I don’t tell Emma how quickly she’ll be leaving for LA. It was Nick’s suggestion that Kent and Ems depart straight from our house to the airport. She doesn’t want to go, but she knows if she doesn’t, I’ll have her committed.

When our lips touch for the first time in months, I don’t want to let go. I feel as if I’m back where I belong for just a second. My heart stops when Emma pulls back, and I’m left to wonder if this is all I will get from her. I need her close to me. In this little way, I know we still have a chance.

“Ty, I’m sorry. I mean, I know sorry doesn’t cut it. I don’t want to die; I really don’t. I’m lost right now.”

She stands, walking to the window, and aimlessly gazes outside. I won’t let her retreat into herself, not after she has finally admitted she doesn’t want to die. Breaking the distance between us, I wrap my arms around her slender waist, kissing the back of her neck. “Emma, if I were sick—let’s just say for shits and giggles that I had cancer. You would make sure I had the best oncologist to help me, right?” I ask.

“Of course, Ty,” she replies with a panicked look on her face.

“I’m not sick,” I assure her. “But, honey, you are, and that is what we are doing.”

She turns from me because I have used this analogy so many times. Instead of pulling away, as I thought she would, she takes my hand and leads me to our bedroom. She hasn’t initiated any affection toward me in a long time. More so, her touch stops me. It is the gentle Emma touch I fell in love with years ago. Turning to her as we enter our room, I see something in her eyes that I haven’t seen in ages. “Ems?” I ask as I desperately want to touch her, too. Fuck, do I want to touch her.

I turn around briefly to grab my iPod and start our song, something familiar that will connect her back to what we had once shared together. When “Into the Mystic” starts to play, I see how her eyes flicker with a memory of when we danced to this at our own wedding.

“Ty,” is all she says to give me the permission I need; by the way her eyes water and her mouth shows just a hint of a smile, one that has been missing from my wife’s face forever, and I melt. It is less than a second, if that, before I crash my mouth to hers. Her hand instantly finds my hardness, and without thinking, I grab her as she wraps her legs around my waist. “Ty, I need you.”

She takes the words out of my mouth because at this very moment, I have not needed anything as much as I do her now. Once we are wrapped in each other’s arms, the postpartum, the guilt she feels with Aspen, the attempted suicide, the fact she’s leaving for LA soon—it all fades away.

I place her gently on her back. Crawling onto the bed, I straddle her, taking in the sight of my wife. Over the years, her almost raven-colored hair has become a touch lighter, her deep jet black eyes still captivate me, but it is her smile, the way she tweaks her mouth just enough to look both fucking sexy and innocent all at the same time. In her smile, I can forget everything that is against us. Right now, all the shit we have in our past and ahead of us fades, and I’m left with only my wife.

“Ems, I have fucking missed you so much! You are my world.”

“Ty, I’m so sorry.” Hell, now she’s crying. I can’t have that ruining this moment, when the same Emma I fell in love with years ago is back with me.

“Shh, babe, I’m here. I’m yours. I’m going nowhere. See, as much as you have tried to push me away, I’m here.”

Again, she smiles, and this time, when it reaches her eyes, I’m a goner. The things she can do to my heart and, well, other parts of my body leave me speechless. I push her hair out of her eyes and kiss every part of her face, wiping away the tears. After that, I need to be inside of her and have the urge to take Emma roughly. And though I know she loves it when I ravage her, taking her deep and hard, she needs soft and sweet right now.

Standing up briefly, I yank her yoga pants off her while she tries to take care of her shirt and bra. Stopping her, I simply say, “I want to soak in every moment, Ems. Let me do that.” Again, she smiles at me, and my heart is truly hers again. Not that I ever wanted to admit defeat with us, but she’s giving me a glimmer of hope, one I haven’t had since Aspen was born.

I bring Emma up to me and pull her simple black top over her head and reach behind her to unclasp her bra in one fluid motion, something I have been known for. She laughs. “You haven’t lost your move, there, buddy,” she says with a bit of a flirt in her voice. The rasp in her tone is exactly how I remember her when she’s turned on. Oh, how I have missed that rasp.

“Never, babe,” I say as I urgently undress. But she stands, taking control. She slowly unbuckles my belt. Taking it from the loops very slowly, she draws out the need and the desire I have to plunge into my wife right now. But I give her this control. She needs something that is hers. As she reveals my skin millimeter by millimeter, her smile grows.

“Fuck, Ty, your body is like that of an Olympic god.” She has used this little tagline for as long as I can remember. The rasp of her voice causes my dick to stir. It has a mind of its own, and like me, Emma owns it.

I push her back gently and crawl on top of her now that both of us are naked.

Taking her large D cup boobs in my mouth, I massage the nipple with my tongue as a slight moan escapes from her. Wow, I’m turned on when I massage the other nipple with my hand, squeezing the tit with my fingers. Her hand moves to my erection, pumping it the way I like.

Before she can demand entrance, I drop my head between her legs and open those sweet lips. My head finds its way to her wet pussy, and my tongue finds that sweet spot only I know when it comes to my Emma. She starts to writhe, but the second my free hand touches her stomach, she calms at my touch, allowing her the ability to enjoy the upcoming orgasm. The more I work her clit with my tongue, the more I can feel her release building. In a matter of seconds, she’s pushed over the edge and comes all over my face. I can’t help but lap up every drop of her.

I don’t give her any time to think, though, as now I’m in front of her face. Her greedy little pussy is waiting for my entrance, and I don’t disappoint. I ram into her hard, and she smiles that sexy fucking smile again, but then I slow. I want to relish every little movement I make inside her.

Looking deep into the black irises of hers, I realize I love her more, more than I care to admit, and more than I ever thought possible. This time, Emma has given me hope.

Now that we are finally together after our time apart, we move in motion as if we were never apart. I grab her face, moving slowly and methodically, relishing every second I’m with my wife. I make her look in my eyes, and I continue to soak her in and burn this to memory.

“Ems.” I need her to know I still love her and that I still want this life with her. She needs to know I’ll do anything to make it happen, if she’ll just trust me to fight against this monster of doubt snowballing inside her. Oh, she’ll be the best mother if that horrible beast invading my wife will disappear. We can tackle the depression and anger. Oh, she will love Aspen more than I do if that could just go away.

“Emma, sweetheart, I love you so much. You know that?”

She looks away as I continue to glide into her. I love her moans, but this is more than sex; this is reestablishing the connection we’ve had since the day I met her in Nick’s clinic. She attempts to look away from me. “You aren’t shutting down on me, Emma. You are the best part of me. Do you know that?”

Now, she has let a couple of tears float down her beautiful ivory skin. “Ty, of course, I know that because you’ve held on so tight to me when you should have let me go months ago, but I’m so glad you didn’t.”

There is that bitch—self-doubt—trying to make my beautiful, special wife question herself again.

“Emma, I’ll love you for all time. Don’t you ever fucking doubt that,” I say with emphasis on the f-bomb, making her understand by the recognition in our eyes that she’s indeed everything to me.

Just when I fear I have lost her, she grabs my cheek and makes me look at her. “I love you, too, Ty.” In these words is all I need to push me forward. I come inside her as her body quakes in another orgasm.