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The kettle whistled, and Oliver started pouring and stirring, getting drink orders from everyone, while Aaron hip-checked Diego out of the way to cook the eggs and put him on fruit-cutting duty. The rest of us sat at the big table with plates and utensils.
I was busy admiring my guys in the kitchen when the door to the living room opened.
“You guys okay?” Jess’s voice called.
“Kitchen,” Zander answered.
A harried-looking Jess and Tobias entered the space. Jess’s shoulders sagged in relief when she counted us. Then she did a double take.
“There are only eleven of you. Where’s Ryan?”
Without missing a beat, Aaron answered solemnly, “I killed him and buried him in the yard because he stole my glitter thong.”
No one spoke for a second, letting the words sink in. Jess’s eyes went wide, and her mouth parted.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Ryan asked as he stepped up behind Jess.
“Oh, thank fuck.” The tension passed, and she closed her eyes in relief. “Not cool, Aaron.”
He snorted. “Funny, though.” Aaron sat at the head of the table and started dishing up scrambled eggs. “Hungry?”
“Starved,” Tobias said, grabbing the proffered plate and sitting at the other end of the table. “We tried to come by this morning around three when the storm let up, but the house was locked up tight.”
While Aaron was prepping plates, I muttered, “You haveanotherglitter thong?”
“I have six.” He winked, and I didn’t know what to do with that information.
Ryan drained his coffee and asked, “That was you? I just thought some furniture was bumping against the shutters again. You guys should have an emergency phone in the house.”
Jess winced. “I asked for one, but the producers were sure you guys would use it for other things.”
We collectively rolled our eyes in the most impressive simultaneous eye-roll the world had ever seen. If the cameras were working, I wanted that shit sent to the world record people.
“Anyway,” Jess said, cradling a cup of coffee, “according to reports, the storm wasn’t that bad until it got closer, picking up some steam from one air current or another. The worst of it is gone, and they’re saying it’ll rain for the rest of the day. We’re in the clear and should have electricity back on today at some point.”
I looked over at Ryan, who had predicted their priorities. He spoke up when it seemed Jess didn’t know what to discuss next. “We’ll help clean up the damage outside while you guys handle the electricity and anything else you need to. Did the cameras hold up during the storm?”
Tobias bobbled his head. “Glass bubbles around the lenses shielded the outside ones, but the electricity loss prevented us from getting feeds from about half the cameras both inside and out. The rest are fine, which was used for footage in last night’s episode back at the office in LA.”
“The show must go on,” Viv teased.
“Right.” Jess looked down the table at me, and she gave me a wink. “No challenge today because… well, that’s obvious. If you guys don’t mind handling some of the cleaning outside, we can keep moving tomorrow with what we’ve scheduled.”
We agreed, and before long, the guys were outside in the rain, putting things back to rights and tossing all the broken stuff into a heap on the side of the villa while we cleaned up from breakfast, rolled up all the storm shutters, and put the inside of the house back in order.
Norbert had checked in, wiggling his little ass across the patio, and I swear, he gave me a chin nod in greeting. Oliver had been right about Norbert being safe from the worst of the storm, and I’d introduced the two of them when the lizard wandered close enough. Oliver ran inside and grabbed a few small pieces of fruit, saying Norbert could have a little without it being an issue.
Norbert was smitten with Oliver after that and followed him around the yard as he cleared things.
“So,” Viv said with very obvious innuendo in her voice back in the kitchen. “How was your night?”
Her grin stretched across her face and showed off her pearly whites.
“Goooood,” I teased with a kissy face and a hip thrust.
“Girl, don’t I know it. You guys were pretty quiet, but I ran upstairs to use the bathroom at some point, and there are just some things even a closed door can’t muffle.” I blushed at her words, but she ignored it like the good friend she was and just barreled on. “Look at you and your harem!”
“It’s not a—”
