He asked his gut to repeat its decree. Emily's the one. She's the one you want to spend the rest of your life with. It's time, Jacob. "Time for what," he muttered. To settle down. "No," he replied. Yes, his gut countered. It'd take all day to explain the whys and hows it happened, but the truth is pretty darn obvious. Jake frowned. The voice of his conscience sounded too much like his mother. He was close to Saint Lily, but… this was taking things too far. Besides that, Jake wasn't the settling down type. He had a hard enough time keeping himself on the straight and narrow. He wasn't what Emily needed for the rest of her life. Emily needed a strong man who would be capable of— Jacob L. Grayden, his conscience interrupted, one mistake did not ruin you for life. Jake groaned and scrubbed his wet hair with the towel. "One mistake which nearly cost me my sanity, my family, and my life." A weak man would have let it ruin him. Jake scrubbed harder. "And a strong man would've never sought solace in the depths of Jose Cuervo." Jacob, if you don't wise up and stop punishing yourself for one itsy-bitsy mistake, then you will lose more than Emily.
