“You knowyou didn’t have to book a room for us. Staying at your parents’ house would have been fine.” Kelsey says from behind me.
I stop at the office door to our family’s motel and look at her over my shoulder. Her pale skin and raven hair stand in stark contrast to the endless blue skies of the New Mexico horizon behind her. It makes it that much harder to look away from her and focus on what I’m doing.
“First, as soon we’re done checking in and dropping our bags in the room, we need to get sunscreen on you before you burn. Second, I’m not staying in my childhood bedroom, in a house with paper thin walls, with my girlfriend for an entire weekend.”
She waggles her brows at me. “Why not? Do you still have embarrassing posters on the walls or old magazines hidden under your mattress? Come on, you can tell me. Who were you dreaming of back then?”
I roll my eyes and ignore her last question because she’s the only one that’s been in my dreams for two years and I don’t ever want that to change. “I’m glad brunch at the diner seems to have brought you back to the land of the living and revitalized your sense of humor. And no, the posters are long gone, but I’m still not fucking you in a twin bed at my parents’ house.”
She cackles and clasps a hand over her mouth. “You fit in a twin bed?"
“It’s a twin XL. And no, I didn’t fit in it well then, and I definitely don’t now.” I let go of the door handle and turn back toward her, cupping the nape of her neck in my hand, relishing the way her lips part when I tilt her head back to look up at me. “Definitely not as well as I fit in?—”
“Please don’t finish that sentence,” an all too familiar female voice says from behind me, instantly making me wish I was an only-fucking-child for once.
I drop my head to Kelsey’s shoulder and groan. “Hi, Sisi.”
I turn around and open my arms to hug my little sister, but all five-foot-nothing of her ducks under my arms and beelines right to Kelsey like a girlfriend-seeking-missile.
Kelsey is entirely unprepared for it when Sisi wraps her up in a bear hug. I cover my mouth and grimace, trying to hold back a laugh by Kelsey’s startled reaction.
“Oh,” she squeaks out. “Nice to meet you, Sisi.” She slowly hooks her arms loose to gently hug her back.
“Oh my god! I’ve been waiting for this for so long. I told Sutton this would be the best wedding present ever if you made it. Thank you so much for coming.” My sister squeezes Kelsey again and I chuckle to myself.
I can feel the excitement in my sister’s voice. She’s the youngest of us at twenty-six years old and it shows. Her unbridled enthusiasm for life and outgoing nature are impossible to hide.
I grab my sister by the shoulders and carefully pry her off my girlfriend. “OK there, killer. We can all talk tonight at the rehearsal dinner. I heard Cat called in sick? Is there anything we can do to help until the afternoon crew comes in?”
She whips around and makes a dismissive gesture with her hand. “No, you’re already doing enough tonight withdinner. I got this. Go settle into your room and relax. Even with TJ’s fancy jet, I’m sure you’re tired.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind giving you a hand if there’s anything I can help with,” Kelsey says, prompting my sister and I both to look back at her.
Sisi shakes her head with an approving, appreciative smile. “Thank you, but no. I’ll be fine.” She reaches into her pocket and holds out the old fashioned room key, dangling it on a finger tip before tossing the key at me forcing me to drop my duffle bag to catch it. “I did save you guys the best suite. Slade asked for it, but I told him brothers with girlfriends get first dibs.”
“You mean our only suite?” I ask, raising a brow. “And good to know Slade is probably never going to get first dibs.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Just go relax. I’ll see you before dinner.”
She makes a shooing gesture with both hands and I take the hint, knowing better than to argue with my sister when she’s on a mission.
“Alright, thanks.” I lean down to give her a quick one-armed hug.
Sisi heads inside and I wrap my arm around Kelsey’s waist. I hear the bells on the office door jingle when it shuts behind my sister and I start walking to our room.
“She seems fun,” Kelsey says with an amused tone.
“Yeah, that’s one way to put it. I think you have to be a big personality growing up with me and my brothers though.”
“So which room is ours?”
Our family’s motel, The Silver Peak, is the old-school, drive-up type with all the doors on the outside facing the parking lot. I point toward the end of the row. “The one on the very end. Sisi’s remodeled this place over the years and this one is her baby. She painstakingly set it up with vintagemid-century modern furniture to match the building’s façade.”
“Oh.” Her voice trails up with a hint of playfulness that reminds me I still very much want to get her alone. “Does it even have one of the weird, old motel beds that vibrates?”
A laugh rumbles up from my chest. “No, it definitely does not. I forgot those even existed.”
She looks back up at me and now I definitely see the unmistakeable lust in her eyes. Clearly I wasn’t the only one that remembered that we’ve been interrupted twice today and have an unfinished conversation.