Erin tottered as the heel of her stiletto found its way into a wide crack in the paving stones. She pitched to the side, bumping shoulders with Lexi.

They giggled, Lexi quickly grabbing hold of Erin’s elbow to keep her upright.

“Should have worn sneakers,” Erin mumbled, garnering another giggle from Lexi. “Not that we had a choice, apparently.”

“They should have dressed us in habits,” Lexi said as she cast a quick glance over her shoulder. “This place looks more like a nunnery than a hotel.”

Erin grimaced at the crumbling brick building toward which she and her twin sister trundled, luggage in tow. It definitely didn’t look like the chic holiday resort she’d been expecting. And, instead of sun and sandy beaches, their hubbies had driven them a bazillion miles into the middle of mountain-nowhere. This, after both her and her sister were given matching outfits — down to the no-name-brand panties and bra — and had been told to dress in them and toss some extra clothes in their luggage.

The scenery was beautiful, but it wasn’t honeymoon — or Christmas — material. And honeymoon material had been exactly what Zach had promised her. Right after he’d told her to stop pouting because she wouldn’t be able to fully appreciate her Christmas tree this year with them being away during the holidays.

“I told you not to bring so much luggage,” Zach called out as if sensing that she was thinking about him: and not in a sexy way.

“Which was the only thing you told me,” Erin said. “Which is why I had to pack my entire freakin’ wardrobe.”

“Why?” Mason asked. Lexi’s husband — and Zach’s twin partner in crime — gave Erin a wide grin when she glanced at him over her shoulder. “Not like you’re gonna be wearing any clothes.”

Erin blushed and glanced away. She’d always found it disconcerting to look at Zach’s twin brother. Those familiar blue orbs staring at her over a stranger’s lecherous grin made her uncomfortable. Lexi giggled again — she’d had too much wine in the car — and bumped Erin with an elbow. Lexi’s blond hair blew into her face as a gust of wind blustered into it.

“Guess we could have left our bikinis at home,” she said.

Erin rolled her eyes: Lexi always defended the guys, even when they were the biggest jerks in the universe. That’s what being smitten with someone did to you: it rotted your brain and left you incapable of functioning on a normal level.

“You’d think they’d send someone to help with the luggage,” Erin said, loud enough that Zach would hear.

“I think it’s enough that we have pretty much the whole place to ourselves, wouldn’t you?” was Zach’s answer.

Erin rolled her eyes again. At this rate, they were going to fall out of her sockets. She flashed Zach a dry smile over her shoulder, pausing to run her gaze over him. He’d dressed up; at least… he wasn’t wearing two-day old clothes and a stained vest. His chino shorts were clean, ironed, and actually matched his golf shift.

It was Mason, of course. Zach seemed to care more about whether his twin-brother thought he was a slob than whether his wife threw pots at him when he didn’t clean up after himself. Erin snorted. Well, there wouldn’t be any pots at hand this weekend, so perhaps he was safe. For now, anyway. Zach’s blue eyes crinkled at the corners as he returned her sarcastic smile for a genuine grin that flashed two rows of perfect teeth at her.

Ah. That smile. She blamed that smile everything. For making her fall hopelessly, madly in love with Zach. And for making it impossible to say anything other than ‘yes’ when he asked her to marry him. And it was that smile that had convinced her that a double wedding and a double honeymoon with their twin siblings were what the love doctor ordered.

Was idiocy contagious?

Erin glanced across at Lexi. Her sister smiled at nothing as she shimmied her shoulders to whatever nonsense song rattled around in her head. She loved Lexi, she really did, but the girl could be a complete airhead sometimes. It had been impossible to convince her that the guys’s romantic gesture was another money-saving tactic concocted over too many beers and a lusting after a shared PlayStation.

Because two weddings smushed into one was a much better deal.

Two honeymoons fused into a single weekend away at a remote — broken down — hotel was much cheaper than four airplane tickets to Barbados.

Erin stifled an urge to roll her eyes.

They entered the hotel’s dimly lit reception and clustered at the entrance for a few seconds.

“Wow,” Lexi whispered.

“Wow is… close, I guess,” Erin said.

The lobby resembled an old-fashioned hotel from the sixties. Probably, this was exactly the same decor as when it had opened in nineteen fifty-something. A faded red carpet spanned the distance between the entrance and the reception desk: a mahogany block of wood edged with gold. The words: Hotel LeFleure stood proudly in gold lettering across the front of the reception desk. An enormous chandelier glittered dully above them. Roses and vanilla, with the faint underlying smell of baked potatoes, permeated the air.

“Not bad,” Mason said, pushing between the two girls. “Let’s get set up, Zach.”

He turned back to Erin and Lexi and pointed a finger at them each in turn. His blue eyes glittered above a pair of wide, curved lips and strong nose. A plume of tattooed smoke curled up the side of his neck: it was the end of a breathtaking tattoo that crawled from his hip over the front and side of his stomach and chest and ended below his right ear. Sometimes, Erin wished Zach would get a tattoo. Not the same one of course: it was difficult enough telling the two men apart. Just a small one over his pec or something.

“You two’ve got your instructions,” Mason said.

Erin’s stomach fluttered.

She absently touched her fingertips to the envelope resting in her jeans’s back pocket. A few minutes before they’d pulled up outside the monstrous building, Mason had given each of them an envelope and had told them not to open them until they’d arrived at the hotel.

“Now Zach and I—” Mason gave Zach a grin “—are going to sort out our rooms and stuff. Wait thirty minutes before you open those or there will be penalties.”

“Yeah…” Zach gave Erin a hesitant grin. “Wait in the bar, won’t you? Or outside, in the garden. And for god’s sake, have a drink and relax.”

With that, the two men disappeared.

“Yeah, Erin,” Lexi said in a deep voice. “For God’s sake: relax.”

“Shut up,” Erin muttered.

“Sheesh.” Lexi rolled her shoulders. “It’s a bit chilly in here.”

“Barbados,” Erin said, snapping it out like a curse.

“Stop pouting. At least they’re trying. A lot of guys wouldn’t even—”

“This was a penny pincher’s tactic, Lex,” Erin said. “If you can’t see that, then I’m going to insist on a paternity test when we get back.”

“You’re missing the big picture!” Lexi started forward, aiming for a dark archway that looked like it might lead somewhere important. She spun back and gave Erin a broad smile. “We get to spend our honeymoons together. Which means, if the guys are being jerks, we can run away together and get drunk.”

Erin sighed and gave her shoulders a shrug. “You got me there,” she said and hurried after Lexi.