“Patrick,” Emma said, worried and exhausted after a terrible night of mostly crying. “Why would you be that stupid?”

Patrick was sitting on one of the counter stools in her apartment, and he looked almost as bad as she did. He’d knocked on her door a few minutes ago. It wasn’t even seven in the morning, but she hadn’t been asleep.

“He deserved it,” Patrick grumbled, wincing slightly as Emma wiped antiseptic wash over the torn skin on his bruised knuckles.

“You tore up your hand.”

“I know. I’ve never hit anyone before. It’s really hard on your hand.” There was a dry, sympathetic note in his voice that was very much like him.

It made Emma’s throat close up again, even as she smiled at her brother. “There was no reason to hit him.”

“Yes, there was.”

“You could have really hurt him.”

“Not really. He’s a lot stronger than me. If he’d have fought back, I wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

Emma’s stomach churned. “He didn’t fight back at all?”

“He didn’t even try to defend himself. He saw it coming but just let it happen.” Patrick slumped forward. “It was like he wanted to be hurt.”

“He probably did,” she murmured, aching for Noah, for Patrick, for Ginny, for everyone.

What a mess this had turned into.

“Does he have a black eye?” she asked.

“Yes. Or I’m sure he will have one this morning.”

“What did he do?”

“Nothing. He was drunk out of his mind already. He just lay there on the floor.”

“Oh. Damn.”

“I had to haul the bastard up and drive him home.” Patrick was scowling, as if this had been the final indignity. “I passed him off to Ginny when I got to the house. I’m sure he’ll be fine once he sleeps it off.”

Emma patted Patrick’s forearm. “You’re a good friend.”

“I’m not a friend anymore.”

She contorted her features to keep from crying again. She’d already cried enough. “No, Patrick. I don’t want that. These things happen. And it shouldn’t get in the way of a real friendship. I don’t want you two to stop being friends. I would hate that.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but you’re my sister, and I’m not going to be friends with someone who treats you like he did. I don’t care what kind of demons he’s running from. He doesn’t get to do that to you. No one gets to do that to you.”

Emma came over and sat on the stool next to him, leaning her face against his shoulder.

He wrapped an arm around her and gave her a brief squeeze.

This was the extent of their brotherly-sisterly affection, but it meant a lot to Emma.

It was seven now, and she hadn’t had a shower yet. It was a Friday, and they would both need to get into work soon.

The business didn’t stop just because she had a broken heart.

The world didn’t stop to mourn for what she’d lost.

She was about to stand up and make herself get on with the day when there was a knock on the door.

Despite herself, her heart gave a little leap, wondering if it could be Noah, coming to apologize, to beg for forgiveness.

It was a silly thought, and she knew better than to entertain it. This time, Noah’s absence was final. It was clear to everyone involved.

Ginny was at the door when she opened it, her hair pulled back, wearing her glasses, and looking like she hadn’t slept at all.

“Are you okay?” Emma asked, stepping aside to let her friend in.

“You’re asking me that? I’m here to ask you that.” Ginny gave Patrick a little wave, which he returned. “How are your knuckles?”

“They’ve been better.”

“Well, they probably look better than Noah’s face.” Ginny shook her head, coming farther in to sit at the counter. “He deserved it, of course.”

“Is he okay?” Emma asked.

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Ginny admitted, the words coming out in a long exhale. “He’s a wreck. I’ve never seen him like this.”

“I don’t understand what happened,” Emma said, her throat aching again. “Things were… were so good between us yesterday morning. How did it all fall apart?”

“I don’t know. But he was babbling out a bunch of stuff before he finally dropped off. I think…” Ginny took an uneven breath. “I think he must have talked to our dad yesterday.”

Emma gasped. “He went to see your father? Why?”

“I don’t think he went to go see him. I couldn’t get the whole story. He was just babbling out all these disconnected ramblings, totally out of it. I think maybe Dad came to the hospital to check on Nan or something. But they talked, and that was what sent Noah into this tailspin.”

This sounded true, right to Emma. If anything could tear Noah up this way, it would be an encounter with his father, especially when he was as emotionally vulnerable as he’d been lately, trying to take some new steps, be a different person.

