“She usually comes in after lunch,” the girl at reception says. “She always comes in carrying a coffee cup from Bonatelli’s Café. Maybe she’s there?”
So we head through the streets for Bonatelli’s. I walk inside the café, my eyes scanning every face, most of which are staring down into laptops or cell phones. And then I land on Emily. Her sweet face that I want to hold in my hands again and cover in kisses, if only she’ll let me.
“Emily,” I say. Her head jerks up, her face full of surprise at seeing me. I kneel next to her so that we can be close.
“What are you doing here?” she says slowly. Her hair is pulled back into a sloppy bun and her skin is glowing and natural. She’s reading a book, a scarf wrapped tight around her neck and all I can think is how perfect she looks. And, I realize with some relief, she isn’t running away from me. Not yet.
“Please hear me out,” I say. I want to take her hand but I don’t want to scare her off. She’s listening, though, so that’s a start. “Emily, I’ve been going crazy since you left. I can’t think straight. I’m completely obsessed with you. You’re just…crowding my every thought. I don’t want to lose you.”
People around us are watching—I can see them out of the corner of my eye—but I don’t pay them any attention and neither does Emily. She’s thankfully focused on me.
“I can’t stop thinking about you either. But I won’t be used.” Her eyes well with tears. Her chin quivers when she says, “You crushed me, Jackson. I was falling in love with you and you killed that. How could you use me like that? I thought…I thought you actually felt the same way about me. Maybe not love but something close.”
“Emily,” I say, and this time I do reach for her hand. Her soft delicate little hand—I covered it with both my hands, wanting to hold her tight. “I do feel the same way about you. I’ve told you some of the ugly parts of my family and that email—or my father’s will, which is what the email was about—is the worst part of it all. It’s the ugly ending to a lifetime of forced competition. He raised my brothers and I to be the gladiators to his emperor, fighting to the death for his entertainment. And I shamefully admit that, for a moment I did think you could solve the issue of taking over the company by marrying me. But what I realize now—what I just realized today, sitting in a boardroom, is that I don’t care. If I don’t have you, nothing matters. Certainly not the company.” I almost laugh. “The company is the least of my concerns right now. I left work today. I don’t even know if I’ll go back.” I don’t realize it’s true until I say the words. Work means nothing to me anymore. There’s no joy in it.
Emily is listening, letting me hold her hand. Tears spill down her cheeks and I wipe them away, running my thumb across her cheek.
“I don’t want you to ever cry again because of me,” I say.
“So, you do feel the same way about me?”
I almost laugh. “After all I just said that’s what you heard?”
“I heard it all,” she says, sniffling. “I’ve always known your family was a mess. I didn’t realize how bad it was until I saw that email. But if you’ve felt the same way about me as I feel about you, then that would mean you weren’t using me. Right?”
“Logical as always,” I say. My heart races with love and anticipation and hope for this woman. “Emily, I love you. I’m walking away from the company.”
“Really? You’re leaving Croft International?”
“I don’t care about it. The only thing that matters is being together. Forever. Emily, will you marry me?”
It takes her a moment to realize what I’ve said. Maybe it’s because no truer words have ever come out of my mouth. I watch as the slow realization crosses her face.
“Seriously?” she asks.
“Seriously,” I say. I kiss her hand. “I don’t have a ring but—”
“Yes,” she says, and now the tears are really streaming down her face. “I’ll marry you, Jackson.”
Finally, I take her sweet face in my hands and kiss her lips as more tears—happy tears—stream down her face.
I don’t want anyone to find me. I don’t want to talk to or see anyone, so we head straight for Emily’s little apartment.
When we kiss, it’s as if we’ve been apart for a year. We need to make up for the time apart. I need to make up to her for the pain I caused her.
We crash into each other, Emily kicking the door shut with her foot, and begin tearing the clothes off each other. I kiss her more deeply than ever, taking as much of her in as I can. I never would have guessed that my need for her would grow but now that my heart is fully in Emily’s hands, I feel like I could die if she left me again.