admit you’ve got my body all figured out, but a woman must retain some mystery.’