“He’s crazy about you,” Ginny went on. “I’m not lying or exaggerating. He’s head-over-heels in love with you. He’s was babbling on about that too. I thought at first it was just one of his infatuations. In fact I…” After a pause, she continued, “I encouraged him not to pursue things with you.”

“You did?” Emma straightened up sharply. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I thought he would leave. I thought he would hurt you. I couldn’t believe he’d… he’d actually stay. I’m really sorry if I messed things up for you. I did it a few weeks ago, after that first time. I didn’t do it yesterday. But still… I’m sorry if I got in the way of things. Are you mad at me?”

Emma felt dazed and so, so tired. She shook her head. “I’m not mad. Maybe I will be later. Maybe I’ll be mad at Noah later too. But I just can’t right now. I just… can’t. I feel like I don’t have the energy to be anything but sad. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah. I know.” Ginny gave a loud sigh and slumped forward. “But this is more than just an infatuation for Noah. This is the real thing. I know it is now.”

Emma’s whole body clenched with emotion, but she cleared her throat. “It… it doesn’t matter.”

Ginny’s face was more openly emotional than Emma almost ever saw. “I know he was terrible. I know he hurt you a lot. But it’s just this emotional response from seeing Dad and whatever it was they talked about.  He’s really a good guy.”

“I know he is,” Emma said hoarsely. “I know how good he is when he lets himself be. But it doesn’t matter. He didn’t choose me.”

“I think he will. I really think he will. He’s going to wake up and hate himself and want to make things better. So I was thinking… I really think if you go to see him and try to talk to him, you two will be able to work things out. He doesn’t want to go down this road. I know he doesn’t want to.”

Emma was tempted. Incredibly tempted. She wanted desperately to see Noah again, talk to him, make sure he was all right. Shake him out of whatever had gotten into him yesterday.

But she shook her head slowly. “I can’t. I won’t do that. I’ve spent too many years chasing after men who don’t really want me. And I’m not going to do it anymore. If he wants me, then he would choose me. And he just hasn’t done that.”

Ginny sighed again, lowering her head, but she didn’t argue anymore. Patrick put a supportive hand on Emma’s shoulder, and it made her feel like she’d done the right thing.

“I’m really sorry,” Ginny said at last. “I don’t want you to hate me.”

Emma’s eyes widened. “Why would I hate you? It’s not your fault. I’m sorry all this happened too.”

She got up to give Ginny a hug, which her friend returned.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” Ginny asked when they pulled apart.

“No. Go back home and make sure Noah is all right. He’s your brother.” The words almost caught in her throat. “He needs someone.”

***

Noah woke up with a brutally aching head.

And a heart that hurt even more.

He hadn’t gotten so drunk in years, and he’d forgotten what the hangover afterward felt like. He managed to limp into the bathroom. His stomach heaved, and he gagged a little, but he didn’t actually vomit. He turned on the shower and stood beneath the spray for a really long time.

His head hurt. His cheekbone hurt from where Patrick had hit him.

But nothing hurt as much as the knowledge that he’d lost Emma for good.

And maybe lost everyone else he loved too.

Eventually, the water stopped being hot so he finally got out and dried off. He changed into an old pair of his high school sweats and a T-shirt, and he managed to get to the kitchen to look for coffee.

Ginny was there. It was late. After eight. He’d expected her to already be at Tea for Two.

She wasn’t, though. She was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and working on her laptop.

Like their mother used to do every morning.

The wave of grief that slammed into him almost knocked him over.

Ginny glanced up and said coolly, “I hope you feel like hell.”

“I do.”

“Good.”

He couldn’t expect anything else. She’d warned him that, if he broke Emma’s heart, she would have a hard time forgiving him.

It was only what he deserved.

He went to the coffee pot, got himself a cup, and swallowed it down. It burned his mouth, but he didn’t care.

When he’d finished it, he got a second cup and brought it over to the table so he could sit down. He wasn’t sure how much longer his legs would support him.

Ginny pushed away her laptop and looked at him. “You have a black eye.”

“I know.”

“I’ve never seen Patrick so angry with anyone.”

“I know.”

“Emma cried all night.”

At this, Noah winced and closed his eyes.

“Nan was asking for you at the hospital.”

