“I’m here, baby, and I want nothing more than to make love to you.”

His eyes flew open. He realized he wasn’t alone in the bed. This was no dream Emma. She was real and was straddling him while she worked her lips and tongue over his erection. “No, wait,” he croaked. When she licked and then sucked one of his balls into her mouth, he threw his head back against the pillow. Fuck, it had been so long. His h*ps moved involuntarily, bucking his length farther into her mouth.

No, no, no. He couldn’t do this. Their relationship started on sex, and he wasn’t about to let it restart that way. It was about love this time—pure and beautiful love. He pushed himself into a sitting position. “No, Emma, don’t,” he said.

Her eyes glanced from his c**k up to his eyes in surprise. He shook his head. “I don’t want you to do this.”

She pulled away so violently he winced as her teeth scraped along his length. He tried to grab her shoulders, but she stumbled off him so fast that he couldn’t. She ran into the bathroom and slammed the door.

He rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. Why did he seem to have a gift for completely and totally f**king things up every single time he was around her? He threw back the sheet and hurried over to the bathroom. He could hear her crying. When he reached for the doorknob, he found it locked. “Em, I’m sorry. You misunderstood me, I swear.”

At his words, she cried harder. Aidan banged his fist so hard into the wood his hand screamed in agony. “Dammit, Emma, would you please open the door and let me explain?”

“How could I possibly misunderstand you? You said you didn’t want to sleep with me!” she screeched in between the sobs that drove spikes into Aidan’s heart.

Growling with frustration, Aidan kicked the door. “Em, has there ever been a time in our relationship when I didn’t want you? You’ve always kept me at half-mast just being in the same room.”

Her crying grew louder, and he could hear her fumbling under the counter for what he assumed was more toilet paper. He was correct when he heard her blow her nose loudly.

Raking his hands through his disheveled bed hair, he shook his head maniacally. He knew he had to do something and do it fast. He was losing her to Pesh, and in her fragile physical and mental condition, this was enough to drive her over the edge. He sighed. “So are you really going to make me do it this way—in my boxers with a hard-on from your delicious mouth while you’re crying in the bathroom?”

“Please…just leave me alone.”

“No, I will NOT leave you alone. I want to be with you, Em. I want to be with you every f**king moment of every f**king day!” As his heart began beating rapidly, he took in a few ragged breaths. This was it. Now or never.

“And you know why? Because I love you! Did you hear that? I love you, Emma Harrison! I love you with everything in me. If I was honest with myself, I’ve probably loved you since that first night at O’Malley’s. I just couldn’t say it until now.”

Silence echoed back at him. “Trust me. It’s not that I didn’t want you to keep sucking me off. It’s that I didn’t want us to do anything else sexual until I told you how I felt about you. Even though the doctors say we can, I don’t want to f**k you or have sex with you. I want to make love to you, Em.” He stared at the closed door. Why wasn’t she saying anything? Why hadn’t she thrown the door open and rushed into his arms? Wasn’t he saying what she wanted to hear?

Aidan didn’t know what else to do, so he just kept speaking from his heart. “Everything has been so crazy with Pop and you and that damned Alpesh trying to steal you away and making me crazy with jealousy. I’m so f**king sorry I didn’t tell you I loved you that day on the dock. Even before you told me, I knew how I felt, and it scared the shit out of me. I felt more for you in that instant than I did for Amy in the four years we were together.”

When she still didn’t say anything, his throat burned as tears flooded his eyes. Dammit, he never wanted to cry in front of her. He rested his forehead against the door. “Please, Em. I love you so much it hurts. I ache for you in my soul. Please…I can’t live without you. I want to be with you every minute of every day. I want to marry you and make a life with you. I want to raise Noah and be a family together. Please…please say you want to be with me forever.”

When the door flew open, Aidan had to brace his arms against the frame not to fall forward. Emma stood before him, wide-eyed, open mouthed, and with mascara blackened tears streaming down her cheeks. She took a tentative step toward him. “Say it again,” she finally whispered.

A sob choked off in his throat. “I love you.”

“Oh, Aidan,” Emma replied. She cupped his face in her hands, brushing away the tears that had fallen down his cheeks with her thumbs. She brought her lips to his and gave him a tender kiss. When she pulled away, her expression was a mixture of happiness and regret. “I’m so sorry for tonight and for hurting you with Pesh. Deep down, I never, ever stopped loving you, and you were right when you said our feelings had grown in the last two weeks. It was just…I was angry and bitter and broken hearted over what you did. But even though I wanted to hate you, I never could. And once again you were right because I thought I could make my feelings for you go away by trying to start something up with Pesh, but I couldn’t.” She gripped the sides of his face in her hands. “I swear to you that my heart will always belong to you.”

He shook his head with disgust. “You never should have had to wait, Em. Part of me wanted you and Pesh to end up together. I knew he could give you everything I should have without question, and his love wouldn’t be tainted by cheating.”

Emma brought her finger to his lips to quiet him. “Stop beating yourself up. You made a mistake, and now it’s forgiven.”

Aidan sucked in a breath. “Really?”

“Oh yes.” She gave him a lingering kiss before pulling away. “And I should have never gone out with Pesh tonight or had him over. Not only was it disrespectful and hurtful to you, it was stupid of me to try to tempt fate. Besides, he could never give me what you have. You made my dreams come true by giving me Noah. The fact that I fell in love with you exceeded anything I could have ever imagined. And now that I know you love me back—” A sob cut off her voice.

Aidan tenderly swept the tears from her cheeks. He couldn’t bear seeing her cry, especially since everything was finally right between them. “I’m serious about marrying you, Em. But I want to propose to you the right way—not half-naked and sporting wood. I want to ask Earl for his permission, and I want to get down on one knee and put a ring on your finger. You deserve that, and I want you to have it.”