Never Say Goodbye

Part Two

November 2003

He had her pinned against the wall with her feet off the ground.

Lucky slowly brought his mouth towards her, as he watched her eyes to see if this is what she really wanted. Her breath mingled with his. Her body rubbed against his. Never had they been pressed together so erotically before.

He inched closer to her mouth but Emily was the one who closed the gap between them and started to give him short, sensual kisses. She slid down the wall, so that her feet were on the ground again. Her hands came up and cupped his face, as they kept kissing.

He was shocked to feel moisture on his cheeks and realized she was crying. Emily whispered "Oh, God, I'll miss you so much, Lucky." Then she started to kiss him again, winding her arms around his neck.

His head was swimming with thoughts and feelings about the woman in his arms. Her knew her when she was just a girl, when she used to love to skateboard and chase her dog around the neighborhood, and he knew her as a reckless teenager and he knew her as a young woman who fought to beat cancer and fought to overcome heartbreak.

Through it all, she burrowed deeper and deeper into his heart, into his soul, into his bones, till he could feel her even when she was miles away...till nothing felt right in his world unless she was in the same room as him. But she never belonged just to him. Other men got to love her, marry her, promise her children and years of happiness...while Lucky tried his damn hardest to love someone...anyone...more than he did Emily. But it never worked.

He didn't know the day he fell for her. He just always wanted more...one more kiss by the campfire...one more dance under the stars...one more hug where she holds on long past when any other woman would have let go of him...one more chance for her to pick him. When she said Its you, he felt like that chance became real and Lucky would do anything to keep her by his side now.

Lucky moved his mouth back an inch. "Don't leave...you can't leave me."

"Just kiss me. Please. I need this."

"Tell me you're staying."

"Lucky..." She leaned her head back on the wall and let out a shuddering breath, as she looked away from him again.

He ran on hand into her hair and forced her eyes back on him. "You're so scared that you're shaking. I never wanted to scare you. I wanted you to know...I'm the one man...the one person on this whole earth...who you can never lose. Not to Liz. Not to anyone." He leaned his forehead against hers and confessed "Its always been you. How can you not believe me? Its you."

XXXXXXXXX

Its you. Those two words filled Emily's heart with hope.

Suddenly her tears were not ones of fear or pain or loss, they were of joy. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, feeling way too much all at one time to be able to think straight.

"Shhh," Lucky said, as he dropped kisses on her forehead, her cheeks, and the corner of her mouth. "You got to believe me, Em. I could tell you about a thousand days when I wished you were my girl and not his...when there was no other woman I woke up thinking about or went to sleep thinking about...but you...and, though I'm ashamed to say it, some of those days were ones I spent with Liz. I did fall for her...but like I fell for you? No way. Because all I felt for her ended a while ago...but even if you leave me today...what I feel for you will not end. So can you see now? Its you...I fell in love with you...so long ago that its just who I am now...I'm the man in love with Emily Bowen Quatermaine...I just never thought you might love me back. I really never thought I had a shot. But I'm asking for one...give me a shot, Em, please. Give us a shot."

Slowly, with her eyes still closed, she nodded.

How could she not? The love she felt for him was slow growing but it was the deepest love she had ever known. It had taken root in her. Sunk itself down so deep that she didn't know who she might be if she ever tried to stop loving him. But she never would.

She had only wanted to move away for his sake. To let him get back with Liz without her interfering...and for her own sake...so she didn't have to watch it...but never because she thought she could fall out of love with him if she put distance between them. She wouldn't want to stop loving him. It was the most painful, beautiful, heart wrenchingly perfect emotion she had ever felt in her life.

Her eyes fluttered open to find him smiling at her. Lucky whispered "Did you just say yes?"

"I'll take a shot with you."

It was his turn to cry. He looked away from her as his eyes filled with tears. He choked out "Good."

Emily smiled shyly and wound her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder. "I should have told you the truth a long time ago. I haven't been happy with Zander for months now and it was never what he was doing...it was always that he wasn't you. I just thought I would have to be second in your heart...and I can't. Cause you are first in mine."

"Your first in mine, too, and it killed me to see you married to someone who's not me...he's not your best friend...he's not the guy who knows your secrets...he doesn't know every punch line to every joke you tell...he could never know you like I do...not just cause we grew up together but because you let me know you best. You don't have to be scared anymore...I'll always take care of you." He moved out of her arms. Lucky slid his hand in hers and said "Come on...lets get out here and go get some dinner."

Emily met his eyes and shook her head, very slightly.

"Em..."his tone was a warning and a question, and a love filled promise all in one.

"I don't want to rush you but...I need to know you're mine. Really mine." She whispered "Make love to me, Lucky."

XXXXXXXXXXX

His body hardened as she asked for him to make love to her. Though a part of him thought it was too soon, he couldn't resist the temptation. She was too beautiful, too much of his dream come true, and just too precious to him for him to turn her down when she had laid her heart on the line that way. He only prayed she wouldn't regret this ever, because he never would.

The proper gentlemen in him believed there should be more time between a couple's first kiss and when they slept together, more than ten crazy minutes of confessions, but the first kiss he ever shared with Emily was when they were only kids. If he counted that then they had waited longer than most people ever did. Still he would have waited longer for her. He would have waited his lifetime for her, if only to hear her say she was in love with him a moment before he died...and it still would have all been worth it.

He moved close to her again. Taking hold of her face, he bent down and kissed her tenderly. Then he swept her right off her feet, causing Emily to let out a yelp of happy surprise. Two large steps and he was at the bed and set her down. He pulled off her shoes and socks, and kicked off his own shoes and yanked off his socks, before crawling onto the bed. With his hands on either side of her, Lucky hovered over Emily. Her hands immediately went to the buttons of his shirt. She undid several and kissed his chest.

He rolled onto his back and pulled her close to him, kissing her slowly. She kept working on the buttons of his shirt. Emily broke their kiss and started to kiss his jaw, his throat, and then his chest again. She licked at his nipple and he sucked in a deep breath. Then her hands moved to his zipper.

"Em...we have all night, okay?"

She moved back up the bed and looked in his eyes, hers searched his, looking for his heart and his love for her.

Lucky leaned close to her and whispered in her ear "Do you think I don't want to be inside of you right now? I do. But I want everything else first." He nibbled on her ear and laid hot, open mouth kisses over her neck. "I want to kiss you..." his mouth moved to hers "till you forget every other man who ever kissed you. I want to know you are mine," he used the same words as she had "Really mine."

Then he started to kiss her again, nice and slow, gentle and sweet, pulling her body slightly on top of his. His hands roamed over her back and then gently massaged her ass. He couldn't help smiling as he did that, and suddenly she was smiling against his lips back.

Emily sucked his bottom lip and then broke their kiss. Her smile was wide with joy. "This is real?"

"This is real."

"Thank God."