Delicate

Chapter 96

HARRY STYLES

I've always avoided speaking on the topic of marriage with every romantic partner I've had up until I started dating Haven. The funny thing is that I remember thinking about it quite a while before we ever touched on the subject. I hadn't yet made up my mind for sure, seeing as we were only together for a couple of months at that point, but I distinctly recall thinking that I could see a future with her in a way that I couldn't with anyone else.

If I'm being honest, I think a lot of it had to do with her life and the way it was structured. It was so normal compared to all the other women I dated and I was first drawn to the anonymity of it all, I think. I liked that her dad was just a lawyer and her mum was an artist living in a small southern town, and I liked that she had normal friends and had no interest in being the center of attention. That's why her career was quite literally focused on remaining in the background...until I sort of ruined that for her.

But, ever since we've been together, I don't think I ever once thought that we wouldn't work out in the long run. The way I felt on our first date back at my house pretty much solidified the fact that I've never been so viciously attracted to someone in every sense of the word. She was as beautiful then as she is now, but it was her laugh and the way she looked at me when I was talking, and the sound of her voice, and her smile, and the way my stomach plummeted when she kissed me back while we were dancing in my living room. I was obsessed with her and I'm not sure if she knows that.

Nothing about that has changed as I watch her put the finishing touches on her clean and simple makeup through the bathroom mirror. I've been standing here watching her talk herself through her whole routine while her parents look after our children because I can't be away from her. I haven't been able to separate myself from her at all in the last week and I'm not sure why, considering we're about to vow to spend the rest of our lives with each other. I'm just attached and I can't help it.

"Okay, I'm done, I'm done, I'm done," she blots her glossy lips and sets the tube on the marble counter. "Sorry, I don't know why I couldn't get my eyeliner right."

"You don't have to apologize," I step forward off the wall to hold her waist, sliding my hands around to feel her slow-growing baby bump over her dress. "You're so pretty."

She smiles at me through the mirror before glancing down to check herself out. Alessandro did an incredible job with her dress for tonight, which is made of a heavyweight ivory satin material with a long train and a black bow detailing around the back. The straps are thin on her shoulders, but the bust has to be the best part. It's essentially made up of just two triangular pieces of fabric concealing her breasts, but I'm positive Alessandro was trying to do me a personal favor by making sure her cleavage would be fully on show. It's completely impossible not to notice and I already know I'm going to have to practice not staring at it all night.

"I love the dress," she agrees, reading my thoughts aloud. "Is it too much for just the rehearsal, though? Should I have gone for something more–"

"Nope," I stop her right there. "He knew what it was for and he knew that you needed to be the centerpiece for the whole evening, and you are."

She tries to fight another smile. "The centerpiece?"

"Yes," I adjust the diamond choker on her neck just above her collarbones, which was a gift from me this morning. "Today and tomorrow are about you."

"It's about us," she corrects me and turns to loop her arms around my neck, parting her lips for the kiss I give her.

I smile when I feel my mouth sticking to hers, but the taste and sensation only have me going in for a second kiss, and a third before she holds the back of my neck and lets me flick my tongue over hers. Her laugh is muffled as I step forward until her lower back nudges against the counter, but she doesn't stop kissing me either.