Page 26 of Royal Surrogate 1

“Books?” Xavier laughs—a rarity from him. “You’ve bonded over books?”

“You might be surprised, Brother,” I say, frowning.

“I definitely would. Tell me, what book is it the two of you had both read? I’m sure Lauren and I would both love to read it.”

I open my mouth to give him a sarcastic response but think better of it. Surely I can think of the title of a book. Something. Anything.

“1984,” Renae says calmly. “It’s an interesting read given the current times.”

“Truly,” I say, nodding, though I have no idea what she’s talking about.

Xavier lifts a brow, searching my face. “Is that right?” He cocks his head. “And what did you like so much about it, Brother?”

“I—”

“Actually, Caspar knocked the book from my hand in the diner when we met.” Renae takes my hand in hers, looking up at me with a smile that doesn’t seem at all forced. “When he handed it back to me, he told me how relevant he thought it was to what was going on today. If you read it through the right lens?—”

“You can really say that about a lot of books, can’t you?” Lauren interjects as she plops down on the ground, an upside-down Noah in her arms. She blows a raspberry on his exposed belly, and he giggles before she sets him down beside her. “It’s what I love most about reading older books. You can apply almost anything to current times if you just look at it the right way.”

“I knew the two of you would get along well!” I say with a grin.

“Smashing,” Xavier grumbles, his gaze still narrowed at me.

“Maybe we should start a book club or something,” Lauren continues. “The four of us could read a book and discuss it. Talk about how we can apply the lessons to our lives.”

My brother might have been doubting my story before, but I’d like to see how he gets himself out of this.

“Yes, Xavier, doesn’t that sound charming?” I say with a grin. “Perhaps you’d like to start us off. Choose a book we should study over the next few weeks.”

Xavier’s face twists, and he grumbles under his breath.

“What was that, Brother?”

“I said that it sounds like torture,” he says, shaking his head. “I’ll leave the three of you to it.”

“You can’t really have a book club with only three people,” I say, though I have no idea if it’s true or not. “You really need at least four to make it interesting. It’s not even worthwhile without a fourth.”

Lauren shrugs, and Renae squeezes my hand. Perhaps I’ve said something right by tormenting my brother?

“Well,” Lauren says, “I think it’s great that the two of you bonded over books. It’s good to have something in common.”

“Indeed,” I say. “And we’ve also bonded over our love of children. We intend to begin trying right away.”

Xavier merely shakes his head.

“You might want to wait a little while. You haven’t known each other very long. Why not have a long honeymoon? Travel the world together or something.” Lauren shrugs, looking over at Xavier. “That’s what I would’ve wanted.”

“I still intend to give you the honeymoon of your dreams,” he says, taking her hand in his before kissing her fingers. “When the time is right.”

“Go now,” I say without thinking. “Renae and I can care for Noah while you’re gone.”

“Uh…” Renae stiffens again beside me.

“We couldn’t ask you to do that,” Lauren says.

Xavier blinks at me a few times. “Are you serious?”

“Perhaps not for a full honeymoon,” I say. “But certainly we could care for the boy so the two of you could take a long weekend together.”

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