Secrets Embraced (Silver Valley University Book Three) by Alisha Williams

Author:Alisha Williams [Williams, Alisha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alisha Williams
Published: 2022-11-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Ellie

I feel eyes watching me as I slowly wake from my slumber. “Quit staring,” I grumble, my voice cracking from sleep.

“Impossible, sorry.” Brody chuckles. I shift until I’m on my side facing him. “Good morning, Star,” he says softly. His fingers linger after brushing the hair out of my face. I close my eyes again, enjoying the touch of his warm hand.

“Morning,” I whisper. “What time is it?”

“Noon.”

“Noon!” I shout as I scramble to sit up. “Why do you guys keep letting me sleep in so late?” I glare at him.

He smiles, arching a brow. “I never heard someone complain so much about sleeping in.” He chuckles. “Isn’t that a mother’s dream?”

He has a point. I used to kill for days when I wouldn’t have to get up at six a.m. with a toddler every morning. “Still. I feel like I’m wasting the day away.”

“The others have Lilly, you’re fine. You’ve had one hell of a year, and you deserve time to just do nothing. Plus, it’s summer vacation.”

It’s hard to want to sit and do nothing when we still have so much left to do to make this house a home. We’ve been here a week, and we just got done setting up the bedrooms.

“Speaking of vacation,” he says, grabbing something from the night stand. It’s a white envelope. “So, remember Lilly’s birthday?” he asks, chewing on his lip.

“Yes.” I laugh.

“And how everyone gave her a gift except me,” he says with a grimace.

“I remember,” I say, giving him a small smile.

“I had this,” he says, holding up the envelope. “Ready to go. But I chickened out at the last minute. I convinced myself it was stupid, and I didn’t want to get her hopes up without talking to you first. But I was also an asshole still and didn’t think you wanted to talk to me.”

“What did you get her?” I ask, moving so that I’m facing him, my legs crossed.

He hands it to me. Hesitating for a moment, I open it up to find two season passes to Disney World. My eyes widen, jetting up to meet his. “Brody! These must have cost a fortune?”

“And...?” he chuckles.

“Okay fine, now that doesn’t seem like a lot seeing as how you're a friggin’ millionaire but still.”

“That’s partly why I didn’t give them to her then. If she got them, she would have gotten excited, asked if you could go, and then there’s plane tickets, hotel rooms and other expenses that would be needed. I would have happily offered to pay for everything, but at the time, I knew you weren’t going to accept. And even if you did, it would only be to please Lilly, which would cause you to resent me in the long run. I didn’t want that. So, I decided to wait until we were in a better place, like now.”

“So, what are you saying?” I ask, trying not to get too excited.

“I’m saying, it’s summer, we don’t have any plans, and real life starts back up in a few weeks.

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