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“Are you coming to D.C.?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Can I kiss you one last time?”
“Where?”
He kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose, and near the corner of her mouth, less than an inch away from her lips.
She groaned. “You horrible, horrible man.”
Laughing, he held her tighter.
CHAPTER24
After planting one last kiss on Ayesha’s forehead, Joel slipped out of her grasp, covered her up to her shoulder, stuck his feet into his shoes, and left the hotel room.
Everyone in the wedding party except for Tayler and Gage had rooms on the same floor. Tayler and Gage moved to the penthouse suite, but Tayler spent the night before the wedding with Larke. The groomsmen crashed with Gage after their “wild” bachelor party, which had included sailing in Sydney Harbour, an eight-kilometer hike, a few rounds of pool, a gourmet food tour, and a near-boxing match with a jacked, six-foot kangaroo.
He rounded the hallway corner and came to an abrupt stop. Sydney stood outside his door, head down and wringing her fingers.
It was at least two in the morning.
She was still wearing the green dress, and not a hair was out of place to say she’d gone to sleep at some point, but she’d exchanged the heels for bedroom slippers.
“Sydney?”
She looked up and smiled. “Hey.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.” She hurried over and wrapped her arms around him, and his automatically closed around her. “You left earlier, and I’ve been looking for you. I came up here at least four times. Where were you?”
“Just…out.”
It made little sense to say he was coming from Ayesha’s room, especially this late. Regardless of how he explained it, Sydney wouldn’t understand, and he didn’t want Ayesha in the middle of his and Sydney’s drama, either.
“Why were you looking for me?” he asked.
“I just missed you.”
“Syd, why were you looking for me?”
“That’s it, I swear.” She went to run her fingers through his hair, but he moved away.
“Not tonight, Syd.”
“Joel, I swear that’s not why I’m here. I really just missed you. I think something about today set me off. Remember our wedding?”
He unlocked his room door, gestured for her to walk in, and followed her. “Of course I do. It was beautiful. Hell, Ali was there. Laila was there. Angela Bassett. It wasn’t your typical wedding, that’s for sure.”
She laughed. “They came for my parents.”
“They still came, and Laila came for you.” He removed his belt and shoes, too tired to do anything but toss them over the back of a chair. They should have been in bed hours ago; in the morning, they had brunch with Gage and Tayler, and then they would see them off for their honeymoon in Aruba.
Sydney took a seat on the bed. “Do you mind if I stay?”
“We’re only going to sleep.”
