“Well, thank you, babe!”
“Thank me later when it’s worked its magic. Don’t worry. I have another one upstairs that my husbands can remove with their teeth later.”
“Well, in that case.” I bend and slip the garter over my sandal and slide it up my leg until it hugs the widest part of my thigh. As I let the fabric of my dress drop down, I look up to find four sets of smoldering eyes fixed on me.
Natalie plants a kiss on my cheek. “Off you go, then,” she says, nudging me toward Kane. “Look after my friend,” she tells him. “She’s a diamond.”
As I stumble forward, Kane grasps my upper arm to steady me. His eyes search my face, and I blink slowly, taking in all of his intensely overwhelming handsomeness.
“Maybe it’s time for a change of venue,” he says softly.
“Maybe it is.” Around us, the dance floor is swirling with people. Lights flash in time with the beat, casting colored rays that flicker his eyes to all the shades of the rainbow. Between us, there is a ribbon of connection that crackles with electricity.
“Boys!” he shouts, his eyes still fixed to mine. “Get your jackets. This party’s over.”
There are no questions, and when Kane takes my arm, leading me back to my table so that I can collect my possessions, I feel like I’m walking through water.
Wanting something so hard that it hurts feels like hunger. Finding out you’re about to get it is a shivery, heart-fluttery sensation that feels almost mind-expanding. I want to giggle like a nervous teenager. My hands itch to clutch my mouth and my heart with excitement, but I have to suppress it all because I’m a grown woman who wants this to be a sensual, adult experience. I’ve built such a clear picture of what it could be like, that doing anything to change that feels like too great a risk.
I don’t ask where we’re going, but maybe I should. Kane grabs an unopened bottle of champagne from the table and a plate of rich truffle chocolates that were served with coffee, which we were all too full to eat. Everything ticks my fantasy boxes.
“Follow me,” he says.
And I do, like a puppy trailing happily after its master.
We catch up with Harris, Holden, and Karter by their table, and Kane tells his twin to grab another bottle of champagne, then he leads all of us away from the wedding reception and onto a hotel path. This place is sprawling with gardens overflowing with tropical plants tipped with pink and white flowers that seem almost too perfect to be real. I don’t know my way around that well, but I’m certain we’re not heading in the right direction to where our rooms are situated. Each step we take away from the main hotel deflates my bubble of excitement.
I know Natalie was blatant, and I sure as hell haven’t been trying to hide my feelings, but maybe all Kane wants to do is find a public place to kick back with his brothers. Maybe I’ve imagined all the electricity and the hooded glances. Maybe I want this so much. I’ve invented the prospect of it coming true in my head.
Except, just as my shoulders have dropped and my heart has plopped into my stomach with disappointment, Kane stops in front of a path. We’re in what looks like a VIP part of the hotel, filled with villa-style accommodation with private pools. He hands Harris the bottle of champagne and pulls a key from his pocket, holding it in the air.
“Look what Conrad went and did.”
There’s a low whistle of approval from all the Banbury brothers as Kane makes his way down the path to the polished dark wood door. He slips the card into the lock, and it beeps and lights up green. He makes his way inside first, and his brothers gesture for me to follow. The interior is not a disappointment.
If my room is an eight out of ten, this place is a fifteen for sure. I guess this is how the other half lives. With dark wood flooring and cream leather seating, everything exudes luxury. There’s a modern white gloss kitchen with white and gray marble countertops, and bifold doors that open onto a wooden deck in front of a beautiful pool. It really is perfection.
Holden is the first to open the doors, strolling out and gazing up at the starry sky as though he’s seeing it for the first time. “I’m not even gonna pretend that I’m mad with Uncle Conrad for sorting out an upgrade because this is…”
“Fucking awesome,” Harris says.
He grins at his twin. “Exactly.”
“Last one in the pool is a loser,” Kane says, and in a flash, they all start flinging their clothes off. For the next few seconds, I get an idea of what they must have been like as kids. Four boys, ultra-competitive, always trying to get one over the other three.