Twenty minutes later, Seth comes back with four large boxes of pizza, opens my door, and drops them on my lap. The smell engulfs me, making my mouth water. I can smell the sauce mixing with the meat and bread, daring me to open it and take a peek.

“Do we really need so many?”

“Yes.” He shuts the door and climbs back in via the driver’s seat. “You’ll see why when we get there.”

He pulls out of the parking lot and drives off, away from the city. We drive for ages, until there’s nothing but desert and sand. It’s dark—the only light is the light coming from our headlights. If we shut them off, we’re left with the off-yellow glow from Las Vegas Boulevard in the distance and the pretty glow from the millions of stars above us.

“We’re eating pizza out here in the desert?” I ask, my fingers tightening around the boxes. “You know the desert is full of sand, right?”

He grins at me as he opens his door. “We’re in the desert at night and your biggest worry is sand? Scorpions and snakes don’t bother you?”

“Not until now. Thanks for that.”

“Come on, O, I’ll protect you from the big bad animals.”

“Muscles don’t intimidate snakes,” I mutter to myself as he slams the door. “They eat alligators, for Christ’s sake.” A few seconds later, Seth opens my door. “I’m smaller than an alligator. How hard could it be?”

“What?” he asks, sending me a rather strange look.

The quirked eyebrow on him is cute as hell… I shake my head, making him chuckle. “Never mind.”

“Do you ever stop thinking for one second and just enjoy life?”

I hand him the boxes of pizza and peer at him playfully over the top. “Sure, but it depends where your hands are.”

He groans and turns around with the boxes in his hands. “Don’t get naughty on me now. We don’t have enough time.”

I kick off my heels and slide from the car. “Enough time for what? It took us long enough to get out here, I’m sure the pizza can’t get any colder.”

My feet sink into the sand and it’s still hot from the daytime sun. What if I step on glass? Or needles? I shudder.

“Seth?” My voice cracks, making me sound helpless and panicked.

He turns abruptly. “What? Did a spider run up your leg?”

My entire body stiffens. “There are spiders out here, too? Jesus! Did you bring me here to die?”

Seth smiles his devastatingly handsome smile while walking back towards me. “Not in the beginning, but now I’m contemplating it.”

He walks across the sand like it’s solid, even ground. If it were water, he’d probably walk effortlessly across that, too… or not. I’ve seen him in the pool. He sinks just like everyone else.

“Very funny,” I deadpan.

“If I feed them you, they won’t touch the pizza.” He stops three feet in front of me. “You know, that’s not such a bad idea.”

“Oh, okay.” I roll my eyes. “I need your help. I can’t walk on the sand with heels and I’m not about to walk across barefoot—not after your horror stories, anyway.”

“You’re such a princess,” He states with a sigh as he steps closer and turns around. Seth crouches lower, offering me his back. His back… the only proof I have that maybe (just maybe) God is female. “Jump on, your highness.”

I pull my small black dress down, but it only reaches mid-thigh. I shrug. It’s dark so it’s not like anyone is going to see my red, lacy panties. I grip his shoulders and my insides just about melt. “Thank you, my royal ass.”

I jump onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his hips. Once again, Seth doesn’t struggle under my weight.

“I think you mean ‘steed’. I’m your noble steed.”

“I think ‘ass’ will do just fine.”

Balancing the pizzas on one hand, he reaches around and pinches my ass cheek. “Hey!” I squeal, dropping an arm from his neck to swat him away. His entire body vibrates with laughter and I squeeze him tighter.

“That’s not very noble of you,” I chastise, bringing my mouth to his ear.

He shrugs, pressing the side of his head against mine. “You said it yourself, I’m an ass.”

I kiss his ear, unable to resist the urge. “You’re my favorite ass.”

Seth walks forward, following the glow of the headlights. In front of us, the sand looks pure and untouched.

“Here will do.” He exhales, stopping in his tracks.

I glance around, waiting for him to lower me or do something. He does nothing… just stands around waiting for something.

