life—when Matthew was taking his last breath,
Logan had whispered to his friend how much he loved him. And he had, as a
brother, he’d never said it to a woman, but he wanted to say the words to Emma.
He cupped her face in his hands and rested
his forehead against hers. “I love you.” He sighed on a chuckle of happiness.
“I’ve loved you for just as long, which is why not receiving a letter from you
hurt more than it should have. The words you wrote to me meant so much, and I
fell in love with you.” He placed a feather light kiss across her lips. “I love
you.”
He held tight as Emma snuggled against him.
The feel of her body against him warmed him through and he hoped that he’d
never have to let her go. Her hand pressed into his back as though she wanted
him closer. There was only one way he’d be closer and then he’d be inside her.
With a silent groan, he realized that Emma
had fallen asleep in his arms while he suffered through one hell of a boner. He
placed a kiss to her forehead before he slithered out from under her and caught
his breath when her knee came into contact with his groin.
He stood at the side of the bed and glanced
down at himself and winced. His hard dick would be obscene if he was in public
with it bulging against his thigh. He smiled and reached inside to move it into
a more comfortable position—reaching up to his navel.
He glanced at Emma and smiled with pleasure
at her curled up asleep. Her glorious auburn waves curled down her back in a
loose tie, her hands were partially hidden by the pillow that he’d shoved
beneath her when he’d moved. Her lips were slightly parted, and as he caressed
her with his eyes, his heart flooded with even more love for her as he exhaled
in a long sigh of contentment.
He stepped away from the bed and realized
the letters were still all over the bed and floor, so he gathered them together
and made two piles—his and hers.
Emma’s letters to him had only been half
read because she had become too emotional reading his, and he’d wanted to
comfort her.
Glancing back to the bed, Emma still slept
soundly so he made himself comfortable in the chair by the window and opened
one of her last letters…
Dearest
Logan,
I wish with all my heart that I had
another way to contact you. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about you. I
wake up for a new day and you’re there in my head, echoing in my heart. I go to
sleep every night after re-reading all your letters because I feel with
everyday that passes I’m not going to hear from you again.
I pray every Sunday at church that
you are still in good health and that nothing has happened to you.
Your lack of response tells me that
you’ve started writing to someone else, and that I don’t matter anymore. Is
that true? Please write and tell me. It hurts to imagine that you have, but I
feel that if it was , you’d have told me.
We connected. I know we did and your
silence is terrifying if I have to be honest.
I need to know that you’re still
with me.
Please, Logan. Please write back to
me.
All my love,
Emma
Logan finished reading and let his hand
drop to his lap. As he gazed outside, it didn’t really register that fresh snow
fell because all he could focus on was Emma’s desperation to know that he was
safe.
How could her mother do that to them? To
her own daughter? Her mom should be made to read their letters, and perhaps,
she’d have more of an understanding about what she’d done to them.
He was a total stranger to her family, but
Emma was their daughter...sister. Emma must feel such a betrayal over what her
mom had decided to do, all in the name of keeping her daughter tied to an ass who really didn’t appreciate Emma.
She was unhappy with Seth, and her words
said so much more than what she’d have ever said out loud to her family, but
hell! He was annoyed that the letters they’d written to each other hadn’t been
received.
He knew himself well enough to know
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