Page 77 of A Chance for Us
“Sorry to hear that, man. I didn’t just call to bust your balls though,” Alex says before he clears his throat.
“Oh? Did you finally decide to come home?”
“Nope. I am actually staying here. For good. I met someone, and . . . she’s amazing. She’s like, legit royalty. Her family isn’t too happy she’s falling in love with an American, but she’s happy, so they’re allowing it for now.”
Jesus. Him too? “Dude, it’s been like, a few months?”
“You married a girl after two weeks, let’s not judge.”
“You’re getting married?”
“Not yet, but we will. She’s the one, Oliver.”
This is great, but I’m also sad. I hoped that Alex would go to Egypt, live his dream, realize it wasn’t actually his dream, and come home. I know that makes me a selfish dick, but part of the excitement of opening the resort was us doing it together.
Regardless, my brother deserves to be happy and if that means Egypt, then so be it.
“Then hold on to her, Alex. With both hands.”
“I plan to. I’m going to let everyone else know soon so I need you to keep this between us.”
“Of course.”
“Listen, I know it’s early and you’re on your honeymoon, so I’ll let you go. Just . . . I talked to Delia yesterday, and she seems to think there’s more to you and your new bride than you’re admitting. Take your own advice and hold on if there’s a chance it could work.”
“Look at you, the world-traveling philosopher. Thanks for the call, we’ll talk more when I get back.”
“You got it.”
I toss my phone to the nightstand and go to find the woman who should be in bed where I can do rude things to her. Today is the first day of our vacation. I refuse to call it a honeymoon because that would mean we’re really married and I’m going to end up divorced. So, I’d rather not go there. This is a vacation. That’s it.
I find Maren sitting out on the deck that overlooks the ocean with a book in her hand. She’s so damn gorgeous. Even doing nothing.
“Hey,” I say as I walk out by her.
She looks up, shoves the book behind her back, and smiles. “Hey, Sleepyhead. I was wondering if you were going to wake up anytime soon.”
I grin. “Well, someone kept me up all night.”
“And that someone isn’t even sorry about that.”
I take a step closer to her. “What are you reading?”
“Reading? I’m not reading anything.”
I raise one brow. “You had a book.”
“Oh, this? Yeah, it’s nothing. Come on, we can walk the beach and then take the golf cart into town.”
“Why are you being so elusive?”
“I’m not,” she says a bit too quickly. Maren stands, holding the book behind her.
“Okay.” It’s clear she doesn’t want me to see what she’s reading. “I’m going to grab my shoes and we can head out.”
“Great.”
Maren turns, and I pounce on her, grabbing the book.
