****
Ethan woke up on Christmas morning full of both nerves and excitement. After sitting through church with his parents, he shut himself in his room and texted Ava. Can I come over?
She didn't answer right away and a ball of anxiety lodged in his throat. He had to see her today, even though she'd already told him that her mother had requested a quiet day at home with just the immediate family. Ethan had been disappointed, but he supposed he understood. Mrs. Anderson had always taken Christmas very seriously. The number of wrapped gifts under Ava and Ty's Christmas tree was almost ridiculous. Ethan had been hanging around the Andersons for enough years to know it had always been the case.
But he wanted to see Ava, he needed to see her because he had something to give her.
Finally, after what felt like forever but was probably only five minutes, she texted him back. They won't let me leave today.
You don't have to leave, I just need to come by.
My mom's got everything planned out for the entire day.
And that doesn't include me, I guess? That really irritated him. The Andersons had never had a problem with him coming over on Christmas Day before he and Ava started dating. So what was the problem now?
You know how she is.
Yeah, he knew how she was, all right. One minute she'd been forcing cookies and milk down his throat, but the very instant he'd shown a serious interest in Ava, her mom had become almost—standoffish.
All I need is five minutes. Can you meet me outside?
Yeah. Meet me out back in the garage in thirty minutes, okay?
Okay.
****
Ava knew that Ethan probably wanted to give her a Christmas present and she was excited about that possibility. She wanted a piece of jewelry! It didn't have to be expensive, it didn't have to be a ring of any kind, it didn't even have to be real. But she wanted a necklace or a bracelet or something that she could wear all the time and know that he'd given it to her.
She'd saved her allowance and shopped online for the perfect present for him as well. But what did you get a guy? He didn't wear jewelry of any kind. He wasn't into video games or the like. She'd been stumped, but she'd persevered until she'd figured out what to do. She'd bought him a portable Bluetooth speaker. Maybe it wasn't the perfect gift, but it was all she'd been able to come up with and she knew he'd wanted one.
As she ran out back to the garage, she was glad it was only cold and not snowing. She hadn't seen Ethan's truck on the street so she wasn't expecting him to be there yet.
But she was wrong.
As she opened the side door and reached in to flip on the light, a strong hand gripped her around the wrist and pulled her into the darkened interior of the space. The door slammed shut behind her as she was swung up against the wall, a hard torso pushing into hers.
Electricity arced between them as her senses went spinning. She understood quickly that this was Ethan, and her moment of trepidation receded. The only thing left was excitement, and it hit her swift and hard. Her heart beating triple time, she searched his features but it was too dark to see anything.
But she could feel him and she could smell his scent—the same scent that had been making her heart trip ever since she'd been in middle school.
His head fell beside her ear at the same moment he reached between them, his fingers enclosing a breast. "Hey," he whispered, his deep voice touching a place inside that was his and his alone.
"Hey," she whispered back, her breath hitching.
His thumb whispered across her nipple as she sucked in a breath. "Merry Christmas," he whispered again, right before his mouth unerringly found hers.
Bottle rockets exploded in her mind. Everything about the moment was perfect, the darkness that hung around them, his lips that clung to hers making a mockery of every kiss she'd received before him, few though they were. Her heart pounded rapidly as his scent swirled around her, his intoxicating aroma filling her lungs. It was a provocative, masculine scent, a scent that was part of him. It permeated his skin and made her want to wrap herself around him and cling to him forever, a scent that made her hormones go crazy, like she wanted to have his babies or something crazy like that.
Yeah, the moment was perfect, even if it was only a stolen moment in time. It lasted only a few seconds longer as he ended the kiss, lifting away from her slightly to flip the switch on the wall. The space was illuminated with light and the expression on Ethan's face almost did her in. She could feel his sexual need, but it was the heart-rending tenderness in his eyes that made her breath catch and her heart stutter.
He loved her. He really, really loved her and she could see that love reflecting from his dark brown eyes. No, they hadn't exchanged the words yet—but she knew in her heart it was because neither one of them were taking this thing between them lightly.
Her hands trembled, the small package she held for him wrapped in gold paper.
"Is this for me?" he asked, taking it from her as she nodded her head. "Can I open it?"
"Yeah," she mumbled with an embarrassed smile. "I couldn't think of anything. It's not very romantic."
"I'm gonna love it no matter what it is." With that, he ripped the paper away and his eyes lit up. "Nice, Ava! How'd you remember I wanted one?" he asked, one hand going to her cheek in a smooth caress as he studied the gift for a moment before setting the small box on the pool table.
She didn't understand why she was embarrassed but when she shrugged, his fingers moved from her cheek to her jawline and as she was trying to catch her breath, she focused on his hand that was held up between them in offering.
On his palm sat a thin ring of gold that ended with a swirl on top—holding a tiny, barely-there diamond. Truly, it was no more than a diamond chip.
But it was enough! It was more than enough! She gasped in stunned surprise and pure pleasure.
With his fingers shaking (which thrilled her to freaking death), he lifted her left hand and slid it on her ring finger. It fit perfectly and she was happy to no end, even though she knew she couldn't wear the ring around her parents. Staring at it in awe, she glanced up as her eyes crashed with the potency of his.
And she saw the love there—her lips quivered as her eyes watered in response. One side of his mouth tipped up and his expression became excruciatingly serious. His fingers lifted her chin and he said, firmly and without question, "I love you, Ava."
An arrow of ecstasy hit her. "I love you, too," she answered immediately, her voice cracking.
His cheeks tinged with color, his eyes brightened, even as his grip tightened. He tipped his head toward the ring. "You know what it means?" he asked in his low, deep voice.
She was too scared to guess—too happy to guess. "What?" she asked softly.
His arms wrapped around her as his mouth fell to her ear once again. He tugged her lobe in between his teeth, working it, kissing her before breathing into her ear. "It's a promise. This thing between us isn't temporary. It's not something that's going to go away. We aren't going to break up, ever. I want to marry you someday and this ring shows my intentions. If you take it, if you agree to wear it, then
you're agreeing to marry me—someday in the future. Only you and I will know for now, but it's going to mean something between us." He stopped speaking and took a deep breath. "Do you agree?"
Ava couldn't help it. She started nodding her head so urgently and vigorously that Ethan started laughing, a grin splitting his expression. But he wasn't laughing at her, he was laughing with joy, and Ava knew that. Pure pleasure radiating outward, she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him to her. Maybe she could only see him for five minutes on Christmas Day, but he'd just taken that five minutes and made it the most special five minutes of her life.
She loved Ethan and nothing and no one would ever take him away from her.
****
Winter sped by for Ethan. Life was going at full speed ahead and there wasn't a damn thing he could do to slow it down, not that he really wanted to. Everything was going pretty fucking fantastic. The scholarship offer of his dreams had finally appeared. Sure, he'd had several offers from some of the smaller state schools to play ball, but he'd held out until finally, his offer from A&M had come through and he'd quickly signed a letter of intent.
Everything else in his life was going fine, as well. Shit was good between him and Ava. She was a little rowdy, a little out-there, pretty damn opinionated, but all of that made her who she was and he loved her for every damn bit of it.
The cotton crop had been crazy-good and his parents were on cloud nine. Of course, their new irrigation system had certainly helped. Seriously, it had been one of the best Christmases that he could remember.
When school started again in January, everyone was excited about where they wanted to go to college. It was sort of sad to think about parting ways from everybody, but damn, it sure as shit was exciting. He focused on the excitement and didn't worry about the friends he'd be separated from—and he refused outright to think about leaving Ava—even though he knew that a separation was staring him in the face.