Page 68 of Last Night Was Fun

“Yes, um. Thank you,” she said, and stepped aside to let him in.

“Of course.” He passed her and somehow smelled like a tropical beach and not someone who’d just run several miles on one. The view from behind was even more distracting. The nylon shorts hugged his ass in a way that put jeans to shame. The sweat-dampened shirt carved out the muscles in his back.

She found herself forcefully having to pull out of a daze. “I can return the favor. I was about to head down to breakfast.”

He found a water bottle in their minifridge and set about gulping it. “Great. I can meet you there after I shower?”

Emmy was suddenly hot and possibly a bit bothered. There was no way she could sit in the room knowing he was naked on the other side of the bathroom wall. She needed to make an exit well before that scenario.

“Sounds good. We’ll be in the lobby restaurant.”

“See you soon.”

Gabe began untying his shoes, and she quickly grabbed hers along with her phone and sunglasses.

“See you.” She slipped out the door still shoving on her sandals and steadied herself with a deep breath on the other side.

Once she had her head on straight, she made her way to a shuttle stop and rode back to the main lobby. The bright day already hung thick with humidity and enormous puffy clouds. She’d scrunched her hair into a tight bun and could already feel it fighting to expand itself.Piper had instructed her to meet at the lobby breakfast buffet, and Emmy found her there with Ben looking resort bridal chic and like she was ready to stab someone with a fork.

“Hey,” Emmy greeted when she joined their table. “Everything all right?”

Her sister sat across from her over a plate of papaya and scrambled eggs with her eyes drilling into a party at a nearby table. “That’sthem,” Piper muttered.

As Emmy sank into her chair, she glanced across the terrace—a sun-splashed patio overlooking one of the enormous swimming pools—and saw two men sharing breakfast, one of them staring daggers right back at Piper.

“Them who?” Emmy leaned in and whispered. A waiter appeared and poured her a glass of water that instantly started sweating in the heat.

“Café?” he asked.

“Sí, por favor,” Emmy said quickly as she tried to get a read on who her sister was assaulting with her eyes. “Piper, who are you looking at?”

“Them,” Piper said again. “The other wedding.”

Realization dawned on Emmy. She glanced over her shoulder again to notice the men were her age, one of them with dark features and a painfully stylish hairdo, and the other, the one waging ocular warfare with her sister, fair and blond. They looked American, based on what exactly, Emmy couldn’t tell, but she somehow knew it. The dark-haired one reached out and squeezed the blond one’s hand and whispered something with a nod in their direction, prompting the blond one to scoff and look away. From that one interaction, Emmy got the sense they shared the same dynamic as Ben and Piper: one was cool and levelheaded, and the other a firecracker.

“Gary and Cary,” Piper seethed like the two had personally conspired to ruin her wedding.

“Their names rhyme?” Emmy said. “That’s cute.”

Piper scoffed. “They are notcute, Em. They are the enemy and must be stopped!” She picked up her fork and stabbed it into a juicy slice of papaya.

Emmy made wide eyes at Ben, who scrubbed his face with a hand and sighed. “Well, what are you going to do? Battle for the wedding venue?” she asked, and sipped her water.

“If it comes to it, yes,” Piper said, and narrowed her eyes.

Ben heaved another breath and lifted his napkin off his lap. “Piper, you are notfightingthem for the venue.”

“Why not? I could totally take Cary. We’re the same size.”

Emmy snorted, and Piper shot a death glare at her. She grimaced and decided to go fill a plate with breakfast.

When she returned with sliced fruit and an omelet, Piper and Ben were deep in hushed conversation.

“So, what’s the deal?” Emmy interrupted. “How is this going to go down?”

Ben sat forward with his elbows on the table and folded his hands like he was in a board meeting. “We’re meeting with the manager at nine thirty to see what can be worked out.” Piper scoffed. “Andeveryone isgoing tobehave,” he said over the sound.

Emmy glanced over at Gary and Cary again. The blond one—who she gathered was Cary given Piper’s comment on being his same size—was still glaring like he fully planned to out-zilla Piper during the showdown. “Well, this should be fun,” Emmy said. “How do you know their names?”