Chapter Eight
It turnedout that Emme Ryan, another SEALs’ girlfriend—fiancée, Serena realized, since the woman wore a sparkly engagement ring; leave it to men to get that wrong—not only knew when flights would be pretty light, and could get them on as travellers with her to Vegas, but she got Hunter and Serena upgraded to business class as well.
“This is incredible,” she whispered to Hunter after the flight attendant brought them something bubbly.
“You’ve never been upgraded before?” He stretched out his legs in front of him.
“You have?”
He shrugged. “Perk of the uniform, maybe. And let’s be honest. They take one look at me and know that I’m going to be shaking the next seat in front of me every time I move my knees.”
“That’s seriously cocky. Are you saying that it’s my pixie-esque height that keeps me back in economy?”
“I’d never suggest anything negative about your perfect size.” He winked as she winged caramel corn at him. “But you do fit better back there…”
An hour later, barely enough time for a single glass of champagne, they were descending into Vegas. When they walked out into the surprisingly chilly Nevada night, a limo was waiting for them.
There were six of them in total. Nathan and Emme, Quinn and Jason, and Hunter and Serena, who was regretting her thin cardigan. She had a thicker sweater in her suitcase, but everyone else seemed fine in what they were wearing and she didn’t want to be whiny.
Hunter glanced at her and shrugged out of his jacket.
He was a mind reader. She smiled as he wrapped it around her shoulders and once they were bundled into the limo, she buried her face in the leather. When she looked up, Emme and Quinn were both looking at her with very different looks on their faces.
Emme winked, like she could see that Serena was hopelessly underwater in the new-love sea. And she’d happily leave her to drown, because she knew just how awesome it was.
Quinn, on the other hand…his look was more appraising. Knowing.
She sat up a little straighter and glanced at Hunter. He didn’t look at her, but he lifted his voice and brought Quinn into the conversation he was having with Jason about helicopter tours.
“Shit, people pay for those?” Now he looked at her and winked. “We get those for free all the time.”
“Someone would have to invade the Grand Canyon for us to getthisone for free, though,” Jason said.
“Shut up, man. You’re being far too reasonable.” Hunter pointed to the champagne in the built-in bar. “Quinn, open that shit up. We’re on vacation for three days, and when we get back, it’s Christmas. We don’t need to think about bad guys or helo rides or anything but good ol’ American fun for the next seventy-two hours.”
Serena snorted, then shrieked as Hunter hauled her into his lap. He reached inside his jacket and palmed her breast for a second before tickling her side gently. Her breath caught in her throat.
Good old American fun indeed.
She couldn’t wait.
Since Emme had hookedthem up with cheap flights, Hunter had splurged on a suite at the Wynn for him and Serena. The others were all staying at the Flamingo, and they ribbed him for being extra fancy as they all piled out first, but when they arrived, he knew it had been worth it.
The entire strip was done up for the holiday season, but there was something truly magical about the lobby at the Wynn. Christmas light-covered trees lined the lobby and heavy boughs of greenery festooned every available perch. Caroling bells pealed gently and Serena did an adorable hip-wiggle as they waited to check in that made him want to move to the North Pole for year-round holiday cheer.
But on the other hand, California meant bikinis, so maybe not.
Their suite was a glorified room, but it had a decent-sized sitting area—so they could have people over if they wanted. Once he said that thought out loud, Serena insisted on hanging all their clothes in the closet and stowing their suitcases away, which ate into his first-round-of-many Vegas sex-scapades, but she made it up to him in the shower, and they were barely fifteen minutes late meeting everyone at a midnight show halfway between the two hotels.
Jason had already arranged table service, and shots were shoved into their hands as soon as they sat down. Hunter waved off any more after the first two, but on top of the champagne they’d already had, everyone seemed to be buzzing just fine.
Including Serena, whose cheeks were pink and eyes were bright.
“Having fun?” he asked her as they watched half-naked dancers twirl on stage.
“Uh huh.” Her eyes got really big as the entire line of dancers started doing high kicks. “Man, they’re…flexible.”
They were indeed.
