Peyton sat on Nathan's lap completely stunned. She hadn't expected Nathan to propose to her. She wasn't even sure that she wanted him to yet. Finally, her eyes met his in disbelief. "No."

"What?"

"Nate, we're not ready for that," she pointed out as she turned in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. "We can be together without getting married. I love you more than you know, but there are so many things we need to work out first."

"Like what?" he questioned. "We're going to talk to Luke and Hales. You said that you would move back home."

She nodded slowly, conceding his point. "But where are we going to live?" she asked. "You can't kick Haley out of the house, and my dad sold our house when we left Tree Hill. I still have to figure out what I am going to do about work. The label is here."

"So you will start your own label, Peyt. You've always wanted to do that anyhow," he suggested. "Or you could just get back to do your art, whatever is going to make you happy. I'll support anything you want to do as long as you come home to me."

"Then, there's Jamie."

"Jamie will love you," he professed confidently. "I know the divorce is going to be hard on him, but Haley and I love our son. We'll do everything we can to make this alright for him."

"He's going to need more time than that, Nate," she argued. "You and Haley are still married. Technically, I am still with his Uncle Luke. Jamie doesn't know that everything has changed. His world still seems perfect."

Nathan loved her so much for being concerned about his son. It told him everything he needed to know about Peyton's place in Jamie's life. "Technicality, Babe," he waved her off. "We can deal with those things. As long as we're together, we can deal with anything."

"When did you get to be such an eternal optimist?" she laughed. "You almost make me believe that anything is possible."

He reached up and kissed the tip of her cute button nose. "I see right through you, Peyton Sawyer," he boasted. "You pretend to be this emo loner who doesn't believe in things like forever, but I know you do. I know you belong. I know that because you belong to me, with me." She smiled against his lips as she kissed him yet again. There was something so irresistible about a man whose heart was completely open to her. "Just tell me that you'll marry me."

"I want to marry you, Nathan," she murmured as he ran his arms over her back. "That has to be enough for now. I can't say yes, not yet."

"That's enough for me," he said as he leapt to his feet, sweeping her up with him. He pulled her into a long and fulfilling kiss, the kind where Peyton temporarily lost any sense of where she was or what was happening to her. "For now."

"For now," she repeated as he caught her in another kiss, this one deeper. Nathan felt all the breath rush from his body as she her fingers wove into the dark locks at the nape of his neck. After a few minutes, Peyton forced herself to pull away. "I want to be with you, like now." Nathan smirked cockily at her insistence. "I just don't want our first time here to be like this. When we're together here, I want it to be as your wife."

He nodded as if he understood. Honestly, he didn't really understand why Peyton wanted to save this place, but if that was what she wanted, he would give it to her. "Your place or the hotel?"

"My place is closer," she said breathlessly as he left a trail of kisses along her jaw and down his neck. His hands drifted beneath the hem of her shirt, gently caressing the warm curves of her hips. "Car. Now."

The two managed to make it across the city to her loft in record time. With his bags still in the car and her keys in hand, Nathan pressed Peyton against the wall of the elevator as they continued to makeout like two desperate adolescents. Once the bell dinged for her floor, he pulled away from her just enough to carry her down the hall toward her door. Setting her back to her feet, he pressed her against the door and resumed his ravenous exploration of her mouth. Her hands tangled in his hair as she drove him closer to her hungrily.

After Nathan managed to navigate the key into the lock behind her without breaking the kiss, Peyton bumped the door open with her hip. Their lips were still interlocked as they danced backward toward her bedroom. Never once losing contact, they fell together into a heap on the plush down comforter. As a voice called out her name, Nathan sat straight up and Peyton looked in shock to a chair in the corner.

"Peyton," the voice greeted them. "Nathan."