by Aven Ellis
Happiness surges through me. I never thought I would ever find what I have with JP. A brilliant man with a good heart. One who loves me and challenges me. One who finds excitement everywhere he goes, from mastering how to make Turkish coffee at home to snorkeling with manta rays.
“I think the luckiest day of my life was when you were supposed to be set up with Matt,” JP says, “and I was to be set up with Holly. Our failed setups led us to each other.”
I grin. “Cupid knew where to aim the arrows,” I say, pressing my lips against his neck, which tastes deliciously like the ocean water we were in.
“Mmm,” JP murmurs, his hand skimming down over my back.
“My lips will travel when we get inside,” I whisper seductively in his ear.
“Hold on to that thought, my love,” JP murmurs.
He takes my hand in his as we continue to stroll to our oceanfront bungalow. The palm trees tower over us, and the sky overhead is filled with stars. I hear the ocean rolling in the background, and I can’t believe how magical this moment is.
Once again, love for JP fills my heart as I think of the happiness he’s given me over the past few months.
We’re both pursuing our careers, and even though we’re busy and traveling, we talk to each other every day. We continue to boulder and play tennis on our days off, as we can’t stop competing against each other. We also love watching old movies and dining out and simply being together at home, too.
Our lives not only include each other, but our families and friends, either having people over to hang out or going out to dinner. Matt and Holly, of course, are our best friends, and we spend a lot of time with them. They have set a date for their wedding, which will be next July in Dallas, and I can’t wait to be Holly’s maid of honor. JP is going to be the best man, and we’re both so excited for them.
It looks like JP will be staying in Dallas for the long-term, as the Demons have already begun negotiations with his agent to sign an extension. So, we’ll have two homes: in Dallas during the season, and Zurich in the summer. I can’t wait to go back to Switzerland with JP.
My mom has started to change, which I’m happy to see. She is doing more things on her own and has even joined a mature-dating website. I’m so proud of her for taking these steps toward living for herself again.
Harrison and Kylie Flynn had a baby boy in December. Parker Harrison Flynn entered the world at a whopping ten pounds with a head full of dark hair like his mom. I admit every time I hold that baby I get a wonderful feeling inside, that someday in the future I’ll be cradling JP’s baby in my arms. The thought always makes me smile with joy.
JP picked up on my mothering instinct and got me a kitten for Christmas, a black and white tuxedo kitten I named Oreo, of course. He is a little spitfire, and I love him to pieces. We got him used to traveling in the car, so he goes wherever I go with no complaints. Of course, I managed to leave him home for this vacation, but I’ve already texted the pet sitter multiple times to see how he’s doing. Since I met JP in San Francisco after his last game before break, I’ve only been away from him for two days.
JP pauses at the door to our bungalow. He peers down at me, and I notice something different in his expression. He’s gazing at me with a mixture of tenderness and affection.
“What?” I ask.
“Just taking something in for the last time.”
I’m about to ask him to explain when he quickly opens the door. He ushers me inside, and I’m greeted by the sounds of “Kiss the Girl” playing. I stop the second I enter the room, as it’s filled with bouquets of lush, tropical flowers and lights strategically dimmed. Then I spot a trail of gorgeous pink and cream petals making a trail to the coffee table.
“JP,” I gasp, my mind racing. “What is this?”
“Follow the trail,” JP says quietly.
My heart is hammering inside my chest. I move around to the other side of the table, and my hand flies to my mouth. There’s a huge selection of white chocolate dipped Oreos, but they spell out a message, one that makes me burst into happy tears. The Oreos say:
"Share the adventure of a lifetime with me”
In the center of the message is an Oreo that is twisted open, with a huge engagement ring placed on top of the filling.
“Oh!” I cry.
JP is proposing to me.
I begin full-on shaking.
JP comes around to me, and in front of the view of the ocean and with our song from The Little Mermaid playing, takes my hands in his.
“Reese,” JP says, his deep voice thick, “you captured my attention with your emerald-green eyes the first time we met. They were expressive. They danced. They were full of passion and light. I knew the second I looked into them there would be no playing defense with you. My heart was meant to fall, and it did.”
I feel tears slip down my face.
“I had given up on love until I found you. I thought I would never know what it was like for someone to truly love me. But you changed that. Your love changed everything. You’re my best friend. My lover. The woman who is my everything and so much more. I love you. I love you with all that I am.”
JP bends over and retrieves the ring off the Oreo, and then he drops on one knee in front of me.
“Veux tu partager l'aventure d'une vie, ma sirène? Veux-tu m'épouser?"
I feel my knees buckle a bit as he proposes in French to me. Oh, this man is sexy and romantic, and he’s going to be my husband.
“Reese,” JP says, shifting seamlessly to English for me, “will you share the adventure of a lifetime with me, my mermaid? Will you marry me?”
I smile through my happy tears. “Yes. Yes. I will marry you, my Jean-Pierre.”
