Third Chances (Men Of Manhattan #2) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,106
came out that way. I now deeply regretted my wardrobe choice.
"You're not happy to see us?" Bryce said. He gave me a hug and a swift kiss on the cheek.
"No, it's not that. I'm just...surprised."
"That was kind of the plan."
"I hope you ladies haven't been having too much fun without us." Tim grabbed my hand and kissed it like he always did. "Looking lovely as ever, Daphne."
"Thanks, Tim."
Ethan gave me a fairly awkward hug because we didn't know each other that well. Bryce and Tim had seen me in pajamas plenty of times. Ethan had maybe seen me in a cocktail dress most recently? I should have changed.
"So everyone's still asleep?" Ethan asked. "We thought we'd bring breakfast up to the room and surprise the girls."
"Yup." Everyone but me. "That's a great idea. So...what are you guys doing here?"
"We can't want to go on vacation with our ladies?" Tim said with a smile.
"Those shouldn't last a week. We were bored. We thought it would be better for us all to hang out together."
"I don't know how you guys could have been bored with Tim planning your bachelor party," I said.
"Bryce kept vetoing all my delicious ideas like an ignoramus," Tim said.
I laughed.
Bryce shrugged. "We just thought it would be fun to combine our parties."
"That's a great idea." Except, it wasn't really. Because now I'd be the seventh wheel. If you thought a third wheel was bad, a seventh wheel was absolutely horrible.
"If I'm being completely honest," Tim said, "I wanted Bryce's bachelor party to be here. When he turned the idea down, I helped hook Alina and you ladies up instead." He rubbed his hands together. "Now I'm getting what I wanted."
"You just got lucky. Don't act like you planned this whole thing," Bryce said.
"Believe what you want to believe."
"Let's go get breakfast," Ethan said. "I'm starving." But from the way he said it, it was pretty clear that he just wanted to see Layla. It was cute how eager he was to see his wife.
Not only was I now the seventh wheel, but I had to endure them all being stupid and adorable and coupled up. It made me miss Rob even more. We had never gotten to be a couple and now we never would be. I bit my lip.
Javier cleared his throat. "Here are your keycards, gentlemen. We got the two rooms adjacent to your ladies' room. So it's three rooms total. We'll have our cleaning service take care of the first room and make sure they're upgraded to the couples' suites."
What now?
"Sounds great," Tim said.
"Wait," I said.
Javier looked extremely disappointed that I had spoken.
Jerk face. "Where will I sleep?" Three couples' suites for three couples. Did they expect me to sleep in the hallway?
"It's fine, Daphne, you can share our room," Tim said.
"Um...no."
Tim laughed. "Although you have the face of an angel and the posterior of Beyonc茅, I promised Kristen that I would never sleep with any of her friends."
"That's good to know. How much would another room cost?"
Javier typed something into his computer. "All we have left is the penthouse suite. It costs ten thousand dollars a night."
Seriously?
Javier nodded. "Usually our most prestigious guests stay there. I believe you met the Hunters and Caldwells during their stay."
"Yeah." I could feel all the guys staring at me. "Okay, well, I can't afford that." A teacher's salary would never let me afford a room like that.
Bryce laughed. "You can crash with Alina and me, it's fine."
I didn't want to ruin their pre-wedding whatevers. "Yeah, we'll figure it out. Thanks for looking, Javier." Thanks for nothing.
"Of course, ma'am. Now, gentleman, I have the menus for all our restaurants here. If you'd like to order, I can have your food sent up to you."
"That would be great." Ethan picked up the closest menu.
"We are kind of in a hurry," Tim said. "I don't want to accidentally lose my card before I even get to greet Kristen." He had put the word accidentally in air quotes.
Bryce hit his shoulder.
Apparently they had already been told about the stupid bracelet game. At least I wouldn't have to wear Alina's bracelet anymore. The silver lining to being a seventh wheel, I guess.
"What do you want?" Bryce asked me. "Say it slow so I can write it all down."
I laughed halfheartedly. "I'm not really hungry."
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." I put on a smile. "Did you guys ditch Alex?" Alex was Bryce's other groomsman. I was kind of hoping