Alecia kissed her family goodbye and rushed onto the plane, finding her seat in first class. The amethyst earrings Ryder had given her for Christmas dangled from her ears, matching the necklace that looped around her neck. Hopefully, he’d like the cute purple dress she had bought to accent the jewels. In her hands she held her other gifts: a Kindle packed with clean romance novels and a copy of a ticket to New York City, so she could meet his family.

Alecia turned on the Kindle, tapped on a book that she had wanted to read for many months, but she rested it in her lap. Three days they...