Thankfully, my trust and love in Alejo is unshakable and nothing they can say can damage me, because I know him more than I even know myself. I know that man would do absolutely anything for me, just as I would make any sacrifice for him.
There’s only been one real snag in our relationship. Of course, I have moments of self-doubt, maybe about the way I look or aging, just superficial silly things like that, and Alejo is always my rock, always making me realize how unnecessary those doubts are.
But the biggest one, the one that hurts, is that we both want children. I’m not getting any younger and Alejo has always expressed his want for a big family. Ever since we got married, hell, even before we got married, I had that IUD taken out and we started trying in earnest. He knew about my fertility struggles, and I knew it might take a long time before anything happened.
And nothing happened.
Believe me, we have a lot of sex, it’s one thing that has never slowed down between us, but that doesn’t seem to make a difference.
All the check-ups we’ve both been having, visits to the fertility clinics, haven’t resulted in anything. As far as the doctors are concerned, I’m just not fertile enough and it might be something I’ve always had, considering what happened with Grace, or it could just be that I’m forty-three now and getting older, and the older I get, the harder it’s going to be.
Even IVF treatments haven’t taken and it got to a point where it was too hard on my body, and to be honest, on my heart. Each time there was so much hope on the line, that I would come crashing down under depression when it failed. I started to see a doctor to help deal with the mental aspect of it, and Alejo helped to pull me out of it too, even though he was suffering as well.
So now, well now things have taken another route.
We’ve decided to adopt.
It wasn’t something to be taken lightly. It’s a big decision to decide not to continue to try and have your own, essentially give up on that dream, and instead open your heart to a child out there. It’s not for everyone and it’s stressful too. The process is difficult, trying and tiring. Over the last eight months, we’ve had one application fall through at the last minute and we’re currently waiting to hear about another one, a baby boy in Mali, knowing it could happen again, knowing that it might not ever happen.
But I have faith that we’ll end up where we’re supposed to end up.
As long as we’re going there together.
“Did you hear from Luciano?” Mateo asks. “I missed a call from him the other day.”
“I did,” Alejo says. “He said he’s coming to Lisbon in a few weeks and if we had time to meet him there. He’ll probably end up in Madrid anyway.”
Luciano lasted two more years as Real Madrid’s captain before his age (and his shoulder) forced him to retire. Now he’s ridiculously loaded and living the good life on some Portuguese island in the Atlantic. He still comes back to the continent every now and then, and we always do our best to meet up with him.
Alejo has now taken his place as captain. He’s young and he’s still trying to find his footing as a leader, but he’s so good on the pitch, so dedicated to the game, and so perfect at uniting everyone, getting them motivated and pumped on his passion, his emotions really driving them to wins. I don’t think there could be anyone better to take Luciano’s place.
“I would love to go to Lisbon again,” Vera says, and I’m not surprised to see she’s finished her glass of sparkling sangría. She drinks like a fish and I did say my sangría was the best. She looks at me. “If they go, we should go too. Get some shopping done. Stuff our faces with pastel de nata. Fuck that stuff is good.”
I’m about to tell Vera that it’s on when Alejo’s cell phone rings.
“Sorry,” he mumbles, knowing that we try and have a no cell phones at the table rule, just to give ourselves a break from the go, go, go world out there and take time to be present.
I roll my eyes and he answers.
“Hello?”
I look back at Vera, figuring the call can’t be that important since it’s seven at night. “Anyway,” I tell her, “ I would love to do a couples trip. That sounds like fun.”
“But Luciano would be the fifth wheel,” Mateo points out.
“Didn’t you say that he was seeing someone or…” Vera asks.
“Oh my god,” Alejo says excitedly into the phone, putting his hand to his mouth, his eyes open wide. “Oh my god.”
I furrow my brow, looking at Mateo and Vera, who seem equally confused.
I lean across the table, trying to catch his eye. “What is it?” I ask.
He just stares at me, blinking, and watching his face is like watching someone come alive for the first time. “He’s ours,” he says faintly.
“¿Que?” I ask but even as I say the word, the realization is dawning on me and hope is building in my chest, a fire that grows higher and higher.
