“Boston, again, I love you, but no way am I teaching you how to fly. Teaching you to drive is one thing, but flying…no fucking way. I’ll get you a proper instructor.”
“I’ll try not to be offended by that.” She snatches the notepad off me, but I can tell she’s not being serious. The smile forcing its way onto her lips is giving her away.
“You shouldn’t be. I mean it in the nicest possible way.” I chuckle, leaning in to kiss her.
She presses her hand against my chest, but there’s no real resistance from her. “You’re an ass,” she says when my lips are millimeters from hers.
“Yeah, yeah, you love my ass. I already know that.” Then, I kiss her, hot and hard.
I release her mouth as quickly as I took it, loving the dazed look in her eyes.
While she’s distracted, I take the list back from her hand. There’s nothing else on the list after Learn to fly a plane.
“That’s all you’ve got?” I say.
She blinks. “Um, yeah, that’s all I’ve got so far. Why? Is there something you’ve thought of?”
There is. It’s something I’ve been thinking of for quite a while.
Without saying anything, I take the pen from her hand, and I write my thing to do at the top of her list because that’s exactly where it belongs.
I hand the notepad back to her, my heart stepping up tempo, as I watch her eyes scan the paper, finding what I’ve written. I love the way her lips curve up into a beautiful smile.
“Ask Liam to marry me.” She laughs, throwing her head back. Her tone is teasing when she says, “Confident much?”
I shrug and then take the notepad back from her. I write something else next to it.
Okay, so this isn’t how I planned for this to go, but I’m kind of flying by the seat of my pants here. And fuck if it doesn’t feel right. Everything feels right with her.
I turn the notepad back to her.
She reads the words I’ve just written. “Or say yes when the very-awesome-in-bed and extraordinarily handsome Liam Hunter asks me to marry him.” She laughs again, because she thinks I’m winding her up.
I want her to think I’m winding her up. Because I want to see the shock on her face when she realizes that I’m being serious.
Putting the notepad and pen down on the bed, I shift back and open the drawer on my nightstand. Reaching to the back, I curl my fingers around the box that I’ve been hiding there for quite a while now. Closing the drawer, I take a deep breath, and then I turn back to her and hold the box out in my open palm.
Her eyes widen, and my heart stutters.
“Is…that…” Her wide eyes lift to mine. “Hunter…are earrings in that box?”
I slowly shake my head. “Not this time, babe.”
She reaches for it, her fingers trembling. She pops open the top and gasps.
“It was my grandmother’s.”
“It’s beautiful.” She’s staring down at it.
I wet my dry lips with my tongue. “It’s yours, if you want it, but…if you take this ring, it means you’re saying yes to me.”
“And what would I be saying yes to?” Her eyes lift, her words are careful.
She knows what I’m asking; she just wants me to say the words. And she deserves those words and so much more.
“Marrying me.”
“Are you asking or telling?” Her lips tip up at the corners.
“Both.” I laugh softly. Then, I turn serious. “Marry me.” I take my grandmother’s ring from the box and hold it up between us.
Her eyes go back to the ring for what feels like a really fucking long time.
Then, I watch, nervous as hell, as she picks up the notepad and pen. She holds it at an angle, so I can’t see what she’s writing.
My heart is pounding so hard in my chest that I’m pretty sure I’ve cracked a rib. But I don’t care. All I care about is what she’s about to tell me.
Taylor puts the pen down and looks back at me, staring into my eyes.
I see what’s in hers. I see her answer.
She turns the notepad around.
“Yes,” I whisper, my heart soaring, as I read the word she’s written…the word I see clear in her eyes.
“Yes.” She smiles.
And my world is complete.
I take that notepad from her hand and toss it on the bed. I slip the ring onto her finger, and then I kiss her like there’s no tomorrow.
Only there is a tomorrow and a lot of tomorrows to come after it.
Because there is no ending for Taylor and me. Only me and her and a lifetime of possibilities.
And a list.
Our list.
And it’s a list that will never end because we’ll keep adding to it, and we’ll keep living our adventure together.
Forever.