Chapter 21
‘Ginny? Are you there? I tried to call you, but it went straight to voicemail.’
The muffled voice, as well as a muted pounding on the door, dragged Ginny out of the most wonderful fever dream.
Her bed was a sauna and her body was languid and a little raw, as though she’d spent the night at a luxury spa having her skin softened and her muscles lifted.
But the dream had been adult-rated and involved—
She bolted upright, frantically patting the space next to her in the bed. The figure in it was real. Her sauna-bed had been powered by the off-the-scale hotness of Rhys, in the flesh – all the flesh, she noticed, her gaze trailing down his bare back.
Her lungs seized as she thought about his body against hers, the ways they’d fitted together last night, as though she’d finally discovered what had been wrong between the two of them all this time: they hadn’t been doing this.
Oh dear… Dating ban, she reminded herself firmly. No flowers and chocolates and Valentine’s Day. She was happy enough with the sex. In all honesty, she felt a little… changed. Hopefully in a good way.
‘Ginny? It’s Sophie.’
‘Fuck,’ she whispered through her teeth. ‘Rhys, wake up!’
He mumbled something unintelligible.
‘Uh, give me a minute,’ she called through the door, sliding out of bed and looking around frantically for whatever she’d been wearing before he’d arrived last night.
That was right: flannel pyjamas. She vaguely remembered hurriedly opening the buttons.
In the clear light of morning, she wondered why she hadn’t just pulled it off over her head.
She really hadn’t been thinking straight since the moment he’d asked to come in.
Her cheeks blossomed with heat.
‘Rhys!’ she hissed, giving him a shake after she’d wrenched on her pyjama bottoms. She hoped her undies were somewhere out of sight, because she couldn’t find them. ‘Sophie’s at the door!’
‘Mmwhat?’ Finally, he hauled himself up, giving his head a shake. It would have been satisfying, seeing him so ruined, if Ginny hadn’t been keen to—
‘You have to hide.’
‘What?’ he said again.
‘Sophie can’t see you here! How would we explain this? You’ll get the balloon-bursting talk again times a thousand.’
‘Good point.’ He scooped up his clothes and raced for the bathroom.
After a quick check for any more signs that she’d had a photographer in her bed last night – which was difficult, because every wrinkle of the sheet felt like a glaring giveaway to her – she opened the door to a concerned look from Sophie.
Actually, perhaps it was a notch or two higher on Sophie’s ‘concerned’ scale.
‘Ginny, do you know what time it is?’
Alarm ricocheted through her. ‘I just woke up. I think I forgot to put my phone on charge.’ Because she’d had a rather large distraction filling her space last night. ‘I haven’t missed anything important, have I?’
‘It’s nearly nine o’clock. I assumed you’d want to at least have a coffee before the facial and mani-pedi down in Bruneck.’
Ginny’s mental calendar whirred sluggishly to life.
‘Oh, I might skip that actually. I have a few things to catch up on after yesterday and… I might go climbing with Kira and the others. No point in a manicure.’ And no point in a facial when hers had already been scrubbed by a day’s growth of stubble.
‘Who are you, and what have you done with Ginny?’
Ginny was certain Sophie would suspect something when her laugh was as wooden as the eaves of this chalet hotel.
‘But seriously, are you okay after yesterday? The accident sounded terrifying.’
‘I’m fine,’ Ginny insisted, stretching her neck absently and trying not to think about the real reason some of her muscles were sore this morning. ‘It wasn’t bad.’
‘Is everything okay with Rhys?’
Ginny’s gaze snapped up to Sophie’s. ‘Wh-what?’
‘I know you two don’t get on and God knows I can understand why. He’s a walking red flag and you’re… you. Is it driving you crazy having to spend so much time with him?’
Indecision lodged in her throat. ‘Um, we’ve found a way to deal with that.’ She wanted to pull out her tongue when a curious spark lit Sophie’s eyes. ‘I mean, we’ve kind of accepted that we don’t get on. Don’t worry. It’s your wedding anyway. Why are you so concerned about me? How are you feeling?’
Ginny winced at the memory of the scolding she’d delivered to Andreas last night. Like a ceramic bowl over her head, the feeling of the wedding falling to pieces enveloped her all over again and her sex buzz finally ebbed – damn it. But it was about time.
