Page 28 of Meant For Love

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” I answer him honestly. “All I knew is we were sitting down and she looked more beautiful than anyone I’ve ever seen in my life. All I could think was I want to make her mine.”

“So you ask her to date you. Jesus, you don’t marry her.” He shakes his head. “That makes more sense than ‘Hey, let’s get married.’”

“I was in the moment.” I shrug, and I’m about to say something else when I look over and see Stone and Christopher coming my way. “Oh, fuck,” I mumble, “here we go.”

“I’m going to be very fucking pissed at you if you make me fight on my family vacation,” Caine hisses as they get closer. Stone’s face is full of fury, while Christopher looks like he’s trying not to burst out laughing.

“There you are,” Stone says, then looks around. “Where the hell is my sister?”

“She went that way.” Caine points to the right. “She just left. If you hurry, you might catch up to her.”

“You’re really married?” Stone asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Yup,” I answer, trying not to be rude but also trying to tell him I’m no pushover.

“What the fuck?” he seethes.

“It was spur of the moment.” I look at him and then Christopher.

“I wasn’t invited either,” Caine adds, pointing at himself. “I think they wanted it intimate.”

“They wanted it intimate?” Christopher laughs at Caine’s words. “They weren’t even dating.”

“Well, we’re married.” I hold up my hand. “I’m sorry we did it without telling anyone, but…” I smile when I think about that night. “I won’t be sorry I married her.” He just stares at me. “I will say, best fucking thing I did in my whole life, hands down.” I slap Caine’s shoulder. “Now, if you guys will excuse me, I’m going to go find my wife.”

“You mean my sister,” Stone grumbles, and it’s then Christopher just bursts out laughing.

“I’m sorry, dude, I tried to keep from laughing.” He slaps Stone’s shoulder. “I was ready to pounce, but you sounded like Uncle Matthew right then.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Stone growls. “This isn’t finished,” he tells me, and I look over my shoulder.

“I hope when you have the chance, and you think about you and Ryleigh”—I turn to look at him—“and how if you had the chance to make her yours permanently, would you have taken the chance for her to change her mind or would you have married her on sight and not cared about anything else but her?” He doesn’t say anything. “That’s what I thought. And between us, you can be pissed at me about all of this but just don’t take it out on Zoey. You want to be pissed and take out your frustration, I’m more than happy for you to take it out on me. Whatever you want to dish, I’ll take it.” I stare into his eyes. “But you treat her like you always have.”

“She’s my sister, you know that?” Stone reminds me.

I nod at his statement. “Yeah, she is.” I smirk before the smile washes off my face, and he sees I’m not playing with this. “I will take her far away from here if anyone makes her fucking sad.” My voice is tight. “Because now that’s my job, to keep her happy and safe.” I see him watch me. “Since, you know, she’s my wife.”

Thirteen

Zoey

I walk out of the lobby toward the pool, where most of my family members have probably gathered. At least most of them. If not, they’re at the beach, which means I can go to my room to regroup before meeting them.

I look up at the hotel and see the balconies that overlook the beach, knowing all of them have been rented for our family. The family vacation started before I can even remember. Since most of my family was in hockey, the only time everyone was officially off was in June, so all family vacations were done during that time. It was a time everyone always dreaded, but once we were there, it was always, and I mean always, the best time. The kids would run on the beach or go to the pool, and the teenagers would always be in some type of war with one another, competing and playing games to see who was far superior. Then leading to the adults getting involved to negotiate, but slowly, it would end up with the adults included in the game.

I see a server coming out from the side with a tray filled with mixed drinks. “I’ll have one of those.” I hold my hand up as he walks my way, wearing his uniform of blue pants and a Hawaiian shirt.

“This is the specialty drink—” he says, handing me a napkin.

“Is there booze in here?” I ask as I take one of the tall yellow drinks off his tray. The wetness from the glass feels good against the heat of my hand.

“There is tequila?—”

“That’s all I need to hear,” I say, taking a sip of it. The cool slush concoction hits my tongue, and the sweetness follows. “This could be trouble.” I hold it up to him. “I taste no tequila.”

He smiles at me. “Trust me, there is lots of tequila. But if you want, I can bring you more so you can add it.”

I look at the drink, then look up when I hear voices. “Last time I drank tequila, I ended up married.” I laugh nervously before taking another sip. “So I might take you up on that offer.”