No Reservations: Ryan's Version (A Romantic Comedy)

Chapter 20

2016

Truth-telling had definitely brought us closer together.

I'd started with the breakdown of my marriage. I didn't tell Iona about the frequent dreams I'd had about her; it was a close call though. In the end, I settled for telling her I'd been hung up on a memory, on what might have been. In turn, she told me she'd basically never been in a successful relationship; that she'd been frequently told she was too "emotionally unavailable".

The whisky had loosened my tongue, and emboldened me to be even more honest. So I told her about the first time I saw her, about thinking she was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. Her face lit up at that, and I swear she was even more stunning in that moment. She took my fucking breath away.

Then she admitted to me she knew I'd lied about needing a pen the day we met.

"Your bag was on the floor and wide open; I spotted at least four in there at the end of the class," she laughed.

Then we spoke about the pen I'd given her months later, at how worried I'd been about it showing my true feelings and feeling so exposed. Turned out she really had loved the gesture.

"And I love that you made me this pillow fort, just in case. A wee 'Here's one I made earlier' number like you're a Blue Peter presenter." She was laughing again.

"Well, in terms of showing someone how you feel, I reckon the pillow fort definitely trumps the pen," I laughed along ruefully, and her eyes widened at my words.

"Shit," I muttered. I mean, I knew the pillow fort was a big deal; the fact I'd even made it was a massive giveaway of my feelings, but confirming it out loud really left no doubt.

"It's your turn, I think," I said quietly, turning to look at her, aware our faces were now mere inches apart. We were so much closer together now, both physically and emotionally. "Tell me another truth?"

And that was when she told me she'd wanted me to be her first kiss too.

We both admitted we'd thought of each other frequently over the time we were apart.

These revelations surprised me. Although I had realised she had feelings for me now, I suppose I'd assumed these were recent ones on her part. After all, I'd heard her tell Martin that fateful night that she didn't like me in that way.

Maybe I'd misunderstood somehow?

Then she confessed I'd broken her heart, a tear running down her face.

No longer able to stop myself from touching her, I reached out and blotted the teardrop away from where it rested on her cheek. "You broke mine too," I told her softly, as her own eyes suddenly flashed with confusion too.

And, in that moment, the whole world just fell away. The storm disappeared into a parallel universe, and nothing existed but the two of us, less than a breath apart, gazing into one another's eyes. This was it. I couldn't hold back anymore. It had been twenty long fucking years.

She swallowed hard and, my attention drawn to her neck again, I gave into that urge I'd had earlier to move my mouth to the skin there. The second I touched it, the sexiest sound I think I'd ever heard in my life escaped from her. That low, husky moan left me in absolute no doubt that Iona was as into this as I was.

With that, I brushed my lips against her own, finally. It immediately felt . . . Right. Like this was the place I was meant to have been all along. This was what my first kiss should have been. This is what all my kisses should have been. This was . . . home.