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She felt him give a start at her unexpected embrace, but she did not let go. When his arms finally came around her, she sighed with pure bliss.
“I was so scared, Jay,” she mumbled on a shaky breath into his shirt. “I thought you would die.”
He said nothing, simply stroked her hair.
“I didn’t hear, I didn’t know.” She felt the first tear slip past her eyelid. “I was so worried something horrible would result from the surgery. And it would have been my entire fault.”
“Hey.” This time he pulled back and gripped her chin, tilting it up. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here. I will be eternally grateful.”
“You know?”
He nodded. “I forced it out of my parents. Nobody has ever done anything so remarkable for me like that before.”
“I couldn’t let you die.”
Jay raised a hand and cupped her face, using his large thumb to stroke her cheek where the tear left a trail. “Why?”
Erika gazed up at him and saw something in his eyes she had never seen before. It made her heart flip and the confidence to tell him, “I love you, Jay.”
He released a huge sigh and drew her into his arms again. “Thank God. When I saw you with Ryan, I thought—well, you can guess.”
She shook her head, still burying her face in his chest. “I don’t care for him as I do you. I couldn’t lose you Jay.”
“Hey.” He reached down and turned her face back to him. “That’s not going to happen.”
Her eyes burned of unshed tears. “But you once rejected me.”
Jay slowly shook his head. “I couldn’t bear the idea of hurting you. You had already lost so much.”
“Then you do care?”
He smiled before closing the distance between them. His lips closed over hers and Erika felt as if she had stepped right into heaven from the cloud she was floating upon. “I love you, Erika. Have for a long time.”
His arms squeezed her tightly and Erika shut out everything but the feel of his embrace. It might very well be the last time she would ever feel it again.
“Jay, I have to tell you something.”
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “What is it?”
“The reason why I could not marry Ryan.”
He looked puzzled. “I will assume it’s because you realized you loved me.”
“Yes, but that was only part of the reason.”
“What are you talking about?”
She bit her lip when she noticed the look of doubt in his eyes. Without even realizing it, he held the power to destroy her happiness forever.
“My grandfather left a stipulation in the Will,” she told him. “If I married a Colby I would be disinherited.”
There was a moment’s pause, a moment of confusion clearly on Jay’s face. Then he dropped his arms and stepped back. “Are you telling me you didn’t marry Ryan because you would lose your inheritance?”
“I didn’t love him enough to give it up.”
Still confusion on his face before he quietly asked, “And what about me? Are you willing to give it up for me?”
Erika paused before answering, knowing the next few moments would affect the course of her life. “I can’t. Seeing that I’ve already spent the money from the trust fund.”
