“I love you so damn much I can hardly breathe without you,” he admitted. “But I’d never ask you to choose between me and your family. I’d never ask you to live without them when I knew firsthand how hard that is to do.”
“Chase just made it clear there was no escape for you from this family.”
“I know.”
“I’m not the only one who deserves better. So do you.” She took another step in his direction.
The relief he felt when Chase told Emmett he was home was unparalleled. Like his best friend had voiced what Emmett had been searching for since he was a very small boy. In that same way, Emmett had known what it was like to be half of a whole with Stefanie—to earn her heart and her love when she’d asked for nothing in return.
Emmett was a good husband, and with some work, he knew he could be a great one.
“I’m learning.” He swallowed thickly, the faint copper taste of blood on his tongue. “I want it back. Our marriage. Our promise.” He lifted her hand, where the wedding band still sat. “Us.”
Certainty filled his chest. This felt right. Having her here, him admitting that he’d been wrong.
“I want you back. And not just back in my bed. Back in my arms. Back in my life. Next to me every step of the way. I will always protect you, Stef. It’s in my nature. It’s the way I’m built. But I want to do that because I love you. No other reason.”
“I hear you resigned from the protection business,” she said, holding his fingers with hers. “What were you planning on doing?”
“I hadn’t figured it out yet.” A sharp laugh left his chest. “My priority was—always has been—you. I thought it’d be easier if I was out of your life completely. If we didn’t accidentally cross paths.”
Stef shook her head, tears welling fresh in her eyes.
He swiped them away with his thumb. “Don’t cry over me, Stef.”
“I’m not.” She sniffed. “I’m crying because you’re so dumb.”
A laugh shook his shoulders. Laughing felt so damn good after feeling so damn miserable.
“You were going to leave us behind.”
He hadn’t thought of it that way.
“Your mom and baby brother left not of their choice. But your dad chose. How did it feel to love someone as much as you loved him and not have him around?”
He pushed the truth from his tight throat. “Awful.”
“Exactly. Awful. You let all of us love you, but you kept your love to yourself.”
“I thought... I thought you’d be better off.”
She rested her hands on his chest and looked up at him. “Dumb.”
He’d missed her warm touch so much that he didn’t move a muscle for fear of scaring her off.
“I love you,” he said, and it was easy to say to her. Like breathing.
“How much?”
“Enough to marry you. Again.”
Her smile broke forth. “We’re already married.”
“We’ll do it better this time. We’ll do it right. With your family present. On a beach. In Europe. Whatever you want.”
“Whatever, huh?” A mischievous smile curved her lips.
If he had a prayer of getting this woman to forgive him—to make her happy, he’d give her whatever her heart desired. As long as she desired him above all else.