The Bridal Bet. Trish Wylie

right? After all, they’ll expect you to come out of here looking like you’ve just been thoroughly kissed, and the best way I know to make you look like that is…’

      Molly interrupted him, suddenly terribly aware of how little clothing he was wearing. Her mouth was dry. ‘I get the gist, Callaghan. So you’d better just shut up and kiss me, then.’

      ‘And they say romance is dead.’

      This time Molly was ready for his kiss. She even moistened her lips automatically before his head lowered. It’s only Ryan, only Ryan, only Ryan. She echoed it over and over in her head, but after a moment it was hard to concentrate.

      When he felt her kiss him back it shocked him. He didn’t know what he’d expected, but he certainly wasn’t ready for how hot she felt, how easily their mouths fitted together. With a kiss there was always that initial moment of hesitation as the two parties felt for the correct ‘fit’ before they deepened the kiss. But not this time. This was right from the first touch.

      Moving instinctively, she loosened her hand and wound her arms around his neck, reaching up to pull herself closer to his damp body. Ryan’s arms in turn circled her waist to hold her there. Her curved body fitted along the full length of his, curling in and touching him everywhere.

      The minute his tongue touched hers she was lost, and stopped thinking at all. In her entire life she couldn’t remember being kissed so thoroughly—and by Ryan, of all people!

      By Ryan. She froze. Oh, no, this couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t possibly be enjoying kissing Ryan. It wasn’t something that was supposed to happen when you kissed a friend.

      The moment she went still he knew they’d gone too far. Whatever was happening it was too much. He carefully pulled away and stepped back, taking a moment before he could look at her.

      Molly, in turn, was staring at him with large unblinking eyes, as if she’d never seen him before. Her lips were red and swollen, her cheeks flushed. She was beautiful. When had she got so beautiful? All of a sudden he realised that was what was different about her since she’d been home. She’d grown and matured into a very beautiful woman and he hadn’t allowed himself to realise it. Until then.

      He smiled softly at her. ‘I think they’ll know what we’ve been doing when we go out there.’

      Turning away from him, Molly found her voice. ‘Well, thank goodness someone knows what we’re doing.’

      By the following weekend Molly’s nerves were shot to hell and back. The whole town was talking about the wonderful romance between Ryan Callaghan and that ‘pretty wee O’Brien girl’. And Nick Scallon had been to visit her again in the shop.

      Things weren’t quite going the way she had expected—not that she’d known what to expect in the first place. And then there was Kate. Kate, whom she saw every day and who quizzed her every moment possible.

      Saturday proved to be no different.

      ‘So, how’s it going, then?’

      Molly sighed and shook her head. ‘You ask me this every day, and every day I tell you the same thing—fine.’

      Kate sat down beside her and looked her in the face. ‘If it were going fine you wouldn’t look this bad. You look exhausted, Molly, and you can’t keep telling me it’s “fine” and look so unhappy. Aren’t things working out between you and Ryan?’

      ‘No, it’s not that. It’s just—’ She struggled to find an excuse and couldn’t. Not this time. ‘I’m confused, I guess.’

      ‘About you and Ryan, or about Nick Scallon?’

      Molly laughed tightly. ‘I thought I liked Nick Scallon but I was wrong about that. The more I see of him the more—I don’t know—smarmy I find him.’

      ‘Mmm. He is a bit too slick, if you ask me.’ Kate smiled sympathetically and rubbed her friend’s arm. ‘And Ryan?’

      ‘Now, there’s a whole ’nother story.’ Her fingers rubbed her temples. ‘Where should I begin?’

      ‘He kiss you again?’

      Did he ever. ‘Oh, yeah. He did that all right.’

      Kate smiled broadly. ‘Good grief. And you just don’t know what to do about that, do you?’

      Now, there was an understatement. Even without the whole story, as usual, Kate was close to the mark. ‘We’re not the same any more, and I hate that. I miss the fun we used to have. I just don’t know how to get it back.’

      ‘On a scale of one to ten?’

      Molly looked confused. ‘What?’

      ‘On a scale of one to ten, how did the kiss rate?’

      ‘If you’re going to make fun I’m leaving, Kate, I swear.’

      Kate shook her head. ‘No, I’m completely serious. I need to know how you rated the kiss. It gives me an idea of the scale of your problem. Anyway, you can’t leave. It’s your shop too.’

      Molly blinked at her friend in amazement, then shrugged her shoulders and thought for a moment. On a scale of one to ten. She’d thought about their last kiss far too much over sleepless nights, so it didn’t take long to rate. Her tone was as deadpan as her face when she spoke.

      ‘About fifteen.’

      ‘Damn it, I just always thought it would be.’

      ‘Kate! This isn’t helping.’

      ‘Sorry.’ She looked more serious. ‘You ever been kissed above an eight before?’

      Deadpan again. ‘No.’

      ‘So now you’ve got the oldest of problems to deal with here. Do you chance losing your friendship for what will probably be the most amazing lovemaking of your life? Or do you hang onto the friendship with it possibly never being the same again because you always wonder whether it would have been the best lovemaking of your life?’

      ‘Correct me if that’s not a lose/lose situation you just quoted there, Oprah. I thought you were supposed to be helping.’

      Kate nodded. ‘I am. I was just thinking out loud. In fact, here’s another. Do you love him?’

      ‘What did you say?’ Molly couldn’t believe what she’d just been asked. ‘Did you just ask me if I love him? What the hell kind of question is that? It’s Ryan we’re discussing here, not some guy I’ve just been out on a blind date with!’

      Kate held her hands up in front of her. ‘Okay, okay, calm down. I know you care about him; I’ve always known that. You were like some loyal terrier when you first found out I had a crush on him. What I mean is do you love him love him. You know—the big one.’

      ‘Don’t be ridiculous. He’s kissed me twice and you expect me to fall head over heels? It’s Ryan. I can’t fall in love with Ryan. It would be like—hell I don’t know—like falling in love with a big brother.’

      ‘Ryan’s not your brother, Molly.’ Kate walked over and hugged her friend as best she could with eight months’ worth of baby in the way. ‘You want my advice? You go with the flow and let things happen naturally. If you two are meant to be together then there’s nothing you can do to stop that except lie to yourself. He’s a great fella, Molly, and if you’re not meant to be then it’s the biggest test of your friendship you’ll ever have. All friendships have to change and grow, and when you think about it it would change when you marry other partners anyway. So just wait and see, and stop killing yourself over this.’

      The words echoed through Molly’s head and she wondered what Kate would think if she knew the whole story. It was a bit difficult to let things happen naturally when everything they were doing was such a lie to begin with.