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  He sighed long and deep, raising his hips up off the couch as he penetrated me, sliding deeper into me, inch by inch, until I couldn’t take it anymore. I put my arms around his neck and pressed my breasts against his chest, letting out a cry of pleasure as I came down on his length, driving him even deeper inside me.

  Our bodies writhed and rocked as he lifted his hips, thrusting into me over and over again, harder and faster, causing moans and cries of passion to escape my lips again and again. Gripping my waist and cupping my buttocks, he brought me down onto him, grunting and groaning as he plunged into me ardently. I let out a loud, long cry as I reached my orgasm, shaking and trembling in his arms as the feeling completely took over, sending me into an orgasmic frenzy of earth-shattering pleasure.

  He was right behind me, squeezing my breasts in his hands as he reached his own powerful climax. His body tensed up and shook and I felt the warm sensation of his essence as it filled me. Completely surrendering to the moment, we both panted in each other’s ears, wrapped tightly in one another’s arms, lost in the afterglow of our lovemaking.

  Later that same night, as I lay in Declan’s strong, muscular arms, I placed my head against his chest and kissed him softly. I always felt so safe and comfortable whenever I with him, but tonight was different. Tonight, I had felt that all too familiar feeling—the one I’d been so scared of feeling, the one I’d feared I’d never feel again after Josh and I had parted ways.

  Being loved by a man like Declan was like a dream come true. Yes, it was a little bit scary not knowing if our love was actually going to last forever but, at the same time, it was an amazing feeling and an experience that I knew I didn’t want to chance missing out on.

  He leaned down and kissed my forehead, running his hand along the small of my back. His fingers toyed with the chain of the exquisite diamond necklace he’d given me.

  “This looks incredible on you,” he said softly.

  I smiled up at him sweetly and kissed his cheek.

  “What are you thinking about?” I asked him, peering up at his face curiously.

  “About how much I want you to stay,” he replied lovingly.

  My smile disappeared for a moment as I pondered the gravity of his statement. What would I do, though? I had already quit my job and my position had already been filled by someone else. When I explained this Declan, he didn’t even flinch. He just kissed me again and told me not to worry about any of it.

  “You are no longer on your own, Emma. You don’t have to worry about any of that. Now, relax and get some rest. I have another surprise for you tomorrow.”

  Goddamn, this man was full of surprises! I could only imagine what he was going to surprise me with next as I closed my eyes and drifted off into a satisfying, restful slumber.

  Chapter 19

  Declan

  I walked into the office the next day with a huge smile on my face. I had to pick up some files on a new prospective client. I felt like a new man.

  I was making my way down the hall toward my private corner office when Vivian suddenly came out of my father’s office and stopped me in the hallway.

  “Declan, hey,” she said, pausing in front of me and looking up into my face. “Um, can I talk to you for a minute?”

  Without waiting for an answer, she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into one of the small copy rooms, shutting the door quickly behind us.

  “What’s up?” I asked. I was uncomfortable being alone with her again—uncomfortable with what she was feeling, and worried about how this might look to anyone who happened into the copy room.

  “Well, I just wanted to take a moment to talk about what happened on Friday night, that’s all,” Vivian replied. The expression on her face appeared to be one of uneasiness but the tone of her voice had deep sincerity in it.

  “Okay,” I said. “What about it?”

  “I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to apologize, you know? I mean, I really did think that back when you were talking about wanting more romance in your life and we drank those shots together and everything, I misunderstood the situation. I walked into your condo and I saw everything all set up and I knew that you knew I was coming over to drop that file off for your dad and I just…” Her eyes started to tear up.

  “It’s okay, Vivian, really—”

  “Just let me finish, please. I really need to say this—get this off my chest. Because, you know, we’re going to be working here together and I just don’t want there to be any weirdness between us or anything,” she explained. “I feel embarrassed about this whole thing. I mean, I’m still kicking myself and wondering how I possibly misconstrued the situation so absurdly. It’s just, I’m just really sorry, that’s all.”

  She looked up at me with solemnity in her blue eyes. She was a stunning woman—she just wasn’t the woman for me. She wasn’t Emma Shaw.

  “Apology accepted,” I said sincerely. “And I, too, want to offer my own apology for unintentionally misleading you. I just want you to know that I didn’t mean to give you any mixed signals or anything—just so you know.”

  “Sure, no, I totally get it—apology accepted,” she said.

  “Also, uh, I finally talked to Emma and we were able to smooth things over, so…no harm done,” I said.

