Dreaming of Love (22 page)

“Yes, Dae,” she cried.

He hissed out a breath and couldn’t hold back another second. With one final thrust, they both spiraled over the edge.

AFTERNOON ROLLED INTO evening, spilling moonlight across the floor. The comforter lay in a heap on the floor. They’d made love, they’d dozed, they’d laughed, and they’d made love again…and again. Emily lay across Dae’s chest, her cheek pressed to his skin as she traced the line of his collarbone with her index finger. He brought her fingers to his lips and kissed them, thinking of how he knew he’d never tire of loving her.

“I can’t imagine spending hours on the plane tomorrow without you, or going to bed without holding you in my arms.” He shifted her so they were lying side by side. Emily rested her head on her outstretched arm. Her hair spilled over the sheets. He moved closer, so her breaths became his, and slid his thigh over hers. She curled her legs up, and his hand instinctively settled on her hip.

“When I come home Saturday, will you really be at the airport to pick me up? So we’ll only be apart for two nights.”

“After two long, lonely nights, do you think I’d go a minute longer than I have to without you?” He pressed a kiss to her smiling lips. “When do you go back to work?”

“After you leave, I’m going to work my way through my emails. I was thinking that—”

“Baby, baby, baby. Just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean your vacation is over. You work hard all year long. You told me that your life consists of work and your family and then more work. You deserve this break, and your clients can wait a few more days.”

“But—”

He silenced her with a kiss. “But wasn’t that your goal when you came here? To let yourself enjoy the one place you’ve wanted to go forever? Don’t rob yourself of this chance to explore and enjoy.” He felt as though he knew Emily better than she knew herself. He could picture her back in Colorado, moving through her days efficiently from one meeting to the next with to-do lists and sticky-note reminders. He pictured her smiling as she spoke to her family on the phone, meeting them for dinners, teasing and laughing, and he could even envision the adoration in her eyes when she looked at her brothers. He allowed himself to insert his own image into those visions, and it felt good and right.

He listened to Emily sigh over his suggestion of taking time to enjoy herself. He knew in his heart that she was coming to understand that he knew her better than she knew herself.

“But you worked while you were here,” she said halfheartedly.

“I, my love, did not come here for a vacation. Remember? Then I found you, and you become my world. I was committed to work while I was here. You aren’t.” He knew she hated being told what to do, so he tried to soften his suggestion. “All I’m saying is that you deserve more than a fulfilling career, Em. Your heart needs to be fulfilled, too.”

“So does my stomach.” She grinned.

“Hungry?”

“Starved.”

“Let’s shower and go in search of food. What time is it, anyway?”

She rolled onto her back and shifted her eyes to the darkness outside his window. “It’s way-too-close-to-the-time-you-leave o’clock.”

He moved over her, his legs between hers. “We’re not going to count down the minutes. It’s too hard.”

She lifted her hips and narrowed her eyes. “That’s not all that’s hard.”

“True.” He laughed, but he was ready to drive into her and love her until she was no longer hungry. “Food or fun? Your pick.”

He watched as contemplation washed over her face. “Food, then fun.” She pushed at his chest, but her eyes clearly translated,
Love me. Now. Hard. Fast
.

“Oh, I’ll move all right.” He rubbed his arousal against her center. “But after that tease, you don’t have a chance in hell of leaving this bed.”

AFTER MAKING LOVE again, because it was way-too-close-to-the-time-you-leave o’clock after all, and showering, they went downstairs in search of food. They found Serafina and Adelina sitting at the kitchen table. Serafina’s eyes were damp and red rimmed. Adelina held her hand between both of hers and spoke Italian in a hushed tone. Emily’s stomach clenched. While she and Dae had been upstairs ravishing each other, getting selfishly lost in their love, Serafina was trying to hold on to her sanity as the shred of hope she’d held on to stretched and frayed. By the looks of the two women, Emily worried that the frail tether Serafina had been holding on to might have snapped.

Emily reached for Dae’s hand. “Maybe we should go out to get something to eat.”

Adelina said something to Serafina in Italian and Serafina nodded.

