More With You (27 page)

I crawl into bed next to her and pull her down on my chest.  She fits perfectly.  I pull the covers up over us and kiss her temple.  “Sleep, baby.  I love you.”

“Love you,” she says with a yawn.

I lay there holding her, gently stroking her back. I can’t believe she’s here. She’s mine after all this time. I’m going to fight like hell, and tell her every day what she means to me. I want forever with this girl. I hug her tighter, close my eyes, and fall into the best night of sleep I can ever remember, holding my girl in my arms.

I wake the next morning to someone knocking on my bedroom door.  Hailey grumbles, “go away” and scoots closer to me.  I chuckle as I brush the hair from her face.

“Morning, angel.”

The knocking continues. “Aiden, have you seen Hailey? She’s not in her room.” Allison asks through the door. Her voice is laced with concern.

Hailey giggles. “Aiden Emerson, you better not have a girl in there with you. Open this damn door,” Allison seethes.

I smile at Hales. “I think you should get it. It’s your giggling that pissed her off,” I tease her.

“Ugh.” Hailey climbs out of bed and throws me a pair of gym shorts.  She grabs my shirt from the floor and slips it on over her head. 

She starts for the door and I call out to her, “Hailey.” She turns and I motion for her to come to me. She does. “No matter what, it’s you and me. You’re my girl, nothing is going to change that,” I tell her.

She smiles her breathtaking smile, kisses my cheek, and saunters to the door shaking her fine ass as she goes. Damn minx.

She pulls open the door and Allison’s mouth drops open.  She takes Hailey in and what she’s wearing. She looks over Hailey’s shoulder and spots me sitting up in bed.  Sans shirt.  I smile and wave. 

“Did you…are you…” Allison can’t form a sentence, and I can’t help but laugh at her. 

Hailey looks over her shoulder and smiles at me.  “Yeah, we did, and yeah, we are,” she says, looking right at me.  My hearts skips a beat just at the sight of her standing there in my shirt, voice still raspy with sleep.  She fucking gorgeous and she’s mine.

“Holy shit!  Finally!”  Allison screams as she tackles Hailey in a hug.  I throw my head back and laugh. 

Liam comes rushing into the room. “What’s going on? Why are you yelling?” His eyes are roaming over Allison, making sure she’s okay. After coming to the conclusion that she is, indeed, fine, his eyes move to Hailey. He takes in her appearance and I see the moment realization hits. “Are you happy, Hales?” he asks quietly.

“Deliriously,” she replies.

A smile breaks across his face. “Finally, you two have come to your senses. Now maybe, I can have my best friend and my sister back,” he teases.

I hop out of bed and join them at the door. I place an arm around Hailey’s waist and haul her against my chest. “What’s for breakfast?” I ask and we all laugh. Everything is right. Hales is mine and I couldn’t be happier.

The rest of the week flies by.  Hailey and Allison hang out while Liam and I are at camp.  At night, I spend time with my girl, and make love to her.  Tonight is her last night here.  She has to go back tomorrow because she starts nursing school on Monday.  It’s going to kill me to let her go, but this is her dream.  I want her to have everything she could ever want.  I will be racking up some miles on the ol’ Tahoe.

“So, long distance. You think we can do this?” she asks as we lay in bed.

“Yes.  No question in my mind.  You are my life, Hailey.  This has been the best week of my existence, and I want nothing more than to tie you to my bed and keep you here, but I can’t.  You need to finish school and make your dreams come true.  I’ll be here when you’re done.  Actually, I’ll be there to pack your ass up and move you here with me.  One year, baby.  Twelve months.  We got this,” I tell her. 

“I’m going to miss you, miss sleeping in your arms,” she says softly.

“I will be there as much as I can, and when you get a break from class, you come to me.”

“We got this,” she repeats my words.

I hold her tight, not looking forward to tomorrow. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep for the last night for a while with my girl in my arms.

The last few months have been sweet agonizing pleasure.  It’s been a little over five months since Hailey and I became an official couple, and I have never been happier in my life.  It’s hard going all week not seeing her, and away games sucked, but she traveled to a few that were close and she made every single home game.  Hailey loves school, and that makes the separation a hell of a lot easier to take.  It makes her happy, which makes me happy.  I thought I loved her then, those feelings pale in comparison to how I feel about her now. 

Today is the day that my best friend marries my sister. Liam and Allison are getting married. It’s a small affair, just close friends and family. Allison doesn’t have any family other than me and my parents, so they are keeping it simple. Hailey and I make up the entire wedding party as best man and maid-of-honor.  She tried her dress on for me last night, and I just about swallowed my tongue.  She takes my breath away every fucking time I look at her. 

Liam, Allison, and our parents have been helping me with a surprise that I have planned for Hailey.  Tonight, I’m going to ask her to marry me.  I want every part of her engrained with every part of me, forever.  I’ve been planning this for a while, since day one, I think.  It was actually Allison who suggested I do it tonight.  At first, I fought it, not wanting to take away from their day.  They both insisted that it will just make the day more memorable.  So here I am, in a small room in the reception hall.  I’m standing on a ladder with glow-in-the-dark stars.  I’m writing
Marry Me
on the ceiling.  The inspiration comes from that night by the pond at Liam and Allison’s engagement party.  The stars were so bright that night, an amazing background to the start of our future.  Even though that night ended badly, the start of it was spectacular and I remember every single fucking second of my time with her under the stars. 

