I keep scanning the room.
I spot her mom and her aunts by the cake.
I see her sister Emily and her husband Landon talking with another couple.
Where in the hell is she?
My heart pounds in my chest, and it breaks out into a damn near sprint when I finally find her, standing just off the dance floor with her dad.
I don’t waste any time, veering between half-empty tables and attendees and quickly closing the distance between us.
And when I’m standing directly in front of her, that’s when shocked blue eyes meet mine.
“Luke?” she questions and blinks several times, like what she’s seeing isn’t real. “W-what are you doing here?”
I have no idea if her dad notices me.
Hell, I have no idea if anyone else notices me.
All I can see is her.
“Ava, you are the only woman, the only anyone, that I’d go to my knees for,” I say and reach out to grasp her hand in mine. “I know I fucked up and I should’ve told you the truth about NASA right from the start, but see, the thing is, when I realized that I would be leaving New York to go to Houston, that I would be leaving you, it made me feel like I was losing my family all over again.”
Tears prick her eyes, but her petite hand stays in mine, so I take that as a good sign and keep going.
“I know that nothing is ideal right now. I know I’m going to be moving to Houston soon. I know that your life is in New York. But fuck, Ava, even if I don’t have a choice, I still choose you. I’ll always choose you.”
“What are you saying, Luke?” she asks, her blue eyes searching mine.
“I’m saying that I’m in love with you. I’m saying that I’ve loved you for a very long time. Hell, I’ve probably loved you ever since that very first day, when I had to help you hide the evidence of your hot-plate crime. I’m saying that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You are it for me, Ava.”
My heart pounds like a fucking jackhammer inside my chest, and a low, humming ring consumes my ears as I wait in anticipation for her response.
Fuck. I just laid it all on the line, and it’s up to her to decide what she wants.
If she wants me.
Seconds feel like fucking hours.
But then, she opens her pretty pink lips and rocks my fucking world.
“I love you too, Luke. So much,” she whispers, nodding with each word. “And if you’re in Houston, then my home is no longer in New York. It’s in Texas.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” I ask, staring deep into her emotional blue eyes.
“I’m saying that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, too. And if we start out that life in Houston, then that’s okay with me.”
“But what about your career? What about the Met?” I ask, my heart torn between insane happiness and the fear that I’m making her give up something that’s incredibly important to her. That’s the last thing I want to do.
“I saw your gift. Under my bed,” she answers, and the smile that follows her words is enough to make my fucking heart burst. “It’s time I stop hiding behind other people’s art and do what I’ve set out to do all along. It’s time I follow my real passion. It’s time I finally get brave and put my art out into the world. And I know if there’s anyone I want by my side while I push past that fear, it’s you, Luke. It’s you.”
“You’ll follow me all the way to Houston?” I ask, and a single tear slips down her cheek.
“I’ll follow you,” she says. “Deep sea, baby. All the way to Texas.”
Before I can stop myself, I lift Ava into my arms and press my lips to hers and kiss her deeply, passionately, and show her just how much I love her. Need her. Want her.
But the kiss is interrupted by the familiar cheers of Ava’s family—her crazy aunts and her mom and dad and sisters—and the loudest cheers of all come from Thatcher fucking Kelly.
“Fluff yeah!” His loud voice booms into my ears.
“I hope your sister Kate doesn’t mind, but I brought a few friends to her reception,” I whisper against Ava’s mouth, and she giggles.
“I think she’s had enough wine tonight to not even notice,” she responds with a little smirk, leaning back to stare deep into my eyes.
Right on cue, the slightly slurred bride shouts, “DJ, play something awesome and romantical!”
Ava giggles again. “See what I mean?”
It’s my turn to laugh, and while the music switches to the song “I Got You Babe” and Sonny & Cher blare from the reception hall speakers, I pull Ava close to my chest, wrap her legs around my waist, and whisper the lyrics of the song into her ear as I move us around the dance floor.