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“I must have knocked them o the bed while I was sleeping

—”“Hey.” Rhiannon reached out and took her hand, bringing her back down to a laying position, or as close as a physically rigid person in the middle of a freak out could get to laying down. “It’s not a big deal. It’s not like I was complaining.”

Hesitation clouded Carmela’s dark eyes and her face relaxed just a little. Exploiting the moment of vulnerability, Rhiannon shifted forward until they were sharing the same pillow. Gently, she ran her fingers through glossy, black hair.

At the contact, Carmela’s eyes closed. Focusing on her parted lips, Rhiannon’s chest tightened as her skin tingled.

She yearned to spring forward and claim every inch of Carmela’s tense body, but she restrained her desire. In her bones she knew that a little bit of patience would pay o later.

“What do you think today’s festivities will be like?”

Rhiannon asked, still raking her nails softly against Carmela’s scalp.

“I believe there’s an itinerary on the console table by the front door,” she replied, her tone still soft and hazy. “If memory serves, something like a pool party.”

Rhiannon grinned. Excellent.

IT TOOK Carmela a while to shake o the embarrassment of waking up with her arms around Rhiannon. As she arranged her big, blue sunhat while waiting for Rhiannon to get out of the bathroom, she forced herself not to freak out. Instead,

she reminded herself she still had several days to get through. Being weird on the second day would only ruin the ruse and she was in too deep to change course. She used the time make some preemptive phone calls instead of playing catch up when they returned from the morning’s events.

From the fridge, Carmela took two bottles of water and placed them in a wedding tote along with gifted towels. It was no surprise to find they had the couple’s names printed on them. Instead of giving the towels a side eye and leaving them behind, she delighted in the idea of using it as a barrier between her butt and a deck chair.

Once the bag was in order, Carmela slipped her dark blue linen tunic over her strapless, one-piece, black bathing suit.

A moment later, Rhiannon emerged from the bathroom with her long hair in a cute side braid.

“Is that all you’re wearing?” Carmela blurted as she stared at her skimpy knit bikini. The hot pink bottom, a triangle of fabric tied to Rhiannon’s hips, was smaller than the ivory colored top.

“No,” she replied with a laugh. “I’ve got sunglasses too.”

When Carmela didn’t respond, Rhiannon sighed with dramatic exaggeration. “I have a cover-up. Don’t have a coronary,” she said as she crossed into the bedroom and flipped open her suitcase on the stand. “You know the idea is to torture her a little, right?”

“Yeah, but not to torment me,” Carmela muttered quietly to herself.

Rhiannon looked up from her bag and grinned, her elusive dimple momentarily on display.

The cover up, Carmela was dismayed to learn, was a piece of thin, pink fabric hanging o Rhiannon’s hipbones and landing just below her knees. Instead of diminishing her heat levels, they made it impossible for Carmela to look at her

without remembering their last kiss and wanting to taste her again so badly it hurt.

“Do you not like it?” Rhiannon asked, sauntering up to Carmela, who’d been waiting for her by the door. “I brought a few di erent options,” she added after a pause.

Carmela hadn’t intended to make her feel insecure. The doubt in her tone forced Carmela to act like a normal person rather than a shifty-eyed creep. “You look spectacular. Don’t you dare change,” she responded, her eyes fixed on Rhiannon’s face.

The smile that crept over Rhiannon’s pink, glossy lips was contagious. She pulled on her dark sunglasses. “Away we go then.”

When they were a few feet from the pool’s gate, Rhiannon slipped her hand into Carmela’s. The heart palpitations the contact prompted were anything but feigned.

Around the pool, last night’s dinner guests were lounging in the sun, wading in the water, or helping themselves to a generous brunch bu et. Steering clear of Jackie or any of her family, Carmela chose two teak chaise loungers under a large, white umbrella. She wasn’t interested in a sunburn on this trip.

They’d barely had a chance to eat and get comfortable when the wedding planner appeared with microphone in hand.

“Welcome everyone! Thank you so much for joining us this morning,” she said after two failed attempts to control the feedback on the speakers.

“It’s not like we had a choice,” Rhiannon muttered under her breath as she sat on the edge of Carmela’s lounger instead of her own. “Want some?” she asked, turning around and popping a grape in Carmela’s mouth before she had a chance to decline.

With the planner chattering, Carmela was lost in Rhiannon’s bright, gray eyes and the light brown freckles