Page 93 of Wild Heart

I couldn’t hold on tight enough to him. It didn’t matter that he’d just pledged his whole life to me, I was afraid if I let go, I’d forget this moment.

Tate didn’t seem to mind. He was happy to continue kissing me, to keep giving me what I needed, what I always wanted with him.

Eventually, we separated our mouths, but we kept our bodies pressed tight together. “I don’t want to impede on Cooper and Skye’s wedding, but I want to do it right away. Small and as fast as we can make it happen. You, me, the rest of the family. That’s it. That’s all I want. Well, and maybe some music so we can dance.”

His eyes roamed over his face with the sweetest expression in his. “I’ll give you anything you want, Ava. Anything at all. You tell me the day you want, and I’ll make it happen.”

He would.

I knew he would.

Because he hadn’t stopped doing precisely what he promised me when he asked me to give him the chance. He promised he’d never break my heart again. And since he knew how I was, how I just liked to go with what I was feeling and not plan things out, I was confident he’d take whatever date I gave him and would make it happen. Not just because he was a planner. He would do it because he loved me the same way I loved him.

TATE - NINE MONTHS LATER

The movement in the bed, followed by the soft touch against my chest, was all it took. Hiding my reaction would have been feeble. I’d learned a long time ago where that would get me. Or,more importantly, I learned what I stood to lose by trying to suppress my feelings for this woman.

The corners of my mouth tipped up, my pulse racing as my eyes opened.

Ava.

My wife.

We wasted no time in making that our reality, the wedding being exactly as she had wanted—small and fast with our family by our sides. And for the last seven months, I’d had the privilege of calling her my wife.

I tried not to allow myself to think about how much time I’d wasted in getting us to this point. Having Ava the way I did now, the way it was always meant to be, had transformed my life. I still had days when I couldn’t quite get over all the things that I’d missed out on for so many years.

Things like this very moment. Waking up to her soft touch in our bed.

It seemed, however, that Ava had gotten out of the bed before she attempted to rouse me. Her face was lit up as she smiled brightly at me, giving me everything I’d wanted to have from the day I met her.

Her body was beside mine, resting on her shins. Pulling her opposite hand out from behind her back, Ava held a wrapped box up between us. “Happy birthday, Tate.”

My eyes dropped to the box, an overwhelming sense of appreciation moving through me.

Maybe that was crazy, since I knew what I’d find inside the box. A pen. I knew it’d be in there, and I couldn’t wait to see what she’d engraved on it this year.

And considering how things had gone down last year, it was safe to say I’d been looking forward to today for this reason alone.

I still used the pen Ava had gotten me last year—retrieving it from the table where she’d left it at my parents’ house before I went home that night.

So you can forgive me.

Every time I looked at it over the last year, I experienced different emotions. Sometimes, I winced, recalling just how horrible I’d been to her that night. Other times, a wave of gratitude washed over me. The two of us had been through so much heartache together, but with forgiveness, work, and a lot of love, we made it through and were now married.

I returned Ava’s smile, sat up in the bed, and leaned in for a kiss. “Good morning.”

“Morning,” she murmured.

Taking the box from her, I asked, “What does it say this year?”

She lifted her shoulders to her ears, tipping her head slightly to one side. “You’ll have to open it up to find out.”

Although my heart was already beating a little faster just waking up to her, it was safe to say there was another level of excitement. Ava had found a way to take such a simple gift and turn it into something that was beyond special. She gave me that piece of her that nobody else got, and it meant everything to me.

I didn’t take my time unwrapping the gift. Where I had always gone slow for fear of what I might find inside, now I was eager to see it. Once the wrapping paper was gone and tossed aside, I tore off the lid to the box and pulled out the case.

Giving Ava one last look, noting the excitement on her face, I flipped open the lid on the case to reveal the pen inside. As always, Ava selected an exquisite pen, but what I saw the second my eyes landed on it wasn’t just how nice the pen itself was.