Page 94 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

But she closed her eyes, and soon her deep, even breathing told me she was asleep, and I pulled my phone out to make the phone calls I needed in order to enact my surprise for her.

CHAPTER 33

HAVEN

As much as I hated giving in to Wesley’s bossy requests, my body couldn’t help but listen to him when he told me to rest. I wanted to protest, to fight back against his stupid request.

But the exhaustion I still felt from the two weekends of performances and rehearsals in between finally caught up to me, and before I knew it, I was snoozing in the front seat of his truck, my legs curled up under me and my hand in his.

When I opened my eyes again, we were no longer in the mountains surrounded by redwoods. I sat up straighter, blinking, disoriented, as I took in our surroundings.

Rolling hills. Small, colorful houses. Beautiful cypress trees I had only ever seen pictures of when researching California when we wrote to each other as kids.

And beyond it all, white sand and the blue ocean stretched out as far as I could see, until it connected with the sky and you couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.

The beach. He had brought me to the beach.

I barely held in my squeal of excitement and leaned closer to the window to get a better look, letting go of Wesley’s hand.

“So, is this a good surprise?” Wes asked as I gaped out the window, pressing my nose to the glass to look towards the long pier extending out over the water.

“Good? Wes, this is amazing! It’s beautiful, and perfect, and—” I shook my head and glanced at him.

His focus was on the road, but he had the biggest grin on his face, and his eyes kept sliding over to me, watching me and taking in my reaction as best he could while driving.

“Thank you,” I told him, leaning over the armrest to kiss his cheek.

I sat back in my seat and looked back out my window, absorbing it all and committing all of it to memory. The view, the sounds, the smells, and Wesley.

He kept spoiling me. The Nutcracker tickets back when we were kids. The adoption, even though it didn’t work out. Jack and Shirley. Seeing all of my ballet performances. The flowers. The bracelet.

But he didn’t do it as bribery. He did it because he could.

He gave and gave and gave, and I had nothing to give back to him except my heart. And while I wasn’t sure I was ready to give it to him fully, he was slowly getting it, piece by piece, with every little thing he did for me and with every little thing I learned about him.

He pulled off the highway and then turned onto a narrow, shaded road, following the signs that read “campgrounds” until we reached a small guardhouse. The man inside poked his head out and, after seeing Wesley in the driver’s seat, smiled and waved us through.

“Don’t we have to pay?” I asked.

“I called ahead to let them know we were coming while you were asleep,” he said. “And my family owns the campgrounds,” he added, mumbling.

I forced myself to not roll my eyes at that comment and instead focused out of the window, looking at the trees and trying to see through them to the beach.

He parked, and we both got out, me stretching my legs while he rummaged around in his back seat, pulling out what I could only guess was camping gear.

“I hope you’re not expecting me to help you,” I said. “I literally have no idea how to do any of this,” I reminded him, gesturing around at the campgrounds.

“Lucky for you, I’m used to setting it all up by myself. Our dads made sure we all could by the time we were preteens.”

He lowered the tailgate on his truck and patted it, gesturing for me to have a seat while he set everything up.

“I somehow pictured you as an RV or trailer camping type of family,” I confessed as I hopped up.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Nope,” he said with a shrug and a kiss to my nose. “My dad wanted us to learn survival skills, especially because of where we live. Plus, we just really like being outdoors. Being one with nature.”

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