Choosing Happily Ever After - Elena Aitken Page 0,30

her. Damn, he’d missed that woman more than he’d realized. Being with her was both familiar and brand freaking new and he couldn’t get enough.

Unfortunately for him, Levi hadn’t gotten his way, and they both had work to do, so he’d reluctantly slipped out of her bed and gone back to the Langdon ranch to shower and change as quickly as he could. He planned to stop by the bakery in town to pick up a few of their delicious chocolate chip muffins that Hope used to love. And he had other plans, too.

The night before, neither of them had gotten much sleep. Besides the mind-blowing sex—seriously, what had he been missing?—they’d also talked. Really talked.

Cuddled up in bed, Hope’s smooth, soft back pressed up against his chest, he’d told her about the places he’d traveled to over the last few years. Mostly his trips involved the coast, and fishing, but the money he’d earned on the boats had allowed him the opportunity to explore parts of the world that had always been little more than a dream. He’d been to Costa Rica, Ireland and Scotland, Australia, and to more states and provinces than he could count.

Hope, on the other hand, hadn’t been anywhere.

At first, Levi had reacted with shock, but it made sense. After her parents died, she’d dedicated her entire life to getting Ever After Ranch off the ground. And she’d done it, too. Hard work, long hours, and a complete devotion to her business had definitely resulted in success. But that success had come at the expense of seeing the world.

The idea occurred to Levi sometime right before dawn. He’d woken early, and unwilling to fall back asleep, he’d spent the time before the sun rose in the sky letting her silky hair run through his fingers, and thinking about how he could pull off the ultimate surprise.

He was going to take Hope on a trip. Nothing elaborate. At least not yet. But it would have a beach, because the idea of spending a week alone with Hope in a bikini sounded pretty damn appealing.

As soon as he was finished in the shower, Levi grabbed Logan’s laptop from the little desk in the kitchen where he always kept it and settled in at the table with a cup of coffee to begin his search. Right away, he narrowed down his choices to an all-inclusive resort. There would be plenty of times to do some more adventurous exploring, but for their first trip together, he wanted it to be easy. So all they had to focus on was each other.

First trip together.

Levi laughed out loud at how easily he’d assumed that there would be more trips. He’d gone from zero to sixty with Hope, and he wasn’t about to start making apologies for it because it felt right. More right than anything he’d ever done.

“What’s so funny?” Logan walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. “Is that my laptop?”

“I left mine at the barn.” Levi hardly looked up. “I needed to take care of something before I headed back to the ranch. Figured you wouldn’t mind.”

Logan shrugged and sat across from him at the table. “So what’s so funny?”

“I’m just laughing at myself,” he answered honestly. “I’m just trying to sort out some plans for…well, for—”

“You and Hope?” Levi looked up from the screen and stared at his cousin, who grinned. “What?” Logan asked casually. “You don’t think we all noticed that you didn’t come home last night?” He tipped his head in question but only laughed when Levi didn’t answer. “Hey,” Logan said. “You don’t have to answer to me. Besides, it’s not like any of us are surprised.”

“Except me.” Katie walked into the room and both men turned to look at her in surprise. “Okay, I’m not really,” she confessed. “I’m actually more surprised that she took you back, if I’m being honest. I mean, you kind of left.”

Guilt flashed through Levi. It wasn’t the first time he’d felt terrible about the way his younger self had handled things and it was sure to not be the last time either.

Before he could reply, Logan answered for him. “Well, even the smartest women make poor choices sometimes.” He winked at Levi across the table.

Hope hadn’t been the only thing he’d missed. Levi had missed his cousins, his family, a lot.

“Either way,” Katie said. “I’m happy for both of you.” She wrapped an arm around him and squeezed. “What are you looking at? Mexico?