Nine months later

Hayden

As I pulled into the driveway, Avery stood in the doorway in jeans and what looked like one of my old shirts. It drowned her petite frame, but still managed to be impossibly sexy. Would I still get that rush of heat in my gut when I saw her waiting for me twenty years from now? Christ, I hoped so.

She raced toward the car, the gold edges of her hair flashing in the noon sun as I pulled to a halt.

“Hey, beautiful,” I said as she swung open the car door before I’d even unclicked my seatbelt.

“Can you believe we’re doing this? Like, really doing this?”

Her wide smile always coaxed mine from wherever it was hiding. I slid out of the car and she linked her hands around my neck. I pressed my lips to hers.

“We’re really doing this.” I glanced up at our new house. We’d bought it the day after we landed in London. We’d had twenty viewings lined up over three days, but we’d walked into this one and hadn’t bothered looking at another. It was a modern house, about an hour outside of London, in a leafy village and set on five acres of land. It had taken two months to get the owners out and another two to get the renovations done but it was finally ready.

“I’m going to get to welcome you home from work every day—”

“Naked?” I asked.

“Maybe some days.” She scrunched up her nose. “A lot of days, probably. But not today. Not yet. I’ve had a thousand deliveries.”

“Well, I’m about to make another,” I said, opening the door to the back seats. I pulled out a cardboard tube and handed it to her.

“Are they good? Did you look?” she asked, popping out the plastic end of the tube and peering into it.

“I thought we should look together.” She gazed up at me and I placed another kiss on her lips before grabbing a small black gift bag and slamming the door.

“This is our home, Hayden. I like live in the UK and everything now,” she said as we approached the threshold.

“I couldn’t be happier about that,” I replied as we went inside and I shrugged off my jacket. I glanced around. We’d only moved in the day before, but the place still looked pretty empty apart from the basics. Avery didn’t have much to ship from the U.S. and we’d kept the flat in London, so we were starting from scratch here. As long as we had a bed and a sofa, I didn’t care about anything other than what made Avery happy. “I’m sorry I had to go into the office today, I just needed to—”

“It’s totally fine. It was fun straightening things out. I ordered some more stuff online and I started my reading. There’s a lot. They’re going to work me hard.”

“No doubt. Kings College is one of the best universities in the country.” I pressed my lips to her forehead. I couldn’t be more proud that she was finally doing what she wanted to do.

“Which is why I can’t believe they took me.”

“I never had any doubt,” I said and got a now-familiar eye roll.

She slid the cardboard tube onto the dining table, turned and pressed her hands against my chest. I exhaled and gripped her waist, knowing I was the luckiest guy in Europe.

“Welcome home,” she said, smiling up at me. I pressed my lips against hers and we kissed and kissed and kissed. Pressing my lips to Avery’s never got old. I ached to kiss her whenever I was away from her.

“Let’s look at this.” I lifted my chin, indicating the plans I’d collected from the architects. “Then let’s crawl into bed and make sure the mattress works.”

She inhaled. “Okay. I’m nervous, though. That mattress is going to see some action. It needs to be robust.”

I growled and buried my head in her neck before releasing her and turning to the table. I slid the thin sheets of paper out of the tube and without me saying anything, she held one end while I unrolled the other.

“Wow,” we said in unison at the front elevation.

“Hang on, I’m going to get something to hold down the corners.” I disappeared into the kitchen and grabbed a handful of cutlery. That should do it.

“I knew spoons would be useful,” she said, weighing down the corners so the pages didn’t curl. “It looks amazing. What do you think?”

“It’s great—let’s look at the floor plans.”

I pulled off the first sheet of paper to reveal the floor plan of the one-story building that would be twenty feet from our house. “The rooms are all big, with wide walkways.” We poured over the details as if we were looking at a treasure map.

“Great, though we might not need wheelchair access forever. I mean, Michael’s standing now. Still, my dad will love it. Michael will love it.” She shook her head. “Are you sure you’re okay having them so close?”

