Chapter 49

It came from her so breathily between sniffs, Jake immediately exhaling complete relief and suddenly aware he had been holding his breath. His body went into instant warm and fuzzy overdrive and, for once in his life, understood all that girly mushy crap about butterflies and inner tingles. The overwhelming euphoria of three little words from the only person who truly mattered changed everything in that one moment.

Jake lifted her chin gently, unable to stop the goofy happy smile breaking across his face, and kissed her softly. He could do this for an eternity and never tire of how good she felt. Kissing her made the world stop turning, and everything make sense. He could kiss Emma every second of every day for a lifetime and know it would always feel this good.

His gentle meeting of the lips set her off again into another flood of hormonal tears, only this time, Jake didn’t crumble into insecurity. He smiled instead and watched her with a small shake of the head.