This can’t be…
“Alejo,” I whisper urgently. “What is it?”
He just nods, mouth agape, listening to someone on the phone. He begins to smile, wider and wider. “Okay,” he says into the phone. “Okay, thank you. Thank you so much!”
He hangs up, stares at the phone for a second, and then yells at the top of his lungs, “Yesssssssss!”
He literally kicks back his chair and leaps on top of the fucking table. He’s stepping in the food, everyone’s drinks are knocked over, sangría spilling everywhere, and he pulls the same pose as he would if he scored a goal, arms out to the side, fists curled, neck corded as he yells at the ceiling in pure, unadulterated joy.
“He’s ours!” he yells, and then he drops down to his knees and crawls across the table, grabbing my face and kissing me harder and deeper than I’ve ever been kissed before, a kiss that promises me that my world is changing again.
For the better.
“He’s ours,” he cries out as he pulls away, squeezing my face, tears in his eyes. “Our baby. We’re getting our baby! We’re going to have our son!”
The news slams into me like a brick.
Every single heartache, every disappointment, all the shame and the grief and the sorrow that we’ve both had to navigate. My loss. All of it comes barreling through me at once and out the other side of my soul, like it’s been cleansed and made pure.
Our baby.
We have our baby.
I immediately break down, crying into Alejo’s arms as the two of us hold on, just as we’ve held onto each other for so long, knowing that soon we’ll be holding on to one more little soul.
“Te amo, Thalia,” he whispers to me.
“Te amo, Alejo.”
We kiss and I hear Vera crying and Mateo is wishing us a congratulations and I know that every single moment we’ve gone through, every single choice we’ve made, and every single path we’ve followed has led us right here to this moment.
Life has been happening for us this whole time.
Now it will happen for the three of us.
THE END
Hola, dear reader. Thank you SO MUCH for reading The Younger Man. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I loved writing their epic love story.
Reviews are so important to authors, if you happen to love the book and feel like spreading the joy, a review of the book at any retailer or site (such as Bookbub or Goodreads) would be much appreciated.
AND if you’re not quite ready to let go of Thalia and Alejo and wish to have something similar to read, boy do I have the book for you…(keep scrolling)
What to read after The Younger Man
First, I have to say that if you haven’t read Love, in English yet and you want to see where Mateo and Vera came from (the origin of their love story), you NEED this book:
LOVE IN ENGLISH (the ultimate forbidden romance, set in Spain, inspired by real events)
If you’re wanting to check out any of my other romances, I have too many to list, but here are some of my favourites (and all below are available on Kindle Unlimited):<
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Nordic Royals series (all standalone!)
- THE SWEDISH PRINCE
(The Prince of Sweden falls for an American girl - spin on Roman Holiday)
- THE WILD HEIR
(The bad boy Prince of Norway has to marry a good girl princess in a marriage of convenience)
- A NORDIC KING
(The widowed King of Denmark falls for his much younger nanny)
And if you like age gaps and forbidden romance, try:
- BEFORE I EVER MET YOU ( young single mom falls for her father’s best friend)
- HEAT WAVE (a woman falls in love with her dead sister’s ex in this sensual forbidden romance)
Like best friends to lovers?
- BAD AT LOVE (a quirky friends-to-lovers romance)
- THE PACT (two best friends agree to marry each other by the time they’re thirty)
Hot sexy Canadians? Start with Wild Card…
- THE NORTH RIDGE SERIES (A trilogy about three rugged mountain men from Canada with very dangerous and thrilling jobs and the women who love them)
Connect with the Author
If you want to connect with me, you can always find me on Instagram (where I post travel photos, fashion, teasers, etc, IG IS MY LIFE and the easiest place to find me online)
-> or in my Facebook Group (we’re a fun bunch and would love to have you join)
-> Otherwise, feel free to signup for my mailing list (it comes once a month) and Bookbub alerts!
Acknowledgments
There are a ton of people I need to thank in regards to this book but first of all, I have to thank THE READERS.
