Chapter 41
41
Holly couldn’t remember moving. She couldn’t remember putting her lips against his, but nor could she remember Giles putting his lips against hers. It was as if they had been drawn together and now that they were, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. Like this was how they were meant to be. She felt the hitch in her heart and the quickening of her breath as her hand reached up around the back of his neck. At the same time, he slid his hand around her waist, pulling her in closer. Every inch of her body was on fire. The static buzz now full-on sparks on her skin. How was this so easy? How did it feel so right? It made little sense, but at the same time, it did. She was kissing Giles. She was kissing her best friend Giles. Her best friend Giles, who was engaged to the horrific Sienna.
‘Stop!’ She jumped back away from him, her hands outstretched in front of her. ‘Sienna?—’
‘Oh my God,’ he said. ‘Why did you do that?’
‘What?’
Holly had meant to tell him about all the things Sienna had said. That was what she suddenly remembered. That, and the fact that he was an engaged man and there was no reason in the world that she should be kissing him regardless of how vile his fiancée was. He needed to know the truth, yet Giles’s hand was covering his mouth like he had just done the most hideous thing ever. And he had blamed her for it.
‘What the hell was that?’ Giles said.
‘That was… I think it was both of us,’ Holly said. ‘I think that we… I think that we…’
‘No.’ Giles was shaking his head as he paced back and forth across the room. ‘No. We can’t have done that. You shouldn’t have done that. We can’t. I love her. I love her, and I know I’m going to marry her. I know that. It was just… it was just some weird moment. You were angry, and I was angry, and?—’
‘You’re right, it was just an angry kiss,’ Holly said quickly.
‘Yes, yes, exactly,’ Giles agreed, striking the air with his hand. ‘It was just an angry kiss. Those happen, right? You were just angry and upset, and I was there. That’s all it was. I was just there.’ He brushed himself down, at the same time as trying to wipe his mouth, like he was attempting to erase any hint of a kiss from his lips. ‘I need to go. Yes, I should go. I need to go back to my fiancée.’
‘Giles, we…’ She paused. She wouldn’t be able to get through to him like this. She could tell.
‘Can we talk later?’ she asked, but there was no point. He had already turned around and was marching away from her.
A second later, the front door slammed shut.