Adelina rose to her feet. “Stay. I made dinner for you both, but I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“You didn’t have to do that.” Emily felt Dae’s hand slip away, and she watched him crouch beside Serafina.

“Cooking is cathartic,” Adelina said. “Every woman should know how to cook. We cook with our hearts as much as our hands. Nothing heals the soul like food rich with love and strength from the hands that made it.”

Maybe she’d learn to cook for Dae. She wanted to give him back all of the comfort and love he gave her so naturally, and cooking was one more way she could do that. She watched him take Serafina’s hand.

“Did you receive news?” Dae asked Serafina.

Emily hadn’t even thought of that. She held her breath until Serafina shook her head.

Dae’s eyes filled with compassion. “The not knowing is a lot to bear. If he’s out there, I’d imagine he’s probably more concerned about you and Luca than himself. If he’s out there, Serafina, he’d want you to be strong for Luca. I don’t know Dante, but I think any man would want his wife to do whatever she needed to do to remain strong.”

Oh no! What are you saying?

Serafina’s breath hitched. Adelina took a step closer but stopped short when Serafina lifted sad eyes to her.

“Right now,” Dae continued, “what matters most is being there for Luca. No matter what happens, I’m sure Dante, like any father, would want you to do what you need to in order to take care of yourself and Luca. Allowing yourself to do that doesn’t mean you’re giving up hope or forgetting your husband. It means you’re raising his son.”

Adelina said something in Italian, and Dae raised his eyes to her. “I’m not telling her to give up hope, Adelina. I’m giving her permission to grieve the
absence
of her husband—not the death of him. If she allows herself to grieve for his absence, it might make hoping for his return much easier. I think she’s stuck in between. She’s afraid to move forward and afraid to remain where she is.”

Serafina nodded. “I am, Mama. I’m afraid to cry for his absence. Grieving his absence feels like I’ve given up on him, but I’m equally afraid not to. It’s eating me up inside. Dae said it right. I’m stuck in between.”

Adelina’s eyes welled with tears. She opened her arms and Serafina walked into them.

“It’s hard, all this wishing and praying and not knowing. Maybe Dae is right. If I allow the sadness instead of trying to pretend it doesn’t exist, I think…” She drew in a deep breath and took a step back. “Mama, I’m not sure he’s coming home. I love him. I want to believe he’ll be found more than I want to live, but I can’t keep pretending that he hasn’t been gone for almost three months, Mama. Three months. Surviving there for this long seems impossible.”

Tears slipped down Adelina’s cheeks. “You must believe, Serafina. He only has us hoping for his return. If we don’t hope, who will?”

“I will hope.” Tears came freely now. The tension in Serafina’s forehead eased. “I do hope, Mama. But I also have to accept the possibility of him not returning. And I need you to be okay with that. Without your support, I’m not going to make it.”

Adelina folded her daughter in her arms, murmuring in Italian. She must have agreed, because Serafina smiled despite her tears.

Dae rose to his feet and came to Emily’s side. She couldn’t believe he’d said all those things to a person he barely knew. He was stepping into a family matter in a way that she would never have the guts to. And he’d known what she’d needed to hear.

That’s it. She was definitely going to learn to cook for him. He had so much to give, and what did she have to offer?

“How did you know what she needed to hear?”

He shrugged.

“Because of your birth mom?” Emily saw a shadow of sadness pass over his eyes. She touched his arm and softened her voice. “You had to allow yourself to mourn her absence in order to move on, because you knew she didn’t want to meet you.”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” He met her gaze. “You’re the only person on earth who knows that.” He laced his fingers with hers, and for a moment they just gazed into each other’s eyes, feeling the connection that bound them together.

“Yes, Emily.” He paused, and when he spoke again his voice was more distant. “It started as that, but when I saw Serafina sitting there, I started to wonder what would happen if my plane went down.”

“Dae! Don’t even think that.”

“I did, Em. And then I thought about you, and I knew that as the plane soared toward the earth, I’d be thinking that I wanted you to go on with your life. Grieve for me, then move on. You’re too special not to light up some lucky man’s life.”

