Page 108 of Emma & Edmund

"No, before."

For a moment, Emma wracked her brain, unable to remember exactly how her speech went. But when the word reentered her mind, it was impossible to remove. The fact he was waiting to hear it again gave her a modicum of hope, sending her heart soaring.

"I love you, Edmund Lockhart. I have loved you for so long, but I denied myself everything. I denied myself your love, my love of Belmont and these woods and everything that London isn't. I have never truly felt accepted and comfortablymyselfuntil I knew how it felt to be in your arms.

Turn me away if you'd like, and I'll be here tomorrow morning, saying the same words. I'll do so for months and years until you know just how much I love you."

"What of your precious Londoners?"

"Throw them all away!" Emma responded without blinking. "I want none of them even a drop as much as I want you. I want to be your wife, Edmund. I want to spend eternity by your side. Please, at the very least, I need you."

The stretch of silence that spread between them after her final words was so deep that Emma began to doubt herself.

Maybe coming back was the wrong choice.

Maybe she deserves recompense for the rest of her life.

Maybe her love wasn't enough and came too late.

"God, I've missed you."

Emma's heart soared as, in one swift move, she was scooped up into Edmund's embrace, her gasp swallowed by a hard kiss. Moaning into his mouth, she slid her hands up his chest and locked them together behind his neck. Taking advantage of her reaction, a wide tongue slid into her mouth.

His hands, so gentle and warm, cradled her as if she were the most special thing in the world, and she wanted nothing more than to enmesh him with the same feeling. She had denied him it for far too long.

Raking her nails through his hair, glee filled her at his low groan of a response. Everything within her demanded to hear it over and over again until the day she died.

"I am still here, in case you forgot," Molek called. Barely allowing a breath of space between their lips, a low growl from Edmund rolled through her whole body.

"Why do you have to ruin-"

"This will be a familiar sight for you then!" Emma shot at the demon before throwing herself back fully into Edmund's embrace.

Clutching his collar, she pulled him close and crashed their mouths back together. A different kind of growl came from deep within Edmund's throat, and Emma responded in kind with her own mewl.

The hands holding her began to bruise, their teeth clicking together when Edmund began to move, but Emma could not find it within herself to care. Not when she was finally back where she belonged, in the hold of the one she loved. She barely even heard the door slamming shut behind them.

Even when the pleasant scent of embers and charcoal filled her nose, and the soft bubbling of a kettle hit her ears, Emma refused to relent. Pressing her whole body into Edmund's embrace, she wished she knew the silent ways to say what she wanted. The skilled ways to prove to him her affection.

All she could do was hope her desperate kisses and shy, roving hands would be enough.

At the very least, she was winding herself up feeling the high, bulging hills of his arms and the domineering rippling muscles of his chest and neck.

A thrill trickled through her as, when she brushed a thumb over the shell of his ear, Edmund leaned into her touch, a hum tingling their lips.

Despite her naivety, her methods seemed to have worked. Rather than the soft cushion of the sofa or swinging into the bedroom, Edmund deposited her on the high kitchen counter, her legs dangling off the side and hands gripping at the edge.

Her whole body grew cold when Edmund pulled away from her.

Staring at her with a dangerous, delicious look in his eye, Edmund captured her chin in one hand, angling her neck up. Pursing her lips, Emma had expected his returned attentions, only to immediately part them in a gasp when a plump-lipped kiss was planted in the hollow of her neck.

"Say it again," he murmured against her collarbone.

"I love you," Emma gave freely, wrapping her legs around his hips, drawing him in just that much closer. Her wandering hands found purchase in a fistful of the fabric of Edmund's shirt, yanking it free of its clean tuck.

"Again." With sure hands, he slipped her dress and skirts over her hips, letting them pool on the wooden surface beneath her. Sliding his palms over the curve of her hips, he hooked her stockings on his thumbs, taking them down her thighs with only the smallest sound of a rip.

"I love you." Emma gave up on her futile attempt to unbutton the shirt, cupping her hands around his broad face, and pulling it back to hers. "I love every piece of you. I love your power and strength. I love your softness and kindness. I love who I am around you. I'll never leave your side again. It almost killed me the first time."

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