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Alec presses a lingering kiss to my forehead. “Very well, wife. Let’s date. We’ll date for as long as you want us to, but in the end, I still want to see you walk down the aisle toward me. I want to marry you for the world to see.”
I smile at him, my heart racing. “Maybe. If you’re lucky.”
Chapter 66
Alexander
Elena walks into the kitchen and looks at me with raised brows when she sees me standing behind the stove.
“What are you doing?” she asks, her tone careful and curious.
I laugh at her expression, but I can’t even blame her. On one of our dates we tried baking a pie together, and I almost burned down our entire kitchen. She’s right to be cautious.
“Don’t worry,” I tell her. “I got instructions from Grandpa. You go get ready for dinner.”
She glances at me suspiciously and looks back at me as she walks away to get ready for tonight’s date.
Fifty-six dates. Elena and I have gone on fifty-six dates since we got back together exactly a year ago, and I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of her.
It took me four months to convince her to move back in with me, and in those four months, every single time that I had to take her home after a date was pure torture.
I’m excited as I set the table. I’ve managed to transform our terrace into a floral sanctuary. It’s filled with white peonies, Elena’s favorite, and there are candles and fairy lights everywhere. She probably doesn’t even remember telling me this, but she once told me that one of her favorite childhood memories was when Luce and I threw her a birthday party. I’d hung fairy lights everywhere, and she loved them.
I hear Elena gasp behind me, and I turn to watch her walk toward me, her eyes roaming over everything I’ve prepared. I stare at her in awe. Her beauty takes my breath away, and it still astounds me that she’s mine, that it’s me she chose.
“Alec,” she says, her voice trembling. She walks up to me and I wrap her into my arms. She rises to her tiptoes and kisses me. Her lips still make me lose all reason, and they always will.
“I guess the decorations kind of gave it away, huh?”
She smiles at me and nods. “Yes.Yes.”
I shake my head at her and brush her hair behind her ear. “I haven’t asked you yet.”
She pouts, and my heart squeezes in this strange way it’s only ever done for her. “But dinner will get cold, baby. I slaved away for you, you know?”
She pouts even further, sending me those puppy eyes she knows I can’t resist. Why does she have to be so cute?
“Ask me,” she orders, and I laugh as I do as I’m told. I drop down to one knee in front of her, my hand reaching into my pocket.
I hold her engagement ring up, the very same one I proposed with the first time. While we never got divorced, Elena made it clear that the papers don’t matter to her. In her opinion, we aren’t married until we hold our ceremony. I’ve been holding onto her ring all this time, waiting for the right moment, giving her the time she asked for—one year.
“Elena, you drive me insane in all the best ways. You light up my days, and you’ve shown me what true happiness looks like. When you walked back into my life, I was half a man. I was incomplete, my heart jaded and shattered. But then there was you. You came crashing into my life, making me question every belief I held onto for so long. Day by day, you stitched my soul back together, and you never even realized you were doing it. You complete me, Elena. You made me believe in things I never thought I’d have. You made me believe in Forever, after all. That’s what I want with you, baby. I want forever, with you. I want to wake up next to you for the rest of our lives. I want you to be the last thing I see before I fall asleep, my arms wrapped around you. I want to grow old with you and raise a family with you. I want it all. I want the arguments, the ups and downs life will throw our way. I want it all, and I want it forever.”
I inhale deeply and look up into her eyes. She’s fighting her tears, but it’s a losing battle. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she says, and I slide the ring onto her finger, my heart racing. A tear drops down Elena’s cheek as I rise to my feet, and I swipe it away with my thumb.
“I love you so much,” Elena says, her voice trembling.
I kiss her, my lips lingering on hers. “I love you more.”
Her hands roam over my body, and I see the need in her eyes. A low chuckle escapes my lips and I smile when she tugs on my tie impatiently. I love everything about her, but this might well be one of the things I love most. The way she wants me so unapologetically.
I lift her into my arms, one hand behind her back, the other underneath her knees, and she smiles as I carry her to our bedroom.
I place her down on our bed carefully and she rises to her knees, her fingers finding their way to the buttons on my shirt.
“You know what this reminds me of, baby?”
