The hike took all energy out of me, and I end up falling asleep on the way back home. I wake up just as we arrive, a frown quickly appearing on my face.
"I don't remember leaving the lights on", I say as I detach my face from the cold window, my voice still sleepy, noticing how the entire ground floor of the house is lit when I'm positive the lights were not on when we left earlier today.
"I probably left them on", Brad answers, brushing it off as he parks in front of the house. No, something's wrong. He's about to leave the car but I grab his forearm before he can.
"I'm 100% sure they were not on, Brad", I say, starting to panic at the idea of a stranger robbing the AirBnB we're staying at. What if it's a crazy fan who found out where we are? That seems pretty unlikely but I can't stop myself from thinking the worst. "There's someone inside", I add, making Brad laugh for some reason.
"There's no one inside babe", he says, still chuckling at my comment. "Come on, let's get you warmed up", he adds before leaving the car and coming to open my door. I reluctantly leave the car and follow him to the front door, still holding the blanket around me, feeling my heart start to race in my chest. Brad puts the key in the lock and just as he's about to open it, I stop him and quickly pick up a thick stick from the ground, earning a mocking smile from Brad. "Babe, I'm telling you there's no one here", he says, still laughing before grabbing the stick from my hands. "But good to know you'd save us with a stick", he adds before throwing the stick back to the ground and opening the door. I stay close to him as we enter, one hand holding the blanket while the other literally holds on to his bare chest, my face glued to his back. "Em", I suddenly hear, making me open my eyes that I didn't even realize were closed. "Em, babe you can relax there's no one here", he adds and I finally loosen my grip on him, detaching myself from his back and I'm suddenly hit by a smell of fresh food, making my eyebrows furrow. What the heck? What's going on? It takes me a second to notice the flowers, gold and silver helium balloons and burning candles scattered around the house and I instantly bring my hands to my face in shock, the blanket falling to the floor.
"Happy one year, baby", Brad says with the cutest smile as he takes a step towards me and places his hands on my now bare waist while I take in what's happening. He didn't forget after all. "You really thought I forgot, didn't you?", he adds, an amused smile on his lips. I simply nod, unable to speak at this point. "You okay?", he laughs at my reaction, making me smile too. I move my hands from covering my mouth and place them on either side of his face before kissing him, making him feel all the love I have for him. Brad smiles through our kiss, his fingers digging into my waist, pressing me onto him. My arms move to around his neck as I deepen our kiss, willing to feel all of him. I can't believe he organized this without me noticing. I mean, I noticed he was acting weird lately, but I really wasn't expecting this.
"How?", I ask after detaching myself from him, still stunned. "How did you organise this?", I add, making him smile.
"I had a little help", he answers before grabbing my hand and dragging me to the kitchen where pots are resting on the stove, still burning hot. The strong smell of potatoes and salmon makes it clear someone has just been here cooking for us. Brad lifts up the lid of one pot, me on his toes and digs his finger in the mashed potatoes filling it. I watch him lick his finger, my stomach rumbling with hunger as I realize I didn't have any food today.
"Who cooked?", I ask while Brad puts the lid back on before checking the oven where two fillets of salmon are roasting.
"I told you, I had a little help", he says, eluding the question and staying too vague in my opinion. "How about you go take a shower and I'll finish getting this ready", he adds and I nod. The quickest I'm all cleaned up, the quickest we'll get to eat. Because I'm literally starving. I leave Brad to do whatever he's going to do in the kitchen and go to the bathroom after grabbing some clean clothes from my suitcase in our bedroom. I stay under the piping hot water for probably too long, getting rid of all the mud in my hair and getting the warmth I've been deprived of the entire afternoon until I hear Brad entering the room. Well, lucky it's only the two of us in the house as the open Italian shower leaves little to the imagination with its glass walls. A grin quickly appears on his lips as his eyes make contact with my naked body and he gets out his workout shorts before joining me in the shower. I turn around to face him, his hands quickly finding their way to my lower back as he reduces the space between us to basically nothing while my hands move to his face, pushing his now dripping hair away from his eyes. I can't erase the dumb happy smile that sits on my lips at the sight of the man who makes me the happiest person on earth.
"I can't believe you did this for me", I say as I wrap my arms around his neck, making him smile.
"And I can't believe it's been a year and I still get to call you mine", Brad answers, pressing me onto him, crushing my bare breast on his chest. I don't mind though, lost in his hazel eyes.