He hadn’t known his heart could hurt any more, but it did.

It did.

“How is she?” he managed to ask.

“She’s fine. Better. The doctor said she can get out in another day or two.”

He let out a breath.

“Are you going to leave?” Ginny demanded.

“What?”

“Are you going to leave? Take off? Abandon all of us the way you did Emma?”

Her face went fuzzy before his eyes, and he couldn’t answer immediately. “I… I don’t know.”

This halting answer evidently surprised Ginny. With an quick intake of breath, she leaned forward and put her hand on his forearm. “Noah, you don’t have to. You don’t have to. You’re better than this. You know you are.”

“I don’t think I am.”

“I don’t care what you think. I know you better than you know yourself. All of us do. And we all love you. Why can’t you understand that? What can’t you accept it? Why do you assume everyone is always going to leave you eventually, just because Dad did?”

He didn’t say anything. He just breathed heavily.

Ginny went on. “Well, I don’t care what you think about yourself. I don’t care how much you try to drive away everyone who knows and loves you. Nothing you can ever do is going to make me stop loving you. I’m never going to leave you, Noah. You stomped my best friend’s heart into the mud, and you did it on purpose, but you’re still my brother. I love you, and I’m never going to leave you.”

Noah couldn’t breathe. He literally couldn’t breathe. His eyes blurred over, and he made a helpless, ragged sound as emotion too powerful to control consumed him.

Ginny’s face was streaming with tears, but she wasn’t making any sound. She just kept her hand on his arm and sat there, waiting for him to compose himself.

“I love you too,” he managed to say at last, needing to answer the gift she’d just given him. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“Then don’t! You don’t have to leave me, and you don’t have to leave Emma. You can make things right with her.”

He shook his head, staring down at his coffee cup on the table. “I… I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. You’re acting like your life is already doomed, but it’s not. You can make decisions to turn it into what you want.”

He closed his eyes. “And what happens if I have kids and end up leaving them the way Dad did us?” He could see himself doing it so clearly. He’d seen the images like a movie in his mind during his conversation with his father, and he’d seen them all night long, even after he closed his eyes.

Ginny snorted. “And what happens if you have kids and love them with all of your big heart for the rest of your life? What happens if you’re the kind of father that Dad never was to us? Don’t you want that?”

“Yes,” he admitted.

“Then do something to make it happen!”

“It’s too late.”

“It’s not too late! You had one day and night of being an idiotic jackass, but that doesn’t have to be your final answer. Just go find Emma. Tell her what happened with Dad. Tell her how much you love her. She loves you too. I know she does. She’ll forgive you.”

He just kept shaking his head. His sister’s love and devotion would have to be enough for him. The universe wouldn’t offer him everything, not after the way he’d acted.

“Noah, she loves you, but she’s never going to come to you. You have to go to her. You have to prove to her how much you love her. It’s not too late. She doesn’t hate you.”

“She should.”

“That’s not your call. It’s hers. And I’m telling you that she’s capable of forgiving you for not calling her yesterday.”

“It was more than just that. It was—”

“I know what it was. Everyone knows what it was. You fell back into your old pattern of running away. But it’s morning now, and the world didn’t fall apart. So you fix it. Please, Noah, if you really love her, then fix it.”

He stared at her blankly for a long time, wondering why her words were suddenly making sense.

He’d been so sure yesterday. He’d seen his true nature—he’d seen it reflected back to him in his father’s face.

But Ginny’s advice was so simple, so obvious, what any reasonable person would do.

He’d made a mistake. A huge mistake. He’d hurt more than one person he loved.

But bonds of love weren’t flimsy. They could be mended.

Maybe—maybe—there was something he could do to make things right.

“At least try,” Ginny whispered, “Or you’re going to hate yourself forever for letting her go.”

It was true.

He didn’t want to let Emma go.

He wanted her in his arms for the rest of their lives, both of them completely vulnerable the way they’d been two nights ago.

He wanted it so much the need throbbed inside him, pulsing with his blood.

Ginny seemed to understand the transformation on his face. She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “You know what to do.”

***

Emma tried to work all morning and part of the afternoon, but she just couldn’t focus, so Patrick finally told her to take off the rest of the day before she hopelessly mangled one of their spreadsheets.

