He sniggered.
“I don’t want to get married in it.”
She flicked his nose with her own.
“Where are we getting married, then?” His gentle voice was filled with mischief.
“What about an Elir hotel? My father would love it. I would love it. That was such a big part of my life and the Elir Cancun Resort happens to have the most decadent rooftop view. It would be the perfect spot.”
“Elir resorts are the reason for all of this.” He squeezed his arms tighter around her, but the gleam in his eyes gave away the full meaning of his words.
River had explained how his investments had paid off. Investments she’d offered suggestions for. Yet, she got the impression he wasn’t referring to those investments at all. Elir resorts were the reason they met in the first place. When he’d said all of this, it meant so much more.
Aaliyah didn’t reply. She wasn’t sure there were words.
River saved her the trouble. He tilted his head to the side, considering. “Cancun, huh?”
“By the beach,” she said, twirling her fingers in his hair. “Then we could pick any location we wanted for the honeymoon…”
A moan rumbled in his throat. “You’ve got a deal,” he said, kissing her again.
When she pulled away, Aaliyah glanced at the lamp. It took center stage on the coffee table beside them, set off by a spray of ochre flowers. She reached for it, holding it in her hand between them.
“You know,” she said. “I think this lamp might be lucky after all.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s been there for every good thing that has happened lately. It reminds me of you, and there can’t be anything luckier than that.”
River gave her a heart-stopping grin and guided her back to him. He stroked her cheek. The softest touch had the sharpest charge right to her core. She was here with him, right where she always wanted to be, and they sat together before the fire, drinking hot cocoa and planning the rest of their lives.
Ready for the next
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Thank you!
Acknowledgments
This might sound weird, but my first bit of gratitude goes to fairy tales. We’ve all grown up knowing these stories and loving them, and I’ve always wanted to write fairy tale retellings. Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp has been so fun to recreate. I wanted to have Aaliyah’s love be unconventional. It seemed like a rotten thing of Aladdin to sneak in and steal the princess away on her wedding night, so I decided, why not have her fall in love with the genie character instead?
Thus, River was born! So thank you, fairy tales, for being my inspiration for this series!
Thanks go to my cover designer, Najla Qamber. Najla, you absolutely captured the romantic, fairy tale feel I wanted for these covers. The cover is completely perfect, Naj. Thank you!
To my husband, Duane, for all your help and for your unfailing support. To my beautiful kids, I love you! To my Heavenly Father, for talents and blessings.
Huge thanks to Scarlett West for her amazing insights and for helping to spiff up the ending that much more. And thanks go to Sara Old for her wonderful, intuitive editing.
And to you, readers! We share a love of books, and that is a magical thing. That is a fairy tale.
If you ever want to hang out with me, be sure to stop by my Facebook group, Catelyn’s Sweet and Sassy Readers. All kinds of awesomeness go on there, and I’d love to have you join in!
About the Author
Catelyn Meadows is a romantic at heart. A mom of four munchkins, Catelyn married a true blue farm boy who still makes her heart pitter-pat, and she wanted to create stories that do the same. She also writes clean, young adult fantasy romance as USA Today bestselling author, Cortney Pearson.
You can find out more about Catelyn on her website,
www.catelynmeadows.blogspot.com.
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