Mine for the Year

Chapter 15

"OLIVIA!" I was jolted out of my sleep by Laney's screams. Damon, always the heavy sleeper, stayed under the cover, pulling me even closer. I wiggled out of his hold and ran downstairs.

"What's wrong?" I asked frantically.

She grinned excitedly. "Look at this."

It was a tabloid, with the front cover being a picture of me and Damon from the night of our debut. We were dancing, my face in his chest and my arms on his shoulders. I gasped at the picture. Damon was looking down at me and smiling - SMILING.

The caption said it all: "Who's the new beauty making our favorite bachelor smile?"

"Woah." I said. "They buy it!"

Laney frowned at me. "That's not the point! Look at the way he's smiling at you. If that isn't love, I don't know what is!"

I rolled my eyes at her. Just as I was about to respond, I was interrupted by Damon calling from upstairs. "Livvvv. Come back up, I'm not going to work today."

Laney wiggled her eyebrows before walking out the door. She had moved in with Gabe a month after he professed his love for her and they lived on the floor below us. They were moving fast, but their relationship was strong.

I headed back upstairs shivering as I looked at the balcony at the snowstorm that had begun last night. I groaned as I checked the time and realized it was 1:00 in the night. I don't even want to know what Laney and Gabe were doing up that late.

I went back to our room, laughing as Damon sleepily held his arms out to me. He was the biggest cuddler I'd ever met. We both slowly drifted off back to sleep.

I was woken up to the feeling of a pillow smacking my face. I groaned and flipped around. "Damon," I whined. "Let me sleep."

He appeared in my line of vision, grinning like a doofus. "But I have a surprise for you! For Valentine's Day."

I was wide awake now. "What is it?" I asked suspiciously.

"Get ready and you'll see," he grinned smugly.

"CHOCOLATE PUDDING," I screamed. "How'd you know?" We were at brunch and Damon had ordered our food for us. My pancakes were stuffed with chocolate pudding! I didn't even know that was possible.

He seemed happy by my excitedness. "Matt told me." I grinned. The place he took me was a tiny little cafe, nothing too fancy.

After brunch, we went for a walk. I saw a few paparazzi following us, but I ignored them. We talked for a little bit, until Damon stopped where he was going. "Wait here, I'll be right back!"

His eyes shone as he came running back two minutes later with something behind his back. "I-I want to take you somewhere," he told me hesitantly.

He made me close my eyes and after several promises from me not to peek, he led the way. My hands felt so tiny in his as he pulled me along. Eventually he decided it was taking too long, and decided to carry me.

Finally he stopped. "We're here," he paused nervously. He put me down and I opened my eyes.

I almost cried when I was where we were. "My parent's graves?" I turned to him as a tear slipped down my cheek.

He shuffled uncomfortably. "Do you not want to? I remembered you mentioned that you wanted to come visit them, so I thought..." He trailed off. "This was a bad idea. I'm sorry Liv."

I was full on sobbing now and I flung my arms around him. "No Damon, it's perfect. Thank you. Thank you so much." I was glad he hadn't taken me somewhere romantic or anything. It would have seemed silly because I knew we weren't real. This was so much more meaningful because it meant he cared.

He pulled out a beautiful bouquet of white carnations. "I got these for them. They're supposed to symbolize remembrance."

That was the moment I knew I was an absolute goner and that I was irrevocably in love with this man.