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“Come on over and share some of that love.” Lachlan opens his arms, and I laugh, giving him an enormous hug as well.
“Come on now, don’t hog her.” Maddox tugs on my arm, tearing me from Lachlan. I pull away from Maddox, only to be lifted in the air by Legend. He spins me around, making us all laugh. He puts me back on my feet, hugging me quickly, and with his hand on the small of my back, hands me off to Roman.
Taking a deep breath, I lift my eyes to find his locked on me. Neither one of us says a word. However, when he opens his arms for me, I fall into his embrace. He turns us to hide the intimacy of the moment.
“I fucking missed you, baby girl,” he says huskily. His hands have a slight tremble. As I pull away, I realize my legs are in a similar state.
I missed him too. However, I can’t say that. Not here. So I take a step back, only to watch Monroe take her turn with all the guys, getting her hug of congratulations from each of them as well.
“Where are your parents?” I ask her.
“Oh, they just left to head to the restaurant. We’re all having lunch together,” she tells me.
“All of us?” I ask, looking at each of the guys. My gaze lasting a little longer on Roman than the others.
“Monroe’s mom called yesterday, and I agreed,” Forrest explains. “We’re all here, so we might as well.”
“Great.” I plaster a smile onto my face. It’s not that I don’t want to eat with all of them. I’m just… honestly, I don’t know what I am. Nervous to be around Roman. Nervous because I love him.
“Emerson!” I hear my name shouted. I barely have time to turn before Gabe is there, lifting me off my feet and spinning me around, much like Legend just did.
He places me on my feet and grins down at me, his arm still around my waist. “We did it, babe.” He smiles proudly.
“We did.” I return his smile because we worked our asses off this last semester. Between classes and clinicals, I wasn’t sure I would make it to today.
“Who’s this?” Forrest asks.
“Oh, right. Guys, this is Gabe. He was in the surgical tech program with me. Gabe, this is my brother, and his friends slash business partners, and you know Monroe.”
“Nice to meet you.” Gabe holds his hand out for my brother to shake, which he does.
“You too. So you two had class together?”
“Yeah,” Gabe answers. “We were in study group, and I might have been this one's knight in shining armor at one point,” he teases.
“Stop.” I roll my eyes. “I had a flat a while back, and Gabe saw me pulled over on the side of the road and stopped to help me.”
“Thanks, man,” Forrest says with sincerity.
“We appreciate you looking after our girl.” Maddox crosses his arms over his chest, which earns another eye roll from me.
“Anything for Em,” Gabe says sweetly.
I hear a grunt, and I turn to see Roman glaring at Gabe. I ignore him. He doesn’t have the right to be pissed off. Not that there is anything to be pissed about. Gabe and I are just friends.
“Is your family here?” Forrest asks Gabe.
“They are. We’re heading out. I just needed to come and say hi before we left.”
“It was nice to meet you,” Forrest tells him again.
“You too.” Gabe turns to me. “See you around?”
“You bet.” I smile and wave. Gabe stops to give Monroe a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“Is he why you didn’t come home?” Lachlan asks, wagging his eyebrows.
“I thought we were going to eat?”
