It’s Kayla and Asher, hand in hand, in coats that are a perfect color match, looking just like the fashionable power couple they are.

"Having a little stroll?" Lily grins at them, while I feel heat rushing to my cheeks.

Oh God. My basically future sister-in-law just saw me walk out of a sex shop. Talk about awkwardness.

And then there’s the guy who Luca basically adopted into the family—AKA my not-quite-adopted-but-close-enough brother.

I subtly hide behind Lily, but Asher catches my eyes, shaking his head at me disapprovingly but clearly fighting a grin as I subtly lift my hand holding my drink to take a sip and show him my middle finger at the same time.

"What about you?" Lily asks and links her arm with mine again, pulling me a few steps to the side where she puts her bottle in a bin and I quickly drink the rest of my not-so-hot-anymore chocolate and throw away the paper cup as well.

"Great minds think alike," Kayla says, shooting us a wink, and without another word, we all start walking together, Lily and me in front of them, glancing over our shoulder as she continues."We couldn’t come to Amsterdam and not visit this ‘special area,’ right, Asher?" She smirks at him, making it sound like it was solely his idea.

He bites his lip to fight a grin and subtly shakes his head. "Anything you say, sweetheart."

I don’t even need to turn around to know she forcefully nudges her elbow into his side.

"Better not let her catch you staring, though," I say with a giggle over my shoulder, trusting that Lily will not let me walk right into the canal we’re walking by.

"Ah, look over there," Lily says excitedly and points to our left. All of us turn around and my eyes widen when I realize what she saw.

"Oh, damn," I whisper in awe, seeing Kayla and Asher nod, just as impressed, from the corner of my eye.

The house we’re staring at like idiots looks like a regular cute canal-side house at first sight, but if you look closer, you can clearly see a woman wearing the skimpiest piece of lingerie in one of the neon purple lit windows, seductively moving her body to music we can’t hear on this side of the canal.

"What are you all gaping at?" a voice asks from our right, but none of us can take their eyes off the spectacle.

From the corner of my eye, I see three tall, dark-haired figures walking closer, the tallest of them coming to a stop next to Lily, wordlessly snaking his arm around her hip.

"How did this become a group event?" I whisper under my breath, internally rolling my eyes. Great, now I’m third-wheeling after all, exactly how I wanted my evening to go.

"That," Lily answers her boyfriend in a whisper, nodding toward the club.

"Damn.” My whole body tenses, a wave of goosebumps washing over my skin at that growing familiar deep voice.

I don’t know what it is about his voice, but it feels like someone ever so gently tracing a finger up my spine, making me shudder and want to squirm away. Yet it’s warm and in other circumstances, I think I could listen to it the whole day, like a classical piece of music.

It’s a weird sensation, but my brain just can’t deal with how deep Tanner’s voice is.

"Come on, let’s go take a closer look," Kayla suggests, pulling Asher with her over to the next bridge across the canal. Lily instantly falls into step with Adam, looking up at him with loving eyes, and I trudge behind them, pouting and feeling abandoned.

This is just the story of my life now, isn’t it? Destined to be the third wheel with all of my friends coupled up.

I put my hands in the pockets of my jacket in an attempt to keep them warm, trailing along with he group. Thank the heavens that Lily made me get that spiked hot chocolate. Right about now, I’m very glad for the little buzz I’ve got going on. It’s the only reason I’m not turning right around to walk back to the hotel.

However, I am eyeing the kiosk on the side of the canal we’re approaching, thinking about getting myself another one. There’s so much love in the air, I might just need some more alcohol to deal with it.

"So, what are you doing here?" Reed suddenly appears next to me, looking me up and down with curiosity. "Are you into girls? That would be hot."

"No, I’m very heterosexual," I answer, destroying his fantasies with a tight grin. "Honestly, Lily dragged me here."

Tanner hums, and my shoulders instantly tense as he appears on my other side. How the fuck did I end up walking between the two of them?

"Yeah, that sounds like her." Reed chuckles and I watch as Lily lets Adam peek at the bag she’s holding in her hand and they start talking animatedly about whatever she bought in the sex store just now.

“Is that a bad or a good thing?”

“It’stheirthing.” Tanner shrugs, just as the tow of them halt in front of another shop window.