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“But isn’t that your favorite job?” Chris asked, and Jason lifted a shoulder with a half smile as a burst of laughter rose up from the girls.
The trio was quiet for a minute until Chris huffed as if an idea had just occurred to him. “When Bronte’s dad had a heart attack, she was so stressed out she was cleaning and organizing the dish towels in her parents’ kitchen. I thought it was the oddest, most wonderful thing I’d ever seen.” He took a sip of his drink, his eyes out to the women. “We weren’t even together then, but I knew I loved her.”
His words seemed like an invitation, and Jason accepted it. “The first time I walked into Gemma’s apartment, it was a mess. Clothes everywhere, art supplies all over the floor. Her turtle and goldfish lived in her kitchen, and she had compost in the corner. I’d never met anyone so ridiculous in my life.”
“And you loved her for it,” Chris said, never taking his eyes off his wife, who was now on her feet, dancing, circling underneath Laney’s arm.
“And I loved her for it,” Jason agreed, full-on grinning as Gem looked to be doing some kind of yoga or gymnastics.
Mike tipped his head, squinting, trying to see Sam. She appeared to be doing the backstroke. On dry land.
After a moment, he felt eyes on him and noticed his two new friends patiently waiting for his turn. He took a deep breath. “I guess it was…” He thought back to all his time with Sam, not really able to pinpoint an exact day or time he’d fallen for her. It had been a little more every time they were together. “We go for a lot of walks with her family dog, and the first day, she called him Eddie. I thought it was a funny name for a dog, but then she said his full name.” He smiled thinking of it. “Edward Anthony Masen. It’s fromTwilight.”
“Oh yeah. Okay,” Chris said with a nod.
“You know it?”
“Famous actor, remember?” Jason jerked his thumb toward Chris, who flipped him the bird.
“Samantha’s totally unapologetic about everything. She is completely herself. She likes what she likes and doesn’t care if other people do too. She asks for what she wants, no matter what people think of her. And she named her dog Eddie.”
“We are three lucky bastards,” Jason said, and that had Mike searching for the missing other half.
“Where’s Bobby?”
“I saw him chatting with the chef,” Chris said. “Something about putting him on some show, who knows. You know that guy is thirty-eight?”
Mike’s eyebrows shot up. “Thirty-eight?”
“He acts like he’s eighteen sometimes,” Jason said.
“He seems like—” Chris flung his hand out toward the ocean. “Oh shit, Jay.”
“Yep. Got her, got her.” Jason sprinted to the sand. Gem was headed straight for the water.
Chris and Mike let out a chuckle and started off too at a much more leisurely pace since the other three were in the middle of hysterics, falling over in giggles as Jason swung Gem up into his arms.
27
Sam woke up to warm skin against hers and hot kisses along her shoulder. She blinked her eyes open to the sun cutting across the bedroom, highlighting the cream sheets tangled around their legs.
“Good morning.” Mike dragged his hand up her torso, settling between her naked breasts.
After the boys had broken up the party, the reception had all but petered out, and everyone had walked back to their suites in a haze of romance, food comas, champagne eyes, or all of the above.
Sam had come home, stripped naked, and immediately attempted to seduce Mike, but he held her off, promising to make it up to her in the morning. He’d said she needed water and sleep. He wasn’t wrong. After the last few days with her girls, she could use some extra vitamins and maybe a short hibernation. But not until she got what was owed.
She shifted to lie on her back, smiling at the sight of his bare chest and hair sticking up behind his ear. “Morning.”
The warm, hard length of him pressed against her thigh. “Did you sleep well?”
“I always sleep well next to you,” she replied, stretching her arms up above her head, and he bent his head, sucking a nipple into his mouth, her yawn easing into a moan, and she held him to her, her fingers curling around the nape of his neck.
As Mike placed his hands on either side of her, moving down to suck on her lower breast, nibble at her rib cage, memories from the reception filtered into her mind. The way he’d held her after she’d confessed how afraid she was of being hurt. How he’d promised that he wouldn’t give up on her or them.
When her parents divorced, she’d felt so out of control that it led her down a very dark path. She never wanted to be that deeply damaged ever again, and she knew in her bones that if she truly allowed it, she could be. And Mike could be the one to do it because she loved him.
She loved him, and that gave him the power to hurt her.
