“How much did you bet Cooper this time that you could get me to bitch about how I’m just as much of a surgeon as you? I’m on to you two assholes.”
Cooper pats Noah on the shoulder. “Just because you can’t get Hannah to give you the time of day, doesn’t mean you have to be taking it out on the rest of us.”
“She gives me the time of day,” Noah grumbles. “But she giveshimthe time of day too.”
“She’s had a boyfriend for years, my dude,” I say. “This is not a new development.”
Noah blows out a breath. “There’s just something off about that guy. I don’t like it,” he says, his eyes on where Hannah stands with Jo and Amelia.
“Do you even know him?” My dad asks, furrowing his brow at Noah.
“I know enough,” Noah says. “That guy is bad news.”
“Noah’s right,” Cece calls from the yard, where she’s sprawled in a lounge chair, margarita in hand, wearing giant sunglasses and a bright pink caftan.
“Right about what?” Jo asks.
The girls all turn to us, and when my eyes meet Amelia’s and she smiles and winks at me, I feel the jolt of connection through my entire body.
Mine.
“Go get your girl, El,” my mom says, nudging me. “You know you want to.”
I kiss my mom’s cheek and head down to the yard, coming up behind Amelia and sliding my arms around her. Her body melts back into mine, and she covers my arms with her own. Turning her head, she presses a kiss to my jaw and grins at me. “Hey, handsome.”
“Hey, Mystery Girl. Whatcha doing down here?”
“Telling Jo a million times that with a ring like that she can’t fly to Vegas and get married tonight. A ring like that deserves a real wedding and a kick ass party. A ring like that needs to be celebrated.”
Jo shrugs, smiling as Jordan comes up behind her and wraps his arms around her shoulders. “I like a celebration as much as the next girl, but I really just want to get married, and my mom sucks a lot of the time, so the idea of planning a wedding with her really doesn’t appeal.”
“I want what you want, Hurricane,” Jordan says, bending and kissing her neck. “If you want to jet off to Vegas in an hour, I’m game.”
“I can get Gabe to gas up the jet,” Amelia says. “We can all go. It’ll be a blast.”
“Forget Mom,” Hannah says. “You have us and Hallie, and something tells me Pam and Cece will be kick ass wedding planners. The whole thing will be so extra, just like you.”
“Count on it, Jo Jo,” Cece yells. “Save Vegas for your bachelorette party and leave the wedding to us.”
“How does she always know everything?” Amelia wonders.
I chuckle, pressing a kiss behind her ear. “When it comes to Cece, we try not to ask too many questions. Come with me, Mystery Girl.”
I grab Amelia’s hand and tug her away from the group as the talk moves from a Vegas elopement to a joint Vegas bachelor/bachelorette party, which is absolutely something I can get behind. My mind turns to the last time Amelia and I were alonein a hotel room, and I quicken my pace, needing to get her alone as soon as possible.
“Where are we going?” Amelia asks, as I lead her around the side of the yard.
“Right here,” I say, spinning us around and pressing her back against the house, covering her mouth with mine. I cup her face in both of my hands and tilt her head back, taking the kiss deeper, sweeping my tongue into her mouth, tasting the gummy bears that she was eating earlier and the margaritas she’s been drinking since we got to my parents’ house andher.
Amelia grips my waist and opens wider for me, taking the kiss deeper and moaning into my mouth. She is everything I ever could have dreamed of, and she’s mine. My dream girl. My other half. My most perfect match. I am the luckiest person alive.
“I love you,” I murmur, stroking her face with my thumbs, twin strands of tenderness and possession weaving together inside of me. “I love you so much, more than I ever thought it was possible to love another person. I’m so fucking glad I can love you all the way out loud now, everywhere and always.
“I love you too.” She grins against my lips, winding her arms all the way around my waist. Then she leans back and looks around. “But you know we’re literally hiding right now, right? This doesn’t feel very out loud to me.”
I chuckle, leaning in and kissing her again. “Brat.”
“You bet,” she says, tilting her hips just enough to graze my rapidly hardening cock. “And when we get home tonight, you can show me exactly what happens to bratty girls.”
