We walked back outside hand in hand. Rachel and Carrington were just walking up from the beach, shit-eating grins on both of their faces.
“I guess she agreed to give your dumb ass another shot,” Carrington said.
I nodded. “I’m a lucky bastard. Anything I need to delete on this thing?”
Rachel grinned up at him and blushed. “We deleted them already.”
I groaned. “I really hope so. I don’t need to see his junk.”
“Yeah, might make him jealous,” Carrington said with a nudge.
I snorted. “Not likely.”
“All right, guys,” Kiana said. “Let’s not get into a dick measuring contest. I think Rachel and I are both incredibly happy with what we’ve got. You need to let it go.”
I snickered at Carrington, and he flipped me off. We all laughed and walked over to the party.
Kiana and I worked like crazy, making sure the rest of the night was perfect. Anthony was there, but he didn’t get in my way anymore. I wondered if he’d heard the news. The dickwad got what was coming to him, and I was more than happy to be the one who delivered it.
“You look happy,” Kiana said when she sat down next to me for dinner.
I nodded. “I live in my dream spot, have my dream girl, and a pretty kick-ass job.”
“Not your dream job?” she asked, a crease forming between her eyebrows.
I shrugged. “It’s definitely growing on me. The perks are pretty great.”
“Perks?”
“Yeah. Amazing views. Awesome people. And an utterly fuckable boss.”
I nuzzled her neck, and she giggled.
“I plan to strip you out of this dress later and kiss every inch of your skin. I’ve missed being in your bed all night.”
“This coming from a guy who was afraid to be in my bed only a few weeks ago.”
I growled against her neck, making her squeal.
“All right you two,” Ada said. “You’re not the bride and groom so you can’t be that disgustingly cute.”
“I think I’m going to elope,” Kiana declared. “Fly to Vegas. Isn’t that what people do?”
I laughed. “The wedding planner for people who basically elope wants to leave paradise for her own wedding? Something isn’t right about that.”
“I won’t be your best friend anymore if you elope. I want to officiate your wedding.”
“I thought you’d be my maid of honor.”
“I thought I was your maid of honor,” Jack said, pouting as he sat next to Ada.
Kiana laughed at them. “Okay, fine. We’ll get married here, Ada can officiate and Jack can be my maid of honor.”
“We?” I asked.
Her cheeks splashed pink, and her eyes widened as she realized what she’d said. “I just meant whoever I get married to.”
“Uh uh. You said ‘we.’ Me and you. You aren’t getting out of this one.”
“I wasn’t trying to trap you or anything.”
“Really? Because I was completely planning to trap you. Make it so you had no choice but to marry me.”
Ada squealed with delight. Jack just grinned. “I called it,” he said.
“You’re not seriously proposing, are you?”
I laughed. “Like this? Uh, no. But one day I will.”
Her shocked gasp went straight to my cock. Damn, she made me crazy. I wasn’t sure I could wait long to have her as my wife. Vicki and Hunter had the right idea getting married six weeks after they got engaged. I was thinking maybe even the day we got engaged.
Eloping held more and more appeal.
“No,” Jack said. “I see those wheels turning. You’re not taking her away and marrying her. You’re going to let us throw the biggest wedding we’ve ever done and invite all of your friends you keep talking about and party for a week.”
“I don’t want her to have that much work to deal with.”
Jack scoffed. “Please. I’ll be planning her wedding. We agreed when we were in high school.”
I laughed. “Then I guess it’s settled.”
“Except for the whole asking me to marry you thing.”
“Did you ask her to marry you?” Rachel blurted. She and Carrington sat at the table with us.
I shook my head. “Not yet. But one day.”
“You absolutely have to invite us. I mean, if you don’t mind us being here.”
Kiana grinned and reached for Rachel’s hand. “Of course, we’d love to have you. Any time you want to come visit, let us know.”
“Good. Because the weather here sure beats Minnesota this time of year.”
I laughed. “I agree. Shit, I thought Winterville was cold.”
“You lived in a place called Winterville?” Ada asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. The name came honestly.”
“Did you tell her yet?” Carrington asked.
Three heads turned to me as I shook mine.
“Tell her now,” Rachel encouraged.
“Tell me what?” Kiana said.
I sighed. “You remember how I told you I knew Carrington before?”
