Page 116 of The Love Rematch
He grabs her by the shoulders and crushes their lips together as if he can no longer stand to wait. He kisses her, claims her, devours her in a way that leaves no room for doubt, no room for thought, just feeling. All her uncertainties disappear, burned away by the heat of his touch.
The future will come.
Whatever hardships it might hold, she’s no longer afraid, because they have each other. Not due to destiny, or fate, or any other metaphysical ideal she believed in when they were kids. But due to choice. A choice they’re making together. A choice they’ll keep making, again and again and again, for as long as it takes. Because they’re the only answer.
They’re therealanswer.
Sinking into his touch, Emily tumbles back over the cliff, back into the unknown, back into his arms, absolutely certain that this time, and forevermore, Jake will be there to catch her.
“This still doesn’t earn you a diamond earring, Dr. Hughes,” she teases when he eventually releases her lips to trail a path of kisses down the side of her neck.
Jake grabs her by the waist and rolls over on the bed with a growl. Emily yelps, the sound shifting to an infectious giggle as he guides her smoothly onto the cushions and settles his weight between her legs. She hooks her ankles behind his back to lock him in place, and he looks up with an easy smile on his lips.
“I’ll take whatever piece of you I can get.”
epilogue
Emily curlsher legs under her and snuggles into Jake’s chest. They sink into the velvety yellow couch cushion, one of the few things in her apartment that hasn’t been wrapped up in preparation for tomorrow. Takeout containers sit empty on a taped-up moving box with the wordsLiving Room Craphastily scrawled across the top, then in smaller, more elegant handwriting,Glass vase, candles, ceramic shell bowl with filler.Needless to say, Jake has been less than helpful cleaning out her apartment, but he makes up for it by being a very comfortable pillow.
She drops her head onto his shoulder.
He picks up the remote. “You ready for this?”
“To say goodbye toThe Love Matchfor good?” she asks, then meets his questioning gaze with a grin. She’s been ready since they left the Maldives three months ago. “Hell yes!”
He mirrors her expression and presses play. Dramatic music swells as everyone’s favorite father figure, Keith Holson, walks onto an empty stage. His voice is low, almost hypnotizing as he promises what is sure to be the most shocking finale yet.
“What did Sam tell you before she left?”
“Nothing.” Emily shrugs. “She just offered to make the swap one more time—said she felt like she needed to be there. And my apartment was still a complete disaster three days ago, so I figured the extra time to pack would be helpful.”
Clips from the season fill the screen. Meeting the guys on the first night. Flying over LA in the helicopter with Ethan. Escaping on horseback into the English countryside with Cooper. Painting beside the water lilies of Giverny. Tasting wine at a vineyard on the outskirts of Rome. Making out with more men than she actually remembers making out with.
Whoops. Sorry, Dad!
Logically, she knows it all happened, but it feels as though it happened to someone else. It’s a movie of her own life, a story made glittering and romantic by the haze of Hollywood glamor. None of it feels real, except for the parts that didn’t make the screen—her first sight of Jake outside the window, their clandestine meeting in her bathroom, their escape to the crown jewels, their bungee jump, their conversation by the Trevi Fountain, their hands joined beneath the stars as she led him inside her bungalow. Those are the parts she holds tight to her heart, more important than any others because they led her back to the man by her side.
He kisses her temple, as if he can read her mind. “And Sam going there meant I got to come here and act the knight in shining armor to carry you off into the sunset, i.e. your new castle in LA.”
“If bycastle, you mean a two-bedroom apartment I hope we can still afford in six months, then yes.”
“A two-bedroom apartmentisa castle in LA.”
“Why are we moving there again?”
“Because you love me,” he teases, nipping at her ear. “And Emily Ann Designs is taking over the world, so you offered to house your soon-to-be-broke, out-of-work boyfriend to keep him off the street, especially since he found a lovely apartment in our price range with actual space for an office.”
“Oh, see…” She turns to him. “I thought it was because your big indie movie was going to start filming in a month and if I didn’t move to LA, I might never see you again.”
“Hey,” he says, all humor gone. “That willneverhappen.”
She bops his nose with a soft smile. “I know.”
“Look.” He nudges his chin toward the TV. “Here comes Sam.”
Emily watches her sister march confidently across the stage to sit on the couch opposite Keith. In truth, she has no idea why Sam offered to take the heat and attend the live finale in her stead, but she’s not complaining. The thought of facing the thirty men she’s broken up with has given her hives on no less than four different occasions. Besides, Sam lives for this stuff—the drama, the crushing of men’s hearts, the attention. Really, her sister should have been the one to be chosen for the show in the first place, but hard as it is to admit, Emily will always be grateful her mother thought of the rhymeEmily Ann needs a manfirst.
Though I’ll never say it out loud.
