I squeeze her waist and tug her close. “I missed you, but I didn’t think I was allowed to. I didn’t think I deserved to. But I did. I thought about you all the time.”
“Giving up your life for us—that’smassive.” It doesn’t matter how loudly the jets are humming, I hear her soft voice. “Are you sure you won’t regret it?”
“I get one life to make the most of. I don’t want to look back in fifty years and have you be my biggest regret. I want to look back in fifty years and know that we—thatwelived our lives with love and laughter and joy.”
She bites her lower lip and watches me, not saying a word.
I’m nearly certain she’s still afraid. Afraid of the public attention I bring with me. Afraid I’ll have regrets. Afraid of what happened after her wedding happening all over again.
“That’s very brave of you,” she finally says.
Not mocking.
She’s completely earnest.
She knows what it’s like to have your life changed in an instant. Multiple times over.
Losing her mom. Dumping her ex. Finding out she was pregnant.
Choosing again and again to be brave on her own.
Those moments in her past required so much more bravery than I’ve ever had to muster, but she’s still serious about understanding what a massive shift a small-town, quiet existence will be compared to the movie-star life I’ve led to this point.
“A very wise lady once reminded me that I don’t have reason to be afraid of much,” I murmur.
Her lips tip up. “She was right.”
“Only about everythingoutsideof here.” I tap my chest. “Insideof here, I’m still a pretty tender guy without a lot of safety nets. Money can’t buy a guard for a heart.”
“Promise me you’ll keep Bash safe. From—”
From the press. From rumors and whispers and judgment. From the haters.
She doesn’t have to fill in the blanks lingering between us.
“I will move mountains to keep Bash safe,” I say. “That, I can promise you.”
Her shoulders drop, her breath leaves her in a rush, and then she makes all of my dreams come true.
She pushes forward and kisses me again.
Those lips on mine. Her fingers sliding back across my face to trace my ears and sink into my hair.
My entire body is on fire, and it’s not the temperature of the water.
It’s Emma. It’swantingEmma.
Drowning in her kisses. Pulling her closer. Her shifting in the water until she’s wrapping her legs around my hips, my dick cradled between her thighs.
Slow, I remind myself.
So slow.
Her pace.
Whatever she wants.
But I still cradle her ass, loving the feel of her cheeks in my palms.
