He crossed the room and sat beside her, studying her beautiful face—the one he wanted to wake up to every day for the rest of his life. Taking the ring out of his pocket, he held it between his thumb and index fingers as he leaned forward to kiss her cheek.
It was time.
“Suga … wake up. I need to talk to you about something.”
“Ethan … sleep.”
“No, suga. I’ve got something really important to talk to you about. It can’t wait any longer.”
He traced the line of her face with his free hand and watched as her eyes languidly opened, a warm and loving curve touching her full, kissable lips.
“Hi, sleepyhead.”
“Hi,” she replied, her head leaning into his palm. He kissed her mouth then followed it with two quick pecks before removing his hand from her face. She pushed herself into a seated position and leaned in for another kiss. “I love your kisses,” she murmured against his mouth as she moved her lips against his.
“Same here,” he said, punctuating that with a kiss on her full, bottom lip. “So, suga, what do you consider us? What am I to you?”
She cupped his face, her eyes bright as they held his, a sweet smile transforming her mouth. “You are my everything, Ethan. That’s the term I would use. You are my lover, my best friend, my protector. We may have been apart for a long time, but in this moment, I can say that I love you more than I ever have,” she paused, placing a feather-soft kiss on his lips. She stopped the kiss but didn’t remove her lips from his mouth so when she spoke he felt the vibrations from her voice. “Does that answer your question?”
He wrapped his arms tightly around her. “I love you too.”
Ethan reluctantly broke the embrace. Knowing what he was going to ask was the only reason he stopped. He was excited to get on with this phase of his life.
With a quick glance down at the ring in his hand, he took a deep breath. Her loud intake of breath had him looking up at her and found her eyes filling up with tears, a wavering smile upon her gorgeous face. Yeah, it definitely was time.
“So, I had a feeling I would need this,” he said, holding up the ring for her to see. “Were you serious about being in my life for good?”
Her grin stretched from ear to ear and the tears flowed from her eyes like a monsoon. “Very serious.”
“Now, this is the last time I want to ask this.”
“It’s the last time I want to hear it,” she quickly replied.
He knelt before her just like that night four years ago when he’d asked her to marry him for the first time. She scooted around to face him, her teeth capturing her stretched bottom lip.
“Mia, will you be my forever?”
“I will, Ethan,” she said, right before launching herself at him, knocking them both to the ground. They both laughed heartily before she attached her mouth to his. He sighed at the rightness of it. This was what his life should be—him, Mia, and their children—lots and lots of children.
“We made it back, Mia.”
“We did it. I’m never going to let you go ever again!” she exclaimed, kissing him all over.
Rolling them to their sides, he placed his hand over her stomach. With a smile, she put her hand on his and held it to her belly.
“So, not only are we going to be parents now, we’re gonna be husband,” she said with a kiss to his lips, “and wife.”
“I can’t tell you how fucking happy I am right now.”
“I’m sorry for ever making you unhappy. Now,” she said with a knowing grin on her beautiful face, “I know there will be times when that might happen again, but I’ll do my damnedest to make those times few and far between. Now put that ring on my finger!”
Taking her hand, he caressed her ring finger with his thumb from the knuckle to the tip before slowly sliding the ring on her finger where it belonged. With the ring now back on her finger, he realized they needed to get married before the baby came. Not only that, he wanted her his as soon as possible.
“Holy shit, Mia! We need to get married fast! How ‘bout Vegas?”
“Uh, no way! I want a real wedding. The dress, the walking down the aisle, and having you there at the end waiting