  “Oh, that—that’s great. I’m really glad that you guys were able to work things out and everything. Good, good,” she said with a nervous smile.

  “Well, I’m glad we had this little talk, then,” I told her, reaching out to offer her my hand.

  “Oh, sure, me, too,” she said, grabbing my hand and shaking it firmly.

  Even though the conversation had taken place in a somewhat awkward manner, a wave of relief washed over me after it happened. I took the longest, deepest breath I’d ever taken in my life after Vivian turned around and went on her way.

  * * * * *

  Work couldn’t have ended soon enough that day. I had a huge surprise and I was damned near about to burst with excitement for wanting to reveal it to Emma. I had already told Chloe about it, and the only thing left was to tell Emma.

  Last night, I’d had to fight with all my might not to spoil the surprise while Emma lay in my arms, right where she was supposed to be.

  After my final meeting of the day, I called her up and told her I wanted to pick her up as soon as she was done with work. She agreed, and I went to pick her up from the school at four p.m.

  “Hey,” she said with a wide grin as I pulled up in front of the main entrance.

  “Hello, beautiful. How was your day?” I asked as she climbed into the passenger seat.

  “It was nice, actually. With the end of the school year almost here, the kids are getting a little bit antsy,” she explained.

  “Well, I have something very special that I want to show you,” I said, barely able to contain my excitement.

  “You are always so full of surprises,” she teased, as the smile on her face widened.

  “Oh, honey, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” I replied with a wink.

  A few moments later, we pulled up in front a large building—the empty, brown brick building that used to read Sanello’s Sweetery. But now, as of today, a temporary banner hanging over the sign read, Emma Shaw’s Bakery.

  When she looked up and saw the sign, she gasped. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open.

  I helped her out of the car and the two of us stood in front of the building, gazing up at the new sign.

  “Wh-what is this?” she asked, glancing over at me in confusion.

  “It’s your new bakery, Emma,” I explained, looking deep into her beautiful brown eyes. “And, it’s also my way of asking you to stay here in New York—with me. Now that you have your own business, you really don’t have any reason to leave anymore, right?”

  Just then, Chloe came out of the front door of the bakery, holding a bottle of champagne.

  “Surprise!” she exclaimed.

  Emma placed her hands on her cheeks and tears filled her eye
s.

  “Oh, my God! You were in on this? How sneaky,” she said to Chloe, laughing.

  “Well, kind of. He told me about it a couple of days ago,” Chloe explained.

  “Oh, my God,” Emma said again. “Declan, this is…this is just…” She couldn’t even complete her sentence before the tears of happiness filled her beautiful eyes and began to flow.

  I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her in close. I held her as she shook, feeling a wave of happiness wash over me as I waited patiently for her to regain her composure. Chloe came over and joined us in a little group hug, as she wrapped an arm around her best friend and flashed a huge smile of approval.

  Finally, Emma backed away. “You guys, this is—this is the most wonderful, amazing, most incredible thing anyone has ever done for me. I love you both so much!”

  “Well, Declan is the one who bought the place. I just helped him set it up,” Chloe replied, nodding her head toward me.

  Emma opened her up her purse and pulled out a small handkerchief. Using it to wipe her face, she smiled through her sniffles as she gazed up at the sign.

  “Well, what are we all waiting for? Let’s go inside and get this party started,” she finally said with a wide, excited grin. “I can’t wait to see the inside!”

  Emma opened the front door of the building and Chloe and I followed her inside. Chloe flashed me a wink and mouthed the words, “Good job!” to me as she walked in ahead of me.

  Inside, we had a table set up with three fancy wine glasses and three chairs. I clicked on the celebratory music and we all sat down at the table. Chloe popped the top off the bottle of champagne and proceeded to fill the glasses.

  “This is, by far, one of the happiest days of my life and I couldn’t think of two other people I’d rather be spending it with,” Emma said as we all raised our glasses and cheered to a brand-new start.

  Epilogue

  Emma

  I never thought that I could be this happy. If someone would have told me six months ago that I would be where I am today, I probably would have looked them directly in the eye and called them all kinds of crazy while also bursting into a huge fit of laughter. However, I would have been all kinds of wrong…

  After Declan surprised me with the deed to Sanello’s Sweetery, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven, I was so overjoyed and surprised. I fought with myself for days over whether to change the name of the bakery to something else—especially since everyone in the entire area already knew it by its original family name, and had probably known it by that name since they were younger. But, in the end, however, I decided to change the name to something more modern and a little bit more snazzy-sounding.

