PART ONE HUNDRED FIVE
*Jess’ POV*
“Turn it off,” I moaned, the familiar buzzing of an alarm clock waking me up.
“Now this is more like it,” Aston whispered, kissing my neck as he wrapped his arms tighter around my bare waist. We were cuddled up in his hotel bed, not an inch separating the pair of us.
“Turn it off…” I complained again.
“Fine dragon lady,” Aston replied with a laugh, releasing me with one hand and switching off the alarm clock.
As he did this I twisted around in his grip so I was facing him, a cute smile playing on his lips as he looked down at me.
“I missed this,” I whispered, leaning up and stealing a kiss.
As I was about to pull away Aston trailed a hand up my back to my neck, holding my head in place. I could feel my body tingling to my toes as he gave me a passionate morning kiss.
“I missed this more,” he grinned, finally pulling away.
I shook my head at him, cuddling into his chest and wrapping my arms tight around his waist. “I’m never letting go!” I declared with a giggle.
“Well you’re going to have to, gotta get up and meet the boys for breakfast. And then studio. Are you coming with or what?”
“Yeah,” I replied, “Marvin said I could do work in the corner while you guys do your thing.”
“Brilliant,” Aston said, his hands wrapping tightly around me as we lay in bed.
“I don’t wanna get up though.”
“Well we’ll be late if one of us doesn’t hop in the shower soon.”
“Ten more minutes of cuddles,” I whined, “We can shower together.”
“Ah there’s my problem-solver,” Aston laughed, kissing the top of my head. “Jess is sooo soppy these days.”
“Shut up,” I laughed, “Or I’ll go shower now.”
“Lips are zipped shut!”
“Good,” I said, closing my eyes.
Aston was right though, I was being unbelievably soppy. It was just being around him again, I couldn’t not be, no matter how hard I tried. Which was so unlike me.
“Shower time,” Aston mumbled after our ten minutes had lapsed, “Up you get Rego.”
I let him push me up off of his chest and then drag me off the bed towards the shower. It as a fairly large walk-in shower, and somehow we managed to get cleaned up while sharing, not wasting too much time.
Once dressed and bundled up for the day we wandered downstairs with our things, meeting the other boys in the restaurant for breakfast.
“Ohh I forgot about Valentine’s,” I exclaimed as I looked around the room. It was decked out with roses and all sorts of hanging pink love hearts.
“Don’t expect too much,” Aston frowned, “Didn’t really know I should be planning something for today.”
“I don’t expect anything,” I told him, grabbing a seat.
“Still…”
“Don’t worry!” I laughed, kissing his cheek gently. “If you really want to do something we can figure it out, otherwise I’m ok just hanging around your room tonight.”
“Well we should go out for dinner at least,” Aston shrugged.
“I’ll see if I can find something while you’re working.”
“Sounds good,” Aston said.
The group of us had a casual breakfast and then we all shoved into the back of a large car to head uptown to a recording studio. The boys were busy writing some tracks so I took the opportunity to work my way through my work email and then start researching a place for dinner.
“Find anything?” Aston asked as he wandered over during a break.
“Most places appear to be all booked up,” I replied, “But I’ve got a few options.”
I showed him the list I’d compiled, in a spreadsheet no less, and let him pick what sounded good. We settled on a Mexican restaurant down in Brooklyn, and as Aston went back to writing I called in a reservation.
The boys let the pair of us leave the studio a bit early so we could go back to the hotel and get ourselves ready for dinner. The only couple together for the day, they’d insisted that we have a good Valentine’s in honor of all of them.
“Ready?” Aston asked me. He’d swapped out his t-shirt and beanie for a red-checkered top, whilst I had thrown on a casual dress and tights with my winter boots.
“Let’s go!”
We hailed a cab from the hotel and headed over the bridge, a nice half hour ride where we could enjoy the sites of the city a bit. I’d been to New York before, but not since I was young, so it was fun to check things out a bit.
