He waits for her to say it was a one time thing, pull away, but she only nestles closer, her cheek pressed against his bare chest as he runs his fingers through her hair.
He is a lucky man, and he knows it.
He tilts his head down to press a kiss to her forehead and she smiles against his skin. He remembers a time when her smiles were rare and her walls high, and can scarcely believe how far they have come, although the evidence is currently curled up next to him, one leg tucked between his and an arm draped across his stomach.
She lets out a content sigh, her eyes fluttering shut as the lull of sleep grows stronger. He still isn't used to falling asleep without the gentle tide of the sea rocking the boat beneath him, but he finds that he doesn't mind, not when Emma is relaxed and sated in his arms. He will always miss the Jolly, but he will never regret his decision to trade it. The ship was his home once; now he has a new one, in the shape of a wickedly beautiful blonde siren who has, for whatever reason, chosen him.
When she says I love you, right as she is drifting off to sleep, he knows not even the Snow Queen herself can take away the warmth Emma gives him.
