The ground floor bathroom may not be as impressive as the master bedroom en suite, but it’s more than large enough for me to sprawl out on the floor with Em in satisfied post-sex bliss.

I swear, sitting here with Em after yet another perfect fuck is like the best way to get this party started. We’re just tangled up together as we catch our breath, resting on the warm hardwood floor.

Emily is gazing straight ahead at the closed door, a small satisfied smile on her face, and I can’t stop looking at her. As good as the sex is—and let me tell you, it’s fucking of the charts mind-blowingly amazing—this feeling of comfortable silence is also pretty awesome.

This is real intimacy. Something totally new to me. And I fucking love it.

Em looks at me, and I move my hand over to lace my fingers through hers.

“Pretty good barbecue, huh?” I stay straight-faced. I want Emily to decide how serious I am.

“Yeah, not bad at all.” Emily gives me a naughty little wink.

Fuck, she’s like so perfect. I love how she’s totally down to run off and fuck me in the bathroom in the middle of a party. Like she can’t get enough of me.

I know the feeling.

Em turns to look toward the door. The bathroom is, fortunately, set off from the most accessible parts of the ground floor. It’s usually nice and quiet here, until later in the party. We’re getting to that point now.

The barbecue’s wearing on, and the booze must be flowing. A few loud, muffled laughs reach the bathroom. I’m still watching Emily, and the laughs inspire a mischievous little smile.

Awesome. They’re having their fun, and she’s having hers.

“It’s barely even started yet, Em. This is going to be perfect.”

Emily looks back at me. She’s no longer smiling, but she still seems content. She inches her hand away from mine.

“I just need to wash up a bit first.”

Emily stands up in a quick, fluid movement.

“Damn, baby.” I smack her lightly on the ass. “And here I thought you might not be able to walk straight the rest of the night.”

She laughs. “Night’s ot over yet, is it?”

Em starts checking her makeup in the mirror. At least I think that’s what she’s doing.

I hoist myself up and take a spot just behind Emily. I look at our reflection, my head towering above her left shoulder. Emily smiles when she sees me in the mirror, and I start massaging her shoulders.

“Still feeling nervous?”

Emily’s almost laughing as she looks down and dries her hands quickly on the towel by the sink. She looks straight back at the mirror, grinning at my reflection before answering.

“No, I think you took good care of that.”

I smile warmly at the mirror.

“Good. Now that’s out of the way, I’m ready to get back out there. I can’t leave Tad at the grill for too long.”

Emily’s smile is fading. She starts adjusting her dress, trying to get it back into shape for the party.

More muted laughing and mumbled, excited talking echoes into the bathroom. Emily’s smile turns confused and maybe a little…annoyed?

“Who are all those people out there again? I’d like to know before braving the crowds.”

“Right now, they’re all just friends of mine.”

Emily’s dress looks perfect now, but she’s still pulling at it.

“All friends? Okay, I can meet some of them, I hope.”

I think about who to introduce Em to first. Shit. There’s at least one guest I should probably avoid altogether.

It’s not too surprising Miranda showed up. She still runs in a lot of the same circles. I’ll give Tad the benefit of the doubt; I’m sure he knew better than to invite her, especially with Emily here.

Miranda is here, though, and I should be honest about it. Can’t have that shit blowing up in my face.

“Well, almost all friends. The invite list for this party is a bit…crowdsourced. Somehow, an ex-girlfriend of mine ended up here. I can’t really call her a friend at this point.”

Emily looks down, adjusting the hem of her dress again. I watch very carefully to see if she stops for even a fraction of a second. But no, she keeps right on doing whatever she’s doing with that dress.

It doesn’t faze her one bit. Emily looks straight back up at the mirror to check her face again. Nope, it doesn’t bother her at all, which is good because I don’t want to think about it.

I breathe a little easier.

There’s always a snag of some kind, but I want to focus on making everything perfect tonight,—and on making Emily a bigger part of my life.

Maybe Miranda’s already gone for some reason. Not likely, but it would make things easier.

I start rubbing Em’s shoulders again.

“You look perfect, babe, and someone’s going to need to come in here eventually.”

Emily just stares stone-faced at the mirror. It looks like she’s studying herself.

I’ll admit that I’m no expert in makeup application. I don’t know what part of the process this is, but Em legitimately does look perfect, and I’m seriously starting to worry about the mayhem that Tad might be unleashing upon my grill.

“Aren’t there other bathrooms?”

I guess Emily has no plans to be finished soon, but that’s fine. As long she stays happy and comfortable.

“Oh yeah. They always find this one eventually, but don’t worry, babe. Take as long as you need. The door’s locked, and they can knock all goddamn night if they want.”

I figure this should get a small smile, at least, but Emily stays straight-faced as she gives her dress a slight, final adjustment and gives her golden hair a little toss.

Does she realize how ridiculously fucking hot she looks when she does that? I watch Emily’s reflection leave the mirror, and a second later her shoes are clicking toward the door. I turn around to see Emily facing me, her hand on the doorknob.

“How do you want to do this? Should I go first?”

Normally, neither one of us would give a fuck about being caught coming out of the bathroom together. But my family is supposed to be here, so I actually give it some consideration.

“Um, yeah. I’ll be out in a couple minutes. We’ll meet up shortly. Have a good time, babe, grab a drink, some food—hopefully Tad isn’t fucking up the grilled stuff too much. I can introduce you around in a bit.”

Emily nods, sort of smiles, and very quickly opens and slides out the door before closing it silently.

I look at my wristwatch. Okay, two minutes…no, ninety seconds, and then I can sprint over to my grill to make sure it’s okay.