"That doesn't matter. We will deal with that later. My sister needs to come home with us right now." Zach kept his cool while dealing with the agent and was relentless, until she finally succumbed and paged for Lexi to come to the main information booth at the front of the airport.
I stood off to the side with him and waited for what felt like forever, until I caught a glimpse of her dark-brown hair. She came running from the secured area and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of both Zach and me.
"What the hell?" she demanded.
I went to approach her, but she held her hand up and started to back away, tears instantly streaming down her face.
"Alexa, just fucking listen. I didn't almost kill us to watch your stubborn ass get back on that plane," Zach called out from behind me, halting her in her tracks. He had never spoken to his sister that way.
I took a step forward, holding my hands out in front of me in a gesture of truce, finally getting close enough to grab hold of her hands.
"For the past week and a half, I have been trying to wrap my head around my growing feelings for you. I really wasn't sure how I should feel about you, especially after everything that I've gone through. Part of me wanted to be cold and detached, but that isn't who I am. Once the feelings really started, I became so afraid of them. I was mostly afraid of having my heart broken, but I was more afraid that I was going to let you down, partially because I couldn't understand why I was left at the alter. When Laura called today and asked me to come and meet her, I couldn't say no. It was my chance to find out why.”
"You kissed her. I saw it all through the cafe window. It tore my heart out, Drew, seeing you with her after everything." Lexi sniffled and turned away from me.
I put my hand on her arm, praying that she would turn around and face me. When she finally did, my heart wasn't prepared for what I saw: her beautiful eyes watery with tears so up close and personal.
"No, you're wrong, she kissed me," I said, placing my hands on her hips and pulling her toward me. "I'm a lot of things, Lexi, but one thing I am not is a cheat. She left me for another man because she felt like she was missing out on something with me."
"But you are unsure of your feelings for me...you just said it."
"No, not anymore. I know how I feel about you. Yes, at first, I didn't want to ruin our friendship or turn out like my mother, a commitment-phobe. I was so afraid of letting you down because I felt that I had let one girl down, but now I know it was her own insecurities, not me, that caused her to run." I took her hand in mine and pulled it up to my mouth to kiss the back of it.
"I don't understand. You’re afraid of those things, but how does this end with you locking lips with your ex?"
"As I told you, she kissed me, and if you had snooped just a little bit longer, you would have seen me pull away. You also would have seen me tell her to her face that she and I are over and that there is someone else. Someone that I am totally head over heels in love with. Then you would have seen me leave the cafe and run across the road to the jewelry store and buy this." I reached my hand into my pocket, producing the little white box.
Her eyes locked with mine, and for once Lexi was speechless. I dropped down on my knee in front of her and she looked down at me, shock and awe in her eyes.
"What...what are you doing?" she murmured.
Chapter 28
Alexa
I stood there blinking hard,his words washing over me as I tried hard to digest them. He was in love with me? He loved me. The realization of what he had just said hit me. "But, Drew, you went to see her."
"I went to see her for closure, nothing else. She's my past, Lexi, but I'm hoping that you will be my future."
I studied his eyes, as he held up a little white box wrapped neatly with a red ribbon, the look in his eyes saying everything. "I planned to do this a little bit later, and in private, but there doesn't appear to be much time, since you’re planning on leaving the country."
"I don't think I will be. My plane and my luggage just took off."
"Well, I think I'll do it now anyways, before I lose the nerve," he said as he looked around, and that was when I realized that the entire airport was watching us.
"Okay." I giggled, my cheeks heating in anticipation.
He quickly untied the ribbon and opened the box, holding it up to me. "I'm used to women walking out on me, Lex, and never turning back, but I'm really hoping that you will be the one woman that stays with me, forever and always. I love you, and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you."
I looked down into his blue eyes as he stared up at me with a look of want and hope. Through tears, I nodded as my hand went to my mouth to stop the sobs that were surely going to start if he didn't kiss me soon. He pulled the ring from the box and slipped it onto my finger and stood.
"No tears, Lex, unless they are happy ones."
"They are. They so are," I said, quickly wiping them away as he pulled me against him, devouring my mouth. In an instant, I was lost in his kiss, his hand cupping my cheek and his tongue making its way between my lips, sweeping through my mouth.
"Yes, yes, yes," I moaned into his mouth, his lips meeting mine again.
This time the airport erupted in loud claps as people cheered for us. I looked around, first in shock and awe, and then in deep embarrassment as the people continued to clap, some women even crying.