“I just want you to tell me how you feel, Olivia. The truth.”

Several intense seconds passed as Alexander stared down at her, bracing for her answer. Her eyes traced over his face. His green eyes were so full of sadness. She could see the hurt all over his body. He looked good, but there was something missing from his usual spark.

“Okay!” Olivia shouted. “I love you, Alexander! Okay?! Is that what you want to hear?! You want to hear how I want to get married and have beautiful babies?! Because I do! I love you so fucking much that it hurts!” Tears continued to fall down Olivia’s face as Alexander pulled her close, stroking her hair and kissing her head, trying to calm her down.

“I’ve loved you since I saw you running that day back in August at Boston Common. And then I started to love you even more when you came and adopted Runner. I loved you so much that I ran from you. I fell in love with you even more when you came after me and found me, begging me to come home with you. And then it broke my fucking heart when I saw you with another woman because I loved you then, too.

“And every day I spend with you, I fall even more in love. And the days we’re apart, I feel like I could die from the fucking heartache because I’m missing such an important part of me. It feels like I can’t go on breathing or surviving when you’re not with me, and that’s what I’m fucking scared of. I’m scared that you’ll leave me, just like everyone else in my life that I’ve ever loved, and I’ll never survive.”

She cried into Alexander’s chest, soaking his suit jacket. “I’m scared to death to love you, but I’m more scared to walk away from you,” she sobbed out. “There. I’ve admitted it. Are you satisfied now?”

“Sshhh… It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

She took several deep breaths, reveling in the feeling of being back in Alexander’s arms. It had not even been a week, but it felt like an eternity since those arms had held her.

“Olivia, look at me,” Alexander said, coaxing her head up. A brilliant smile spread across his face. “There’s the girl I love.” He wiped the tears from her eyes with his finger. Olivia let out a small laugh as she tried to compose herself, shivering from the chilly March air.

“You must be freezing out here, wearing just that,” Alexander said, eying Olivia’s black open-back halter top.

“You do a pretty good job at making me all hot and bothered, Mr. Burnham,” Olivia said sweetly.

Alexander laughed. “Come, love. Let’s get you warmed up.” He pulled her close to him and led her back toward the noisy bar.

He stopped right before the front door. “Hey, Olivia?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

Her heart swelled. Standing on her tip-toes, she planted a gentle kiss on his lips. “I love you, too, Alexander Burnham,” she murmured.

“That’s my girl.”

CHAPTER FIFTY

I WILL

ALEXANDER AND OLIVIA MADE their way back upstairs just as the band finished their song. Alexander met Mo’s eyes, nodding. “Alright, ladies and gentlemen. It’s a special night. We’ve got a local celebrity in our presence. Let’s get him up here. Alexander Burnham. Come on, bud!”

Olivia looked at Alexander and then back at Mo. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Hell if I know.” He smirked. “Come on.” He pulled Olivia through the crowd of people, and she noticed that the stage was set up slightly differently. A chair sat slightly off center, positioned in such a way so the person sitting could see the audience as well as the performance on stage.

Alexander hopped up on stage, shaking hands with Mo and the guys. Olivia stood in front of the stage with Kiera, who winked at her, squeezing her arm, as if saying she was glad they worked things out. Melanie and Tyler smiled at Olivia. “Glad you’re giving my brother another shot,” Tyler joked. “He’s been impossible to deal with this week.”

“So has Libby,” Melanie joked.

Olivia rolled her eyes before returning her gaze to the stage and Alexander, watching as he grabbed the microphone out of its stand and walked over to where Olivia stood. “Oh no, love. You’re not getting out of this.” He held his hand out to her. She looked at him, questioning. “You can trust me,” he whispered in her ear, helping her back onto the stage and leading her over to the chair. “Have a seat, gorgeous.”

“What’s going on, Alexander?” she asked nervously. She always loved being up on stage, but she had no idea what was going on. And that scared her more than anything.

“You’ll find out,” he winked. Olivia sat down, her heart thumping in her chest.

Alexander put the microphone back in its stand and walked over to his Martin guitar, picking it up to check the tuning. He played a quick chord, getting the note he needed to start the song.

“Set?” Mo asked him.

“Set,” he replied.

Mo counted the band in and Alexander immediately began singing The Beatles I Will, looking at Olivia sitting in the chair.

Olivia gasped. He was singing a song to her, a song that she had heard many times in her dreams. It all seemed so familiar.

Tears streamed down her face as she watched Alexander sing the chorus, staring into her eyes, declaring his love for her, letting everyone know that she possessed his heart. But that song. There was something about that song. She tried to remember, but the memory wouldn’t come. Olivia tried and tried. There was just something so familiar about that exact moment.

Alexander began the last verse, staring intently at Olivia, singing the words to her. She wiped her eyes, trying to hide her tears. She felt so much love for the man singing to her. Her heart felt like it was going to explode.

Alexander and the band finished the song and the audience cheered. He took off his guitar, placing it back on the stand before grabbing the microphone and walking toward Olivia as he motioned for the audience to quiet down.

Olivia’s heart began to race. Alexander brought the microphone back to his mouth. “Olivia, love, to answer your question from before…I’m not satisfied.” His voice rang through the bar, no one making a sound, the crowd glued to the drama unfolding in front of them.

She looked at him, a confused look on her face.

“You asked me if I was satisfied. Well, to tell you the truth, I won’t be satisfied until I can wake up next to you every day for the rest of my life.”