Page 13 of Paradise Ties

“Thanks, Lauren, that means a lot. Dane is like a brother to me, and I love that my sister is rocking the relationship goals.”

She laughed. “Relationship goals?”

“Yeah, you guys have it all. You adore each other, any idiot can see that, and that’s what I want one day. I may only be twenty-four, but I don’t want meaningless anymore. Being around couples like you and Dane and Lucy and Jace has made me want that for myself.”

“You’ll have it, Drew, but not until the time is right. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you can’t force it. It’ll happen when it’s meant to.”

“Drew!”

Lauren and Drew both looked up to see a beautiful young woman with long, dark hair and a 50s pinup body walk towards them.

“Mara, hey. What’re you doing here?” Drew asked.

Lauren watched with unabashed glee as the woman sat on the end of Drew’s bed and leaned into him. She turned and motioned to a group of women behind her who were openly gawking at Drew. “I’m on holiday with some friends. We were meant to be staying at the Palm Sands but there’s a problem with our room, so they moved us here until it’s sorted.”

“Cool.”

“So, why are you here?”

He motioned to Lauren. “My sister is getting married here in three days.”

“Yes, I remember you saying she’d picked a date.” The woman smiled and nodded at Lauren. “Nice to meet you. I’m Mara,” she introduced herself.

Lauren grinned as Drew went red. “Lauren. It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Sorry,” Drew added, looking flustered and cute as hell.

Mara turned her attention back to Drew. “How’s the leg? Still doing the exercises?”

“It’s good and yes, still doing them every day. I actually just started training at the gym again.” Mara smiled, and it went all the way to her blue-grey eyes. Drew turned to Lauren. “Mara is the paediatric physio at the rehab centre. Her sessions always seemed to be at the same time as mine.” Drew chuckled. “Luckily my physio isn’t such a slave driver though.”

“I might be hard, but I’m happy to be a bitch if it gets them walking again.”

“Who’s a bitch?” Lucy asked, leaning towards them with interest.

“Mara, this is Lucy. Lucy, Mara is a friend of mine,” Drew said.

“Nice to meet you.” Lucy reached to shake Mara’s hand.

“Mara’s a paediatric physio and definitely not a bitch.”

“Wow, a physio, that’s great. It must be so rewarding working with kids.”

“It is, I love it.”

“Mara!”

The young woman turned to her calling friends and waved. “I should get back. We should grab a drink before you leave,” she suggested to Drew.

“Yeah, absolutely.”

Lauren tried to control her excitement as Mara dropped her eyes and then smiled at Drew before walking away. It wasn’t lost on either Lauren or Lucy that Drew watched her the entire time. Or that she looked back to see if he was watching before offering a small wave.

She gaped at Drew as he sipped his drink. “Really, Drew, nothing to say?”

“What?” he said, surprised.

“Oh my God, she likes you!”