Page 78 of A Winter Wedding Adventure
She heard rustling from the vicinity of the doorway, then a creak that made her imagine him leaning on the door.
‘I know you’re awake, Kira.’
She groaned, rolling over to face him. He was shirtless, his jeans hanging off his hips with the top button undone, barefoot – and utterly delicious, her fallen angel with his dark curls, hunched shoulders and tall figure.
‘How much did you hear?’
‘Enough,’ she said, her voice rough. She hoped he thought she meant about Alessandra’s wishes and not his bald summary of their relationship. ‘I’d better get dressed.’
‘I’m sorry, you’ll have to see Christian after all – unless perhaps he had to go home rather than wait for the rescheduled wedding.’
Oh, Christ, she’d forgotten. But at least the horror at the prospect had paled in comparison to the rest of the wedding disasters and she was so sick of feeling embarrassed and out of place.
‘No such luck. Ginny told me the photographer got stuck at the airport with all flights grounded. I’m pretty sure he’ll still be here.’
‘But we’ll all stand behind you, now we know what happened.’
Oh fuck, everyone knew what had happened.
‘Ehi, carissima,’ he said with a chuckle. She heard footsteps and then a thud and when she opened her eyes, he’d dropped down beside the bed. ‘Your pride is a wonderful, powerful thing, but it’s okay that we know. You’re human like the rest of us.’
‘Sometimes, I think you’re not,’ she mumbled, ‘with your sensitive soul and other-worldly voice. You’re more angel than human.’
‘In that case, you’re lucky angel physiology is compatible with humans, because?—’
She swiped the pillow from his side and walloped him with it before he could finish the sentence. Laughing, he climbed back onto the bed, pinning her beneath him as he leaned down for a slow kiss.
Kira hesitated, wondering if she should let him kiss her now she had an inkling of how bruised her heart would be when they said goodbye, but no part of her truly wanted to stop him. One soft kiss became several longer ones, her thoughts blurring and her body warming just from the lazy, teasing, coaxing press and tug of his lips. She darted her tongue out to find his bottom lip and he groaned, allowing the kiss to heat only for a heartbeat before pulling away, resting his forehead on her sternum.
‘Why couldn’t she have said an hour instead of twenty minutes?’
She struggled to sit up, urging him off her. ‘I don’t even know what time it is.’
‘I don’t care,’ he pouted. ‘I was enjoying being human with you.’
He’d made her a little too human, since she could already feel herself cracking. He peered at her, his dangerous, sensitive hearing tipping him off to her strange mood.
‘It’ll be okay,’ he said, obviously not quite understanding her turmoil. ‘You saved someone’s life today. Don’t let that turd Christian make you feel any less than you are.’
She studied him, tracing her bandaged thumb over his cheek. No matter what happened after Alessandra’s wedding, she’d discovered she wasn’t as broken as she’d always thought. There was still life in the old organ taking up space in her chest.
‘I’ll have to try. I’ve spent twelve years allowing him to have an impact on my life. Maybe it’s time I stopped.’
31
If Kira had learned anything about weddings in her fledgling career working alongside Ginny and Sophie, it was that there was always chaos. Perhaps the two weddings she’d worked on so far had been particularly disastrous, one featuring a surprise Lake Garda thunderstorm and the next interrupted by an avalanche. She’d rarely had such bad luck on her adventure trips.
But in both of those cases, she also couldn’t deny that love had proved resilient in the end. Or lovers were particularly proud and stubborn.
Getting Alessandra and Joe’s nuptials off the ground had taken the entire team of I Do and Great Heart working together. Willard and Reshma had pulled strings over the phone while Kira had slept off her rocky night and even Tita and Toni back in the office had been glued to their emails, helping with last-minute arrangements.
Andreas, it turned out, was well connected with the municipality of the ski area, since he lived only three hours away and the mountaineering community was a small fraternity. He’d helped Sophie secure the folk museum as an alternative location for the wedding reception and Ginny and Kira had cobbled together catering from various local restaurants.
The biggest challenge had been the photographer, who’d had to fly out again to her next gig, now the runway was clear. With Tita muttering over the phone about her constant battle with photographers, I Do had finally prevailed upon Rhys to return for the ceremony and reception. He hadn’t even left Tyrol after accompanying them to the glacier, so it had made sense, even though Kira wished they’d been able to respect his genuine reservations about photographing wedding guests.
To everyone’s relief, arrangements fell into place – perhaps missing some of the smaller details – for the second of January, only two days late.
Other guests had given up their rooms for the bride and her parents so she didn’t have to travel on the big day. The rest of them had taken whatever they could find in Mayrhofen and hoped the little road winding through the valley would stay open, which looked likely, since the area hadn’t seen a single flake since New Year’s Eve.