JP grins and takes my hand, which is still shaking wildly. He manages to slide the ring on despite that fact, and never have I felt a moment of pure joy such as this one.
I bend down and cup his face in my hands, kissing him deeply. “I love you,” I murmur against his lips. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
JP rises and I do, too, and he kisses me again.
“You’ve made me the happiest man in the world,” JP says, caressing my face in his hands. “Je t'aime.”
I smile, knowing he just told me he loved me in French.
“You have made me whole, JP. I never wanted love until I found you. I love you with all my heart. I promise you, we are going to have an amazing life together.”
“I’ll buy a house in Matt and Holly’s neighborhood with a pool for you,” JP says.
“I’ll try to put my stuff away.”
JP lifts an eyebrow. “Let’s not get carried away with promises we can’t keep, my mermaid.”
I laugh, and he does, too.
“I’ll try,” I emphasize.
“You must really love me if you are going to try to be neat,” JP teases.
“I do. I do love you, and I’ll love you for the rest of my life,” I say.
“Do you remember our Instagram pic of us eating Oreos?” JP asks.
I grin. “Yes.”
He pulls his phone out of his shorts pocket. “Let’s take another one, but this time you’ll show off your ring.”
JP picks up two Oreos, and we pose for selfies with them, like we did that first time back in August.
“I won’t post it until we tell our families,” JP promises.
“I’m going to be your wife,” I say happily. “I can’t wait to marry you!”
JP’s eyes grow watery. “That’s why I paused at the doorstep before we came in. I knew that was the last moment you would be my girlfriend. Now you’re my fiancée.”
I grow emotional from his reaction. “I’m so happy, JP.”
“Me, too,” he whispers to me.
I flash him a gr
in. “Now the song says you need to ‘Kiss the Girl,’ so could you do that, please?”
JP laughs, and as he presses his lips to mine, I know I’m about to embrace a life I never thought I wanted until I met JP.
I found love.
I have a fiancé.
I’m going to marry JP. I’ll share my life with him. We’ll live in America and Switzerland and find adventures all over the globe to share.
All because The Swiss One is The One.
And our love was meant to be.
Also by Aven Ellis and Soul Mate Publishing:
CONNECTIVITY
Overachiever Mary-Kate Grant (who is indeed named after an Olsen Twin) has followed every rule to the letter to pursue her dream of working in TV programming. Ripping a page from the “hard work pays off” playbook, she takes an assistant level job at a Chicago sports network to break into the industry.
MK has no time or desire for a relationship right now—she is totally focused on her career and being independent, unlike the other women in her family.
But MK’s plans are run through the shredder when she finds herself working for William Cumberland, a British media mogul who made his fortune with Connectivity, a social media site. William blows into Chicago just like the winds off Lake Michigan and purchases the group of networks MK works for—and makes her his personal assistant in the process.
Suddenly MK finds her career plans in jeopardy. William makes her question everything she has ever thought and has the uncanny ability to see right through her. And for the first time in her life, MK finds herself not only questioning what she wants for her career but for her personal life as well.
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/npzdr6c
WAITING FOR PRINCE HARRY
(A Dallas Demons Hockey Romance)
Twenty-four-year-old Kylie Reed has always been a rule follower. Organized and cautious to a fault, her dreams for life are often filed away for future use—when she has a house, when she meets her future husband, when she has been at her visual display job at a chic Dallas boutique longer. Kylie always has a reason for living her life in the future, not in the present, and fears not living her life to the fullest and reaching her dream of becoming a fashion designer.
The only exception to rules, of course, would be running away with Prince Harry. But living in Dallas and not knowing Prince Harry make this a non-option.
Or does it?
Because when Kylie accidentally falls into the lap of a gorgeous ginger guy—yes, even more gorgeous than the real Prince Harry—all bets are off. Kylie’s life takes some unexpected twists and turns thanks to this encounter. Could this stranger be the one to show Kylie how to live in the present?
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/paapxo8
CHRONICLES OF A
LINCOLN PARK FASHIONISTA
Recent college graduate Avery Andrews is ready to begin a new life in the big city. She’s landed an apartment in Chicago’s famed Lincoln Park neighborhood–and has her eye on the cute commodity trader just a floor above.
If Premier Airlines knew about her fear of flying, they never would have hired her to be their marketing assistant—but it’s not like Avery wants a lifelong career. Right now she simply wants a job to pay her bills . . . and fund a few little shopping excursions, too.
Her new lifestyle comes with a price tag, as Avery is not only faced with paying a ridiculous rent but finds she’s perceived as one of the vacant, husband-hunting fashionistas who live in the area. Avery resents this stereotype. So she doesn’t want a lifelong career, and she loves fashions she can’t afford, but that doesn’t mean she is empty-headed and spoiled, does it?
