Page 77 of When Hearts Remember

“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 howrightthey 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?

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