Chapter 353

• “I’d always stop them.” He promised with conviction in his voice because he truly meant it. Emma sank toward him impulsively, looking like a lost child, reaching up so she could wrap her arms around his neck and brought their foreheads to touch. He wanted to close his eyes at how she initiated this cuddle and imprint it to memory. She didn’t often initiate touch at all.
• “You won’t always be around,” she said quietly.
• “I’m always around if you haven’t noticed,” he said softly, bringing attention to the fact that since he had met her, he had engineered almost a constant presence on purpose. Even before he knew what she was becoming to him, he had always wanted her around him.