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“Not yet. I want to see if anyone else is here.” She took his hand as she walked back out of the shower and guided him outside, singing a loud, slightly off-key version of theGolden Girlstheme song.
But maybe that was their call because suddenly, a head of long blond hair poked out of a window.
“Sammy!”
“Laney!”
Sam sprinted toward Laney and jumped into her waiting arms before they tumbled to the grass in a fit of giggles. Mike walked over to them to make sure they were okay. When Laney spotted him, she gasped. “It’s the Marine. In the flesh!”
She scrambled to her feet and hugged him. Laney was almost as tall as he was. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” she said and let him go to sling her arm around Sam. “Can you believe this place?”
“Christopher’s really outdone himself,” someone said from behind Mike, and when Sam and Laney spotted them, another round of squeals set off.
They were like a tornado, the three women hopping and hugging and sharing a bottle of champagne that somehow appeared.
“Hey.”
Mike pivoted to the voice to find a tall and tanned blond guy making his way toward him.
“You must be Mike,” he said. “I’m Jason.”
They shook hands. “Yeah. Hey. Nice to meet you.”
Jason rocked back on his heels, sticking his hands into his pockets. “You came with Sam, right?” At Mike’s nod, Jason tipped his chin out at where the girls now stood, heads bent together as they talked. “I came with the one trying to give a piggyback ride to Sam.”
“Gem?”
“Yeah. Welcome to the jungle.” Jason tossed him a smile. “It’s like trial by fire with these ladies.” Then he walked out to meet them, and Laney and Sam both hugged him.
Mike followed, giving Sam a chance to formally introduce him. Gem regarded him with a critical eye. “The Marine.”
“The vegan,” Mike said in return.
Jason slipped his arm around Gem’s waist. “Be nice.”
She pressed her hand to her chest, mouth agape. “Me? I’ve been very nice. Haven’t I, Michael?”
Mike stared down at Gem, who gave him the distinct impression that she could command an army of her own. “Yeah, very sweet.”
Jason snorted, and Gem shook her head, letting out a tiny grumble. “If you’re going to lie about me, you need to use a more convincing adjective than sweet, my friend.”
Laney shook her head. “No, it’s true. You’re sweet.”
“On the inside,” Sam said.
“But sour on the outside,” Jason added. “Like a Sour Patch Kid.”
That elicited a chuckle from everyone, including Gem, who pinched her husband’s side, and just like that, Mike was inducted into the group. They congregated on Sam and Mike’s patio since it was in the middle of their suites, eating the fruit and drinking champagne. Bobby, Laney’s boyfriend, showed up after he’d finished a business phone call in their room. He was an Australian chef turned semi-famous restaurateur. While the girls caught up, the guys chatted about whatever random things they could find in common: sports or the weather or the girls. Every once in a while, a cackle would bubble up from where the girls sat on the bed, catching the men’s attention. Jason would smile at them, Bobby pretty much ignored them, and Mike observed it all. Including the way Sam’s voice went so soft he couldn’t hear it anymore as she spoke to Gem and Laney. When Gem rubbed Sam’s back, he knew she was explaining to them what she’d confessed in the park, that she was having a hard time with all the changes.
Mike understood how difficult it was to undergo a transition, and he worried about her because of her past history. He didn’t want her feeling out of control, so when she’d asked him to come with her, he hesitated for only a moment. Though he had been uncertain of how this trip would go, she needed an anchor right now, and he wanted to be that for her.
But what shocked him most was when she got up from the bed to sit on his lap. In front of everyone. Like a declaration.
Laney grinned.
Gem’s brow hiked up.
And right when he was about to curl his arm around her waist, leaning into whatever this feeling was, the door to the suite burst open.
