now, half laughing, half sobbing, finding the situation absolutely hysterical whilst also wondering who the hell I screwed over in a past life to see me deserving such wicked treachery as a leg cramp after mind-blowing—albeit uncomfortable—plane sex.
And of course it’s then that there’s a loud knock on the door. “Security. Open up,” a deep voice rumbles, and Cade’s expression turns from a grimace at my pain to wide-eyed fear.
My body freezes mid-stretch. It’s as if we’re stuck in time—well, except for the jizz that is slowly—and grossly—dripping down my thigh. I mean, sex without a condom is hot and all, but the clean up afterwards? Not on your life, Batman.
When our clothing is straight and I’ve cleaned up as much as possible, Cade opens the restroom door slowly and comes face to face with a grinning Thomas, who looks very pleased with himself.
“Motherfucker,” Cade growls, grabbing Thomas in a headlock. I stand there, embarrassed to high hell and waiting for my chance to knee Cade’s best friend in the balls. Unfortunately, I only get the opportunity to slap his shoulder before Cade leads me back down the aisle to our seats, the whole gang giving us a standing ovation amid cheers of “for he’s a jolly good fellow.”
Of course, with nothing else to do but own the moment, I bend over and take a bow, thankful that all of the children that aren’t babies are coming down tomorrow with their grandparents.
A lot has happened in the six months since Christmas.
Cade Senior did win the mayoral race. However, he resigned from office two months later due to a major sex scandal—of his own doing—after being caught accepting sexual favors from a female city hall employee in a video exposé. To say I was shocked would be a lie because, as I learned after the disastrous—for them—Christmas party, when people try to control everything in their lives to the extent the Carsens do, it generally means they have a lot to lose if things were left to happen organically.
Case in point—that one sex scandal rolled into two, then five, and yet like the most loyal wife who has ever lived, Annabel continues to this day to stand by his side.
Callie, Cam, and Cade, however, no longer have anything to do with their parents, including Callie’s daughter, Haven, who is now five months old.
I applied for—and got—a corporate job at my hotel chain’s head office, overseeing human resources and training for three states. It involves some travel, but the perks of free accommodation anywhere there is one of our hotels certainly make up for it. Our destination for this trip, for starters.
St Thomas will be our home for the next two weeks, and we’re not the only ones coming either. Everyone—and I mean everyone—is joining in on the fun and for the next fourteen days, we’re going to be sitting pretty at a five-star resort, drinking cocktails, christening cabanas, and relaxing. Oh, and there’ll be a wedding . . . or two . . . yeah.
See two months ago, Cade called in some favors and cleared out the Skydeck of Willis Tower after dark. There was a picnic blanket, silver-domed plates, a bottle of champagne, and two crystal glasses, and before I could whirl around to ask him what he’d done, he had his hand in mine and was sliding a platinum diamond princess-cut engagement ring on my finger. He didn’t even ask the question. If you can believe it, he asked me to marry him by lifting his eyebrow and squeezing my hand, running his thumb over the ring in its new home at the base of my finger. Total alpha move, but so fucking hot, I literally jumped him right there. Thankfully, my fiancé had the forethought to ask for the cameras to be switched off for two hours, knowing—or maybe hoping—that I’d show him my appreciation in a myriad of dirty ways.
That’s one wedding. The other is for Zach and Dani.
Zach went small and intimate with his proposal, organizing for all of us, along with his mom, to travel to Syracuse, Indiana, to Mrs. Roberts’ house for a surprise party, which started with Dani walking in thinking she was getting a birthday dinner, then getting told to go into the backyard for her present where Zach was on bended knee with just her sisters, brother, and their two moms standing behind him.
She cried like a baby, which of course set all of the girls off—even those of us peering