  I decided to change the name of the bakery to The Sweet Spot.

  Corny? Maybe. But it was my idea and my bakery, so I could name it whatever the hell I damn well pleased. Besides, I figured that the new name was pretty catchy in its own way and that it would also be something that everyone who came to check it out would likely remember.

  Declan was a dream when it came to helping me get everything together, obtaining all of the supplies, materials, and equipment, finding and hiring a crew to help me remodel and get the place set up, and providing the support and confidence I never even knew I needed. He was the most wonderful, thoughtful, and supportive boyfriend I’d ever had. And yes, he was officially my boyfriend. We made things official between us the night he surprised me with the deed to the bakery building.

  No man I had ever dated had ever been anything quite like Declan Erikson. Yes, he was a billionaire, and yes, he was incredibly handsome. He was loaded, but the honest-to-God truth of the matter was, even if he wasn’t wealthy, I would still feel exactly the same way about him. His wealth was merely a bonus—a huge bonus—but a bonus, nonetheless. I truly believed that even if he wasn’t so blessed with such a huge bank account that he still would have found some way to make my dream a reality just because that was how much he truly loved me.

  We had the grand opening exactly six months after the day he surprised me with the deed, and it was every bit as wonderful as I had fantasized it would be. It was a total blast! At least two hundred people showed up all throughout the day. I gave away a free dessert of their choice with every ten-dollar order and it all went down wonderfully, without a single hitch.

  Declan took the day off from his office and came down to the bakery to be with me for the grand opening celebration.

  What really surprised me the most was the fact that Vivian—the woman who I had seen with Declan—came to the grand opening of my newly purchased and remodeled bakery. At first, I wasn’t quite sure why she had shown up, and my heart started beating faster and my hands shook with nerves.

  She was wearing a powder-blue sundress that dipped down into a U-shape around her perky breasts. She also had on a matching sunhat that hung down over her blond bangs.

  Her strappy, backless five-inch stiletto sandals were the exact same shade of blue as her dress and hat, and she also had a silver and blue purse draped over her right shoulder as she walked into the front entrance of the bakery with a huge grin on her gorgeous face.

  “Congratulations,” she said in a pleasant tone of voice as the smile on her face widened even further. “This place looks absolutely amazing! You guys have really done an incredible job!”

  She looked around the large front area of the newly-remodeled bakery with seemingly genuine awe. Her stilettos click-clacked against the tile floor of the shop as she approached the front counter, where I was standing behind the cash register with Declan by my side.

  “Thank you,” I said with a somewhat forced smile. “Can I get you anything in particular?”

  “Actually, yes. I’d like ten dollars’ worth of cannolis please,” she said, pointing to the freshly-made desserts sitting behind the glass. “And for my free selection, I’d like one of those macadamia nut cookies.” She looked at me, then glanced over at Declan, and then looked back at me again.

  “Certainly,” I replied and proceeded to fill her order.

  “Hey, by the way,” she said, gazing intently into my face. “I wanted to apologize to you, Emma. Please believe me, I honestly never meant to cause any confusion between you and Declan. I totally misconstrued the situation that night, and I wanted to apologize to you in person for the problems that it caused.”

  I could hardly believe that she had actually come right up to me and apologized to my face.

  “Oh,” I said, taken off guard. I glanced over at Declan, who had a pleasant smile on his face. “Thank you so much for that, Vivian. Apology accepted. Water under the bridge.”

  “Thank you,” she said, giving me a shy smile.

  I returned her smile as I handed her a bag with all of her items in it. “And thank you for coming down to help us celebrate,” I added.

  “You’re very welcome! See you at the office, Declan,” she said before turning around and heading back out the front door.

  “That was very classy and mature of you,” Declan said with a grin.

  “Well, she did apologize,” I said, returning his grin with my own. “That was pretty classy, too. Did you put her up to that?” Suddenly, I was wondering if he’d had anything to do with her showing up unexpectedly like that.

  “Of course not. But would it really make any difference if I had?” he teased, wrapping his strong, masculine arms around my waist.

  “I don’t know, maybe,” I said, throwing my arms around his neck.

  “You know what I think?” he asked playfully.

  “What?”

  “I think it’s time we closed down for the night and properly christened this place,” he said with a wink.

  “I think you read my mind,” I replied, pressing my lips to his.

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