My heart is about to make a run for it. She could say anything right now. I have no idea what direction she’ll go. All I know is that I want it to be me. Goddamn it, I want it to be me. But if it’s not, I won’t push her. I’m not an asshole like Rhys.

“Tell me what that is. I’d like to know.”

Tears fill her eyes. “I want you, Mateo. I’m sorry for all the years that I—” Emily shakes her head. “I can’t go back and change anything now. But I know what I want. It’s you. I love you.”

“You don’t have to say that just because I said it first. I shouldn’t have gone that far. I knew better, and—”

“Mateo. I love you.”

It overwhelms me. Many, many women have said things to me over the course of my life. Beautiful, successful women who wanted things from me. Things. Like money or houses or vacations. Emily Rochester doesn’t want that.

“I’m scared to death,” she whispers. “This mistrial or whatever they’ve done—it’s terrifying. I don’t know what he’s going to do when he walks out of that courtroom. He might be out already.”

“You’re safe here. The security has it handled.”

“What I’m trying to say is that I want you here. With me. I love you, and I want you here. My life feels better with you in it. I hate how it feels when you’re gone.”

It’s starting to sink in, and it feels like champagne. A metric fuckton of champagne, shooting through my veins all at once. “You love me.”

“I really do,” Emily says, and she laughs. “I hope you still feel the same way.”

“I was coming here to tell you that.”

“You were coming here because you saw the news.”

“Yeah. And I only care about the news because I love you.” I want to look into her eyes for the rest of my life. I want to have Emily Rochester within reach forever. “I’m not bullshitting you. I care so much about you that it keeps me awake at night. Do you know what that does to a man?”

Emily flicks her eyes toward the ceiling. “Is it making you worse at auditions?”

“I’m not going on auditions anymore.”

“What?”

“I just fired my agent. Or she fired me. It doesn’t matter. I don’t have an agent, and you can try to make me go back to LA. I’ll let you try, Emily. But it’s not going to work. I’m not going back there. I’m staying where you are, even if I have to live in that beach house and drive here every day.”

“Mateo.” She swallows hard. “You cannot give up your career for me.”