She walked over to Tea for Two and was happy to see both Ginny and Carol there. They weren’t very busy this afternoon, so they all sat down to drink Earl Grey, eat Carol’s cupcakes, and talk.

Despite the bleeding wound in her heart, Emma felt a little better afterwards.

Ginny still seemed to think that Noah would change his mind, but Emma didn’t hold out any hope.

She’d lost him. And the most she could hope for now was that he’d stay close to Ginny and Nan, that he wouldn’t isolate himself completely.

She was tired, drained, but not on the verge of crying anymore when they finished the tea and cupcakes. She leaned back in her chair, thinking she might actually go back to her apartment to take a little nap.

The jangling of the bell on the door made her glance over.

She froze, her hand holding her teacup halfway up to her lips to take her final sip of tea.

Noah stood in the entrance, his green eyes focused on her. He wore jeans and a simple gray T-shirt, and he’d finally shaved. There was a blue and charcoal gray bruise under one of his eyes. He looked tired and slightly uncertain and strangely young.

She stared at him as he came toward her.

Emma was vaguely aware of the fact that Ginny was grinning and she’d patted Carol on the upper arm in a signal that the two of them should leave the table.

Ginny and Carol got up and went into the back of the shop, where they were doubtlessly peeking out to see what was happening.

Noah stood beside her.

He was here. He was here. It had to mean something.

She just was too stunned and dazed to know what it meant.

“Would you…” he began, his voice soft and hoarse. “Would you come with me? I want to show you something.”

She had no idea what he was talking about, but she stood up and let him lead her out of the tearoom. She glanced back toward the counter before she stepped outside and saw that both Ginny and Carol were beaming at her.

They were happy.

Surely they wouldn’t be happy if there wasn’t a good reason.

Noah was here. He wanted to see her. He wanted to show her something.

Nan’s car was parked on the curb, and Noah opened the passenger door for her and helped her in. She needed the help. She was trembling uncontrollably.

He got into the car and pulled it out onto Main Street. Then he drove to the north of town and turned into one of the nicer new developments, one with bigger lots and lovely brick houses.

She had absolutely no idea where they were going.

He stopped in front of a house—a beautiful two-story in Colonial style with a perfectly landscaped yard and a two car garage around the side. There was a For Sale sign in the front yard.

“What is this?” she asked, surprised her voice was even working. It felt like forever since she’d said anything.

“This is my house,” Noah said, almost sheepishly. “I bought it.”

“What?”

“I bought it. Well, I made an offer a couple of hours ago, and it was accepted. Everything will have to go through for it to be official, but I don’t think it should be a problem.” He paused. “Do you like it?”

“Of course I like it.” She stared out the car window, still shaking helplessly. “You bought a house? In Blacksburg? Why?”

“I’ve never owned a house before. I don’t even own a car. I move every six months. I don’t have any… any ties at all, and I don’t want to live that way anymore.” His eyes met hers when she turned back to look at him, and his expression was completely open, naked in its vulnerability. “I’m moving back to Blacksburg.”

“But your job—”

“I quit my job. I turned in my notice this morning.”

“What? Why? I’d never have wanted you to give up your—”

“I don’t want that job. I only took it because it made me feel… feel like I was in control, that nothing could tie me down. It wasn’t good for me. That whole lifestyle wasn’t good for me.” His hand clenched around the steering wheel, but he didn’t break her gaze. “What’s good for me is right here.”

She made a little gurgling sound as she took this in.

It felt like a dream, like it couldn’t really be happening.

“Noah,” she managed to say.

He took her face in both of his hands, his face transforming with a flood of tenderness so clear, so palpable, that it took her breath away. “I love you, Emma. I love you so much. And yesterday I got scared and ran away like I always do, but I was wrong, and I’m not going to let that be my final answer. I’m going to be a better man, a better brother and grandson and… and friend. And I’m going to do all this whether you think you can forgive me or not. But…” His mouth twisted slightly, “But I’m asking you to forgive me, if you think you can. Because in every vision of my life from this moment on, I’m spending it with you.”

She choked on a swell of emotion and reached up to grab his hands, which were still cupping her face. “Really?” she breathed.

