Page 51 of Strawberry Cake

The bed dipped as Decan sat next to her. “It’s okay to take a nap. We don’t have to do everything with everyone.”

She reached over her head and pulled a pillow closer. “Maybe just a few minutes.”

Decan kissed her head, and she felt him shuffle onto the bed before his fingers combed softly through her hair. With the weight of meeting his family gone, she dozed off, her mind feeling much lighter.

She only woke up when his lips brushed over her ear. “Little thief?”

“Hm?” she hummed, stretching her muscles.

“It’s been an hour, but if you want to sleep longer you can.”

“Oh, god,” she yawned and pushed herself up. “That escalated quickly.”

“You clearly needed it. Besides, you looked so peaceful I couldn’t bring myself to wake you.” Decan’s phone buzzed and he looked down with a grin. “Samual is asking if we’re trying to make them jealous or what could possibly be taking us so long.”

Heat trickled up her neck. “Oh, no—they think we’re having sex.”

“Yeah, they do.” He laughed and pulled his wheelchair closer, securing the brakes. “Prepare yourself for inappropriate jokes.”

“I’m guessing he won’t believe me when I say I was sleeping.”

“You’re on the money with that assumption.”

They changed, Decan’s eyes glued to her as she pulled out her new wine red swimsuit. When she covered herself with a light beach dress, he frowned. “You look stunning. You shouldn’t cover that up.”

She twirled and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ll take it off once we are at the pool.”

“Perfect.”

They didn’t have to search for long before finding his family beneath three beachy canopy beds—she wasn’t even sure what they were called—that overlooked the ocean and the rest of the resort.

“Ah, the long-lost honeymooners,” Samual teased right away.

“Let them be,” Cally scolded. “Our cocktails should be here soon. You two can order then.”

Hope took the free spot next to Samual leaving enough space for Decan to be next to her. “Oh, I hope they have alcohol free ones. I’m such a lightweight.”

Samual clapped his hands and threw her a mischievous grin. “Perfect. Time to share your deepest darkest secrets.”

“Sure. You start and I’ll join in later,” Hope chided.

“I think Hope is going to get on just fine,” Lilly laughed and looked over at her brother. “She seems like she can handle misbehaved brothers quite well.”

“Do you have siblings?” Cally asked.

“No; it’s just me and my parents. I think I scared them off from having more kids,” she laughed. “Apparently I was quite the handful from day one.”

“I was the total opposite. I came along and they thought, ‘This can’t be that bad.’” Lilly laughed. “Then Samual happened. Maybe they wanted nature to redeem itself and triedfor Decan, but I’m not sure how well that turned out for them.”

Both men stared at their mother, who conveniently had her nose buried in the pages of her thriller.

“So much fucking support,” Decan grumbled, making everyone laugh.

After the first cocktails had been downed, Lilly insisted on pulling Hope into the pool with her. The stairs into the heated water were out of earshot from the rest.

As soon as they dipped in, Lilly looked at her with the sweetest of smiles. “He seems so happy with you. We’ve known that he’s had girlfriends over the years, but he’s never introduced us to anyone.”

“I was really nervous to meet all of you.”

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