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Nick woke up the next morning to find Emma nestled against him and he smiled. Last night brought back a flood of feelings that he wasn’t sure he’d ever get to express again. He was to the point where he thought he and Emma would never get back to where they were and the thought of not having her in his life scared him. Seeing her next to him made him determined not to screw it up.

Emma shivered a little and it seemed to wake her out of her sleep. She looked up at him and smiled; he couldn’t imagine a more beautiful sight.

“Hey sleepyhead.” he said quietly. “How’d you sleep?”

“Amazingly. I don’t think I’ve slept this well in a long time.”

“Me neither.” he paused. “The last time was with you.”

She pulled herself up towards his face and kissed him softly. He ran his hand down her face and over her neck. His hand was heading under the sheets when Emma laughed.

“Again?”

“I’m afraid I won’t get another chance.”

Emma looked up at him with a serious expression. “I’m not going anywhere Nick. If I had any hesitation about getting involved with you again, I wouldn’t have spent the night.”

“Honest?”

“Honest. I’m not going to set either one of us up for another heartache. Truthfully, I don’t think I could handle one more.”

“I promise not to do anything that would cause you to question us being together. I truly want to make this work Em.”

“Good.” she said with a grin. “Now where were we?”

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The couple decided that they would have dinner with Addie and Howie later that night to tell them the good news. They spent most of the day in bed and only made their way to the kitchen when it was absolutely necessary.

“Are you excited to tell them?” Nick asked, watching her make dinner.

“I am and I think they’re going to be excited to hear it.”

“I hope so! They’re the ones who made it clear from the beginning that they wanted us together.”

Emma made her way over to where he was standing and wrapped her arms around his waist. She stood up on her toes and kissed him.

“And we are together.”

Nick leaned in to kiss her again when the bell rang. He gave her a quick kiss and then headed down to let in their guests. Howie and Addie had already figured out why they were there and made their congratulations.

“I knew this was going to happen.” Addie exclaimed. “And I’m glad you didn’t take forever getting there.”

“Funny.” Emma replied and swatted her friend.

Howie and Nick left the girls to talk in the kitchen and turned on the sports channel in the living room so they could talk.

“Are you happy?” Howie asked.

“Very. I’ve wanted this for the longest time and now I have her back.”

“Try not to screw it up again.”

“I already promised her that I will do anything in my power not to screw it up. I want us to be together.” Nick paused. “I’m thinking about asking her to move back in.”

“Whoa!” Howie replied. “Don’t you think you should ease into that? I don’t think either one of you should dive headfirst into decisions.”

“But I want her to be here.”

“And I’m sure she wants the same but maybe she’s not quite there yet.”

Nick thought about what his brother was saying. He wanted to have her back in his life one hundred percent of the time but maybe to expect it in a couple of days was a mistake.

“Do you think I should tell her that I want her back here? I’ll let her know that she doesn’t need to make a decision but it’s definitely what I want.”

“I guess that’s ok but I don’t want you to be upset if she can’t handle that right now.”

“I won’t be.”

Howie hoped his brother was telling the truth.

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The two couples enjoyed dinner together and everyone was truly happy to be back to a foursome again. Howie and Addie stayed for a while but headed home early so that Addie could take care of some things. Emma walked them to the door and then made her way back to find Nick sitting on the couch in the living room.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

Emma felt her heart drop into her stomach. This was not going to be good and she couldn’t believe that they had just gotten back together and there was already a problem. Maybe Howie said something to him, she thought as she nodded and took a seat next to him.

Nick cocked his head and stared at her. “Why are you upset?”

Emma’s eyes started to get wet. “Us needing to talk is never a good thing.”

He leaned towards her and gently pushed her back onto the couch. Kissing her softly, he stretched out next to her and wrapped her in his arms.

“This is not a bad thing at all.”

Emma nodded and waited for him to continue.

“I wanted to talk to you about moving back in here.”

“What?”

“Howie told me to take it slow but I need to tell you how I feel. I want you back in my life and I want you to move back in with me.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“How about yes?” Nick replied with a chuckle.

Emma thought about it for a minute. “I don’t know if I can leap back into this.”

“I know, Howie said you might feel that way and I understand. I just need you to know how I feel about you.”

It meant a lot to Emma that Nick was able to tell her how he felt. “Can you give me a couple of weeks?”

“Ok but only a couple.”

Emma laughed. “You’re really going to hold me to it huh?”

“Hell yes! According to my calculations, you have exactly thirteen days, twenty-three hours and fifty-six minutes.”

“Damn!” Emma exclaimed. “You’re serious.”

“I am. I’m always serious about what I want.”

Emma grinned at him. “Really? How about…”

Nick crushed his mouth against hers and pulled her tight; they didn’t leave the couch for hours.