My heart skipped a beat, and I leaned down and kissed her. “Then marry me. You’re already my everything. Be my wife too. You know nothing has ever felt so right.” I knew I would’ve never stopped searching for her. Never stopped loving her. There would have never been another woman for me as long as I lived.
“Yes,” she whispered, and I kissed her deeply.
And for the rest of the day, I showed my future wife no matter how uncertain most things in life were. Our love for each other wasn’t one of them.
13
Oliver
One month later
“People think this is crazy,” Adele said, but I could hear the smile in her voice.
I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her in close to my body, kissing the top of her head. She smelled so good, like peaches, sun-ripened and sweet. “Let them think this is crazy. Let them think I’m crazy for you. It would be the truth.”
She pulled back and tipped her head to look up at me, her smile blinding. I cupped the sides of her face and smoothed my thumbs along her cheekbones. She was so delicate, so feminine.
She was mine.
I leaned down and kissed her because I couldn’t help myself. For the last month we’d been inseparable. And although we were only forty-five minutes away from each other, it felt like an ocean separated us when I wasn’t near Adele. So, I drove down and stayed with her every night, leaving early the next morning so I could get back up to work and repeat the process. Every day I did this during the week, and then on the weekends, I stayed with her the entire time. It was perfect. It was exactly how it should be.
And now that we were engaged, leaving her every morning was getting unbearable.
There was nothing more I wanted than to be with her always.
I leaned back and looked down at her ring finger. After my impromptu proposal, the following morning I’d taken her to the jewelry store, let her pick whatever ring she wanted. But nothing had called to her. It was when we passed an antique shop, when she’d seen a diamond solitaire with emerald embellishments, that she said that was the one.
And I bought it right on the spot, asked her to marry me all over again, and slipped it on her finger, sealing the deal.
I didn’t want to move away from her, but I reluctantly did so I could grab more boxes out of the back of the moving van while we still had sunlight.
Almost right after I proposed the second time, I all but demanded Adele to move in with me, but in reality it hadn’t taken much convincing. She was all for it, jumping into my arms when I broached the subject, kissing me all over the face, and whispering how she wanted me to ask her right from the beginning.
So we’d gone house-hunting, found the perfect two-story home situated on five acres with a small pond in the back. There was no renting. We’d gone balls-to-the-wall and bought it right after we’d done the tour. Some would say this was crazy, too fast, that getting engaged and then buying a house with someone you’ve only known for a handful of months was ludicrous.
But I’d tell them I waited my entire life for her, that the months that passed seemed like a lifetime.
We were making up for lost time, because I couldn’t see myself being without Adele. Ever.
I looked over at
her, watched as she set up a small bistro table and chairs on the wooden porch that was situated in front of the house. The deck was painted white, the deck furniture teal because it was her favorite color.
The sun shone on her, the sundress she wore this baby blue color. God, she looked good in everything she wore. She looked good in nothing at all. My cock started to harden at the thought of her naked, of how good she felt.
And like it happened every time I stared at her, I fell in love with her all over again. She was my world, the reason I was put on this planet. I had absolutely no doubts about that.
So here we were, starting our life together, and nothing had ever felt so fucking perfect.
Epilogue One
Adele
One year later
I was perpetually smiling every day, I noticed, my happiness so pronounced it was like nothing could bring me down.
And it was all because of Oliver and how happy he made me.