Zip, Zero, Zilch

Pete sits back and scratches his belly. “Well, Sam needs to go get laid, so we’re going to sign off.”

Sam chuckles and pulls me closer, his hand on my hip. I put my arm around his shoulders.

“Even though I couldn’t get laid on my wedding night because of my brother, I wouldn’t want him to miss out.” He scowls at Sam, until Reagan pops the back of his head. “Ow,” he complains. Pete grows serious. “Congratulations, you two,” Pete says. “We love you.” His box disappears from the screen. One by one, they all send their well wishes. Paul is last, and he sends his love and a warning. “Use a condom, numb nuts,” he says. Then he vanishes, too.

Logan scratches his head and looks sheepishly at Sam. “I’m really sorry.”

Sam lifts me off his lap so that he can get up and look behind Logan’s ear. “So that’s all it is?” he asks.

“Until it gets activated, yeah.”

“Cool.” Sam takes my hand. “I can’t wait to see how it works.”

Logan heaves out a relieved sigh. “You don’t think they’re mad at me, do you?”

Sam shakes his head. “No. Maybe a little confused, though.”

“Sorry I took your spotlight.”

Sam’s hand squeezes mine. “I got all the spotlight I need.”

Peck

Sam takes my hand as we walk back to the hotel. The lights of the city are bright, and the sun is about to rise. The sky is waking with purples and oranges and we stop to look at it.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Sam brushes my hair back behind my ear. “Yes, you are.”

Heat creeps up my cheeks. I’ll never get used to this. Ever.

I cover my mouth with my hand when I yawn.

“When does your bus leave?” he asks.

“Ten in the morning.”

“We had better get back to the room so you can get some sleep.”

I lift a brow at him. “I can sleep on the bus.”

“Are Logan and Emily going to be on your bus?”

I nod. “They get the only bedroom.”

His brow furrows.

“It’s set up kind of like rows of bunk beds, and there’s one room in the back that has a full bed. They get that, since there are three of them. The rest of us get bunks.”

“Well, that kind of sucks.”

I laugh. “I don’t mind. If they didn’t take it, Fin would use it for whatever random hookup she found. At least this way, they can get some privacy. And maybe some sleep, too.”

He makes a crude gesture with his hands. “Maybe some sex, too.” He grabs me and pulls me against him. “Speaking of sex, we have a wedding night to get to.” He growls against my neck and starts to nibble my skin. Heat shoots straight to the center of me.

“Race you,” I whisper against his ear.

“I can’t run, but you can. I need to stop at the convenience store, anyway.” He waggles his brows at me playfully.

“Oh,” I breathe out as heat creeps up my cheeks.

“Yeah,” he says, and then he kisses me.

“I kind of need some time alone, anyway.”

“For what?” He grins at me.

“You’ll see.”

He kisses me quickly and walks inside the hotel with me. He puts me in the elevator and I watch the doors close around his smile.

I’m feeling as out of place as a fart in church, which is weird because it’s not like we haven’t already been intimate.

I walk into my room and stop. On the bed lies a package. I pick up the note and see Fin’s chicken scratch.

Thought you could use this. Don’t worry—it’s new. Never worn. Never sullied. So go dirty it up. Love you—Us.

I open the box and a bright red nightie falls out. It’s long enough that it might fall to my upper thigh, and it has spaghetti straps with lace edging the top. It’s pretty. And not slutty at all, so I know Fin didn’t buy it for herself. She has a thing for lingerie though, so she could have bought it for any one of us. I guess I’m the lucky one.

I take it into the bathroom with me, and get in the shower. I take all the care I didn’t have time to take earlier, shaving appropriate places and washing others. I get out and look at myself in the mirror. My hair is still dry, so I let it fall from the impromptu ponytail I put it in, and it lands around my shoulders. I wipe beneath my eyes to remove any mascara smudges that might be there, but I’m in pretty good shape, considering all the crying I did during the ceremony.

I still can’t believe I married him. Or that he married me.

I’m just about the luckiest girl in the world.

I hear the outer door open and I take in a deep breath. I drop the slinky nightie over my head and adjust it so that it fits right on my boobs. I wish they were a little perkier, or a little less round. But Sam seems to like them.

I take a deep breath and open the door to the bathroom. I peek out and see Sam lying in the center of the bed with nothing on but his boxers. He has even taken the boot off his foot.

“Can you switch the l-light off?” I ask.

“Nope,” he says. “I want to see everything.” He sits up and hangs his legs off the edge of the bed. “Come here,” he says gently.

I walk into the room, my knees shaking, my legs like Jell-o. I cross my arms in front of me, but then I remember the length of my nightie and I reach down to tug it a little bit over my thigh. But that makes the bodice dip, and so I have to tug it higher. I growl and give up. I flop down on the bed beside him and fall back. I can feel the material sliding up my thighs, giving him a huge view of my thighs. I cover my face with my arms and groan.