"Get used to it because that's never gonna change", I answer before connecting my lips to his. Brad presses me even harder against him and I feel him smile through our kiss. Unfortunately, the romantic moment quickly comes to an end when my stomach starts gurgling again, making Brad detach himself from me, laughing.
"I guess that's our queue", he says before opening the shower glass door and stepping out of it. He grabs a towel and secures it around his hips before handing me one just as I get out of the shower and stand on the mat. I wrap it around myself, tying it just above my breast before picking up the brush I left on the sink in the morning and start to comb my hair, Brad standing behind me, his body connected to my back, his hands on my hips. He starts to plant a trail of kisses down my neck and on my bare shoulder while I comb my hair previously moved over the opposite shoulder.
"Brad, we're never gonna eat if you don't let me get ready", I say with a chuckle, even though I don't want him to stop what he's doing.
"Right, food", he says before giving my neck one last kiss. "I'll go check on that before it burns or something", he adds and leaves the room. I finish combing my hair and put on the dress I picked up for the night before making my way back to the kitchen where the amazing smell is making me even more hungry. Brad is leaning down, his head looking into the oven, already dressed, looking as handsome as ever in his navy blue trousers and white shirt tucked in them, his wet curls falling loosely on his forehead. He simply looks like a Greek god, and I find myself biting my lip at the sight. He closes the oven door and turns around, quickly noticing me standing there and immediately smiles as his eyes wander up and down my body.
"Wow", he says, his eyes not able to focus on one part of my body. I can't hide the smile on my lips at the thought that even after a year of relationship he still looks at me like that.
"Wow yourself, hot stuff", I say, a chuckle escaping my lips at his face after he heard my comment. I walk around the kitchen island to meet Brad next to the oven and check on the mashed potatoes that are now sitting in two plates, not able to stop myself from picking up the fork that's laying on the side and taking a bite of it.
"Can't wait five minutes?", I hear Brad scoff next to me. He opens the oven again and carefully takes out the dish that's sitting in it before placing it on the stove and dishes the salmon fillets out into the plates. He moves to the fridge where he picks up a bottle of white wine before grabbing two glasses. "Mind carrying the plates to the dining room?", he asks and I do as told, grabbing the plates and following him to the dining room. We both sit down at the table, facing each other and start to dig in, neither of us able to wait any longer. Dinner is truly fantastic and I really wonder who cooked it for us. Our conversation flows as we sip on the fancy wine and talk about life, about everything that happened between us and how it led us here, the two of us together and at our happiest. The closer we're getting to dessert, the more I notice how Brad is starting to get nervous. I put it on the stress of organizing this secret dinner and try to not pay too much attention to it. When we finish our plates, I get up to clean up the table but Brad jumps out of his seat, quickly grabbing my plate.
"I've got it", he says, making me raise an eyebrow at his sudden reaction. "Go sit on the sofa, I'll bring you dessert", he adds as he piles up the plates and cutlery in his hands and leaves for the kitchen. I don't question his odd behaviour and move to the living room, making sure to bring the wine and our glasses with me and sit on one of the multiple sofas in the room. The dimmed light and dozens of candles scattered around the room give it a romantic and cozy feel, making me smile at how perfect the night is. When Brad comes back, he's holding two small plates with a lava cake in each and hands me one before sitting down next to me, one knee bent under him so that he's facing me and he puts his plate on the coffee table. I start to eat the cake until I realize he's not eating his.
"You're not eating?", I ask, surprised.
"Hmm? Oh, I'm not hungry", he answers, looking as nervous as when he's about to go on stage, before he grabs his glass still half full of wine and shrugs it down in one gulp.
"You're really missing out", I say as I take another bite of the delicious cake. I finish it while Brad stares at me and I can't help but notice how his hands started to shake and I wonder if it's due to the three glasses of wine he had.
"I was thinking...", he starts to say, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen in the room as I put my now clean plate down on the coffee table and wipe my mouth with a napkin before looking back at him. I give him a smile, encouraging him to continue his sentence as it seems like he isn't going to. "Do you wanna go back to Bali?", he asks, still looking as if he's about to throw up. I give him a surprised look, not expecting that question.
"You want to go back to Bali?", I ask, a little lost if I'm honest. "You mean like now?"
"No, like next year maybe?", he answers, his foot never stopping to stomp on the floor, a usual sign of his stress. "You liked the hotel right? We could go back there", he adds and I smile at the memories of us in Bali. We truly had the best time there.
"Do you think they'd believe us if pulled the honeymoon card again?", I answer with a laugh. And just as I say that, Brad reaches for something behind him.