“I don’t want to—”

“I know. Neither does she. But the truth is, she’s a single mom with a little boy. She has so many years ahead of her. No matter how much her husband loved her, or wanted to believe that he was her only love, I don’t think he, or any man, would want his wife to live her life in limbo. He’d want her to move on, just like I’d hope that one day, maybe when you’re a hundred or so, you’d allow yourself to love again.”

His smile told her that he was teasing about the
hundred
part, but his eyes told her that he was serious about the rest. She wasn’t sure she could ever be that selfless. She was greedy. She wanted him all to herself.

Later that evening, Dae stayed true to his promise. He and Emily shared a bottle of wine, and then he ran a bubble bath and spoiled Emily
oh so
good
, in all the right ways. They made love two more times before finally giving in to exhaustion and falling asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

EMILY WASN’T SURPRISED when she awoke to an empty room. She’d learned that Dae was an early riser, and she knew he was up worrying over leaving her today. He hated leaving her as much as she hated that he had to. She ran her hand over his side of the bed, thinking that this was the last time she’d wake up in this room. They’d stayed in his room last night so he could pack, and just the sight of his bags sitting by the door made her ache with loneliness. She was seeing him in a few days, and they’d agreed to Skype while they were apart, and still his leaving felt tragic.

It won’t be that bad
.

Only as bad as a root canal.

Or a severed limb
.

A few minutes later Dae walked in carrying two steaming mugs. He was showered and dressed in the same low-slung jeans that had stolen Emily’s breath the first time she’d seen him. He flipped his wet hair from his eyes and handed her a mug.

“Hey, beautiful. I didn’t want to wake you. How’s your ankle?”

The coffee smelled delicious. He smelled toe-curling good. So why was her throat thickening? He sat beside her and rested a hand on her thigh.

“It’s fine. Nothing really hurts except my heart.”

He leaned in close like he was going to kiss her and stopped short. “Aw, that’s about the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard. And I love it.”

She pressed her lips to his. “Cheesy, yes, but true.”

“I love you, and my heart hurts, too.”

“Good. It would suck to suffer alone.”

His eyes narrowed. “Please don’t say the word
suck
. I have to leave soon.”

She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. She swallowed past the lump that threatened to silence her and forced the truth to come out.

“I want to crawl into your lap, wrap my arms around your neck, and cling to you like a baby baboon so you can’t leave me.”

He laughed, and the rush of emotions made her tear up.

“Babe, you’d be the cutest damn baboon there ever was, and I’d give anything not to leave you today, but I need to take care of this business deal.”

The business deal. The House of Wishes
. Was that all it was to him? A business deal? She shifted on the bed, forcing herself not to try to pick that apart. She didn’t want to struggle with anything other than missing Dae right now.

He lifted her chin and flashed that easy smile of his that made her want to melt into him.

“Promise me that while I’m gone you’re going to enjoy yourself and not stew over work, the House of Wishes, or anything else. This is your time, Em.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. I will. But I won’t enjoy it as much as if you were with me.”

“Well, that’s a given.”

She swatted his arm. “You’re impossible.”

He raised his brows and she swatted him again.

“Hey.” He rubbed his arm and feigned a pout. “Don’t bruise my arm meat.”

They both laughed at that. He took the coffee mug from her and pulled her into a hug.

“Think of all the time you’ll have to talk to Daisy when I’m gone.”

“You’ll come to the wedding with me, won’t you?”

“You want me to go to your brother’s wedding?”

She sensed relief in his tone. “Of course. Didn’t I ask you to go with me?”

“That would be a big no.” His mouth kicked up into a lopsided smile.

“Oh no. That’s rude. I’m sorry. I guess I just assumed you were going with me. See what you do to me? You turn my brain to mush.”

“I love your mushy brain.” He nuzzled against her neck. “You sure you want me to meet your family? That sounds pretty serious.”

She pressed her lips to his. She couldn’t get enough of him. “I think the fact that I let you ravage my body and declared my love for you should have clued you in to the idea that we are about as serious as a couple could get.”

He kissed her again. “Damn, you’re adorable. Okay, yeah. I’ll go. Saturday after next, right?”

“Yup. I’ll give you all the details when you pick me up from the airport. That way you’re sure to show up.”