“You don’t have to.”
“No, I want to.” I waited for him to continue, not wanting to push him. “They died last year in a car accident.”
Tears pricked my eyes again, this time not for my pain but for his.
“It was a bad snowstorm, the roads were icy, and visibility was shit. A semi crossed into their lane and hit them head-on.” He was staring at his feet, his voice thick with pain. “I wasn’t even here. I was in Canada doing some bullshit competition I had no business being in. I’d been having some problems with my knee. I should have retired a couple of years ago, but I was too stubborn. My mom kept asking me when I was going to slow down. When I would have time to visit more. I always just brushed her off, knowing I’d move back here one day. But one day was too damn late.” His hands were balled into fists as anger crept into his voice. I cautiously grabbed his hands with mine and sat there with him in silence for a few moments, tears running freely down my face.
“I-I can’t even imagine what that must feel like,” I finally said.
“It doesn’t feel great,” he mumbled.
“But you can’t blame yourself for not being here. You could have never known that was going to happen.”
He shook his head. “I should have prioritized spending time with them.”
“Were they proud of you?” I whispered.
He raised his eyebrows and looked at me, surprised. “I guess so.”
“Bev told me they would always tell guests that you were their son. They must have been so proud of everything you were doing.”
Giles squeezed his eyes shut. When he finally opened them again, a tear rolled down his cheek.
“I don’t want to say the wrong thing because I have no idea what you’re feeling. But you can’t control what happened,” I said as his eyes bore into mine. “You can hold on to the memories you have, though. And the knowledge that they loved you and were so proud of yo—”
His lips were on mine before I realized what was happening. His mouth devoured mine hungrily. He licked my lips, and I parted them, inviting him inside. He kissed me even deeper, and I kissed him back, too stunned to even register what this meant.
Moving his hands to my cheeks, he held onto my face, ensuring I kept my mouth glued to his. I leaned back slightly, and Giles followed me. He gently nudged me back further until I was lying down on the couch with him on top of me. He wedged his knee between my legs, and I moaned against his mouth. I snuck my hands underneath his shirt and was about to start exploring his chest when a loud knock sounded at the door.
Giles ripped his mouth off mine and jumped back. He was standing and moving away from the couch before I could even register what had just happened.
“Is everything okay in there?” Bev asked through the door.
“We’re locked in.” His voice was deeper than usual, and he cleared his throat. “The keypad isn’t working.”
I heard the sound of the knob being unlocked. I jumped up and smoothed down my hair.
Bev flung open the door. She eyed us both up and down. I’m sure I looked a mess from the hysterical crying. Also, the whole being kissed by a different man afteralmost a decadething. Yeah, I’m sure that wasn’t doing much for my composure. Giles, on the other hand, looked completely calm and collected, like nothing had happened.
“We’ve got to get this lock turned around,” Bev finally said.
“I’m getting the tools and doing it right now.” Giles glanced in my direction and nodded before racing back up the stairs.
I took a few shaky steps toward the door and tried to smile at Bev on my way out. She grabbed my arm and squeezed it.
“I hope everything is okay.” Her voice was comforting.
“I’m sorry about my outburst. I feel silly.”
“Don’t even give that a second thought.” She wrapped me in a side hug and led me upstairs. “I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve broken down in this very lodge. At least you didn’t lose it in front of guests.”
“I guess that’s true.”
“Why don’t you go home and take a nice hot bath? You’ve done so much work this week. You deserve a break.”
“Thanks, Bev.”
I gave her a reassuring smile and we parted ways once we got to the lobby. Giles brushed past me with the toolset. Despite my pleading eyes begging to talk about what had just happened, he didn’t even glance down at me.