I tap his shoulder. “Oookay, now what?”

“Any second now, I’m sure.”

I frown. “What’s any second now?”

Sure enough, I see a car speeding down the highway in the distance. It gets very close, very quickly, and pulls off of the road before pulling up on the sand. My nerves prick up as I watch the car closely. The headlights shine directly on us, blocking us from seeing anything. I tighten my grip on Seth and swallow hard. Is this what he was waiting for? Who is it, exactly?

“It’s about time,” Seth calls out, making me jump.

“You know how Selena is,” a familiar voice shouts back. Jackson. “Girl can’t leave the house without makeup.”

“Or without straightening her hair,” Darryl’s voice adds. “Or without shoes to match her outfit. Or—”

“They get it,” Selena chimes in. I hear a car door slam and seconds later Selena steps out in front of the headlights in skinny jeans, sneakers, and a light coat. I wish Seth gave me a heads up or at least asked me to put pants on.

“But seriously, Seth?” she continues. “Dinner in the desert? What’s wrong with you?”

“It’s secluded and no one can harass us—I think it’s kind of romantic,” Seth replies, defending his choice and making me laugh.

Darryl chuckles, coming into view. You can tell he’s dressed for the desert. He has sand shoes on, long, thin pants, and a light tee. It seems I’m the only one who had no idea we’d be having dinner in the desert. I guess this is the thing Seth changed his mind about. Instead of dinner indoors, we’re having dinner outdoors. Way, way, way outdoors.

“Boy, you and I have two very different perceptions of the word romance.”

Jackson laughs his agreement from somewhere behind the lights.

“Shut up, Jackson,” Seth calls out. “You don’t have a romantic bone in your entire body.”

“That’s not true,” Selena retorts, defending Jackson. “Jackson can be quite romantic, actually.”

We all stare at her, waiting for an example at least. After a few silent minutes, she rolls her eyes and flicks her hand at us. “Fine, I got nothing. Jackson is the least romantic person I’ve ever met.”

Somewhere in the background, Jackson scoffs. “Right.”

Selena squares her shoulders and turns into the light. “You literally run when you hear the word ‘love’. Love and romance kind of go hand in hand, you ass.”

Darryl swears. “Not this again. I had to listen to these two bicker the whole way here. Like children, they are.”

Seth angles his head, peering sideways at me. “I can be romantic… right?”

I smile and pat his head. “Sure, honey.”

Seth can be romantic, but the romance is usually short lived. The second the passion sets in, all romance is torn away… usually along with my clothes. Is passion the same thing as romance? I have no idea, but I do know I love Seth regardless of whether he prefers passion to romance.

I look back to the others and—well… I didn’t see that coming. Darryl shakes his head, turning away as Selena and Jackson are locked in an epic tongue battle. Their sexual tension radiates from them in waves, heating the entire desert and all of my insides. My throat dries at the way he holds her—aggressive and possessive—my (suddenly) two favorite things.

I clear my throat. “Well… should we turn around?”

The last thing I want is for my best friend and her—whatever he is—to get me all hot and bothered.

“Give them a minute,” Seth replies. “They’ll be back to fighting any second now.”

Sure enough, as soon as Seth says it, Selena shoves Jackson away from her, panting. “Really, Jackson?” Even from here I can see her lips swell from the passionate kiss.

“Hey, you kissed me!” he shoots back.

Sadistically, I smile. I love this. I love our group. The bickering, the bantering… it’s perfect. It’s us.

“You two can keep arguing or you can eat. Which is easier on the stomach?” Darryl interrupts, slipping in between the two.

They glare it each other over Darryl’s shoulder. Jackson is the first to pull away and he quickly swallows the distance between us.

“It’s good to know that if you quit fighting, you can always become a camel,” Jackson murmurs low enough for only us to hear. “Breakfast was delicious, by the way. I made omelets and everything.”