“Really. I’ve been living in some kind of vicious, self-fulfilling prophecy, but I’m putting an end to it right here. I’m not going to become my father. I want to be with the people I love. And, most of all, I’m choosing you.”

She gasped, her whole body clenching up. “Did Ginny tell you?”

His eyebrows pulled together. “Tell me what?”

He obviously had no idea of their conversation that morning, of the way he’d mirrored the exact language she’d used.

He meant it.

He absolutely meant it.

He was choosing her.

And he wanted to be the good man she’d always known him to be.

She threw herself into his arms, holding onto him as tightly as the console between them would allow.

Noah groaned into her hair, his arms tightening around her. “I love you, baby. Emma. My own little Pudge.”

A slightly hysterical laugh bubbled up, and she just couldn’t contain it. She shook against him, overwhelmed with too many feelings all at once. “Don’t you dare call me that in public,” she gasped.

“Why not? It was always because you called that little bird pudgy. You think I don’t remember the day I met you?”

Emma had to wipe away more tears as she pulled away from him just slightly. “I know. But people always think you’re calling me pudgy, so you can’t call me that around anyone else.”

“I won’t,” he promised. His eyes were blazing with joy, with hope. “Does this mean you forgive me?”

“Of course I do. Maybe I should be mad. Maybe I should… I don’t know, make you suffer a little just because. But I don’t want to. I just want to forgive you.” She hesitated, swallowing hard, a little nervous about what she needed to say next. “I wish I could say yes to everything—everything you just said to me. But I don’t know if I’m ready yet. My… my heart has been through a lot.”

He didn’t look upset or even disappointed. His expression softened palpably. “I know you have. I’d never expect you to jump back into… into a forever with me. Not after what I put you through. I didn’t do all this just to try to earn your forgiveness. I did it because this is what I want to happen with my life.”

She took a small, ragged breath. “I don’t know about…about forever yet, but I would say yes to a date.”

“A date?”

“I’m free on Saturday night. If you wanted to ask me out.” She dropped her eyes briefly, feeling inexplicably shy.

He reached over to tilt back up her head, and he asked with a little smile on his face. “Would you go out with me on Saturday night, Emma?”

She took a breath and then released it, her whole body flooded with joy. She’d finally, finally chosen the right man—the right man for her—and he’d chosen her back. “I would love to.”

***

On Saturday night, Noah stood at the street door of Emma’s apartment building and waited for her to buzz him in.

He wore a dark gray suit and carried a bouquet of flowers and a bucket, which he was holding behind his back so she couldn’t see them.

He felt kind of like a dope, but he was too happy and excited to care.

“I’m coming down,” Emma said through the speaker.

A minute later, she was opening the door. She wore a little green dress that showed a lot of arms and legs and a pair of very sexy heels. Noah gulped at the sight of her.

She smiled, a bit self-consciously, and tried to peer around his back. “What do you have?”

He showed her the bouquet of pale pink roses, and she gasped in pleasure. “You didn’t have to do that,” she said, raising the flowers up to her nose so she could smell them.

“I wanted to. You deserve a lot more than that.”

She gave a little shuddering move, like she was trying to keep from hugging the bouquet. “What else do you have?” She leaned over to try to see what he was still holding behind his back.

He cleared his throat and showed her the bucket of dried corn and scratch grains he held. “I thought after dinner, we could go to feed the ducks.”

She stared at him for a minute, processing this information, then she threw her arms around him with a helpless giggle.

“Is this good?” he murmured thickly, adjusting the bucket in one hand so he could wrap his arms around her.

“Of course it is.”

“If you don’t want to drive out to Ryan’s, we can just go to the duck pond on campus.”

“No! Ryan’s ducks will get hurt feelings if I start feeding other ducks.”

He chuckled and released her. “I thought you might say something like that. Ryan’s out all evening, but he said we could drive over, no problem.”

She was looking behind him, up and down the street. “Where’s Nan’s car?”

“At home. I finally bought one.” He nodded toward the black SUV three cars down from where they were standing.

Her brown eyes widened. “Nice! A house and a car. Talk about commitment.”

“Now I just need a job and…” He stopped himself from finishing the sentence, not wanting to put any pressure on her.