This book was a long time coming and the release date was pushed back and back, and people were so damn patient and understanding. It’s been a challenging year for me, health and mental health-wise, so writing took a backseat. I wanted to write Alejo and Thalia’s story and do it justice and I didn’t want to rush it or write it when I wasn’t feeling it.
So, I waited. I waited until I knew these characters inside and out and was completely in love and immersed in their world (going back to Spain definitely helped!)
I am SO glad that I took the time to wait until I was ready for them because this book might just be my favorite one that I’ve written (I know, I say that a lot, but it’s true) and I’m proud of every word in these nearly 500 pages. I hope that it was worth the wait.
Okay, onto all the unsung heroes of this book: Nina Grinstead, you are my rock, plain and simple, I could not have done this without you. Brittany, you are the absolute best. Kara, thank you for being you and hauling ass with this book (no more love making). Laura, I’m sad I didn’t make you cry but I’m beyond happy to have you as a friend. Becky Barney, you’re a star. Hang, no words for not only what a genius you are but how patient you are with me! Everyone at the Social Butterfly team, thank you! Oh, and gracias to Belinda for correcting my atrocious Spanish!
Claro, I must thank my beta readers for their support and feedback and general enthusiasm for all things Alejo and Thalia! Jodi, it was an honor to have Mateo’s other woman read this – love in Spanish is still you! Imani Blake (your notes make my week!), Heather Pollock, Sarah Symonds, Amy Vox Libris, Pavlina Michou, Nina Decker, Christy Baldwin, Cinthia De Los Santos, with special thanks to Elizabeth Sherrell and Shelby Bauer for your amazing teasers.
My bookstagram team, you’re making the world a prettier place, one post at a time.
My anti-heroes for being so wonderful.
Sandra Cortez, hopefully you’re done actually reading the book and didn’t skip to the end to read the acknowledgements (unlikely).
Last but not least, Scott and Bruce. Te amo. Always.
Life is happening for us!
Also by Karina Halle
Contemporary Romances
Love, in English
Love, in Spanish
Where Sea Meets Sky (from Atria Books)
Racing the Sun (from Atria Books)
The Pact
The Offer
The Play
Winter Wishes
The Lie
The Debt
Smut
Heat Wave
Before I Ever Met You
After All
Rocked Up
Wild Card (North Ridge #1)
Maverick (North Ridge #2)
Hot Shot (North Ridge #3)
Bad at Love
The Swedish Prince
The Wild Heir
A Nordic King
Nothing Personal
My Life in Shambles
Discretion
Disarm
Disavow
The Royal Rogue
Romantic Suspense Novels by Karina Halle
Sins and Needles (The Artists Trilogy #1)
On Every Street (An Artists Trilogy Novella #0.5)
Shooting Scars (The Artists Trilogy #2)
Bold Tricks (The Artists Trilogy #3)
Dirty Angels (Dirty Angels #1)
Dirty Deeds (Dirty Angels #2)
Dirty Promises (Dirty Angels #3)
Black Hearts (Sins Duet #1)
Dirty Souls (Sins Duet #2)
Horror Romance
Darkhouse (EIT #1)
Red Fox (EIT #2)
The Benson (EIT #2.5)
Dead Sky Morning (EIT #3)
Lying Season (EIT #4)
On Demon Wings (EIT #5)
Old Blood (EIT #5.5)
The Dex-Files (EIT #5.7)
Into the Hollow (EIT #6)
And With Madness Comes the Light (EIT #6.5)
Come Alive (EIT #7)
Ashes to Ashes (EIT #8)
Dust to Dust (EIT #9)
The Devil’s Duology
Donners of the Dead
Veiled
About the Author
Karina Halle, a former travel writer and music journalist, is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of The Pact, A Nordic King, and Sins & Needles, as well as fifty other wild and romantic reads. She, her husband, and their adopted pit bull live in a rain forest on an island off British Columbia, where they operate a B&B that’s perfect for writers’ retreats. In the winter, you can often find them in California or on their beloved island of Kauai, soaking up as much sun (and getting as much inspiration) as possible. For more information, visit www.authorkarinahalle.com/books.
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