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“Shut up, Jacob,” Emily said, very softly

Jake’s eyebrows shot up He looked at his brothers They shrugged their shoulders After a second or two, so did he

“It is the world’s fault that you had to becoh to see that Emily Wilde was all that it needed And then we ht for laughter “The inable, and a man who is a stubborn fool “

“You left out arrogant,” Eive hiant fool”

“Si I as But—”

“But,” she said, her eyes locked to his, “I didn’t mean to hurt you I never, ever meant to do that”

“I know that, inaht was true E Emily Madison was all about what you needed, not about me” He took a step forward She was so close now that he could smell the scent of her skin, of her hair Carefully, he reached out, fra in my entire life And because of my selfish stupidity, I almost lost you”

Tears rolled down E Marco looked around; one of Emily’s brothers—it would take him some time to connect their names to their faces—plucked a napkin from the table and handed it to him

“Grazie”

“You’re welco the, but neither of them did

“Cara” Gently, he dried her tears with the napkin, then wiped her nose His heart was racing; he had closed hundreds of multi-million dollar business deals over the last several years and he had been cool and calh all of them but this—this was not business This was his life “Sweetheart Have I lost you? Tell me that I have not Tell ant fool—but tell ive me”

Did seconds go by, or an eternity? Marco forgot to breathe Then, slowly, the most beautiful smile in the world curved over his Emily’s lips

“At the very least,” she said, “you’re arrogant But I love you And I alill”

She went into his arainst him, his face buried in her hair “Emilia mia,” he said brokenly, and she raised her face to his and he said her naain and kissed her

Somebody shuffled his feet Somebody cleared his throat Somebody sniffled