I place the final star as my cell rings. It’s Liam.

“Hello?” I say climbing down the ladder. I could have paid someone to do this, but I wanted it to be me. It means more knowing that I did this for her.

“Where in the hell are you? Hailey is starting to freak that you’re not here,” he says, frustrated.

“Relax, man.  I’m in the building. I was just finishing my surprise.  My mom is going to take care of the champagne, and my dad has the ring for now.  I have your ring for Allie in my pocket.”  I reach into my pocket for reassurance that it is, indeed, still there. 

“Thank fuck!” Liam says. I hope I can hold it together a little better when Hales and I get our turn. Who am I kidding? I’ll probably sob like a fucking baby at the relief that she is legally mine.

“I’m on my way,” I tell him.  I shut off the light and lock the door, placing the key in my pocket.  I rush through a shower and dress quickly in my tux.  My dad comes in to tell us that it’s almost time.  He also goads Liam, telling him how beautiful Allison looks.  My dad is walking her down the aisle.  I can still remember how nervous she was to ask him. My dad welled up with tears at her request. She is our family in every sense of the word.

The wedding is simple and elegant, and very much Allison.  I can tell that she had a hand in every single detail of the day.  She and Liam both are wearing permanent smiles.  My hand slides into my pocket and I grasp the box that my father slipped me after my best man speech.  It’s time for me to surprise my girl and ask her to give me her forever.  The song I requested begins to play.  I chose Dierks Bentley “Breathe Me In”.  That’s the same song that was playing at the engagement party when I asked her to take a walk with me.  Fits well with the theme of the night.

Hailey is talking to our parents. They all know what’s about to happen. My palms are sweaty. I know she loves me, but there is always the unknown fear of rejection. I walk up behind Hailey and place my hand on her hip. “Dance with me,” I whisper in her ear. She looks over her shoulder at me, and smiles.

I grab her hand and lead her out to the dance floor.  I pull her close and breathe her in, just like Dierks tells me to.  Hailey goes up on her tiptoes and kisses me tenderly.  This girl owns me.  The song comes to an end and I almost miss it because of her kiss.

“Take a walk with me,” I whisper. She smiles, the one that she reserves just for me, and I know she remembers. My plan is falling into place. I lead her to the hallway and pull a thin black scarf out of my pocket. “I have a surprise for you, baby,” I tell her. “I need to place this over your eyes. I promise it won’t be tight and I will not mess up your hair,” I vow. 

She laughs and there has never been a sweeter sound. “Who cares about my hair? The night is almost over,” she says.

I gently place the blind fold over her eyes.  I make sure it’s not too tight.  After I’m confident that she can no longer see, I place my hand in the small of her back and guide her down the hallway.  I stop in front of the door.  I reach into my pocket and pull out the key.  I slide the key into the lock and it makes a clicking sound.  “Aiden?”

“I just had to unlock the door, baby,” I assure her, leading her into the room.  I shut the door behind us and turn the lock back into place.  I need this moment to just be ours, I can’t risk our family busting in and ruining the moment. 

I step behind Hailey and place a tender kiss at the base of her neck.  The room is dark except for the glow of my heart spelled out in stars on the ceiling,
Marry Me.
 
Here goes nothing.

“Baby, can you tilt your head back for me and keep your eyes closed?”

“Yes,” she whispers into the quiet room.

I feel my way to the blindfold and untie it. I slip it from her eyes and shove it into my pocket, replacing the ring box. I walk around to the front of her and go down on one knee.

“Open your eyes, angel,” I say huskily.

I hear her gasp. “Aiden!” she says. I can hear the emotion in her voice. I clap my hands and a lamp turns on and illuminates the room with a soft glow. Yes, I used a clapper and I am proud of my well thought out eBay purchase.

I open the box; she places a hand over her mouth trying to drown out the sobs.  She is crying big tears.  If it weren’t for the huge smile lighting up her eyes, I would be scared as hell, but the look in her face, she wants this and my confidence rises. 

“Hailey, you are the love of my life, the most important person in my world.  You never leave my mind no matter what’s going on in my day.  These past several months have been the happiest and the hardest of my life.  I hate being away from you, but I love the fact that I know no matter where you are, you’re mine and I’m yours.  My love for you knows no bounds.  I love you with every beat of my heart.  Will you do me the incredible honor of being my wife?”

Hailey launches herself into my arms and we fall backwards. She kisses me hard. I laugh because I can only assume that this means she’s saying yes, but I need to hear the words.

I sit up with her in my lap. I brush a loose tendril of hair from her eyes. I take the ring out of the box and slip it on her finger. “I need to hear you say it, baby.”

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Aiden Emerson, you are my heart and I want nothing more than to be your wife.

I rest my forehead against hers. “Thank you for giving me your forever.”

I hear cheers outside the door and realize our families must be out there eavesdropping. They had to have heard Hailey’s triple yes. I laugh. “That would be our families,” I tell her.

“Do they know?” she asks.

“Yes, they know. I had to ask your parents’ for permission. I also discussed it with Liam, and by default, Allison. I told my parents because, well, they’re my parents.”

“You’re a dream come true, Aiden Emerson.”

“As are you, future Mrs. Emerson.”

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