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"I'll get it for you," Josh said, pulling me back as my suitcase approached us on the conveyor belt.

We were finally here, our flight landed about fifteen minutes ago, and unfortunately, Josh was the only one excited about this trip. Because we're not traveling with the magazine or going on a fun little trip. We're in San Diego so Josh can meet my family.

Six months ago, when we quit Travel Addict Weekly, we spent a few weeks doing nothing and wasted our time. That's exactly what we were still doing until one day, I went down to a café while I was out shopping with Josh. We wandered into a bookstore and while he looked for more books to buy than he already did, I went down the street to get coffee, and there I ran into Owen.

We talked a bit while I waited on our drinks and he told me about this magazine.

Chasing Horizons.

Apparently, one of his new co-workers had been fired from there and started working with him, but he was fired because the CEO found out that he was giving away details to rival companies. Travel Addict Weekly included. He said if Josh and I wanted to work together, we could try them out because they didn't have a couple's or honeymoon section in their magazine. So, after a few days of planning, Josh and I took our resumés and showed up for our scheduled interviews.

We were called in separately but we planned it and gave them the same prompts. Luckily, we were hired on the spot. Chasing Horizons was ten times better than Travel Addict Weekly and so far, we'd only been working there six months. They had a better work environment, their CEO, Mr. Gerard was an angel compared to Lydia, and we even had higher paid salaries. The process was more or less the same when it came to traveling though. But at the office, we didn't have to hide anything. Chasing Horizons didn't have a 'no office relationships' policy, it was rather the opposite, we weren't the only couple working together.

This month, we both took a leave because, at the end of the last month, Josh had this brilliant idea.

"Let's go to San Diego."

I turned to him in confusion from where I sat on his couch. "With the magazine? But there's not a lot to do in San Diego. It's not really a magazine kind of spot."

"I meant let's go on our own. Take a leave from work and go ourselves," he said, turning to me while his hand that rested on my bare thigh started drawing circles.

"What do you want to see in San Diego?" I chuckled.

He paused. "I want to meet your family."

And now here we are. "Josh, I'm telling you this is a bad idea," I warned as we started heading out.

"Why? We've been together for half a year now, when am I going to meet your family? When we get married?"

I rolled my eyes. "My Dad and brother aren't as great as you think and I'm not that close to either of them anyway. I just don't get what you're trying to achieve. But okay. Let me call Dad and ask where he is," I said, taking my phone out and calling his number.

Instead of him, Jack answered. "What's up?"

"Are you guys here yet? We're headed to the exit gate."

"Yeah, we're pulling up, two minutes. Poppy, remind me who is with you?"

"Josh," I answered him.

"Josh... your boyfriend?"

"Yes."

"And how did you get one of those?"

I huffed, "Haha, very funny Jack. I'm hanging up."

"See ya."

"I hope they like me," Josh said, both of us standing outside, still waiting.

"They will, what's not to like?" I reassured, putting an arm around his waist while he threw one over my shoulder. "I like you."

He looked down at me. "I would pray they don't like me the way you like me." I groaned, pulling away from him, only for him to pull me back in. He made me stand in front of him and kept his arms around me from behind, resting his chin on my head after placing a kiss there. "I can't wait to see your room," he chuckled.

"That's all you get to do. See it. Not sleep in it with me," I laughed.

"Wait, what? I can't share a room with you?"

"No, we're staying with my Dad," I snorted. "It's weird. I don't want him to hear anything or come upstairs and see us cuddling half-naked in the sheets."

"Ever heard of a lock, Valentine?"

"Sure have, Nilsen. But it's still weird. Plus, Jack stays on campus and only visits on the weekends, so it could get really awkward really fast. I'd rather that not happen."

"It won't. I promise, no no, I vow—"

I bit back a cackle.

"I'm going to make sure your Dad and brother not just like me and approve of me, but I'll make sure they like me enough to not mind that we share a room. I don't want to sneak in to see in the middle of your night despite us staying in the same house."

Tilting my head back, I looked at him. "You can't sleep without me in bed with you?"

"Considering we hardly do that anymore, no. I can't." He grinned, placing a kiss on my cheek as I faced forward again.

I was trying my best to play it off, but I might have been more nervous than Josh about this. I really wanted them to like him and I was sure they would, but also, it's been a really long time since I saw both of them.

The last time I visited, I had a huge argument with my Dad when we spoke about Mom and we drove Jack out of the house and he ended up staying on campus over the weekend too. I didn't want a repeat of that, so maybe we'd just avoid talking about Mom at all.

The familiar car pulled up in front of us and the passenger door opened and out came Jack. I patted Josh's arm and he let me go, moving to stand beside me.

"Hey," Jack nodded, both of us exchanging a brief, awkward hug.

"Hey," I replied. "Jack, this is my boyfriend, Josh. And Josh, this is Jack, my brother," I introduced the two.

"Hey," Jack nodded, sticking his hand out.