She couldn’t think I had a single doubt, could she? “Of course I’m sure. I like your dad and Michael and I want them to be happy, and I’m grateful they said yes.”

When Avery had finished up the season and her yachting career I’d met her in Miami and we’d flown back to Sacramento for two weeks before coming to London. While we were in California, I’d floated the idea of Avery’s family moving to England. Her father had said he’d be open to it down the line, but in the meantime he’d insisted that Avery apply to universities in London. Avery had resisted at first, until her dad had made her see that if she went back to Sacramento every holiday, she’d still end up seeing them more than she would have if she’d continued to work on yachts. It was the sort of thing my father would have done, and I admired how Mr. Walker put his daughter first.

“And if there’s a house right there, next to us, they can stay for as long as they like, right?”

“Exactly. That’s why we bought this place, after all,” I said as I slid my hands around her waist, looking over her shoulder at the life we were building.

“I don’t think my dad realized. Not at first.”

“Realized?”

Her hands slipped over mine. “You know, understood how this was it. That we were forever.”

Happiness tugged at my chest as the certainty in her voice took hold. Avery had such an open heart—it hadn’t taken long for me to convince her that I’d never let her down again. I’d never again question her integrity or wonder about her loyalty. She was more than I deserved, and I’d do everything in my power to be worthy of the trust that she had in me, in us, for the rest of our lives.

“I love you, Avery Walker.”

She turned around in my arms and cupped my face in her hands. “I know. I love you, too.”

I released her for a second and picked up the black gift bag I’d brought in from the car.

“You and I have been to some beautiful places. We’ve taken in breathtaking scenery, gazed out onto the ocean together, watched the sunrise over the water. But I thought being here, in our home, looking over these plans would be the most suitable place to propose.” I pulled out a velvet box from the bag.

“Propose?” she asked.

“Are you surprised?” We’d been clear about how we felt about each other, wasn’t this the next step?

“I don’t know. I guess it already feels like we’re married. I never expected a formal proposal.” Her eyes flicked from me to the box.

I chuckled. “Are you saying no?”

“You haven’t asked.” She traced her finger over the edge of a blue-velvet corner. “And I haven’t seen the ring.” She winked.

I got fun, relaxed Avery all the time now. Since she’d finished her last season, the only time I’d seen the chief stewardess was when she’d been applying for college courses or talking to the therapists about her brother’s progress.

“So if the ring’s ugly, you might say no?” I asked.

She pulled in a breath as if she was thinking about her response. “I don’t know. I guess it depends on how ugly.”

I snapped open the box to reveal the princess-cut diamond solitaire.

She pressed her lips together and nodded. “I would say that’s a pass.”

“A pass?” I asked, chuckling. The ring was four carats and the highest quality diamond I could find. “I thought this size was wearable, but if it takes something bigger for you to say yes, just say the word.” I sighed in mock exasperation.

She shrugged. “I guess you won’t know until you ask.”

I pulled her toward me and dipped to press a kiss to her lips. “Avery Walker, will you marry me?”

“Hayden Wolf, I’ll marry you anytime and every time you ever ask me.”

She was right. We didn’t need a ring or a ceremony to know we would be together forever. Our feelings—our love and respect for each other—were what bound us together. I’d gone looking for a way to save my business and found a woman who brought me to life. I’d never need anything other than Avery Walker. She was my sunset and my sunrise. My choppy waters and my calm seas.

My everything.

Another year later

Avery

I kept a careful eye on my speed as I made my way back from college on the last day of the school year. I was just so eager to get home. Three months of no studying lay ahead of me as I pulled into the driveway. Hayden waved and strode toward the car as I parked.

“School’s out for summer,” he said as he opened the door.

“Sure is, and I got a first for that paper I handed in last week.”

“The Piaget one?” he asked.

How he kept track with all the course-related stuff I talked about, I had no idea. He always seemed so interested in every little detail I ever told him about it.

“That’s the one.” I squeezed his hand before he released me to grab my books from the backseat.

