“I don’t think so, either, but it wouldn’t be the first time someone fooled me.”
Ginny nodded. “Me neither.”
Lifting her gaze from their hands, she looked at him closely. “Are you sick to your stomach?”
“No.”
“I was thinking—”
“Here it comes.” Gavin scowled at her, getting to his feet. “Don’t make too much out the kiss—”
She put up her uninjured hand to stop him. “I wasn’t going to make big deal about you kissing me. I was just checking on you before asking you for a favor. And … before you tell me the kiss didn’t mean anything to you, I don’t have to be told that—you just did.”
Gavin looked taken aback. “What were you going to ask me?”
“Never mind.” Ginny turned her blanket down. “I can find another way.” Laying down on the bed, she placed her arm over her eyes. All she was going to ask Gavin was to get the ice pack out of the freezer for her. Making the bed had strained the muscles in her back that were already sore.
“Would you mind turning the light off for me and shutting the door after you go? I’m ready to go to sleep. I’ve had a rough day.”
The light went out, and then the click of the door had her curling onto her side. Lying on her aching back didn’t hurt as bad as the pain in her heart.
Ginny could count on two hands the worst days of her life. Today had edged out number seven. She had been mauled by a dog, been hurt, her mirror had broken, and Gavin had turned into a darn snapping turtle to make sure she knew the kiss hadn’t meant anything to him. Sniffing back her self-pitying tears, she continued going down memory lane. The absolutely worst part of the day with the current holder of number seven being edged out, was now she had seven years of bad luck to look forward to.
Chapter Forty
Bright flashes of lightning illuminated the dark interior of the living room. Counting the flashes between the crack of thunder, Ginny sat on the stairway, listening to Gavin get out of bed and resume his pacing. Each time he got up, she could hear the swinging bed hit the side of the wall, jarring the windows.
Hearing a creak of a step behind her at the same time as thunder cracked overhead, she turned to see Silas coming down the steps to sit next to her. Putting her fingers to her lips, she nodded to her side, silently telling him that Gavin was still awake.
“Bad night?” he asked in a soft voice.
“The worst,” she murmured, sitting with her hands on bended knees. “I think it’s because he kissed me. I make him sick.” Raising her hands, Ginny buried her face in them.
“No, you don’t.”
“I do. He told me.”
Silas placed a comforting arm over her shoulders, pulling her closer to his side. “He just thinks you do.”
Ginny raised her face. “I’m pretty sure Gavin knows when he wants to throw up.”
“Describe to me how you feel physically when Reaper is close to you.”
Seeing he was serious, she put her embarrassment aside and started thinking of the best way to describe how Gavin made her feel. Her throat went tight trying to analyze the sensations she experienced and how she felt.
“I feel as if my heart is going to come out of my chest. I get … warm.” Fire was a better word, but she couldn’t tell her brother that without further embarrassing herself. “I feel as if every nerve ending in my body knows he’s there, and I just want to touch him, and when I do, an electric charge goes through me. I get butterflies in my stomach.” Ginny could see Silas smiling when the lightning flashed across the room below. “You think that’s what Gavin is feeling?” she asked.
“I do,” he whispered so low that Ginny had to tilt her head to the side so she could hear him. “I think he’s misinterpreting the signals that his body is giving him.”
“That’s not possible.” Ginny shook her head at him. “Gavin still loves Taylor, his ex-fiancé. He would know what being in love feels like.”
“Not if he didn’t really love her, and he definitely wouldn’t if he was lying to himself about his feelings for you.”
“You really think so?”
“I do.”
Both of them turned their heads, since they couldn’t see into Gavin’s room from where they were sitting, and listened to him get back in bed. Silently, they waited for the swinging bed to stop jarring the windows. Several minutes passed before they resumed whispering.
“If that’s true, and you have no idea how much I wish it were … do you think he’ll figure it out before he leaves in two days?”
“Reaper could have left after he tested negative. He didn’t.”
“Not because of me. He thinks you’re planning on killing me for my portion of the mountain.”