Chapter 42
LONDON, ENGLAND
I t was a sunny Sunday morning when the realisation hit Rowan like a wild tidal wave, sending all his thoughts into a frenzy and his heart into racing mode.
They were sitting on his patio, enjoying their usual post-sex snack.
Ava had just tipped her head back to allow the sunlight to cast warmth upon her flesh, a small smile touching her lips. With her untamed curls, her rosy cheeks, and her contagious goodness, she looked like the most beautiful woman to have ever walked into his orbit. She was the most extraordinary woman in his life.
“I’m excited to go to Australia for a few weeks,” she said happily.
“Yeah?”
Opening her eyes, she met his stare and nodded. “Yes.”
There was something unequivocally enticing about the way the sun’s rays turned into starlight when they shone directly upon her skin, making it seem like constellations had made their appearance on her face. Like she was made of angelic stardust.Like a sunflower turning towards light; towards positivity.
Rowan couldn’t keep his smile from spreading wider, his fingers twitching when he felt the need to close the distance and touch her. Hold her.
“What?” she asked, tilting her head sideways.
“Nothing,” was his answer.
Everything, actually. She was simply everything.
When she got distracted by the romance novel she’d been reading, he grabbed the notebook he was doodling in.
He wrote a note he would rip out later to put in a box he had made for her. A box containing all his favourite memories with her—photos, notes, tickets, anything.
August 5th.
The day I finally realised that I’m hopelessly in love with you.
I’m going to marry you one day.
I love you with everything I have.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Rowan asked softly—so softly he hadn’t heard himself through the loud thud of his heart.
She smiled beautifully. “As long as I get to share one, too. A secret for a secret.”
He jutted his chin towards her. “Ladies first.”
For a few heartbeats, she seemed to sort out her thoughts. Then, came her earnest confession: “I always thought you were the most attractive driver on the grid.”
Rowan tipped his head back, barking out a laugh. “Baby, that’s, like, a universal fact. Everyone knows I’m the sexiest.”
Avery only shook her head, allowing her grin to widen, as though she had expected this exact response.
“Your turn.”
He felt perspiration clam his palms, his heart beating so wildly that it felt like it was on the brink of explosion.
Rowan roamed his gaze over every curve and line of her angelic face, sighing softly. She was his. She was his, and he’d never felt so happy before.
I love you. I love you. I love you.
Once upon a time, he’d been a boy who didn’t believe in love. Who couldn’t understand its meaning. Today, he was a man who was learning and who, finally, felt like he was deserving of it.
“I told my mum I was going to marry you.”
Avery’s eyes started to glimmer, happiness drawing upon her features. “You did?”
Rowan simply nodded.
“Good,” she whispered. “Because I intend on making you my husband one day.”