The Closer (18+) ✓

| 14.4 | closing the deal

❝Where you go I follow
No matter how far
If life is a movie
Oh you're the best part.❞

Chapter Fourteen:
Closing the Deal
(cont'd)

"So...France, huh?"

I smiled a little shyly and leaned back against the door.

"It was a long time ago."

"Not long enough for your inappropriate best friend to quit joking about it."

"Sounds to me like you're jealous," I hummed, grinning when Hans looked stunned at my implication and muttered something about me not thinking right. "Helena's the Jasper to my Hans. You've got nothing to worry about."

"I know that," he mumbled, still looking a little unsure. Trying not to openly laugh at how adorable he looked, I pushed myself off the door gently and walked to where he stood, looping my arms around his waist.

"Besides, I've got everything I want right here."

Reaching up on my toes, I pressed a soft kiss to his lips before separating to look into his eyes.

"Thank you so much for today, and everything else. You have no idea how much it means to me."

With those words, I wiped away the lingering traces of whatever clouded Hans' mind as his face broke out into a warm, affectionate smile. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in till we were chest to chest. Leaning his forehead in to meet mine, I could feel his breath against my cheeks when he opened his mouth to say something before thinking better of it and kissing me instead.

I'd come to feel that Hans' kisses spoke for a lot more than he did. Considering how physically fuelled our relationship had started out, it didn't surprise me when I realized that we communicated way better through our bodies than our words. Which is why he didn't have to tell me why he'd done all this, or how happy he was to be a part of my birthday. He didn't have to tell me, because I could feel every bit of his love as he kissed me breathless and held me to him like I was his universe.

Hans' hands ventured lower down my waist, fluttering over the curve of my backside before he bent down on his knees and simultaneously, swept me off the ground and into his arms. Our lips disconnected as he carried me in his arms, my hands looping around his shoulders and in his waves of midnight black hair but the way he held my gaze the whole while told me he was far from breaking away. When we entered the bedroom and he set me down on the foot of the bed, I didn't expect him to let go of me but he did, only momentarily before promising to be back. I watched as he walked over to the other side of the room, rummaging quietly through a desk of drawers in the wardrobe before glancing over his shoulder at me and smiling.

"I have something for you."

Hans walked over, holding whatever it was he planned to give me behind his back.

"I'm not very good at getting presents," Hans said, sounding rather unsure of himself. "But this is something I've wanted to give you for a while now. Since I realized just how big a place you hold in my life and I...I knew it would be the perfect way to show you..."

I watched, an eyebrow raised at how fast Hans spoke, whether out of nervousness or excitement or a combination of both. It was very unlike him to ramble this fast. Hans sucked in a deep breath, his colorful eyes glinting in the moonlight before he sunk to the ground, all too quickly, on one knee. My hands fisted on the sheets in shock, watching in mute silence as Hans brought out a rectangular velvet box from behind his back.