Come To Me (Dare With Me #3) - J.H. Croix Page 0,4

in the Air Force with me, Tucker, and Elias, who didn’t happen to be here with us tonight. He was all but officially shacked up with his girlfriend, Cammi.

“I think I’m past the honeymoon stage with Daphne,” Flynn commented as he began to deal out the cards. “I’m not nearly as bad as Elias.”

“True,” Grant said with a solemn nod. “Both of you are definitely more cheerful.”

“Speaking of cheerful, where the hell is Gabriel?” I asked.

“Since when was Gabriel cheerful?” Tucker chimed in with a slow grin.

“He had the last flight on the schedule today and said he was going to do some quick repairs on that plane that’s been acting up,” Flynn replied.

Tucker caught my eyes, but I held my silence. I didn’t doubt Gabriel was actually doing those repairs. Like all of us, during our time in the military as pilots we’d also been trained as plane mechanics. But I suspected he was doing more than repairs. Considering that Nora hadn’t been at dinner at the resort tonight either, my suspicion was she was helping Gabriel. Those two were either at each other’s throats… Or, trying to hide the fact that they were tangled up in the sheets on occasion. Whatever their arrangement was, it ran in fits and starts. Flynn had to suspect, but then maybe he had a blind spot because he was so focused on Daphne lately.

Our game carried on. We’d picked up the habit of doing this at least once a week. It was something we’d done when we were in the military together. Although Elias was mostly staying with Cammi these days, even he made a point to come out every other week or so.

After one more round, Flynn was getting up to leave when he glanced around. “Who’s coming to yoga tomorrow?”

Flynn stayed in a private area at the main resort with Daphne and his sister, Cat. Grant, Tucker, Gabriel, and I shared this house that we’d built together only two summers ago. Elias still officially had a bedroom, but he didn’t use it anymore.

Tucker snorted a laugh. “Dude, not me.”

Grant let out a sigh. “I’ll go. Last time I didn’t go, Daphne asked me about it.”

All of us had a hard time telling Daphne “no” to anything she asked. She fed us so well ever since she’d become the chef at the resort that we all kind of felt like we had to do something for her.

“I’ll be there,” I offered. I wanted to see Gemma again. Although, yoga did actually feel good.

Tucker chuckled. “I guess I’m not as susceptible to guilt. I love Daphne’s food, and I thank her effusively every meal. Plus, you pay her, right?” Tucker asked, looking genuinely horrified at the prospect that Flynn might not be paying her to do her job.

“Of course, I pay her.” Flynn looked affronted at the mere implication he might not be.

“Dude, you have one job. Keep Daphne happy, all right?” Tucker teased. “Now that you two are in love, we have to worry about drama shit.”

“No need to worry about that,” Flynn said firmly. “Now, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

“When’s Aubrey moving up here?” I asked Tucker after the door closed behind Flynn.

“She says sometime next year. She’s got her pilot’s license and everything. Not sure how I feel about having my sister here, but Flynn says we can always use another pilot.”

“Dude, I have to deal with two sisters and my older brother as a boss,” Grant said. “You can deal with one sister.”

Tucker chuckled. “Fair enough.”

His eyes caught mine. “How are your sisters?”

I was the oldest of five with four younger sisters. I was up to my eyeballs in dealing with women. My family was tight, real tight. It’s just none of us were in the same place. My dad had been in the Air Force, and we were all military kids, used to bouncing all over the place. My dad had since passed on, and so had my mom. We missed them both like crazy, and I talked to my sisters without fail several times a week.

“They’re all good. Every week, there’s something to deal with. None of them are pilots, so I don’t need to worry about them coming up here to work with us. You know everybody will be up for a visit at some point, maybe not all at the same time though.”

“It’s a good thing you all get along,” Grant offered.

“Define ‘get along,’” I said dryly.

We loved each other, but we were known