Before she could blink, his mouth was on hers. His lips were incredibly warm and soft, and his tongue stroked hers with the confidence of a man who had perfected the art of pleasing a woman. Her head fell back and her breaths came in short gasps, and she lost all sense of time and space. Nothing else mattered except this moment with him. She moaned his name, grabbed his head, and took over the kiss.

At length, he eased back. “We should probably stop before the ice cream melts.”

“Mmm, probably.” Serenity inhaled deeply and let the breath out slowly. “Okay, let’s go.” They managed to take everything outside in one trip.

“Here, let me take that.” Chandra jumped up and relieved Gabriel of the plate holding the chocolate cups. “Oh my. These are new, Sis. Is this chocolate?”

“It is. You can eat the whole thing.”

“Say no more.” She bit into it, chewed, and moaned. “Well, I’m keeping this plate. You all can have the rest. This is divine.” Laughter followed her statement.

“Girl, hand me that plate,” Natasha said, leaning over the table to snag one. She ate it and pretended to swoon. “I don’t know which I like best—these or the chocolate-dipped strawberries.”

Dana opened the lid to the container Gabriel placed in the center of the table. “I know you didn’t make homemade vanilla ice cream. I’m going to need to work out every day this week to offset these calories because I’m getting some of everything.”

Around the table, everyone chorused their agreement.

Gabriel brought over the plates, napkins, and utensils from a smaller table, and they were all but snatched out of his hands. He chuckled. “I guess everybody’s a little eager.”

Serenity couldn’t hold back her laughter. This was her happy place—seeing her family and friends enjoying the food, music, and fun. Yes, it had taken her the better part of last night and today to prepare, but she didn’t care. She loved it. After another hour, one by one, her friends departed with hugs and promises to talk during the week.

When she came back from walking them out, she went still when she saw Gabriel and Mark in the kitchen, rinsing out dishes and stacking them in the dishwasher. “Wow. Thanks, guys.”

Mark smiled her way. “Hey, you did all the cooking, so it’s the least we can do.”

“You know I’m always down to help with the cleanup if I can eat this good food,” Gabriel chimed in.

Chandra entered with the remainder of the food trays, and the two women began storing the leftovers. With the four of them working, it didn’t take long to clean up everything.

“Do you need me to do anything else, Serenity?” Gabriel asked.

“No.”

“Okay. I’m going to take off. Mark and Chandra, it was a pleasure meeting you.”