You May Kiss the Bridesmaid - Camilla Isley Page 0,44

back and moaning to bring the interaction to a sexual plane.

Sex, I can handle.

Emotions, on the other hand, are running out of my control. Have been since the start.

***

A knock at the door wakes me up the next morning. “Sammy, it’s me, open up.”

Shoot. Winter. What is she doing outside my room? What time is it? I check the alarm clock on the nightstand: 7:00 a.m., pretty early.

Archie groans awake. “What—?”

I place a hand over his mouth. “Shhh. It’s my sister.”

The knocking turns to pounding. “Sammy. Summer.”

Archie picks up the hand covering his mouth, kisses the palm, and lowers it to his chest. “What does she want?”

“I don’t know.”

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

“With you here? No way. Winter will think I’m in the shower or something and leave.”

Sure enough, after a few more minutes, the attack on the door ends and the hall beyond goes quiet.

I drop back onto the pillow, blowing hair away from my face. “That was close.”

“Would it be so bad if she found us together?”

I raise on my elbows. “With everything she told me about you, the way she worries about me, and it being the day before her wedding? Yeah-ha. She’d go nuts!”

Archie puts a hand over his chest in mock pain. “I feel deeply stereotyped here.”

“Poor you.” I bend over and kiss him on the forehead. “You want some coffee?”

“Sure.”

I slip on my panties and pull the white, long-to-my-knees T-shirt I use as pajamas over my head. The shirt has taken a vacation on this trip so far as I’ve slept mostly naked… Mmm… I let out a contented sigh and get up. The moment I step into the kitchenette, however, my sense of serene satiation evaporates as the pounding on the door resumes.

“Sammy, Sammy, it’s me.”

Oh my gosh, is my sister ever going to give up? She’s going to wake up the entire floor at this rate. I put a finger to my lips in a shush gesture directed at Archie. If we keep quiet, Winter will have to chase and desist, eventually.

But that hope shatters when I hear a key turning in the lock. How does she have a key to my room?

My chest explodes in a panic, my heartbeat picks up a frenzied tempo and then decelerates when the door opens barely an inch before the inner bolt stops it with a loud thud. Thank goodness I always put the extra lock on by reflex, even if I don’t have a recollection of doing it last night. Apparently old habits can survive even rabid sex exploits.

In a blur, I collect all of Archie’s clothes from where they’re scattered around the bedroom. Jeans, shoes, and socks on the floor. His sweater from the back of a chair, and his T-shirt draped over the bed’s headboard.

“Get up,” I hiss, and frantically scan the room to check if I’ve missed anything.

Meanwhile, my sister is trying to peek her head inside while she keeps calling my name.

When Archie is up, emerging stark naked from under the sheets, I don’t even take the time to admire his sculpted body. A clear sign of how agitated I am. I simply force the ball of clothes in his arms and push him into the bathroom, saying, “Hide in the shower. Pull the curtain.”

Then, I rush back into the main room, closing the bathroom door behind me. Hand still on the handle, I take a steadying breath, and finally answer my sister.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” I hurry to the door. “Get your head out so I can remove the bolt.”

Winter obeys, and I close the door with a soft click, remove the lock, and reopen the door wide to let her in.

“Oh my gosh!” She barrels into the room. “Are you okay?” Winter grabs my shoulders and pats down my arms as if to check I’m whole.

“Yeah, I am.” I shrug free. “What are you doing in my room at seven in the morning? And why do you have a key?”

“You weren’t answering, so I went to the reception and pretended to be you to get a duplicate. Why weren’t you answering?”

“That’s illegal,” I say, ignoring the second question.

“Oh, please, as if you’ve never pretended to be me.”

“Not since we were teenagers,” I retort pettily. “What’s up, did something happen?”

“No, I just wanted to catch you before you disappeared off to yoga, and then… What is it again you’re doing today?”

I see my plan of spending the day with Archie exploring Napa together, having lunch in a quiet bistro,