She glanced at the others and nodded, drawing her lip between her teeth.
“We talked. He wants me to tell his story. Their story.”
“Really?” she asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. We talked to the people with Not A Dream, and they want to print that story. I have to get approval from my old boss, but Not A Dream agreed to pay for the photos and run the whole thing. Sort of a backstory for how they got together.”
“That’s amazing,” she said, wrapping her arms around my neck. “I’m really proud of you.”
“Thank you,” I whispered against her neck.
“Will someone tell me what’s going on?” Jack said.
“Sawyer used to take pictures for the military. He knew Joe and was the reason he lost his leg. Sawyer never ran the pictures for the story he was working on at that time, and Joe was pissed off about it. Now that they’ve met again, they both got a lot of shit off their chests, and Sawyer is going to print the pictures he took years ago. Closure for both of them.”
We all gaped at Ada as she quickly recapped years of bullshit and history between Carrington and I. When she met our shocked gazes, she shrugged.
“I pay attention, even when you guys don’t think I am.”
“How did you figure all that out?”
She waved a hand. “Oh, please. None of you can keep a secret for anything. Kiki mentioned the pictures on your computer a long time ago. Jack overheard you guys arguing about not doing this wedding, after you stormed out. And our bride and groom weren’t very quiet when they were walking up from the beach and talking about how good it was to see Sawyer again.”
“She could have been a spy,” Carrington said to me.
I nodded.
“Do you know the best part of this whole deal though?” he asked Ada.
She cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out the answer. “You two are friends again?”
We laughed. “Yeah,” he said. “There’s that. But I think you are all going to be even happier to hear that Anthony is out. None of his pictures are going to be published.”
“What?” Kiana gasped as the others cheered. “Why not?”
“When we went to Not A Dream, we told them exactly what kind of person they were dealing with,” Rachel said, a kind look in her eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“Sawyer told us what he did to you and the caterer. If that wasn’t bad enough, the way he talked wasn’t okay. We didn’t want our memories captured by someone who was that callous when it came to people’s hearts.”
“What about all the other events you guys participated in? They seemed to want a lot of extra pictures.”
Rachel grinned at me. “Sawyer was there for most of that, too.”
“What?” she gasped, looking at me.
I nodded. “Anything for you, babe.”
“Thank you,” she said with tears in her eyes.
“Any time.”
When the wedding was over and all the guests were packed up and gone, Kiana and I took a bottle of left over wine and headed to the beach. She called Kapena, and he joined us, along with Ada and Jack.
“This was a stressful one,” Ada said, passing the wine to Kiana.
We all nodded.
“It’s the first time we’ve been out here in a while,” Jack said.
“Do you guys do this a lot?” I asked.
Kiana shook her head. “We used to. The first year, we’d always end the night with a shared bottle of wine and a recap of how the night went.”
“Why did you stop?”
She shrugged. “We got too busy, I think.”
“This woman kicked some serious ass and started booking more weddings than we could handle if we stayed up late drinking on the beach.”
“Remember the first night?” Ada said. “We all piled into Jack’s car and went for tacos then decided to go swimming at Kapena’s?”
Kapena grunted, and the others laughed. I looked at my friend, trying to decipher what was going through his head. He took a long drink of the wine and handed it to Ada.
“Thanks,” she said with a smile that lit up the night.
There was definitely something going on between the two of them. It bugged me that I couldn’t figure it out, but I’d get there.
“We should do that again,” Jack suggested excitedly. “I haven’t had much to drink. A couple sips. I’m good to drive. Let’s pack up the last of the food and finish this party at Kapena’s so we can all pass out when we’re too drunk to drive home.”
“I don’t think I want all of you in my house.”
“Why not?” everyone whined.
“Come on,” Ada said. “It’ll be fun.”
Kapena grumbled but finally agreed. Everyone got up and headed toward the kitchen where leftovers were stashed in the fridge.
I captured Kiana’s arm as everyone headed up and hauled her against me. “Hey,” I whispered against her ear.
“Hey,” she said, shivering.
“Are you cold?”
She shook her head. “Just excited to be in your arms again.”
“All night, sweetheart.”
“Yeah, except my brother and two best friends will be there with us.”
“Maybe you can be really quiet,” I suggested, cupping her breasts and teasing her nipples.
She moaned softly. “I don’t want to be quiet.”
