He pulled up the private driveway and approached the cobblestone house in the Tuscan countryside. It was a beautiful two-story home with a gorgeous double front door. He parked and killed the engine. “Holy shit, this place is yours?”
“Ours.”
I hopped out of the truck and ran to the entryway. “Oh my god, it’s so fucking cute.” I tugged on the door handle, anxious to get inside.
He chuckled as he came up behind me, pulling out the keys. “Baby, it’s locked.”
I stomped my foot like a child.
He got the key in the door and opened it so I could go first.
“This doesn’t even look like a house you’d buy.”
“I didn’t.”
I looked at him over my shoulder.
“Won it.”
“Won it, how?”
“Poker match.”
I didn’t ask any details before I walked across the hardwood floors, saw the old staircase that hadn’t been touched since it was built, the Italian wallpaper with splashes of blue and white. “It’s so beautiful.” I moved farther into the house, looked at the enormous kitchen that was made for dinner parties. There was a nice dining room and a gorgeous view of the backside of the property, a pool with a cobblestone back patio, along with grass, trees, ivy on the walls, flower beds everywhere. I practically pressed my nose to the glass.
He came up behind me. “We’re moving, aren’t we?”
“Why didn’t you live here in the first place?” I turned around to face him. “If you’d chained me up here, I never would have left.”
He smiled at the comment. “Doesn’t have the best security.”
“But we don’t need security anymore, right?”
He shook his head.
“Can we live here?” I asked, moving into his chest with my hands pressed together. “Please, please, please…”
“It’s a bit of a drive to the theatre.”
“Sooooo worth it.”
He continued to grin down at me. “As much as I love watching you beg, you don’t need to do that.” He pulled my hands apart. “Whatever you want, baby.”
“You really wouldn’t mind?”
He shook his head.
“Yes!” I turned back to the window. “It’s the perfect place to raise a family, and I love how old it is. Your place in the city is nice, but it’s so sleek and modern, and I just love more traditional things.”
He pressed his lips to the back of my head. “I have something else to show you.” He opened the back door and led the way.
I followed behind him, loving the awning and patio, the old fireplace that would be perfect on a cold night like tonight would be.
He rounded the corner and moved farther away from the house, approaching a small building made entirely of glass.
“The greenhouse…”
He unlocked the door and opened it for me.
Inside were rows and rows of sunflowers, the misters at the top spraying them with water, the lamps giving them heat when those rainy days didn’t supply enough sunlight. “Oh my god…” I moved to the first sunflower, which was at my eye level, like I was looking into the sun. “This is amazing, Heath.”
He pulled a pocketknife out of his pocket and sliced one flower off the stalk before he handed it to me. “Sunflower.”
I took it, brought it to my nose for a sniff, staring at him while I did it. I didn’t know what to say, how to respond to the most romantic gesture of all time. I held the flower against my chest, overwhelmed by the way he loved me. “You’re so sweet to me.”
He grabbed another flower then came closer to me, dragging the petal down my arm, looking at me with those handsome blue eyes. He nodded to the house. “Want to see the master bedroom?”
I smiled when I understood what he was really asking. “I’d love to.”We lay in bed together in the bedroom where we would soon live. The two flowers were on the sheets beside us because Heath liked to see them on top of me when he made love to me, the yellow petals complementing my olive skin.
Now he rested beside me, his hand holding mine on his chest.
“I have an idea…”
“There’s no food here. Sorry.”
“No,” I said with a chuckle. “I was thinking…what if we get married here?”
“It’s pretty cold to get married outside.”
“We could get married in the greenhouse…”
He turned his head toward me, regarding me with his unreadable gaze. “It’s pretty small.”
“We can fit my family and yours in there.”
“I thought you’d want a big wedding.”
“Not anymore.” I just wanted to get married. I just wanted to be with this man forever. We could have a bigger ceremony in the summer if we wanted to, but being husband and wife, that couldn’t wait. “What do you think of my idea?”
“Baby, I’d marry you in the pouring rain.”
“Yeah?” I scooted closer to him.
“Yeah.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “When do you want to do this?”
“I don’t know… Saturday?”