Seth mocks Jackson and shoves the boxes of pizza into his hands. “Make yourself useful, for a change.”

Now that Seth’s hands are free, he holds onto my legs. I brace myself, prepared for another fight between the two men… then the strangest thing happens, they laugh and Seth pats Jackson on the shoulder.

“No hard feelings, Jacks,” Seth says and Jackson nods his agreement.

“No hard feelings.”

Selena retrieves a blanket from the car and lays it on the uneven sand. Thankfully, the air is warm and no wind blows the sand skittering across the surface. I slip from Seth’s back and we all sit down on the blanket. It’s quiet out here, dead quiet, and I can almost hear the buzz of the electrical current flowing between Selena and Jackson as they glare at each other from opposite sides.

“I take it you two still haven’t sorted it out,” I blurt out as I bite into my not so warm pizza.

Seth and Darryl give me identical looks—the kind of looks that tell me to shut up.

“No,” Jackson answers, dragging his green eyes onto me. “We haven’t.”

“And we won’t,” Selena adds with finality.

An awkward silence falls—I can’t even hear the sounds of chewing anymore. I swallow a dry mouthful.

There goes the group.

***

I groan, lying with my head in Seth’s lap as I look up at the stars. “I hate pizza.”

Next to us, Darryl snores, filling the otherwise quiet desert. Seth looks down at me, smiling the world’s most amused smile. “I told you to stop at three.”

“But number four begged me to eat it and it looked so good.”

A cool breeze blows now, pushing a strand of hair into my face. He brushes it away.

“And number five?”

I groan again, rolling onto my side. “Shut up, Seth.”

He wraps a warm arm around me and I shiver as the breeze rolls up my dress and tickles my spine. Goosebumps immediately spread over the surface of my skin and Seth shifts underneath me.

“I have a jacket in the car,” he informs me.

I push myself up into a seated position, ignoring the way my stomach feels like it’s going to rip open at any second. “I’ll get it. I need to walk off some of this pizza.”

By some miracle, I manage to gracefully push myself to my feet. It’s the waddle to the car that’s embarrassing. The extra weight in my belly makes my bare feet sink deeper into the sand, but I’m too cold and too full to care. I sat on a blanket on the sand and nothing touched me so I think I’ll take my chances. As I approach Seth’s car, ignoring the feeling of sand and sticks between my toes, I hear a gasp. I pause, holding my breath. Worst case scenario, there’s a snake out here with lungs big enough to gasp like a human… the best case scenario, it’s a cute little bunny who found a pretty little flower. I shake my head. What am I, twelve?

The palm of my hands brushes against the cool hood of the car and I peer around the corner. My lips part and my body instantly buzzes, humming and vibrating like metal after you hit it with a hammer. The churn in the pit of my stomach tells me it’s from embarrassment, that what I’m witnessing isn’t meant for me to see. But the light feeling pressing against the roof of my stomach tells me otherwise. I know arousal when I feel it.

Selena and Jackson…

So this is where they disappeared to.

He has her hard against Seth’s car, pressing her bare ass into the cool metal. Their mouths are entwined in punishing kisses and his tattooed hand is firm on her throat.

“You’re naughty,” Seth whispers into my ear. I jump and he quickly clamps a hand over my mouth, pulling me away from Selena and Jackson. Holding the majority of my weight, he pulls me around to the other side of the car. My heart beats its way through my pizza-filled stomach and races into my throat. He presses my back against the car and removes his hand.

“You little voyeur, you,” he whispers with a light chuckle. “I had no idea.”

I slap his chest and he flinches away, swallowing a laugh.

“Stop it. I am not.”

His eyes scan my face and rest on my undoubtedly flushed cheeks. Seth’s lips turn up in a cheeky smirk. “You liked that, didn’t you?”

“No!” My cheeks burn brighter, making my eyes water. He’s giving me this look—one that has ‘busted’ written all over it. “Your jacket is on that side and they caught me off guard. To be honest, I’m a little embarrassed.”