I flash a panicked stare at Archie, and if eyes could talk, his would be saying, “Sheesh, woman, be cool.”
On his left, Winter pouts. “I’m sorry a mandatory spa day has been so hard on you? Where did you disappear to, anyway?”
“I had a work call,” I lie.
“I thought phones weren’t allowed.”
“No, but I went to the locker room to check my messages and had to call the office back.”
“So, what are you doing with your free day, then? More work?” She’s being passive-aggressive.
“No, I just planned on seeing the sights. Nothing in particular.”
“By yourself?”
“Yes,” I say, equally passive-aggressive. “I need some me time.”
Thank goodness our food arrives, and the topic of tomorrow is soon forgotten.
After that, dinner continues with no more incidents. The presence of non-family members prevents my mom from making any grating comments about The Mistake, and the meal ends with no embarrassing comments about my past transgressions. A first, as family dinners go, at least since that damn article came out.
We’re waiting for the bill when Tucker’s phone pings. He reads the text, and I swear he blushes.
“Sorry,” he says, standing up. “I have to go, there’s an emergency with the… uh… flower delivery.”
“This late at night?” Mom asks. “What could it possibly be?”
Winter goes into bridezilla-mode at once. “Is it serious? Fixable?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Tucker waves her off. “Nothing I can’t solve with a phone call, but I’d better go now. Can you ask them to put my share of dinner on my room? I’m in 451.”
The room next to Archie, I realize with a swallow. I hope the walls are thick.
Dad waves his request down. “Don’t be silly, young man, tonight’s dinner’s on me. And thank you again for all the hard work you’ve put into organizing the perfect wedding for my daughter.”
“No trouble at all, sir. Well, I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
Tucker says goodbye one last time and walks out of the restaurant, leaving the rest of us to endure at least another hour of chit chat before we can make our escape.
The bill arrives exactly seventy-five minutes later, not that I’m counting. Dad puts it on his room tab, and we get up to walk toward the elevators. The six of us can all fit inside, so we all go in one trip. Archie and I strategically keep at the back on opposite corners. Thankfully, Winter and Logan are on the first floor and my parents on the second.
The moment the elevator doors ding shut after my parents have gone, it’s as if someone had shouted, “Ready, steady, go!” Archie and I fly into each other’s arms and kiss like two people who’ve been eye flirting for the past three hours and a half and can’t wait to tear their clothes off.
When the elevator doors swish open, I make to follow Archie outside, but bump into a solid wall of muscled back instead.
“What’s up?” I ask, peering around his shoulder.
“That sneaky weasel,” Archie whispers. “Flower emergency, my ass. Looks like Tucker is banging that actor’s assistant. I called it, didn’t I?”
“What? Are you sure? How can you tell?”
“They’re making out outside his room.”
“Let me see.” I peek my head forward between the elevator doors, which have already tried to close twice.
Down the hall, Penny is leaving Tucker’s room, but the goodbye is taking forever. They’re kissing on the threshold, making out like a pair of horny teenagers. We can’t go into Archie’s room with them in the hallway and risk being spotted.
Archie reads my mind, because he asks, “How long do you think that’s going to take?”
“Too long,” I say, pulling him back inside. “Let’s go to my room.”
One floor down, we tumble out of the elevator into the hall, which is clear of people, giggling and kissing all the way to my room.
At the door, I fish out the key and try to fit it into the lock while Archie distractingly nibbles at my ear from behind.
“We’re never getting in if you keep doing that,” I say.
Archie gives me a little space, but as soon as the door is unlocked, he lifts me and carries me to the bed with surprising gentleness for a man so big. He climbs on top of me, pinning my arms above my head, and just hovers above me, looking into my eyes for the longest time. A breath catches in my chest. This feels intense, too intense. So, I chicken out and close my eyes, arching my back and moaning to bring the interaction to a sexual plane.
Sex, I can handle.
Emotions, on the other hand, are running out of my control. Have been since the start.
***
A knock at the door wakes me up the next morning. “Sammy, it’s me, open up.”
Shoot. Winter. What is she doing outside my room? What time is it? I check the alarm clock on the nightstand: 7:00 a.m., pretty early.
Archie groans awake. “What—?”
I place a hand over his mouth. “Shhh. It’s my sister.”
The knocking turns to pounding. “Sammy. Summer.”
Archie picks up the hand covering his mouth, kisses the palm, and lowers it to his chest. “What does she want?”
“I don’t know.”
“Aren’t you going to answer?”
“With you here? No way. Winter will think I’m in the shower or something and leave.”
Sure enough, after a few more minutes, the attack on the door ends and the hall beyond goes quiet.
I drop back onto the pillow, blowing hair away from my face. “That was close.”
“Would it be so bad if she found us together?”
I raise on my elbows. “With everything she told me about you, the way she worries about me, and it being the day before her wedding? Yeah-ha. She’d go nuts!”
Archie puts a hand over his chest in mock pain. “I feel deeply stereotyped here.”
“Poor you.” I bend over and kiss him on the forehead. “You want some coffee?”
“Sure.”
I slip on my panties and pull the white, long-to-my-knees T-shirt I use as pajamas over my head. The shirt has taken a vacation on this trip so far as I’ve slept mostly naked… Mmm… I let out a contented sigh and get up. The moment I step into the kitchenette, however, my sense of serene satiation evaporates as the pounding on the door resumes.
“Sammy, Sammy, it’s me.”
Oh my gosh, is my sister ever going to give up? She’s going to wake up the entire floor at this rate. I put a finger to my lips in a shush gesture directed at Archie. If we keep quiet, Winter will have to chase and desist, eventually.
But that hope shatters when I hear a key turning in the lock. How does she have a key to my room?
My chest explodes in a panic, my heartbeat picks up a frenzied tempo and then decelerates when the door opens barely an inch before the inner bolt stops it with a loud thud. Thank goodness I always put the extra lock on by reflex, even if I don’t have a recollection of doing it last night. Apparently old habits can survive even rabid sex exploits.