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"Yeah, I'm sure." She leans in and presses a kiss to my right thigh. "I want to make you feel good."

"You make me feel good just being here," I murmur as she kisses my left thigh.

She laughs, but it sounds off. Different. Not at all like her normal laugh. "Emmalyn, look at me."

With a shake of her head, she tries to draw me back into her mouth.

Unease wars within me as she bobs her head up and down my length. She doesn't make it more than two passes before I reach down and pull her up to standing.

"Why'd you do that?" she asks, her cheeks splotchy as tears mingle with the water raining down on both of us.

"Why are you crying?" I fire right back, reaching past her to turn off the water.

"I'm not."

"You are."

I step out of the shower and wrap a towel around my waist before grabbing another, wrapping it around her and pulling her into my arms. "Talk to me, baby. You're not acting like you and it's freaking me out."

She sniffles and my heart clenches, desperately wanting to fix whatever is wrong.

I dry her off and scoop her up in my arms, carrying her back to my bed, where I pull the covers up over both of us and hold her close.

"Talk to me, little mouse."

"It's nothing."

"It's something."

"It's stupid."

"It's not."

She cries softly against my chest. "It's...it's just that..."

"It's what, baby?”

"It's just you have all this experience, and while last night was amazing, I know you're probably used to something more...something better. And I wanted—God, this sounds so stupid now—I wanted to make you feel so good that you forgot every girl that came before me."

My heart squeezes before dropping to my gut. "Jesus, Emmy." I pull back just enough to look her in the eye. "You outshine any other woman I've ever known and any I've yet to meet, just by being you. You don't need to impress me with your sexual prowess, Emmalyn. You don't need to blow my mind with orgasms. All I need is you. Y-O-U. That's it."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I feel like such an idiot."

"No need to."

"You're sweet to pretend."

"Not pretending, either. You're human, and sometimes humans do foolish, weird, messy things." I huff out a laugh. "Like bully the girl they love, albeit, I didn't know I loved you then."

Emmalyn sucks in a sharp breath. "You love me?"

Shit. Fuck. Am I doing this?"Yeah...I guess I do."

“Wow.” She blinks twice. “Really? You're not just saying it to make me feel better?"