“Are you ever going to let me read your book?” I asked Hannah bemusedly. “You’ve been writing it for nearly a year and still I haven’t read a single word of it.”

“Oh I don’t know, I’m nervous,” she replied with an anxious giggle. “It’s a bit much. Maybe... maybe I could read you some of it aloud, see what you think. Then if you like it you can read the whole thing?”

“Alright,” I rolled my eyes and chuckled. “But you know that I’ll love it.”

“Okay, here it goes...” she was shaking, I could see her whole body trembling with nerves. This just proved how important writing was to Hannah, which made me even prouder of her. She was throwing her all into this, putting her heart and soul into it, which made the both of us very happy. “Kara glanced from side to side, her chest buzzed with terror. He was watching her, she just knew it. It was pretty obvious now that he never stopped. All the things he’s seen made her sick to her stomach, but even worse than that was what he might do to her when he eventually made his move...”

“Ooh, that’s chilling! So what’s the plotline? Tell me what happens. I mean, I’ll still want to read it, but you know how impatient I am. I need to know everything now.”

“Okay, well it’s about a stalker, and how that impacts on Kara’s life. The mystery is a huge element to it, but that’s not the only part. It’s also about the emotional turmoil it has on her. She spends the whole plot thinking that it’s her ex-boyfriend, until he ends up dead.”

“So who is it?” I burst out excitedly. “Come on, you’ve got to give me that much.”

“You’ll have to just read it,” she smirked as she closed her laptop up. “I can’t give you everything, I want to know how much you enjoy the surprise.”

Speaking of surprises...

“So, what is your plan for tonight?” I asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible. “Do you have anything on?”

“Erm, no I don’t think so. I was supposed to be having dinner with my dad, but he canceled last minute. He didn’t say much, but I think he’s taking Mindy out instead.”

A lot had changed in the last year, all of it positive. Things between Hannah and her dad were so good now, so much so that he felt comfortable dating someone new. It was all early days, and everyone was stepping very carefully around the subject, but it was progress, and that was awesome.

Joe was great with me too, in fact, it was under my command that he’s cancelled his dinner with Hannah. He knew what I wanted to do, and he supported me wholeheartedly. Having his support had helped Hannah and I growing in a way that we might not have done otherwise, I would always be grateful to him for that.

In fact, everything about Hannah was different, she was barely recognizable from the woman I first met. She was calmer now, more in control of her emotions, just so much happier. She’s dealt with her demons, and came out on the other side, and now I wanted to take all of that one step forward.

“Okay, so would you like to have dinner with me instead?” I asked, snaking my arms around her from behind. As I nestled my head into her hair, and I inhaled her wonderful scent, my heart jumped about excitedly in my chest. Giving up life as I knew it for Hannah was scary, but it was also the best thing I could’ve done. Choosing my heart for once had given me everything that I wanted.

“Ooh, is this to celebrate my thirtieth birthday?” she teased me, turning around to kiss me lightly on the lips. “You know that’s not for a few months, you can take me out nearer the time.”

“You can remind me all you want, but I will forget your birthday,” I chuckled in reply. “I’m sorry, I just can’t help it.”

“I won’t let you, but I will let you take me out to dinner.”

“Actually, what I’m going to do is to cook for you, so be home by six, okay? I know that you have a busy day of meetings ahead of you, but make sure you’re back by then.”

“Will do!”

My eyes darted furiously around the room, desperately hunting for mistakes. I’ve been planning this for ages, I’ve been preparing this all day long, but I still had the horrible sense that I was missing something obvious. I just needed this to be absolutely perfect... the way that Hannah and I had fallen into one another’s arms was complex, messy, anything but simple, but now we were in a very good place and I needed to cement that with the best night of her life.

“Cooey, anyone home?”

Her tone sounded happy, that gave me hope. We hadn’t talked much about it, Hannah desperately didn’t want to jinx it, but she had meetings all afternoon with a potential literary agent that wanted to sign her. Either way, we would be fine, I was certain her writing was good enough to get signed anywhere, but I could just tell that there was a whole heap of pressure hanging over her head.

“Yeah, I’m here. Hold on.”

I raced out into the hallway, wanting to hear her news first. As my eyes ran over her body, I was reminded of why I fell in love with her in the first place. Sure, she didn’t flash the flesh as much as she used to, but she still looked incredibly hot... maybe even more so.

“So, how are you?”

“Oh my God, I’m amazing!” she squealed excitedly. “You will not believe what happened to me today. The agent loved me, and my book too. They want to sign me, he reckons he’ll find me a publisher easily. He even insisted that I start writing the next one.”

“I’m not surprised,” I wrapped my arms around her, and spun her around happily. “You’re amazing.”

“You haven’t even read my writing yet!”

“But I can now, right? There’s no way you can stop me now, surely? I have to read it before the public does, it’s only fair.”

“Alright, fair enough, but I can’t see your face as you read. I’ll die with embarrassment.” She pulled back and kissed me hard on the mouth. “Now I’m thirsty as hell, and I’m dying to know what you’re cooking for dinner too.”

As she started walking towards the kitchen, swinging her hips with each step, my heart pounded angrily again. God, I was so freaking scared, I just had no idea how she’d react. Ever since we first got together, Hannah and I hadn’t discussed our future so this was going to be a massive surprise to her... but that was what I wanted. Okay, we didn’t talk about it aloud, but I felt like it was totally obvious that we both wanted to be together forever, so I was confident she’d like the shock... but still...

“Oh my God,” she gasped, clapping her hand to her chest. “What is all of this?”

Her eyes were dreaming in the endless flowers, the mood lighting, the romantic music. Seeing it through her gaze, I could see that I’ve been wrong to worry. Somehow, despite all the nerves, I’ve managed to pull this off.

“I thought this was just a normal dinner?”

My face heated up, I felt a small shiver run up and down my spine, there was no point in worrying anymore, no point in holding back. I needed to just do it.

“Hannah, nothing about us is normal,” I laughed, while grabbing onto her hands. “And I love that about us. You’re gorgeous, sweet, funny, talented...” As she gasped, my eyes fixed firmly on hers, needing to see everything she was feeling. “I love absolutely everything about you, I have done ever since the very first time I saw you.”

“Even when I was screaming like a madwoman?” she giggled a little hysterically.

“Yes, even when you were acting crazy.” I smirked at the memory. “I saw what you were underneath, and I loved that side of you. And I know things haven’t exactly always been... smooth since then, but still you’re perfect for me.”

I fell to one knee and tugged the box out of my pocket. I was supposed to do this over dinner, but this felt much more us. Random, spur of the moment, exciting.

“Oh my God,” Hannah had tears trickling from her eyes now, but I got the distinct impression they were happy ones... at least, I hoped! “Are you for real?”

I flicked the box open and revealed the princess cut diamond I’ve agonized over for hours. I needed it to be just the right one and it’d taken me a while to find it. “I am for real, I want you to be my wife. I want to love you forever, I want to make you happy, I want us to be bonded... I want to marry you. So what do you say?”

Her face went pale then red, then pale once more. I could hear her heart hammering as loudly as mine. For a split second I was absolutely petrified that I’ve acted too soon, that she was going to say no...

“Yes, of course I will!” she eventually whispered. “I would love to be your wife.”

I jumped up and hugged her, while sliding the ring onto her finger. It looked amazing there, connecting us, declaring our love to the outside world, I couldn’t have been happier if I tried. I held her cheeks in my hands and pulled her in for a light, romantic kiss, sealing our bond forever more.

I was Hannah’s.

She was mine.

Now, we were about to make it official, and I seriously couldn’t wait!