What he really wanted was to call her his woman for real, but she wanted to go slow, and he was prepared to give her anything she wanted.

It was a miracle that she’d forgiven him at all. The last thing he was going to do was push.

She gave him an intimate little smile. “You have a house, a car, and a date. Is that enough for now?’

He leaned over and brushed his lips against hers very gently. “It’s more than enough.”

***

A week after that, all of them were at Nan’s house, helping her to celebrate the fact that she was out of the hospital at last. She still wasn’t able to move around very easily. The hip would take a lot longer to heal. But she looked like herself again, and she was smiling at them as they sat scattered around her living room.

Noah knew that she was smiling at him in a special way, like she couldn’t stop brimming with joy at the recent decisions he’d made.

Her expression made him feel younger than he was used to feeling.

But it also made him just a little bit proud.

So did Emma’s happy glow and soft expression as she returned to sit beside him on the couch. She sat very close to him, and he wrapped an arm around her.

She was warm and soft and little and smart and affectionate and his.

And his.

He didn’t have to have forever before she was ready. He knew she was still his.

Sometimes he felt like the top of his head would blow off from that one overpowering truth.

“How’s the job search going?” Ryan asked him, after swallowing down the last of his beer.

“Not bad,” Noah said.

Emma snickered. “He’s kind of embarrassed to admit it but he’s already gotten two job offers.”

Carol’s eyes went very round. “After just two weeks?”

“Yep.” Emma stretched up to give him a kiss on the jaw. “He’s a hot commodity. Everyone wants him to work for them.”

“Are you going to take one of the offers?” Ryan asked.

“I don’t know,” Noah said, barely managing to drag his eyes away from Emma’s lovely face. “I’m thinking about it, and I’ve got a few other irons in the fire too. My skills translate pretty easily to a lot of different contexts.”

“The biggest problem is that none of the businesses around here can match his salary,” Ginny put in, rolling her eyes as if this was somehow the fault of Noah.

“I told them I’d take less. The cost of living here isn’t anything like it was in the other places I’ve lived.”

“The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil,” Nan intoned from her recliner.

The others laughed, but Noah gave his grandmother an indignant look. “Didn’t I just say I was going to take less?”

“Yes, dear,” Nan said. “I’m very proud of you, you know.”

He did know.

Ginny was proud of him too.

Patrick was starting to get over his suspicion, and Ryan was acting like everything was normal.

They were his friends again.

And Emma—well, Emma was a lot more than a friend.

And maybe soon she’d be his forever.

***

A week after that, Noah felt like his whole body would explode as he and Emma tumbled into her bed in her little apartment.

They hadn’t had sex since the morning after she’d dragged him back from the hospital. It had just been three weeks, but they were three weeks of Noah wanting her desperately.

He used to think he was a skillful, practiced lover, but all of that had fallen by the wayside since he’d first touched Emma. He was a little afraid that he might embarrass himself as she wrapped her warm, soft body around his, gasping out soft sounds of pleasure and excitement.

“You sure you’re ready for this?” he managed to ask, scrambling to hold onto the last threads of his control. He’d been hard for ten minutes now, and the compulsion to take Emma, to bury himself inside her, to make her his completely, was the whole of his hot, throbbing existence.

“Yes, Noah. Yes, please!” She was grinding her arousal against his, her legs twined around him in a tight grip. “I’m about to go crazy here.”

He groaned and pulled back just enough to drag her dress off over her head. It was made of a soft knit material and had no zipper, so it was thankfully very easy to get off. He stared down at her gorgeous body in her bra and panties and nearly lost it then and there.

She was already unhooking her bra, and then he reached over to stroke her bare breasts, loving how she arched up into his hands and made a little whimpering sound in response.

“No time for foreplay,” she gasped after a minute. “I need you take me right now.”

“Thank God,” Noah moaned, wasting no time in freeing his erection and rolling on the condom. “I’m not sure how much longer I could have lasted.”

Then he was finally settling between her legs and finally, finally sinking inside her.

She started to move against him right away in eager little bucks and rocks. Her motion undid him completely. He found her mouth in a deep kiss and let himself go, thrusting into her fast, hard, almost clumsy.

