Page 86 of Wild Heart

Just as I was about to reach for my phone to call her, I heard a noise coming from somewhere downstairs. I sat up in the bed, looked around the room, and noted that some of Ava’s clothes were still here, as well as her purse. I could only assume that it was her who’d made the noise downstairs.

Relief swept through me as I tossed back the blanket and got out of bed. After pulling on a pair of sweats, I descended the stairs to go in search of Ava.

And once I’d made it to the kitchen, I learned that there was just one more thing I wasn’t interested in doing. I didn’t want to live with regret. With all that we’d been through, all that we’d endured to get to where we were now, it seemed foolish to waste any of the time we did have together worrying about the things that we couldn’t go back and fix.

Unfortunately, no matter how badly I wanted to forget my mistakes, it was difficult not to when they were staring me in the face.

Ava was in my kitchen, wearing one of my dress shirts—only a handful of the buttons in the middle fastened—and she had a pair of ear buds in while she danced around and made breakfast.

Damn.

In all the years I’d fantasized about Ava, this was not a fantasy that had ever filtered through my mind. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t completely captivated. This woman, this gorgeous woman, was oblivious to the fact I was standing there watching her, and she was having the time of her life. She was happy, carefree.

And now, she was mine.

All these years I’d thought I’d been making the right decision by holding myself back from pursuing something more meaningful with her than we had, but now that I was seeing her wearing my shirt while she danced in my kitchen and made breakfast, I thought I had a reason to feel regret.

Not because I had her now, but because I could have had her then.

I could have had this for years now, if I hadn’t been so foolish.

I could have had her in my kitchen, making it look like it had never looked before—I wasn’t quite sure where the countertops had disappeared to for all that she had covering them. It was a beautiful sight to behold, and in that moment, I knew I wanted it every day for the rest of my life.

It was at that moment, Ava spun around and happened to notice I was watching her. One of her hands flew up to her chest, and she screamed. “Oh, Tate. You scared me.” Her opposite hand reached up to take the ear buds out of her ears.

Since she had taken several steps backward after being startled, and she was putting far too much distance between us, my feet gravitated toward her. Ava stopped moving, realized I was making my approach, and changed course.

Her body collided with mine, her arms coming to rest on my shoulders. “You weren’t in bed when I woke this morning,” I told her.

“I’m sorry. I woke up feeling excited, and I wanted to come down to make breakfast for us. I’m not a good cook, and I’m even worse at baking, but I really wanted this morning to be special, so I thought I’d try.” She pulled out of my arms, moved toward the counter, and picked up her phone before returning to my hold. “I found this recipe for these glazed doughnut muffins. You happened to have everything here for them, and they should have only taken forty minutes between prep and baking time, but I’ve been down here for an hour and just got them in the oven about five minutes ago. So, there’re still fifteen minutes left for them to bake. But I thought it would be okay, because I figured you’d need more than just muffins for breakfast, and I could use the time to make us some eggs and bacon, too. I got everything out for that and realized I didn’t start any coffee, and I wanted you to have that. So, I took care of the coffee, which thankfully, is something I do know how to make, and now I’m trying to figure out where I put the bacon. I could have sworn?—”

Ava stopped talking, because I made it so. I couldn’t help myself. She was too adorable, too sweet, and I desperately needed to kiss her. I was getting all the parts of her back, and this was one that I’d missed the most—her just getting lost in whatever she was doing and freely sharing whatever was on her mind.

This moment meant everything to me. Every part of it.

If someone had told me that I’d ever walk into my kitchen seeing it look the way it did now and not break out in some kind of rash at the sight of the mess, I never would have believed them.

But now?

With her?

I almost didn’t care if it never got cleaned up. Because seeing this mess meant Ava was here, in my life in the way I’d always wanted. And loving her meant loving all of her, even the messy parts which brightened my day the most.

Framing her face with my hands, I continued to kiss her. Ava let out a whimper and melted into me.

When I hadn’t quite gotten my fill of her, but realized I probably never would, I tore my mouth from hers, looked in her eyes, and smiled. “Good morning, wild one.”

She beamed back at me. “Good morning.”

I dropped my hands from her face and wrapped my arms around her waist to tug her close. “Do you know how happy you’ve just made me?”

Ava’s features softened. “Really? How did I do that?”

“By allowing me to walk into my kitchen and see you dancing around it while you make breakfast wearing one of my shirts,” I shared.

“I only had the clothes I wore here last night, and I didn’t want to fuss with them. Your shirt seemed like a much better choice. I’ve had a few close calls with it, but I looked in yourcloset this morning, and I’m pretty sure the number of dress shirts you have is criminal.”

Laughter spilled out of me, and all I could do was bury my face in her neck while I held on to her.