"Hey," Josh greeted, shaking his hand. I watched as Jack refused to let go of his hand and narrowed his eyes at Josh. "Um, it's great to finally meet you?" Josh tried.

I clicked my tongue, pulling their hands apart and facing Jack. "Who are you acting tough in front of?"

"What? I'm supposed to like him just because he's a good-looking guy, tall, looks great next to you and is like... three years older than me?"

"Six," Josh cut in. "I'm twenty-six, not twenty-three. Do I look twenty-three?"

"You don't look twenty-six," Jack shook his head. "Oh my God. You're three years older than my sister? That's equivalent to me dating someone her age. Ew."

I clenched my jaw, giving him a hard smack on the arm.

"Ow," he mumbled, taking my bag and leaving Josh's. "Come on then. Dad's actually been kind of excited to meet the boy you're bringing home," he said with a roll of his eyes. Both of them loaded up the luggage in the trunk while I slipped into the backseat.

Dad turned in his seat to look at me. "Hi, honey."

"Hi, Dad," I smiled.

"Had a good flight?"

"Yeah, it was great."

He looked in the rearview mirror. "That's the boyfriend?"

"That's him."

He seemed a little wary.

"Dad, you'll like him," I reassured just before the doors opened. I was expecting Josh to sit beside me but Jack beat him to it.

"You sit with Dad. We get to interview you on the ride home."

"Jack, for God's sake," I huffed, throwing my head back.

"No problem," Josh shrugged, sitting shotgun. "Hello, sir. I'm Josh. It's nice to meet you." He stuck a hand out.

Dad shook it. "And you." It was so obvious that Dad was checking his grip. He nodded to himself in approval before beginning the drive once we were all buckled in. "So, Josh, how old are you?" Dad asked.

"Twenty-six, sir."

"All right. And where are you from?"

"Originally, Chicago. I moved to New York after college."

"What do you do?" Jack asked, leaning forward. I grabbed his t-shirt, yanking him back. He glared at me but proceeded to ask more questions.

"I work with Poppy at the magazine."

"And your family?" Jack pressed.

"Jack!" I kicked his leg. He blinked in confusion and I shook my head slightly. His mouth formed an 'O' and his eyes shimmered with guilt.

"Um, well, I don't speak to my parents anymore. But I have a sister in New York."

"Younger?" Jack jumped in again.

"Oh my God," I sighed, reaching over and slapping the back of his head. "Older," I answered, "she's married and has a baby."

"How was I supposed to know?" Jack mumbled.

"A baby? Do you like kids, Josh?" Dad asked.

"Yes, I do. So does Poppy, we watch Blake all the time when my sister's working."

"Watch him together?"

"Yeah. Usually at..." He turned to look at me.

I shook my head but I knew it was too late.

"Don't look at her," Jack scolded. "Answer the question."

"At... uh... at my... apartment."

"Oh," Jack sang teasingly. "And does she come to your apartment a lot?"

I stared out the window, trying to drown out this nightmare.

"Well, we work together, so it's not what you're thinking," he answered Jack. "Except a lot of the time it is," he smirked at me.

I shook my head at him again, glaring.

"No, but really. When we're working, that's all we're doing. Working."

Working, my ass.

Sometimes, it's impossible to get work done around each other, other times, we manage to pull our professionalism together. Just on our last work trip, we came back and were at my apartment, typing the first draft of our articles and I had my legs in his lap and instead of working, he got too distracted, then distracted me, then we missed our deadline because all we did at home when we should have been working was have a lot of sex. To be fair, we don't fool around at the office. There, we really are strictly working other than a few pecks and having lunch together.

"Do you love her? My daughter."

Josh turned to look at me and then faced my Dad. "More than I've ever loved anybody."

I bit down a smile while Jack nudged me, grinning.

"Wait, so what exactly do you do at work? Poppy never tells us," Jack said.

"Well, we work at a travel magazine. So, every month we go to a new city and write about our experiences. We review a lot of famous spots, find some secret and unpopular ones, and try everything that the city has to offer."

"Together?"

"We write honeymoon articles," I explained.

"But you're not married. Are you?" Dad asked, shock evident in his voice.

"No," Josh laughed, "no, sir. When I marry your daughter, you will be there, I promise. No, we're not married. But we write articles from a couple's perspective. We write about honeymoon activities in every city."

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Jack faced me, "didn't you say you two hated each other and were rivals?"

I nodded. "Then New Orleans happened. And I got to know him."

"How cute, from honeymoon rivals to lovers."

I groaned at Jack's remarks, giving him a push. "Keep to yourself." Looking ahead, I found Josh already staring at me. I lifted my brows, silently asking what he thought of them.

He nodded, biting down a smile. He glanced at Jack who was staring between us. "Honeymoon rivals to lovers indeed."

Jack watched him for a minute before turning to me. "Marry him," Jack told me suddenly.

I nodded slowly, laughing, "I will."

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