She was with him all the way, and just before the pressure was about to break inside him, she tore her mouth away from his and cried out loudly, her little body riding out what must have been a really good orgasm.

She’d clamped down around him with her release, and it pushed him over the edge. He let go. He let go of everything.

His own climax nearly leveled him in its power, and he was limp and gasping afterward, relaxing into Emma’s arms.

She was stroking his back.

Her body felt like home.

He’d never really believed he’d had a home before now.

She pressed a soft kiss on his face when he could finally lift it up. “You better rest up,” she said with a smile, “because in a little while, we’re definitely going to be doing some more of that.”

***

A week after that, Emma was sitting in the passenger seat of Noah’s SUV on a Saturday afternoon, looking at him as he took a couple of deep breaths.

He hadn’t said much since they’d gotten into the car, and she’d sensed a tension shuddering inside him, ever since he’d pulled over in front of a house in one of Blacksburg’s older, established neighborhoods.

Her heart was beating like crazy, and she kept watching his perfectly composed face, wondering if there was anything she could do.

Finally, she reached over and put a hand on his thigh. He wore a pair of tailor brown trousers and a moss green shirt. He looked incredibly handsome, expensive, masculine.

And vulnerable.

He glanced over at her at last and gave her a half smile.

Relieved, she smiled back. “You ready?” Her voice cracked slightly, like it wasn’t accustomed to being used.

“Yeah.”

He didn’t get out of the driver’s side. He didn’t even move.

“You don’t have to do this now,” she said, rubbing his thigh over his pants.

“I want to.”

“Okay. Good.”

Noah cleared his throat. “He told me that my mother… my mother wouldn’t let him come see us when we were kids. I don’t know if I believe him or not.”

“How could you know? If it’s true, then I’m sure she had her reasons, and they were probably to try to protect you.”

“Yes.”

“And if it’s not true and it’s just something he’s saying, then maybe you can figure that out. You’ll never know otherwise. You’ll never know a lot of things. You’ll never have any sort of… closure. I don’t think it’s going to just happen for you. I think you need to make it happen.”

“I know. I do. I want to.”

She nodded, wishing she could stroke his face, his hair. He wouldn’t appreciate the coddling though. Not right now.

He was steeling himself for what he was about to do. No one else looking at him would know how hard this was for him.

No one but her.

He’d spent a lifetime running away from this very thing.

He took and released another deep breath. “Okay. Here I go.”

She was so full of emotion as he turned to open the car door that the words slipped out before she knew she was going to say them. “I love you, Noah.”

He froze, making the softest little gasp. Then he turned suddenly back toward her, his eyes devouring her face, searching for answers. “You mean that?”

He’d said the words to her—twice now—but she hadn’t said them yet to him, although she’d known they were true from the moment he’d walked back into Tea for Two, throwing away his defenses, ready to change his life.

For a lot of reasons. But one of those reasons was her.

She nodded, her eyes filling up with tears. “Of course I mean it. I wanted to be… to be careful with my heart, but I don’t need to be careful anymore. I love you so much. It feels like I’ve loved you for half my life, and I know I’m going to love you for the rest of it. I just… I just wanted to tell you.”

A little groan came out of his mouth, and he took her face in one of his hands, leaning forward to kiss her. “I love you too, Emma. I love you too.”

They kissed for a minute, both leaning over the console between the seats, but then Emma finally pulled away, smiling and wiping away a stray tear.

“I feel like maybe I should take you home now and show you exactly how much I love you,” Noah murmured huskily.

She gave a little huff of laughter. “We can do that later. But you wanted to do this.” She nodded toward the house. “Do this first.”

“Okay.” His face composed itself again, like he was putting on his armor. “Okay.”

“I’ll wait here for you. If it seems like you’re going to take longer in there, just text and I’ll drive somewhere and kill the time. But otherwise I’ll be waiting right here for when you come out.”

“Okay.” He gave her a smile that was almost bittersweet. “Thank you.”

She felt a little teary again as he got out of the car at last and walked around it to the front walk that led up to the door.

Noah wasn’t running anymore.

Her heart was full of so many things—things she’d never dreamed she had it in her to feel—as she watched him straighten his shoulders and then knock on the front door of his father’s house.