She laughed. “I see.” She motioned towards the gleaming knife. “Just be careful, okay?”
“Aw, he’ll be fine. He’s not quite the sissified city boy I originally thought he was,” Earl replied.
“High praise indeed,” Emma mused, easing down next to Aidan. In a hushed voice, she murmured, “Don’t even think about taking up chewing tobacco to impress Granddaddy. I won’t let you anywhere near my mouth with a chaw of nastiness.”
He chuckled. “You have nothing to worry about.”
As the afternoon wore on, Aidan put aside his whittling and wrapped her in his arms. A happy sigh escaped her lips as she snuggled against his chest. She tried ignoring the flashback that assaulted her of sitting the same way with Travis after Sunday lunch many years before.
While Grammy filled her in on some of the local gossip she had missed in the last two weeks, Emma watched as Aidan’s eyes grew heavy. It wasn’t long before the heave and sigh of the porch swing caused him to nod off. She kissed his cheek and rose out of his embrace. There was somewhere she wanted to return to before they had to leave.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Aidan woke up to Beau’s tongue slurping across his face. Rubbing his eyes, he peered around the front porch. The rest of Emma’s extended family had left. Only Virginia sat in one of the rockers, working on a quilt for the baby while Earl read a newspaper. Aidan fought the urge to shake himself at how he felt like he was in a scene straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
“Well, hello there, sleepyhead. Decide to finally wake up?” Virginia asked.
“Yes, ma’am. I apologize for nodding off.”
She waved her hand dismissively at him. “Why naps are the best parts of lazy Sunday afternoons.”
Aidan gazed around the porch. “Where’s Emma?”
“Down at the dock.”
He nodded and motioned for Beau. After pounding down the porch steps, he followed the winding path around the house to the pond. When he got to the shoreline, he froze.
Emma sat on the end of the dock, dangling her legs over the edge. Her sundress was hiked up to her thighs, and she swirled her feet and calves around in the water. She leaned back with one hand while the other rubbed wide circles around her belly. A serene smile curved on her lips.
The mere sight of her sent a stabbing pain ripping through his chest. It was a pang of true and pure emotion. In that single instant, it was like the Earth shifted on its axis, and every molecule in his body shuddered to a stop.
He was in love.
A suffocating panic crippled him, causing his lungs to burn. He had never felt like this before. Not even what he had with Amy could compare. The feelings flickering within him the last few months had grown from a tiny ember into a raging fire. And now that inferno of emotions threatened to consume him.
He loved Emma.
Fuck. He absolutely and completely loved her with every fiber of his being. And that very fact scared the hell out of him.
Aidan raked a trembling hand through his hair. God, how had he let this happen? They had just been having fun spending time together, enjoying each other’s company, not to mention having great sex. He had done it dozens of other times with assorted women. Of course, he had never gotten to this level of emotion for them either. He always ended it way before that could happen.
His foolish offer to give Emma more had ended up taking more from him than he could have ever bargained for. It felt like he was submerged in an undertow of his feelings and was drowning hard and fast.
He needed desperately to get away from her. If he could just put some distance between them, then his feelings could change. He might be able to go back to the way he had felt about her the weeks before or even the day before. But in reality, he knew the depth of his lie. Every time he had been away on business, he had missed her—sometimes even ached for her in his heart, not his dick.
In the end, maybe it didn’t matter if he loved her. He could not imagine giving up the entirety of his life to being all she would need. To be choked by the responsibility of being a husband and father…fuck no.
Aidan started to back away, but a twig snapped beneath his feet, causing Emma to turn her head.
“Hey,” she called.
Beau raced past him and down the dock. He splashed into the water, sending a small wave crashing over Emma. “Beau, you stinker!” she shouted.
Aidan forced himself forward towards Emma. She smiled at him as he approached. “Sorry, I left you in the swing. I wanted to come down here before we had to leave, and you were sleeping so peacefully I didn’t want to wake you. Especially since I dragged you out of bed last night.”
“It’s okay.” He glanced down at his watch. “We probably need to be heading back.”
Emma nodded and swung her legs out of the water. After she pulled herself to her feet, she gasped.
“What’s wrong?” She stood frozen, her hand pressed against her stomach. Aidan took a step forward. “Em?”
She grabbed his hand and placed it where hers had just been. “Feel that?”
Aidan almost jerked away at the slight vibrations beneath his fingertips. His heart shuddered to a stop before restarting. The baby—his baby—was moving. “Yes,” he croaked.
Emma beamed up at him. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
He was too overwhelmed to speak, so he bobbed his head. “I’ve never felt it move before. I’m so glad you were here with me when it happened.”
“Me too.”
When the movement stopped, Emma wrapped her arms around Aidan’s neck. “I can never thank you enough for giving me this wonderful gift of life. You’ve made me the happiest woman in the world, and I love you for it.” He widened his eyes at her words while she leaned in and kissed him. “I love you, Aidan,” she murmured against his lips.
Part of him wanted to be honest with her and himself and openly admit that he loved her. But the hardened part of him refused to let go and give her those three simple words. He pulled away from her kiss. “Em, I…”
Although hurt radiated in her eyes, Emma gave him a shy smile. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say it back. I just wanted to tell you how I felt.” She took his hand in hers. “Come on, we better get going.” He let her tug him down the dock and back up the hillside.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The shrill beeping of the alarm jolted Emma awake. Knowing what a deep sleeper Aidan was, she rolled over, shaking him gently. “Babe, the alarm.”