Free Forever In Love by Bella Andre, Lucy Kevin Page B

out of that thought by the wetness of a tongue against her face. It seemed that Gus had decided she needed to be kissed again. At least with Gus, it didn’t bring any complicated issues or feelings with it.
    Because that kiss with Michael had brought plenty of feelings with it— all of them complicated.
    Emily closed her eyes, remembering every wonderful detail of his mouth pressing against hers. The delicious taste of him. The heady feel of his muscles pressed so close to her, closer than ever before.
    His strength had always comforted her, but that was when she’d been so sure of where Michael fit into her life. Now...well, she honestly didn’t know where either of them fit anymore.
    Gus barked again, and Emily felt the soft weight of him pressed against her leg. “I know living with me is a big change for you and that change can be scary, but don’t worry, you’re safe now.”
    Change. So much had changed, first with her sisters over the past year, and now between her and Michael.
    “This time on Saturday I was just trying to make sure everything at the wedding went off without a hitch. But today everything is different and complicated.”
    Thinking she needed to get her mind off of things, she went to the kitchen. But what was the point of cooking when there was no one to cook for? She decided to clean up instead, but that took about five seconds since she always kept the kitchen spotless. She got out her dusters and set to work on the creaking old banister—she hadn’t given it a good going-over in a while. But even that was a mistake, because she could make out the spot where Michael had replaced a couple of risers on the stairs after Hanna had damaged them as a kid.
    Gus followed her everywhere she went, always standing just a little way behind her, as if he’d decided that his new role in life was to guard her against anything that might hurt her. Just the way Michael always had, she realized as her chest clenched tight.
    “If he kissed me, then he can’t have possibly been ready to forget about what he said Saturday, can he?” Emily asked Gus, even though he was just a dog and couldn’t possibly have any answers for her. “You don’t know about Saturday, do you?” she mused aloud. “Though you might have been around the old homestead since that’s where we found you today. Saturday is when Michael told me that he loved me. And that he knew I loved him, too.”
    Gus lay down at the foot of the stairs, his head on his paws, listening intently.
    “When he didn’t say anything at breakfast yesterday, I figured he must have just been swept up in the wedding romance. You know, that he hadn’t meant it and was too embarrassed to say anything.”
    Gus went on staring at her, his eyes moving back and forth as if he was trying to understand what she was saying.
    “And I told myself that was a good thing. That I was glad he didn’t say anything more about it over breakfast, or today. But...”
    Emily found a spot of stained wood and set to work with the beeswax polish, not caring that it would probably take three or four coats to get anywhere close to the finish she wanted. She just needed something to keep her busy so that she didn’t stew too much over Michael.
    And his kisses.
    And how she wished he were here right now so that she could kiss him some more.
    How could his kiss pack so much meaning?
    Maybe it was because thoughts of Michael brought with them all the memories of the boy who had been like a brother to her sisters growing up, the man who was always so ready to help out. And also the man who was not afraid to tell her what he felt. Who wasn’t afraid to tell her that he knew she was in love with him.
    “Why does life have to be so complicated? Why does everything have to keep changing?”
    Gus, who had started to doze off to the soothingly repetitive sound of her rubbing the polish on, opened one eye.
    As Michael had said, things would be different now that Paige wasn’t here anymore.