“Then we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
“I don’t want that either,” she pouted.
“Well, what do you want to do?”
She sighed. “We’ll go. I’ll deal with it. But I don’t like it.”
I laughed and followed her to the parking lot. I didn’t like it either, but as long as I had her in my arms, it would all work out. She made me crazy, and I loved her for it.
I drove Kiana’s car to Kapena’s since I hadn’t been drinking. Kapena took his Jeep, but Jack drove Ada. We were all on the beach within seconds of arriving, and it was clear to me that Ada had the most to drink.
“Is she going to be okay?” I asked Kiana.
She nodded, smiling at her friend. “She lets loose sometimes. It isn’t often, but she’s smart. She probably hasn’t had as much to drink as it seems. She’s just relaxed for once.”
Ada stood up, brushing the sand off her dress, and declared, “I need to go for a swim.”
“It’s dark.”
“It’s too late.”
“You’re crazy.”
She shook her head and began unbuttoning her knee length dress. After three buttons, Kapena told her to stop.
“Why? It’s not like anyone here cares. Jack would rather see Sawyer strip. Sawyer’s so in love with Kiana he can’t see other women. And to you, I’m just a little sister. None of you are going to think twice about me being in my underwear.”
Kapena grumbled but didn’t argue any further. “She doesn’t need to go in there alone,” he told everyone.
“Then go with her,” Jack suggested.
“Why don’t you?”
He gestured to his clothes. “I’m not ruining this outfit. And I don’t have other clothes here like you do.”
Ada squealed from the darkness, invisible to us on the lanai. I leaned down to kiss Kiana’s neck as Kapena stomped off toward the water.
“The three of you are dangerous,” I whispered when I was pretty sure Kapena was out of earshot.
“Why?” Kiana asked.
Jack snickered.
“You know he likes her, and she’s drunk. He’s going to protect her. I think you’re playing with fire.”
“Weren’t you saying we should try to get them together?” Kiana asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, when she’s sober. He’s not going to take advantage of her when she’s drunk. She’d resent him for it anyway.”
“I think you’re paranoid,” Jack admonished me. “Let them have some fun in the dark where we can’t see them.”
I sighed, hoping he was right.
We drank and ate, and when Ada walked out of the water followed a few feet behind by Kapena, I wondered what actually happened out there. She went straight inside, but he sank into a chair.
“Everything okay?” Kiana asked.
“Fabulous,” he told her, grabbing another bottle of beer and downing the whole thing.
“Um, I’m going to go see if Ada’s okay.”
I kissed her before she left, hoping nothing was really wrong. I wanted her in my arms.
Yeah, I knew that made me a selfish asshole. I didn’t care.
“What happened?” Jack asked, his eyes bright with excitement.
“Nothing,” Kapena grumped at him.
“Then why are you both annoyed.”
Kapena shook his head and went back onto the beach, out of our sight.
A few minutes later, Kiana came back out. “Ready for bed?”
I jumped up and followed her to bed. “Is Ada okay?”
She nodded. “She will be. But I think you made me a promise earlier.”
I grinned like the lucky son of a bitch I was, then set to stripping my woman and kissing every inch of her precious skin.
When I finally slid into her, she was so ready for me I nearly came right then.
“Oh, Sawyer,” she whispered.
“Don’t hold back, sweetheart. Let me feel you come.”
She chewed her lip. “I don’t know if I can without screaming.”
“It’s okay. The door’s locked.”
She laughed, then I stroked again and she moaned.
Her hips rose to meet mine and we built closer and closer to orgasm together. She gasped and panted and whimpered, and when she moaned, I captured the sound and covered it with my own moan.
“You’re mine forever, Kiana,” I promised her.
“As long as you’re mine,” she said with a laugh.
“Absolutely.”
“What do you think about moving in with me?”
“Really?” I asked, leaning back to look at her face. “Are you serious?”
She bit her lip and nodded. “If you want. You don’t have to, though.”
I shook my head. “I want to. Definitely.”
“Are you sure?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely. I’m never letting you go again.”
“Good. I’m gonna hold you to that.”
I smiled and slid into her again, ready to have her once more.
“Again?”
I nodded. “I think I promised you all night long.”
She giggled, and damn if I wasn’t the happiest, luckiest guy on the planet.