The valet holds out his hand, smiling so hard it looks painful. “Your keys, Miss?”

I drop them into his hand with a smile, then pull my leather backpack, phone, and coffee from my car.

“Oh!” I turn toward the attendant about to get into my car. “Second sticks a little.”

He smiles, amused. “I’m sure I can figure it out, Miss Sommers.”

“Thanks,” I mutter, before he drives my car to valet daycare.

Stepping through the opening of a brass rotating door, I exit the other side into the sea of white and gray marble, brass, and reflective surfaces. Passing a waiting area with clusters of white marble side tables and uncomfortable looking teal leather bucket seats, I make my way to the reception desk.

“Welcome to Pebbles Resort and Spa. Do you have a reservation?” Another painful smile.

“Yes. It’s under Sondra Bose. I’m Winter Sommers.”

“Of course.” The young woman taps her long, pink fingernails on her keyboard, holding her pink lipsticked smile impressively.

“Here is your key…” she slides a keycard across the shiny, white marbled countertop. “Your things have already been sent to your room, Miss Sommers. Is there anything else I can help you with? A dinner reservation, perhaps?”

“No, thank you. Um, has my roommate checked in?” I hesitate to remember his name. “Er, Aleck Fox, I believe…”

She squints toward her computer screen. “Yes, he has. About twenty minutes ago.”

“Did you see him? How does he seem? Nice… Or…”

She chuckles, hints of an actual human being peeking through her robotic expression. “He seems nice. Businesslike…” She lifts an eyebrow. “Small.”

“Small?” I pull my face back with a smirk.

Her smirk mirrors mine. “You know… petite.” Holding her hands up, she wiggles her fingers, and whispers, “Small hands.”

“Ew,” I say as we share a laugh. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure. Enjoy your stay, Miss Sommers.”

Exiting the mirrored covered elevator on the fifteenth and final floor, I follow the teal and white magnolia patterned carpet to the only door on this floor. Sondra booked the Poseidon Suite, which includes two separate rooms, both with king-sized beds, a minibar, and a firepit on a balcony that’s bigger than my apartment. Yeah, I Googled the place; it’s fantastic, and my new home for the next two weeks. I can only hope my tiny roommate will be cool. I’d hate to kill Preston’s best man before the wedding.

I slip my keycard through the lock, pushing the door open when the light clicks green. Right away, the smell of magnolia and leather wafts past me. An equally comforting and impersonal scent.

I walk into a small foyer, my eyes skimming the open-concept design, which makes the kitchen, bar, living room, and balcony visible from the entrance. I drop my leather bag and coffee on the white and gray marbled kitchen island, skating my fingertips across its cold and shiny surface. This place is huge. I almost lose a breath looking across the living room through the large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the ocean.