Page 25

Past: The Year of the Accident—Twenty-Four Years Old

“You look so cute when you’re serious, Nova.” I grin as we sit cross-legged in front of the roaring fireplace in my apartment, watching my girlfriend glare at the leather journal like it’s her worst enemy.

Liam is in Aspen with a few friends for the holidays and is coming back later today.

The idiot made fun of me when I told him I didn’t want to go.

Little did he know, I had plans with his little sister.

I stifle a yawn—it’s a little past seven in the morning and the skies are cold and dreary outside.

Normally, I’d already be up and taking a shower after swimming ten laps in the pool, but a certain vixen kept me up last night, then dragged me out of bed after a few hours of sleep to brainstorm on her list.

Let’s just say my routines are now in the trash can.

“It is serious! I’m setting my goals for the next twenty years! Do you know how big of a commitment that is?” She stabs her pen on the paper.

Jab. Jab. Jab.

Chuckling, I reach over and stop her.

“Patience is definitely not your strong suit.”

“I had a year to finalize this list and I still couldn’t! And now, I only have,” she scans down the list of scribbles that include crossed out words, hearts and stars doodled around certain items, and phrases circled in red, “two items. ”

She growls.

“Two items, Ethan! I’m supposed to complete the list, prioritize them, and start on my first item next week.”

“Because you just turned twenty.”

“Exactly. No longer a teenager.” She sits up straighter, a proud smile on her face.

“I’m doing well in college, know I want to do marketing when I graduate, and have a good boyfriend.”

I arch my brow.

“Just good?”

“Oh yeah. I’d give him a meets expectations. His taste in food is horrible—all that green stuff all the time is such a bore, but we’ll work on that.”

“What’s that container on the dining room table? Leftover lasagna and cheesy breadsticks. And those chips—who bought them? Me.” I groan, slapping a hand on my forehead.

“You’ve turned me into a messy man who eats shit all the time.”

“Shit! What do you mean, shit? Okay, I take that back. Below expectations. A D-minus. No, an F, because—”

My lips twitch, but I force a growl out of my throat.

“An F? Oh, you started it!”

She squeals when I throw a colorful cushion—one of those jewel-colored, Bohemian patterned, with tassels and everything—at her.

She brought them over because she said the apartment looks boring with the white walls, gray couch and furnishings.

What can I say? Liam and I aren’t complicated guys.

Another cushion hits me in the face and I jump up.

“That’s it. This is war!”

“Ethan!” She laughs when I pin her to the Persian carpet, her delectable body wriggling below me.

My breath stalls as I watch her smile slip away when she realizes I have her wrists locked above her head.

Under the flickering glow from the fireplace, I see her pupils dilating and the smallest flecks of gray in her blue irises, which will forever remind me of a bright sunny day, just like her.

A flush blooms on her creamy skin and my lungs seize.

“Have I ever told you blue is my favorite color on you?” she whispers.

I look at the navy sweater I pulled on this morning—my closet is filled with various shades of blue now.

“Do you know why I wear blue a lot?” I kiss the tip of her nose.

She shakes her head.

“It’s because the color reminds me of your eyes.”

“Ethan,” she gasps, her eyes slowly welling with moisture.

It’s been over a year of us sneaking around behind Liam’s back, and I thought I’d be afraid to be in a relationship or I’d get cold feet.

After all, I used to run away from commitments like they were contagious diseases.

But with Alexis, my Nova, I’ve only become more addicted, falling deeper and deeper in love with her with each passing day.

I can’t live without her.

It’s not a passing thought or an exaggeration.

I know it in my gut and in each strong heartbeat pounding loudly inside me.

“I love you, Nova.” I brush the strands of fiery hair away from her face.

“So damn much. You made me brave. You made me comfortable with myself.”

My index finger grazes the bridge of her nose and a warm smile curves her lips.

Love in a single gesture.

“My world is filled with more colors and possibilities ever since I met you. You opened my eyes and I’m finally seeing.”

“My poet,” she murmurs and cups my face.

I lean into her touch, our breaths mingling.

“I love you too, Ethan. My north star. Because when I look at you, I know that no matter what curveballs life throws at me, I’ll be fine. Because you’ll be there, protecting me, taking care of me, and guiding me. I’ll always gravitate toward you.”

A desperate urge floods my veins.

I crush my lips against hers.

Flames singe every part of me—my body blazing not from the heat of the fireplace, but from the entire being that’s her.

The rightness of everything.

My Nova with her north star .

The keeper with his dreamer—I’ll always be the keeper of her dreams.

“Marry me.” The words come out of my mouth, unbidden.

My eyes widen, not in shock, but in how right they are.

Yes, I want this woman to be my wife.

She’s it for me. I know it as well as I know my name.

Alexis’s lips part in a silent gasp, her brilliant eyes the size of dinner plates.

“W-What?”

Pulling her up, a frenetic energy courses through me.

There’s a thread of unease, a need to make her mine this very instant.

A strange fear that someone or something will take her away from me.

It makes no sense.

It probably stems from the intensity of my love—a sensation I’m unfamiliar with until I met her.

“Marry me, Lexy. I know we’re young, so we don’t need to do it now. But you’re it for me. I love you so damn much. I don’t think I can breathe without you. It might be too much, but I—”

Moisture pools in her eyes, and she gives me a wobbly smile.

“Ethan. I…I love you so much too. I—”

Then she stills.

“But our families still don’t know about us.”

We plan to date in private until she graduates and if we’re still together, then we’ll tell our families.

I was still a commitment-phobe back then—still puttering around on my training wheels.

Why risk my friendship with Liam over something that may be temporary?

It drove Lexy crazy, but she relented because we set a deadline and she knew I was a man of my word.

I’m an idiot.

“I don’t give a shit if Liam or Charles get pissed at me. I don’t want to wait to tell them anymore. They’ll just have to suck it up if they want us in their lives. I choose you, Lexy. ”

Her lips wobble, and a tear rolls down her cheek.

It’s like no one has ever told her that before.

My heart clenches—her tears destroy me—and if I didn’t know they were of happiness, I’d want to bash my head against a wall for causing her pain.

I’ll choose her every day.

I’ll whisper it to her again and again until she no longer has that sad look on her face.

“I don’t want you to regret this, Ethan.”

I shake my head.

“I won’t.”

A loud whipping sound crashes from the outside and she shrieks.

Instinct takes over—I pull her against me as we snap toward the windows.

“Looks like you may get your wish after all. The first snowstorm of the new year.” My breath is uneven, the earlier unease winding tight around my lungs.

Just a snowstorm. Strong winds.

Nothing to worry about.

Alexis squeals in excitement and hurries to the window.

She smashes her face against it like a kid hoping to glimpse Santa on Christmas morning.

Snorting, I walk over to see what has her so enthralled.

“Yes! I had a good feeling today. This is good mojo—the skies are giving us a sign today’s the day we’ll get those goals finalized.”

She leaps into action and flies into the bedroom, appearing a few seconds later in a thick, fluffy, pink bathrobe.

“Come on!” She doesn’t wait for a response and darts toward the door. What on earth?