After a casual meal of massive burritos and a pitcher of margarita we grabbed a cab back to the hotel, falling on the bed as we pulled at each other’s clothing for the second night in a row.
“Wow,” I sighed as we lay side by side, staring up at the ceiling after a particularly heated bout of lovemaking.
“You can say that again!” Aston grinned, slipping out of bed and grabbing his boxers.
I followed after him, pulling my knickers on and then grabbing his checkered top off the floor, buttoning it up.
“No fair!” Aston laughed as I pushed him down on to the bed, crawling over the top of him so I could sit on his stomach.
“What?”
“You’re wearing clothes!”
“Don’t you like it?” I giggled.
“Well… I’ve always loved how you look in my clothes,” he grinned, “But we’re not meant to be dressed right now,” he scolded.
“To be fair,” I laughed, looking down at his top, “You’re far too skinny for me. I can hardly button this up over my chest.”
“Good!”
I rolled my eyes at him, my hands finding their way to his chest as I sat on top of him.
“I love you,” I whispered, leaning down and kissing him.
Aston’s hands wrapped around my backside as our lips connected, his fingers slipping just inside the lining of my knickers.
I leant up, pushing on his pecs as I did so and grinning down at him.
“What you up to?” he laughed.
“Nothing,” I said with a grin.
“You’re being far too cheeky right now,” Aston smirked.
“Just enjoying some time with my boy.”
“You know,” he said slowly, “It was one year ago today that I asked you to move in with me.”
“Only a year,” I mused, “It seems like forever ago.”
“It’s been a pretty excellent year I must say.”
“I’d have to agree,” I smiled, leaning down and kissing him again.
“Love you Jess,” Aston mumbled as I pressed a kiss into his neck and then sat up again.
“Love you too,” I smiled, looking down at him.
Butterflies danced in my stomach as I stared into his eyes, a lazy smile on his face. I was entranced. There was just something about how he made me feel that had my mind spinning, my heart ready to explode. He was my world, and I wanted to share everything with him for the rest of my life.
“I’d say yes, you know…” I whispered quietly, never breaking eye contact.
PART ONE HUNDRED SIX
*Jess’ POV*
“What did you say?” Aston asked, his brow furrowing a bit.
“I said, I’d say yes.”
“Say yes to what?” he asked, propping himself up on his elbows as his eyes searched mine.
I actually could not believe that this had all started to tumble out of my mouth, now of all times. I was sat on his stomach in hardly any clothes and he was practically naked beneath me!
“Umm…”
“Jessica, out with it,” Aston grinned, cottoning on.
“If you asked me… I’d say yes.”
“Asked you what?” Aston smirked.
“You’re going to make me say it aren’t you?”
“Course I am,” he said, his eyes sparkling with happiness.
“If you asked me to marry you, I’d say yes,” I rattled off in one quick go.
“You’re serious?” Aston questioned. He pushed himself up so he was sitting, grabbing me by the waist and sliding me further down his body so he could look at me eye-to-eye.
“Yes.”
“You’re not just saying this because you know it’s what I want?”
“At first when I started thinking about it, I will admit that it was mostly because you’d mentioned it in Costa Rica. But then I realized that it might not be all bad. I mean how much different would things actually be?”
“Not very,” Aston said, his fingers still on either side of my waist as I now kneeled over his thighs.
“And we can have a pretty white wedding and invite our friend’s and families.”
“I’d love to see you in white,” Aston grinned, pulling me towards him and pecking me on the lips gently. “We could put fairy lights up at the estate.”
“I love that,” I breathed out.
“It’ll all be perfect.”
“You know, I never really imagined myself walking down the aisle,” I whispered to Aston truthfully, “But now I can’t stop imagining how perfect it would be if I was walking towards you.”
“If it’s what you want,” Aston said, “I don’t want to force you to do anything.”
“You’re not,” I replied, “I know its what you want, and now its what I want too. I didn’t even need a whole year with you to figure it out.”
Aston just gave me a heart-melting look, his brown eyes the softest they’d ever been. Affectionately I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tight, his hands snaking around my back.
