Christmas Ever After (Puffin Island 3)

“And then you thank your lucky stars. Without me, you wouldn’t have met Ryan. And don’t tell me he isn’t the best thing that has ever happened to you because I know he is. You walk round glowing.” Brittany grinned. “And talking of sex, come on, Sky, spill. You and Alec are having lots of angry sex, yes?”

“Why would we be having angry sex?”

“Because over the summer the two of you were attacking each other like two rabid dogs. He was awful to you. Rude. I would have said that the two of you together would be a hot mess of disaster.”

“A moment ago her love life was none of your business,” Emily murmured and Brittany ate another piece of chocolate.

“That was her past love life. Her present love life is definitely my business.”

“Alec was coming out of a bad divorce. Ryan told us that.” And she’d never given much thought to the detail, but now she thought about it all the time.

She wanted to know why he took so much responsibility for the breakdown of his marriage.

Brittany licked her fingers. “He’s pretty damaged. I don’t want to see you get hurt a second time. I love him and he’s definitely hot, but I’m not sure moody Alec is the best person to help you heal.”

Sky thought about the past several days. “He isn’t always moody.”

Emily cleared up the chocolate wrapper. “He helped her when she was in trouble. That’s what counts. And so what if he has a bad relationship in his past?” She defended him. “He’s not the first person to make a mistake.”

“And you would know, because before Ryan there was boring Neil.” Brittany shot her a look and then turned back to Sky. “What I want to know is how you went from breaking up with Richard and knocking yourself half-unconscious to getting into bed with Alec. It didn’t sound like a romantic situation from here.”

“It wasn’t romantic. First I bled all over him, then I threw up.”

Brittany gave a laugh. “What wouldn’t I have given to see that. I bet he made a rapid exit.”

“He didn’t.” Sky stared into her glass. “He sat with me.” There was silence.

Emily exchanged looks with Brittany.

“Well, damn. He sat with you while you were ill?” Brittany stared at her. “You’re kidding.”

“I’m not kidding.”

“You mean he sat on the edge of the bath and watched you from the opposite corner of the room?”

“No, I mean he sat next to me and held me.”

“Okay, this isn’t just sex.” The chocolate lay abandoned in her lap. “Any man who doesn’t run for cover when you’re ill is a keeper.”

Sky sighed. “He isn’t a keeper, but he was kind.”

“And he took you home to his family.”

“Because he didn’t want to leave me alone in London with a head injury.”

“So he took you home to his family and—what then?”

“They thought we were together. It was—” Sky sighed “—awkward. Why are you laughing?”

“Because then you did get together, which is kind of ironic, don’t you think?”

“They don’t know that. It wasn’t— His family want him to have a serious relationship again and that’s not what’s going on here.” Sky shrugged. “We’re just having fun, that’s all.”

Except she was fairly sure that at some point between opening the door of Fisherman’s Cottage and walking upstairs, something had changed.

“You wanted a big, overwhelming passion.”

“I still want that, but I’m not going to sit at home alone while I’m waiting for it to come along.”