"Well, I was actually thinking we wouldn't have to lie this time", he says as he pulls a little black velvet box from behind him and my heart completely stops. My eyes open so wide I must look like a cartoon character. Brad moves from his sitting position until he has one knee on the floor, facing me still sitting on the couch and he opens the box, revealing the most stunning diamond ring I have ever seen in my entire life. My hands instinctively reach for my face again, covering my wide-open mouth as I look at Brad kneeling in front of me, unable to control the shaking in my body. Is this really happening?
"Em", Brad starts, nervousness clear in his voice as he grabs my left hand in his free hand. "I've been in love with you since the day I met you on the playground in year three, with your pigtails and your mouth covered in chocolate", he says before marking a quick pause. "Even if I didn't know it at that time", he continues, my heart now pounding so hard, I'm sure he can hear it. "I can't believe it took me so long to realize how fucking madly in love I've always been with you.", he adds with a laugh. "Fuck, you can't imagine how scared I was when I finally did, thinking I'd lose you if I told you how I felt. Because you were and will always be my everything. I just can't picture myself growing old without you by my side, Em", he says, squeezing my hand in his. "So when you kissed me in Bali during that storm, holy fuck I just lost it, I lost the little control I had and didn't think twice about the consequences what we were doing might have on our friendship. And I don't regret it a second. I am so bloody thankful you decided to take that risk with me and give us a chance, even if I know you were scared to death" he adds, making me nod, a soft laugh escaping my lips at the same time while tears start to blur my vision at the sound of his words. "Because the past year has truly been the best year of my life and it's all thanks to you. You taught me what real love is and how it simply doesn't compare to anything", he continues, tears now falling down my cheeks. "You make me so fucking happy, Em. You bring out the best in me and I really hope you'll continue to do so until the day I die. I want to spend the rest of my days with you, laughing at stupid cat videos and spending rainy days in bed, fighting over what to watch on Netflix. Or having sex. Yeah actually, I'd take that over Netflix any day", he says with a laugh, making me chuckle too before he regains a straight face. "Babe, I want to spend the rest of my life with you in my arms, listening to you laugh and wiping drool off your face in the morning", he says, making me chuckle again but sounding more like a sob due to the tears falling like waterfalls down my cheeks. "Okay, this was absolutely not the speech I had prepared but I guess what matters is the question, right? ", he says and I can feel his hand still shaking over mine. "So, babe, do you want to spend the rest of your life with me? No, shit, that's not the line", he quickly adds, making me laugh between two quiet sobs. "Okay, here we go", he says before pausing for a second and takes a breath in, his eyes lost in mine. "Em, will you marry me?" he finally says, looking straight at me with glistening eyes. I stare at him in shock for a second, unable to process what just happened. Did he just ask me to marry him? He did, right? I'm not dreaming? I'm staring at him in shock, the expression on his face slowly turning into worry as I stay there, looking at him in silence.
"I do", I eventually say quietly after what must have felt like an eternity for him, still not realizing what is happening, until it finally hits. "Of course I do!", I repeat, louder this time, nodding with my head, a huge smile on my lips and a big grin quickly appears on Brad's face. He doesn't wait any longer and grabs the ring from its box, sliding it on my shaky ring finger before we both stand up and I jump into his arms. I connect our lips, wrapping my arms around his neck, his hands pressing on my lower back. I can taste my salty tears through our kiss but don't pay attention to it, too caught up in the moment. When we finally detach ourselves from each other, we stare at the other with the same dumb happy smile I have every time I'm with him. "Are you sure about this?", I ask, my eyes not leaving his. "For life is a long time to spend with me", I add between two happy sobs, tears still falling down my cheeks. I want to make sure he knows what he's getting himself into.
"Not long enough", he answers, immediately bringing a smile on my lips.
"Emma Simpson", I say and can't help but chuckle at the sound of it. "I guess I could get used to it", I add, biting my lower lip by reflex. Brad smiles, pressing me onto him even more and brings his face closer to me, brushing his lips on mine.
"I fucking love the sound of that", he answers before kissing me and starts to make his way to the bedroom without breaking the kiss.
Holy shit, we're engaged.
OMGGGG WHAT??? 😱. Who saw it coming? *Every single person reading this book: 🙋♀️*. Well here you go people, no plane crash. Yet. I freaking LOVED writing this chapter. It took me a while and a lot of reading it again and again and editing it a million times, but here it is. What did you guys think of it? Now, ready for the last chapter next week?
Like the chapter if you ship #Bremma ⭐️. If you don't, I'll hunt you down, you psycho.