When an opportunity to participate in a documentary at work arises, Avery finds a two-fold solution to her problems. She’ll earn extra money for it, and the documentary will show her as a serious career woman, enabling her to shed that husband-hunting fashionista label for good.
When the camera is on, Avery attempts to be a motivated professional woman. But when she is challenged by Deacon Ryan, the videographer assigned to cover her story, Avery finds herself wanting things she was never supposed to want—like a lasting career—and Deacon. And Avery might just gain more from the experience than a perfect career image and extra cash to put in her Tory Burch wallet . . .
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/mv87r8v
THE DEFINITION OF ICING
(A Dallas Demons Hockey Romance)
Kenley Hunter finally has everything sorted out. Fresh from studying chocolate making in Europe, she's gambling everything on her new business, Confection Consultations.
All Kenley wants in life is people to take her seriously, to see the person on the inside rather than the blond beauty on the outside. While pursuing her passion of chocolate, Kenley discovered people seek her knowledge. They see past the exterior and fall for the chocolate delights in front of them.
So with work as her focus, Kenley is ready to start her career in Dallas. Men are out of her recipe, because she fears that once they get past her looks, they’ll be disappointed in what they find. Kenley decides she's all about the chocolate now.
Or is she?
Because a chance meeting with new Dallas Demon hockey star Nate Johansson might change everything. Sent to Dallas in a blockbuster trade, Nate is somewhere he doesn't want to be, for reasons that have caused him heartbreak on multiple levels. Nate knows he will never trust a woman again after what happened to him in Minnesota.
But when he meets a woman with an intriguing name and a passion for chocolate, Nate isn't so sure about his theory. And he might just learn a definition of icing other than the one used in hockey with Kenley as his guide . . .
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/pjh8fab
THE AUBREY RULES
(CHICAGO ON ICE SERIES BOOK 1)
Some of the Aubrey Rules to Live By:
*If I’m going to indulge in French fries, I must add extra time to the treadmill the next day.
*Always keep your work and private life separate.
*Being open to new experiences will never involve eating kale.
*Never, ever date a professional athlete.
For Chicago social media professional Aubrey Paige, the rules are everything. So much so that Aubrey has painstakingly written her rules for living into a polka-dot Kate Spade notebook that she carries with her at all times. It’s her personal guidebook to living her life. These rules are the Holy Grail—ones never to be broken. They guide her actions for everything, from dealing with workplace drama to finding a great guy to date. After all, these are her own rules, built from her life experiences and observations. So they have to be perfect, right?
Or are they?
Because when Aubrey meets a cute Canadian, she suddenly finds her rules being tested and challenged in ways she never dreamed possible. Beckett Riley is the shy, quiet, determined captain of the Chicago Buffaloes, a hockey team on the verge of turning the corner to becoming a winning organization. He’s Aubrey's opposite, with so many qualities that Aubrey had listed as ones she’d never want in a man.
Yet Aubrey finds herself drawn to Beckett in ways she’s never known. And when she unexpectedly finds herself working with Beckett, she wonders if rules are meant to be broken after all . . .
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/oxbmobd
SURVIVING THE RACHEL
Bree Logan is ready to start her post-college life, but when she’s dumped by The One, unable to land a professional job, and has to move back in with her parents, she doesn’t think things can get worse until she ends up with her hair chopped into The Rachel, the infamous haircut made famous by the show Friends. Which is not good since it’s no longer 1994. But sometimes you have to go through challenges to get what you really need, and for Bree, cou
ld that include a different career and a romance with Jack Chelten, the boy-next-door?
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/nnkzjfj
BREAKOUT
(A Dallas Demons Hockey Romance)
While Texas is known for loving football, Lexi Stewart has always been drawn to the ice. Hockey is her passion, and she wants nothing more than to pursue a career in video editing for the home network of the Dallas Demons hockey team.
Lexi has an editing job for a corporate account, but it’s not fulfilling. Nor is her dating life, despite having the so-called help of The One Online Dating Service. Lexi knows there has to be more for her—on both fronts. She’s ready to take the next step, but it doesn't seem like it’s going to happen anytime soon.
Until a flying puck changes everything.
Niko Xenakis is the new Dallas Demons TV producer, and he’s looking to make his mark in his new role and hopefully work his way back to his hometown of Baltimore. But once he meets Lexi, he might just change his mind on what he wants for his future . . .
But the road to love is never easy, complicated by the fact that they both carry emotional baggage from the past in their hearts. Can these two “breakout” of the past to find love in the present?
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/hsmgujh
TRIVIAL PURSUITS
(CHICAGO ON ICE BOOK 2)
Landon Holder is exactly the kind of man Livy Adams should stay far away from.
The flashy, flirty star defenseman for the Chicago Buffaloes is known for hooking up with women all over Chicago. Livy finds herself attracted to Landy, but his sexy good looks and charm are irrelevant. She had her heart shattered by a cheating athlete in college, and Livy vows she will never let her judgment lapse like that ever again.