I walked down the stairs where Nick was standing. Suddenly I was nervous. My heart was thumping in my chest.

“Wow! Ashton, you look gorgeous.” Nick took my hand and placed a kiss on it. I smiled at him.

“Thank you.” I said in a soft voice. My eyes locked with his blue eyes. I felt a shiver go through my body.

“Let me take your picture before you leave.” Nia snapped a few photos and we silently left the house.

Nick opened the door, and I got into the car. Moments later Nick was pulling out of the driveway. We drove quietly down the road.

It was like I was in a dream. I didn’t know what to say to Nick. He had planned something special just for me.

“Ashton, is everything okay?” Nick entwined his hand with mine.

“Yes. I’m just amazed by your thoughtfulness. You treat me like a princess.” I murmured.

“The night has just begun. I have many surprises for you.” He squeezed my hand.

“Nick, I love you.”

“Ashton, I love you more.”

“No, I love you more.”

“Never. Ashton, I love you most.”

Nick pulled into a very fancy restaurant. I felt weak in the knees. What did I do to deserve such special treatment?

“Um…we have a reservation for Carter.” Nick told the maître de.

“Right this way.”

We walked to a table for two. We sat down and looked at the menu.

“Order anything you like.” Nick told me.

“Are you sure Nick? It’s very expensive.”

“Don’t worry about it. Tonight is about spoiling you.” He smiled at me. My heart melted.

Our waiter came and took our order. Then he left us sitting in the quiet.

“Thank you for the dress and everything else. I was so surprised when I came home from work.”

“You’re welcome. I wanted to do something special for you.” He rubbed my hand.

“Why?” I asked curiously. I looked at my wonderful boyfriend.

“Why not? You make me happy. You deal with my crap. I just wanted to let you know how much I love you.”

“Thank you. I love you. No one has ever treated me this special.” Tears formed in my eyes.

“Baby girl, please don’t cry.” His thumb wiped the tears off my face.

“They are happy tears. How were you able to do all this? I feel bad you spending all this money.”

“Money isn’t an issue. Don’t worry about how I did it all. That is my secret.”

“Okay.”

My hands started to shake. I didn’t know why I was so nervous. Nick and I went out to dinner many times. Something was different about tonight. There was a feeling of electricity in the air.

“Ashy, relax. You’re trembling. What’s got you so nervous?” Nick asked quietly.

“I don’t know. I’ve been feeling nervous since I saw you at the bottom of the stairs.”

“Relax baby girl. Tonight is all about us. Do you remember the first time we met?”

“Yeah. I went to practice with Brian and Kevin that day. I tried helping you with some dance moves and you got all mad at me.” I chuckled.

“It’s hard to believe we hated each other. Who knew we would end up together?”

The waiter brought our food. We started to eat our food.

“When did you fall in love with me Nick?”

“It was the day that Sage made you over. You came to our concert. I didn’t even recognize you. I ignored you.”

“I remember that. You kept looking at me, but then you would hide your face when I looked at you.” I giggled.

We continued to reminisce about our journey of falling in love. We both had some funny stories. I started to feel less nervous. It was like a regular date night with Nick.

We finished our dinner. Nick paid the bill and we left the restaurant. We stood by Nick’s car.

“Tonight was awesome, Nick. Thank you.”

I pressed my mouth to his mouth. Nick’s body moved closer to mine. My hands moved around his neck. Nick’s tongue pushed its way into my mouth. Our tongues danced. My senses were heightened, so everything seemed to make my insides stir. I wanted Nick badly. I rubbed my high heel against his calf. He moaned into my mouth. His hands moved to my waist and he blocked any air between our bodies. We continued to kiss, not caring if anyone in the parking lot saw us.

“That was…umm…that was amazing. I never get tired of kissing you.” Nick placed a curl behind my ear.

“The time we spent apart killed me. I missed your kisses.” I entwined my fingers with his.

“I was so stupid to ever cause you to break up with me. I was such a jerk. I promise to make it up to you for the rest of my life.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve already forgiven you. We both made mistakes. Our relationship keeps getting better.” I kissed his cheek.

Nick released his hand and put it inside his pocket. When he took it out; he was holding a tiny black box. My eyes widen.

“Ashton, you mean the world to me. A while back you gave this back to me. You thought that I wasn’t living up to my promises. Baby girl, you were right. I was a fool, who wasn’t living up to my promises. I’ve changed. From now on I am going to keep all my promises to you. I never want to hurt you like I did. I love you more than life itself. You are the only woman for me.”

“Nick, I promise to always love you and work through our problems.” I held out my right hand to Nick.

He pushed my right hand away. I looked up at him. Nick took hold of my left hand.

“We’ve moved past just making promises. I know we are young, but I plan on marrying you in the future. I plan on being the father of your children. Will you marry me Ashton Jeannette Richardson?” Nick asked quietly. I nodded my head.

“Yes, I’ll marry you.” I squealed.

Nick placed the claddagh ring with the heart facing outward. Tears streamed down our faces.

“Now I know that we are both young and still have a lot of things we want to do. I want us to have a long engagement. We’ll know when it is the right time to get married.”

“I agree Nick. I love you so much. Can we keep this a secret? I want to tell the world, but I want to enjoy it just with you.”

“Of course we can keep it a secret for a while. I love having something special with just you. Do you know another reason tonight is special?” I shook my head. I don’t think I could take anymore surprises. My nerves were shot, in a good way of course.

“I get to make sweet love to you all night long.”

“Let’s go Nick.” I quickly opened the door and got inside.

Nick ran to his side of the car and got in. We both looked at each other and laughed. This was the best day of my life.