“Impossible woman,” Clark muttered under his breath, but followed her across the room toward the bar. With a wide grin on his face.

“Those two aren’t wasting any time, are they?” Simon said.

“Speaking of not wasting any time . . .” I pointed toward the head table, where Mimi and Ryan were engaging in some pre–wedding night foreplay.

“It’s going to be a long night, isn’t it?”

“I’ll keep you entertained,” I murmured, sliding my hand down his back and giving his magnificent buns a quick squeeze.

“Naughty Girl,” he said, slipping his hands into my hair and pulling me in for a long, slow kiss. I let him; I didn’t care. Surrounded by people at a wedding reception? I kissed him back, his sweet lips opening and his even sweeter tongue tangling with mine. My breath came quickly, my skin heated, and I was ready to take him up on his quickie offer. Until I heard the beginning of the toasts starting over the microphone, signaling it was time for us to return to the head table and be upstanding and proper members of the wedding party.

“Later,” he whispered. And promised. Mmm.

The reception went off without a hitch. We all danced, we drank, we danced some more, we definitely drank some more. Sophia and Viv, finally meeting and bonding over their ginger ales, swapped birthing stories and talked endlessly over some kind of sling you carry a baby in.

Whatever it was, they talked about it for hours, it seemed. But since Sophia was the first mommy in our little clan, I was glad she had a new friend who could relate to what she was going through.

By the time we said our good nights to Mimi and Ryan, on their way to spend a night at the Palace Hotel before leaving early the next morning for a honeymoon in Bora Bora, I was pleasantly sauced, and more than pleasantly horny for the man who’d been requesting Glenn Miller all night. But I still found a moment with my girl before she left.

“You were truly the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen. Seriously, Mimi, it was an incredible day.”

“It was pretty great, wasn’t it?” She grinned, lifting up one foot to peer at the sole. “I’ve got soot foot.”

“They’re pretty filthy,” I agreed. “But you totally pulled it off.”

“I know!” She laughed, and fell into a hug.

“Indulging in the fairer sex already?” Sophia asked, appearing out of nowhere.

“Oh c’mere, you,” Mimi cried, pulling her into our Mushtown. “You girls are my best friends, you know that?”

“Best friends? Then how come your cousin was your maid of honor?” Sophia teased, and Mimi’s face crinkled.

“You know very well it wasn’t an option; my mother never would have let me get out of it. I had to have her, and—”

“Tiny. Slow your roll. I was kidding.” Sophia laughed, and kissed her on the forehead. “You looked amazing today. Shit, we all did. You threw a great party; congratulations.”

“Thank you! And thank you, God, that you didn’t fall for Ryan. And thank you, God, for not letting me fall for Neil. I mean, he’s super dreamy, and a great kisser, but—”

“Thank God we all ended up with the ones we did. How ‘bout we leave it at that?” I interrupted, chuckling as I remembered the weekend at Lake Tahoe when the four of them righted their dating wrongs. What could have ended badly had ended up here. Two of them married, two of them having a baby. We all looked across the dance floor at our three guys. Ties loosened, jackets abandoned, hair messy. Jesus Christ, they were handsome.

“I’m going to get my husband and take him to the honeymoon suite at the Palace,” Mimi said with a smile that was equally dreamy . . . and lascivious.

“I’m going to get Simon and let him do things to me in the back of the limo on the way back to Sausalito.”

“I’m going to get Neil, a few more pieces of that wedding cake to go, and let him eat me while I eat the cake.”

“Oh, for the love of—!”

“Good night, nurse!”

And we sent Mimi off on her honeymoon.

Ninety minutes later . . .

“Simon. Simon. Oh, Jesus, Simon, that’s so good, right there, right there, don’t stop . . .”

Ninety seconds later . . .

“I can’t believe you ate cake while I did that to you.”

“Don’t worry about it. You can eat cake while I do this to you . . .”

“Caroline, you naughty girl. In the back of a limo—oh, wow, that’s good. And this cake is terrific.”

Chapter two

“So tell me again where we’re going? Shopping for pit bulls?” I asked, waiting in the backseat of the Range Rover with Sophia while Simon and Neil stopped for gas. We were headed out of town for the night, spending some time in Sophia’s hometown of Monterey. Just a few hours down the coast, it was like a whole new world.

“Yes. Exactly. We’re going shopping for pit bulls, Caroline,” Sophia replied dryly.

“Well? Aren’t we?”

“It’s not like shopping for a new handbag. Neil wants a puppy, and so do I. I think it’ll be nice to have a puppy and a baby at the same time.”

“I think it’d be nuts to have a puppy and a baby at the same time, but hey, I’m just along for the ride,” I said. When she showed me her middle finger, I showed her one right back. “Seriously, that’s a lot all at once, don’t you think?”

“We were planning on getting a dog after the baby, but when my cousin Lucas started texting me these pictures of their latest litter, I just melted. I mean, look at this! Could you resist?” she said, scrolling through her phone and then holding it up to show me six or seven of the tiniest, most adorable puppies, lined up in a row on a pillow, with a proud mama behind them. Some were gray, some were black and white, all of them darling. “And look, video!”

“Oh, God, you’re killing me,” I sighed, as I watched the puppies wriggling all over the place, jumping and playing and being twelve kinds of cute. “I don’t know how I’m going to get Simon out of there without bringing one home.”

“Clive would kill you,” Sophia replied, shutting off her phone as the boys came back to the car.

“With his bare paws,” I agreed.

“Bare paws? Who’re we talking about?” Simon asked as he slid behind the wheel.

“Clive. Killing us.”

“I have nightmares about that,” he replied, shivering. “That cat’s way too fucking smart.”