AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Glass of wine and watch the sunset with me?” Ethan asked.
“Yes, please,” I answered quickly, thinking there would be nothing better than that.
He returned a minute later with a glass of white wine and sat in the Adirondack chair beside mine. We sat in complete silence, sipping our wine and watching the sun sink deeper and deeper into the darkening water.
When the last sliver finally disappeared, Ethan set down his glass of wine and applauded. “Clapping for a beautiful sunset is tradition here.”
“Oh.” I set down my glass and began clapping too. “Well, this one certainly deserved a full round of applause.”
Ethan’s phone lit up. He looked at it, and his face dropped. “Oh, shit.”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“I texted my brother that I finally made it into town, and he’s on his way to pick me up for the bachelor party. I completely forgot that was tonight since I’m two days late getting here.”
“Oh. Well, that’s okay. You guys go out and have fun. I’ll be totally fine here.”
Concern twisted up his face. “Are you sure? I feel bad just getting you here and leaving you behind. But it’s a bachelor party, and the guys would kill me if I brought a girl along.”
I rolled my eyes. “Please. I’m in a gorgeous suite in Door County. I’ll be perfectly content spending a quiet evening here. I’ll start the fire, have a long soak in the whirlpool tub, and keep drinking up this wine.”
His eyes glossed over a little as he stared at me. “You’re gonna be in the whirlpool tub? Naked? Scratch that. I’m canceling the bachelor party and staying here.”
I erupted into laughter, and so did he.
“Would you shut up, you dirty perv?”
“I’m kidding. I’m kidding. But for real? You’re sure you’re okay here on your own?”
“Completely. Go get ready and have fun with the boys.”
“Okay. Thanks.” He grinned, then hopped up and hurried inside.
I continued sipping on my wine while Ethan got changed, and when he came out in a tight, long-sleeve t-shirt and jeans that fit a little too well, I started to reconsider sending him out into the world alone. Looking like that and traveling with a pod of boozed-up men, every woman in his vicinity would be throwing themselves at him.
“Look okay?” he asked, giving me a little spin.
My eyes clapped onto his perfect ass, and I sucked my lip between my teeth. “Uh, yeah. Great. You look, uh, really great.”
“You sure you don’t want me to stay? I can just explain things to Tim, and I’m sure he’ll understand.”
I stood up and walked with my empty wine glass to the mini-fridge to get some more. “You’re the best man. He’s your brother. You’re going.”
Just as I finished the sentence, there was a knock at the door. Ethan walked over, and just as he turned the handle, the door swung wide open, and a stampede of men burst in and grabbed him.
“Oh,” I clutched my chest and stepped out of the way as they tackled him on the bed and then piled on top of him.
“You sons of bitches, get off!” He laughed from beneath them, and they roared with laughter as they noogied his head and gave him playful punches.
One by one, they climbed off, and then one by one, they all noticed me.
“Whoa. Hello,” a guy with brown hair and sparkling blue eyes said as he blinked at me.
“Who is this?” another guy with sandy brown colored hair, the same as Ethan’s, asked.
Four more guys stood staring and mute. Ethan stepped around them and moved between us, waving his arm at me as he said, “This is Ivy. She’s decided to join me and be my date up here. Ivy, this is the groom and my brother, Tim.” He pointed to the one with clean-cut hair the same color as him. They shared the same shade of eyes and the same strong bone structure, and it was easy to see they were brothers. “And this is my other brother, Ian, and these are our good friends, Matt, Jake, Evan, and Hayden.”
I lifted my hand and gave a shy wave to the solid wall of undeniably attractive men still staring stunned at me.
