How did I know Emma had lied when she told me last night at the restaurant that she wasn’t interested in me? No—it wasn’t the way she had been staring at my lips. Although that had been the driving force for what happened next.

It was the kiss itself. None of the kisses I’d experienced over the years had ever felt the way they did with Emma.

Had they affected her too? Damn straight they had. And no, I wasn’t saying that because I was a smug bastard who thought highly of his ability to kiss women. Something deep in my soul had told me she needed me as much as I needed her. I’d never felt that way before about anyone.

And it fucking freaked me out.

But you know what else freaked me out?

The thought that I could lose her.

Some sense was finally knocked into me while I was waiting for Emma to return to the table and I remembered her words from Napa:

If the girl loves you, she will be willing to move with you, or you two will work something out so you’re together during the off-season. But either way, you can’t give up on love because you’re scared of losing the person like you lost your parents and your best friend.

So what was the problem?

She had talked to Wes a few hours ago. I hadn’t spoken to her yet, but he let me know what went down when he’d admitted the truth to her.

And it didn’t look good for me.

Between the omission of information about Wes owning the building and me lying to Granny, I was fucked. Big-time.

On top of that, she believed I had given up on love. So I had to prove to her that she was wrong.

I hadn’t given up on love—I loved her.

I only hoped Granny and her cronies were right—that Emma loved me. And I hoped that she’d be willing to make things work between us even if I was traded at some point.

The question was: how was I going to prove to her that I loved her?

When girls needed advice about love, they called up their best friends. But guys didn’t do that.

So I did the second best thing.…

Scanning the restaurant, I spotted the four people I needed to talk to. Well, more like two. Josh and Trent kind of came as part of the package deal.

I joined them in the quiet booth in the corner. The booth had been my idea when I’d booked the reservations. It would make it easier to talk.

What I hadn’t counted on was it also gave Josh and Trent the opportunity to snuggle with their wife and fiancée.

Which was the kick-in-the-balls reminder I didn’t need that I had royally screwed up with Emma. Because if I hadn’t, she would be cuddled up to my side as we checked out the menu.

After we ordered our meal, I got right to it. “I’m in love with Emma, but I fucked up big-time and need to figure out a way to let her know that I love her. Any ideas?”

Both Trent and Josh gave me the man’s version of a sympathetic look. The women were a different story. They exchanged glances then cracked up laughing.

Not very reassuring.

“What’s so funny?” I grumbled.

“What they’re trying to say,” Josh said, “is that we’re going to make you figure it out yourself.”

“Just like Kelsey and I made Josh figure things out on his own when it came to Holly,” Trent said. “We gave him a little nudge in the right direction. That’s all.”

“A very little nudge,” Kelsey said, her expression giving away that she was struggling not to laugh again.

“Hey, I could use that nudge,” I said.

Holly shook her head. “You don’t need one. You’re well ahead of where Josh was.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek; he kissed the top of her head.

Once upon a time I would have rolled my eyes at their little romantic gestures.

Now, it was the necessary shove for me to realize what I needed to do to show Emma how much I loved her. After everything that had happened to her, it would take more than a grand gesture to get her to trust me in a way she had never trusted anyone before. But it would take time to win her trust, and I needed to do whatever I could to gain that time.

Except I couldn’t do it alone.

There was a proverb that said it took a village to raise a child.

I might not be trying to raise a child…but I did have a village to help me win the woman I could see myself, one day, having a child with.