“Me too!” Cope said.
“When do I get to sleep in?” Ronan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
“How about the other fifty-one Sundays in the year?” Ten shot back.
“Seriously!” Cope agreed.
Ronan opened his mouth to shoot back, when Jude’s hand on his arm stopped him. “They’re right,” Jude said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Let them win this one. We don’t want to end up sleeping on the lounge chairs on the beach instead of in those soft, fluffy beds.”
“Indeed, Jude,” Jace agreed. “The beds are all emperor king-sized, seven feet by seven feet. There’s a soaking tub in each bathroom and the suites have two bedrooms. One for us and one for the kids, although I have a feeling we’re gonna have a moving sleepover every night.”
“I’m staying with Everly tonight!” Aurora’s voice came from the back.
“YES!” Jace and Fitz said together. Both men high-fived each other. “We’re gonna have an incredible night!”
“Can it, asshole,” Jude said. “No one wants to hear about your upcoming sex marathon.”
“Sex?” Jace asked with a laugh. “We’re gonna order room service, snack in peace and read a book. Fitz and I decided to have our own little book club.” Jace held upMurder on the Orient Expressby Agatha Christie. “I’ve always wanted to read it and when I told him about it, Fitz did too. So we each got one.”
“Hey, that sounds like fun,” Cope said. “Maybe there will be a bookstore near the hotel that will have copies of it.”
“I’d love to sit and read a book on the beach.” Ten sighed happily.
“We thought you might say that, so I grabbed copies for all of us.” Jace grinned when Ten and Cope applauded. “I also got those little sticky tabs and cool bookmarks. We’ll have a little book club discussion group on Friday night.”
“Sounds good,” Ronan agreed. Now that the kids were older, he and Ten could get back to doing things they’d loved before Everly arrived and turned their lives upside down. He couldn’t believe Jace wanted to read a book about murder when that was Fitz’s stock in trade, but who was he to go against the grain?
Ronan was going on vacation with his family and his best friends. They were going to have one hell of a time and if not, he’d spend the next year mercilessly ribbing Fitzgibbon about the trip. Either way, it was a win in Ronan’s book.
2
Tennyson
After a stop for lunch and shopping in Providence, Fitzgibbon pulled into Hurricane Pointe’s parking lot around quarter past three. Thankfully, their rooms were ready. While Fitz and Ronan unloaded their luggage, Ten and Cope walked down toward the ocean. The view was just like it was in the pictures Jace had shown.
Pink and aqua umbrellas lined the beach, along with blue lounge chairs. Two young girls played at the water’s edge with their father, splashing him and making all kinds of noise, while the mother read a book. Ten imagined it was probably the first time all summer she’d had the chance to have a few moments to herself. Not wanting to use his gift, Ten wondered if one of the girls was the Sophie Everly had mentioned the day before while he’d been packing for the trip.
“This place is gorgeous and so damn quiet.” Cope wore a look of absolute contentment.
Ten grinned at his friend. “You mean aside from the father and his girls playing in the surf?”
“No, I mean there are no ghosts. I can’t sense any spirits around us. I don’t want to jinx this trip, but is it possible our gifts can take the week off?” Cope looked like he was ready to do a dance of joy.
Closing his eyes, Ten opened his gift. He didn’t sense any spirits either. “I’m not feeling anything either. When Jace said this place was built in 1854, and the owner’s son died in the Civil War, I thought for sure we’d get a spirit or two from that time period, but I’m getting nothing.”
“Let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth. We’ll get unpacked and hit the beach.” Cope took a deep breath. “Man, I’m gonna sleep so well with the smell of the ocean to lull me to sleep.”
Tennyson didn’t want to point it out, but they could smell the ocean from their houses in Salem too. There was no way he was going to do anything to ruin Cope’s joyful mood. In fact, Ten was going to throw caution to the wind and be just as joyful as his friend.
By the time Ten and Cope walked into the lobby. Fitz was handing out room keys to the others.
“Oh, there you are,” Ronan said, wrapping his arms around his husband. “I thought you and Cope were making yourselves at home on the beach.”
“We’re going to as soon as everyone is settled.” Ten pecked Ronan’s lips. “You know, if we’ve got Aurora tonight, that means Fitz will have Everly tomorrow night. All we’ve got to do is pawn Ezra off on Jude and we’ll have the suite to ourselves.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“Jude’s already got Ezra for tomorrow night!” Ronan brushed a kiss against Ten’s lips. “Are you excited to have free time to read or did you have something else in mind?”
“Something else. I’m thinking maybe sex on the beach?” Ten grinned. It had been a long time since he and Ronan had done that very thing when they’d vacationed at Sand Dollar Shoal on Cape Cod.
