Chapter Forty-Eight - Ready to start our forever.

(I will add the epilogue tomorrow.)

Skyla

Brandon and I were cuddled up in my bed after making love for the last couple of hours on and off. We had a lot of time to make up for. We came straight to bed after the event. Kelsey decided to stay with her parents so she wouldn’t need to hear us, which I understand entirely.

I have my head on his chest. He has one arm around me while the other is holding my book.

“Damn, angel, where did you get all these dirty ideas from?” he smirks and nudges me.

“Oh, I have a vivid imagination.” I giggle.

He was in complete awe of the dedication to him. I didn’t expect him to start reading it tonight. I was a little embarrassed to start when he was reading it next to me, but I got over it.

“You are so talented, my love.” He says proudly and kisses me softly.

“Thank you, but I think that is enough reading for one night.”

I take the book from him, put a bookmark in it and set it aside.

“Hey, I was enjoying that.” He huffs.

“And you can read it tomorrow. We have a few things we need to discuss before we sleep.” I smile.

We haven’t talked in much detail about him giving everything up for me because we were at the event, and the second we came back here, we were tearing at one another’s clothing.

“We do? About what?”

“What do you think, my love? You are giving up your entire life to come here.” I say softly.

“There is nothing to discuss, sweetheart. My mind is made up. Once my house is sold, I will buy one here for us to live in. I want to make a life here with you, Skyla.” He replies brightly.

“Are you sure? Have you thought it all through? I would love you to be here with me, but only if you are certain it is what you want?”

I need him to be one hundred per cent sure it is what he wants. I would hate for him to resent me.

“Yes. I have never been so sure about anything in my entire life. I want to move here, buy us a home and open a new business. I want us to get married and eventually have a family.” He insists and takes my hand in his.

“You want us to get married?” I smile.

“Yes. I am ready to start our life here, Skyla. There are things that need to be sorted before we get married, of course. I want us to be settled and comfortable first. You are my entire world, angel.” He replies and kisses me softly.

Once we part, I smile brightly at him, “I can’t wait to start our life together without wondering when we will next see one another. It will be amazing to have you home and Kelsey too.” She beams.

“Kelsey?”

“Yes, she has decided to come home too. She was going to talk to you when she returned. She is going to stay here with me until she finds a new job and somewhere to stay. Hope you don’t mind having a roommate.” I laugh.

“Perfect! I wonder if she would be willing to work for me again. She can be my right-hand woman. No, of course, I wouldn’t mind. She is your best friend and has been there for you while I have been acting like an asshole.” he smiles.

“Yes, I am sure she probably would. You should talk to her about it tomorrow.” I suggest.

“I will. She is my best worker. I think she would be a great person to start up with.”

I grin brightly and clap my hands, “Yay! It will be amazing.”

“I love you so fucking much,” he says and presses his lips to mine.

“Mmm, I love you too,” I mumble into his lips.

Brandon rolls onto his back and takes me with him. I sit up on his stomach, and he places his hands on my hips.

“We should get married.” He blurts out.

“Um, did we not just say we would at some point once we are settled?” I snicker.

“I have changed my mind. I don’t want to wait until some point. I mean as soon as possible.”

His voice is a little shaky, telling me he is nervous.

“What do you mean as soon as possible?” I stammer.

“I mean as quickly as we can pull a wedding together. It depends on what type of wedding you want. If you want something small, we could always elope?” he whispers.

I stare at him, “You are being serious?”

“Yes. Skyla, I would have married you months ago if you would have agreed. What better way to start this new chapter than as husband and wife? If you aren’t ready, that is fine too.”

He circles his fingers on my hips, and his beautiful smile grows on his lips.

“I am ready,” I answer without even thinking about it, “But we can’t elope. We can have a small wedding and probably manage to plan everything within a couple of months.” I gush.

“Then we do that. We can start planning straight away.” He beams.

“Are we really going to do this?”

“Yes. I am more than ready to make you my wife, Skyla. I promise I will get you an engagement ring as soon as I can, but for now, all I need is for you to say yes.”

“The ring doesn’t matter, Brandon. Yes, a million times yes.” I whimper and reach down and kiss him.

“I can’t wait for you to become my wife. It has been a rough road for us, but I promise I will make up for it all. We don’t need to be apart again.” he promises.

“I am more than ready for it. It looks like we have a wedding to plan.” I beam, tears brimming in my eyes.

“Yes, we do. I planned on proposing properly, but after tonight, after seeing you after all these weeks and reconnecting, I couldn’t wait any longer. I didn’t want to waste another second. I hope you aren’t disappointed you didn’t get a proper proposal?”

“It was the perfect proposal, Brandon. I have missed you so much. I hate we lost time together, but we have the rest of our lives to make up for it.”

The tears stream down my cheeks.

Brandon reaches in and wipes them away, “The rest of our lives. I love the sound of that. I have known for a while you were the one for me, long before I told you. I fell in love with you so quickly, and it scared the hell out of me, but none of that mattered because I knew you were the love of my life.”

“You scared the hell out of me from day one. I won’t lie; I nearly ran more than once, but a part of me never could. I guess it was my heart’s way of telling me you were the one for me, too. No, things haven’t been easy for us recently, but it can only make us stronger.” I reply and caress his cheek.

“None of us need to be scared now. We will always have each other, my love, no matter what. I promise.”

I believed every word of it—us against the world. I never thought one summer would change my entire life. I left Scotland to get away from a broken heart, but what I didn’t expect was to meet the one man who could heal it. Heal me and help me learn how to love myself. And now, here we are, planning the rest of our lives together, and I couldn’t be happier. I couldn’t ask for anything. My life is perfect, and I am ready for whatever the future brings our way.