This is love

ONE

"Ms Hayes, it's so lovely to meet you!" The peachy keen redhead beams widely as she thrusts out her hand eagerly in a warm greeting. Her hand was clammy, with nerves I assumed, but she doesn't lessen the firm - slightly creepy - grip. "I'm such a fan of your work!" 

"Thank you." I politely smile back. "And it's Fields, actually, but I'd prefer if you'd call me Frankie."

"Mm, still not taking my name I see." His husky tease taunted from behind me. Slithering a hand around my waist, he places a chaste kiss on my temple. "What has a man got to do to get himself a wife these days?" 

I roll my eyes jokingly and wiggle my fingers in front of his face. "Put a ring on it."

The slim redhead was frozen in shock, and with a slightly gaped mouth, she proceeds to mumble a string of wild apologises and blames the world of scandalous social media for her assumption. 

"Don't worry about it." Jason chuckles to ease her. "Now, shall we?" 

"Of course, Mr and Mrs - I mean, Mr Hayes and Miss Fields." She stammers, still flushed faced. As she turns, I jut my elbow into Jason's ribs and narrow my eyes at his cheeky smile which was enough to make my own lips twitch. 

Immediately, I had a settled feeling bury itself deep within my chest. The warmth that enveloped me made me instantly feel relaxed and calm, and suddenly there was a surge of gentle reassurance that I needed. The beautiful brick fireplace and stunning french doors leading into acres of greenery that stretched far beyond eyesight. The cosy kitchen with an impressively deep sink and rustic worktops made my skin tingle. I kept walking throughout the house, high on the smell of fresh paint and in awe of my dreams formed into stone. 

My fingers trail along the dark grey painted walls, falling to the matching dresser until I reach the five, floor to ceiling, bay window. My crazy little nook as Jason referred it as on the blueprints. Sighing happily, I overlooked the fields of natural scenery and for the first time in months, I felt completely and utterly at peace. 

The peace were nothing else was occupying your mind. The peace that you find yourself smiling for no apparent reason. The peace that brought fullness to your heart. 

“Do you like it, Ms Hayes?” His soft and smirking mutter tickles my ear. My grin stretches wider as I rest back into his entwining arms. He nuzzles his nose into the nape of my neck, planting a sweet kiss just below my ear before he rests his chin onto my shoulder. 

“I love it, Mr Hayes.” I reply sweetly, twisting myself to face him. Biting my lower lip to suppress myself from getting extreme cheek ache and he bulges his eyes jokingly. “But it’s still Ms Fields.” 

“Not for long.” He murmurs softly, nudging my nose against his. “Truthfully though, you like it? There’s nothing they left out or forgotten, is there? Because I can get them back round in a few hours and fix whatever it is.” 

I hush him into silence with a tip-toed kiss that he happily accepted and responded too. Each kiss in the past four months had been different from the ones we’ve shared the previous ten. They were more meaningful. They were treated like they were always our first ever ones, and savoured like it would be our last. After the incident with Jane and my life so cruelly dangled in front of us, our outlook on everything changed. 

Everything had changed. 

I was still in recovery, and about to jump into another when my operation for the mass of tumours on my pancreas happens in another few weeks. Jason sold the house before I was released from hospital six days later and we moved into the apartment above his hotel. From the long days on bed rest and Jason stuck to my side every one of them, he announced the idea of finding a new home. A proper home, one that he and I both shared unlike the ex-bachelor one we lived in before. So we brainstormed and created what we now stood in.