‘I’m doing okay. Baby’s moving,’ Sophie answered, as though that was all that mattered. Ginny couldn’t disagree with that. The wedding did seem all of a sudden trivial in comparison with the entire person Sophie was incubating.
‘Is it really that scary?’ she asked.
‘Scarier than you can possibly imagine,’ Sophie answered. ‘Especially after…’
Ginny nodded. She knew Sophie had miscarried years ago, with her previous partner’s child.
‘I appreciate all your efforts, you know,’ Sophie said softly, ‘for my second wedding spent pregnant; although at least last time I wasn’t the size of a whale.’
‘You’ll be a beautiful whale,’ Ginny assured her earnestly, before those words played back in her head and she immediately regretted them.
Sophie laughed. ‘It is what it is.’
‘Have you… spoken to Andreas?’ More words she regretted as soon as Sophie’s expression lit with concern.
‘About something in particular? I hope you don’t mean baby names, because every time I mention those he looks like he’s going to have a stroke.
If he’s going to spontaneously combust with all this attention, he’d better give me enough notice of my impending widowhood.
Does he need to go up a mountain? I thought the outing today was a little tame for what he’d need as his last hurrah. ’
It was Ginny’s turn to be concerned. Her friend didn’t sound like a love-struck bride. She sounded like all of the groom’s friends.
‘Out with it, Ginny. I can see your worries gathering steam in there.’
‘You know you don’t have to do any of this, if you don’t want to. Andreas wouldn’t want you to compromise either.’
Sophie sighed and her hand came up to squeeze Ginny’s arm, then she came in for a hug. When she pulled back again, her eyes were shining. ‘I do have to follow through, even if it is a compromise.’
‘But—’
‘Don’t worry, Ginny,’ Sophie tried to assure her, although her words had the opposite effect.
‘This will be a wonderful I Do wedding. Andreas will definitely turn up and so will I and the rest, you have covered. I am serious about wanting you to feel like a guest at this wedding, by the way. It’s important to me.
And all those bizarre traditions too, like the waltz and the horrible music and whatever Caro is planning for me. ’
‘Really?’
‘Absolutely. It turns out our friends and family are equally important at our wedding.’
‘Are you sure you’re not just putting other people first, like you always do?’ Ginny prompted. ‘It’s supposed to be your big day.’
Sophie considered for a long moment and she didn’t appear entirely satisfied with her answer when she gave it. ‘Maybe arranging weddings for other people as a service has given us a kind of warped idea of marriage.’
Ginny frowned. ‘You really have been spending too much time with the staff of Great Heart.’
‘Perhaps,’ Sophie agreed ruefully. ‘And maybe you’ll hold onto your big dreams of celebrating a great love. But I… I want this wedding. Just as it is.’ She pressed Ginny into another hug. ‘I’m so glad you’re here keeping us all together,’ she murmured as she squeezed Ginny tight.
Ginny wasn’t so certain she was keeping anything together, least of all the disobedient wedding party.
‘Hey, you two.’
They broke apart at the sound of Kira’s voice from down the hall.
‘Have you seen Rhys? He doesn’t seem to be in his room.’
‘Uh, maybe he went to the lake?’ Ginny suggested, her tone high-pitched to her own ears. ‘To take photos or…’ She managed to stop herself mentioning anything about skinny-dipping. ‘I need to get moving if I’m going to join you guys for the climb.’
She managed to shoo her friends out of her room, closing the door behind them and then slumping against it with a stifled groan. The bathroom door creaked open and the sight of Rhys’s face gave her a jolt of feelings – pleasant and unpleasant, all mixed up in a potent cocktail.
‘I should go,’ he said.
She nodded.
‘I’ll see you in the car park in a bit. I’m glad you decided to come climbing. It’ll be good for your confidence.’
She smiled tightly. ‘I’m not sure that swearing my way up a rock wall is great for my confidence, but I’ve agreed to it now,’ she said to his retreating back.
Before he got very far, he turned, one hand rubbing the back of his head. ‘So we’re… pretending this never happened? We still dislike each other, as far as everyone else is concerned?’
‘That’s probably for the best.’
His quick nod of agreement unsettled her. This part of casual sex wasn’t fun. When he opened his mouth to say something, but reconsidered and turned to go again, Ginny could have rolled her eyes. Rhys Bowen, walking relationship-red-flag.
But he’d talked to her last night – opened up, just a bit. Her shoulders sagged. She had to admit she had no idea what she was doing with him.