We sat on the bed like that for some time, not a word said between the two of us. We didn’t need to say anything. We’d just told each other that we were in this, together, forever.
“Now you’re waiting for me to find a ring and ask you, huh?” Aston asked as he pushed me back out of his grip enough to lean his forehead against mine, his eyes searching mine for an answer.
“Not tonight, no.”
“Not tonight?” he questioned.
“Don’t be mad…” I whispered, “I saw the notepad that you and Freddy wrote on at Christmas.”
“You saw it? Or you read it?”
“Read it.”
“How much?” Aston asked, his head leaning back from mine a bit as he took in this news.
“Enough.” He gave me a sad look, his hands still wrapped tight around my back. I didn’t even have to tell him that I knew he had a ring already, that he had been already to pop the question, he just knew. I felt horrible that I knew his secrets, and it was about time I fessed up to it.
“I didn’t know what to say at first so I just pretended like it hadn’t happened. And then so many things in my life just went off the rails of what I’m used to and it all bubbled up.”
“So that huge meltdown right before I left?” Aston asked.
“Partly influenced by your conversation with Freddy,” I admitted, “Also because I realized you were leaving and I wouldn’t have you around for so long.”
“So what happened?”
“This last month has been hell,” I said quietly, “I really don’t like having you away for so long. And I’ve realized that I can’t ever imagine myself not having you in my life.”
“What does this all have to do with marriage though?”
“I think I realized…” I said slowly, “That I want to just play along and see what happens. And I definitely want people to know that you’re mine, now and forever.”
“I’m yours huh?” he grinned, his face coming closer to mine.
“You better believe it!” I giggled, putting my hands on his cheeks and pulling him close for another kiss. We shared a sweet lovey kiss as the awkward tension between us that had arisen when I’d admitted to reading the conversation began to dissipate.
“So about this ring you know I have…” Aston said with a stern look.
“I don’t know anything about that,” I replied with a wink.
He rolled his eyes at me, pinching my side as I flinched dramatically, letting out a squeal of laughter.
“You sure you don’t want me to bust it out tonight?”
“You have it here?” I questioned, actually shocked.
“Well it was better than you coming across it while I was away!” Aston defended.
“True. That could have been awkward.”
“Exactly. So let me ask again, do you want me to get it out tonight?”
I stared in his eyes for a moment, taking in his question. Did I want to be full on engaged then and there? It was Valentine’s Day. And we were in New York City. It could be romantic…
“No,” I whispered.
“No?” he asked, somewhat surprised, Why not?”
“I know you had something all planned out in Costa Rica. Some fairytale moment.”
“Well… Just dinner on the beach…”
I clamped my hands over my ears as he said that, not wanting to know the rest of the plan. I still felt horrible for ruining whatever he’d had on his mind, to hear it would just make it worse.
“I don’t want to know!” I declared.
“Sorry.”
I explained to him how I’d felt when I’d read his conversation. About how I’d felt like my brother was right, I did steam roll the situation to be how I wanted. “I want this to be your moment, not mine,” I explained. “I’m sat on top of you being all dramatic and you’re just playing along with my crazy. I want you to have a chance to plan out the moment you want. Ask me how you want… if you even want to ask me anymore.”
“Of course I do!” Aston laughed.
“So I’ll leave it up to you,” I told him, “Don’t ask me this weekend though… I want you to have time to think it over.”
“Steam roller,” Aston smirked. I gave him a shocked look, only to receive a grin, “I’m kidding!!”
“Don’t…” I whined.
“Sorry,” Aston laughed, hugging me tight again. After a minute he released me with one hand, scoping it under my legs and lifting me off his lap so he could lay the pair of us down. “I’ll find the perfect moment.”
“I can’t wait,” I grinned, wiggling over to him as he wrapped me up in his arms again.
“You won’t even see it coming!”
I tipped my head up for another kiss, a wave of relief spreading over me as reality set in.
This was it.