two tickets to paradise

My happily ever after takes a nosedive when my fiance dumps me at the altar for his ex. So instead of toasting to marital bliss, I plan on drowning my sorrows in tequila. And instead of promising forever, he’s promising I’ll never have to see him again if I hand over the tickets to Hawaii. I can’t believe my ears at first when he tells me he wants to whisk his girlfriend away on what was supposed to be our romantic getaway. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound!

But when life hands you a lime, you put it in a coconut.

Licking my wounds in paradise was the last thing I wanted to think about in my dispirited condition, but now I have a perfectly good reason to go—so he can’t. 

Enter Holden Santos, the guy who’s seen me through braces, bad haircuts and questionable fashion choices and miraculously stuck around. Now we’re rocking wedding rings, snuggling in a king-sized bed at a luxury resort and playing doting newlyweds as we sip cocktails by the pool. Piece of cake, right?

Until we share a kiss for appearances, that’s so explosive, it reignites feelings I thought were long buried. The butterflies that once fluttered in my stomach during algebra class awaken with a vengeance.

Now I’m at a crossroads. Do I lock away my feelings like the letters I never sent him one year at summer camp? Or do I take the leap, risking it all to lay my heart bare, knowing the consequence could be losing him—the man who’s become my everything, my confidant, my anchor—forever?