“I have some pretty interesting news myself, actually,” he said as we wandered into the dining room. “I got a call today—Cannon is being sold.”

“Wow, are you going to buy it?” Although I’d admired the way Hayden hadn’t wanted to go after Cannon in revenge, I’d always wanted them to get their comeuppance, not just for what they’d done to my family, but also what they’d done to Hayden’s father.

He shook his head. “There’s no way he’d ever sell to me. But it was good to get the call. Apparently, they aren’t expecting any cash for it. They just want someone to take on their debt.”

I stopped walking and turned to face Hayden. “What, so it will be free as long as whoever buys it takes on their loans?”

“Exactly. I was right. They overpaid for the companies they stole from me. The man who sent my father into bankruptcy and tried to destroy us is paying the ultimate price.”

“Wow, how do you feel?” I asked as I headed inside.

“Pleased that I wasn’t the cause of their failure. I never wanted one man’s bitterness to affect the way I lived my life.”

“God, you know how hot it gets me when you’re all principled and ethical and shit.”

Hayden chuckled. “Hold that thought. My brother’s inside, talking with your dad and Michael.”

I huffed as if I’d been deprived of Hayden’s body for weeks, when in reality he’d fucked me this morning before classes.

“Hey, guys,” I called as we wandered into the kitchen.

“You really should get a games console set up in here,” Michael said. “I want to kick Landon’s ass at Sniper Elite.”

“Yeah, as if,” Landon said. “You know I was in the SAS, right?”

“As far as I can tell, you just sit behind a desk now,” Michael shot back.

I’d gotten used to Landon and Michael. They’d become firm friends and were always poking fun at each other.

“Aren’t you going back to America anytime soon?” Landon said, though he knew they lived here now.

“Landon,” Hayden called over in warning as he opened the fridge to take out some wine.

“Don’t worry, son,” my dad said, bringing up a plate and opening the dishwasher. “You’ll never get rid of us now. Can’t get enough of this beautiful weather,” he said, nodding to the windows where it had just started to pour with rain.

I laughed. “Thank God you’re handsome or I might have had to call this engagement off rather than live with the rain all year. It’s June, for Pete’s sake.”

“I thought you’d have had enough sun to last you a lifetime,” Hayden replied. “But perhaps we should charter a yacht this summer? Are you missing life on the ocean waves?”

I slipped my hands up his chest. “I don’t miss anything when I’m with you.”

“I’ll tell you what I’m missing,” my dad interrupted.

“Maybe a charter for two is a good idea,” I said, laughing.

“I’m missing a wedding and grandchildren,” my dad said. “When are you kids going to get on with it?”

“Ask your daughter, sir. I’m ready whenever she is,” Hayden replied.

“I wanna finish college, Dad. Life’s so good right now. I just want to enjoy it for a while, just as it is.”

My dad huffed and turned back to the dining area where Michael and Landon were arguing about something.

“You know, we could get married this summer,” Hayden said. “We don’t have to think about the babies thing until you graduate, but I’d like to marry you before you finish school.”

“You would?” I said, stroking his chin with my finger, and he dipped to kiss me.

“I really would.”

How was it possible I’d gotten this lucky? As much as life had turned on a dime that afternoon down by the river, it had shifted again the day I’d met Hayden Wolf. And for nothing but the better. I had him in my life forever and that gave me a certainty that no matter what was ahead of us, the future was only full of happiness.

“I’ll marry you this summer—hell, I’d marry you tomorrow. But let’s not do the babies quite yet. I want you to myself for a while longer.”

“Want to do it in Taormina? I know how much you love Italy,” he asked.

“I don’t care where we go. I just don’t want my honeymoon to be on a yacht.” It might rain a lot in England, but I’d never missed the constant sun of the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.

He pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head as we stood watching our families laugh and joke together. “No yachts, I promise. Just you and me and whoever else we want to invite, wherever you want it to be.”

“As long as I get to walk down the aisle to you, then the rest will just fall into place.” As long as I had every sunrise and sunset with him by my side, nothing else mattered.