Her lips curled into a smile. She’d felt exactly the same way.

“And dammit if you haven’t done just that.”

“I have?”

“Woman.” He tilted his head. “You know you have.”

Travis closed the space between them and brought his mouth so close to hers their lips were almost touching. “Trust in that,” he said softly. “Trust in the feelings that have me turned upside down and inside out. Trust in the knowing that I will do everything in my power to make you believe in this. Trust in the love I know you’re feeling, too.” His lips brushed hers. “Trust in us, Steph,” he murmured.

She swallowed hard and nodded.

“Do you?”

“I do. I trust you. I trust us.”

Her tears slipped from her eyes and down her cheeks as their lips finally came together in a soft, slow kiss.

“Okay?” Travis asked when he pulled back, his arms still firmly around Stephanie’s waist. “Are we doing this?”

“One hundred percent.”

He smiled.

“I think I was just waiting for that dark moment.”

“The what?” He looked at her quizzically.

“You know,” she explained. “The dark night of the soul. The black moment when the relationship falls apart and…you have no idea what I’m talking about.”

Travis laughed. “Not at all.”

She wiggled out of his grip a little bit and tried to explain. “In all the movies I’ve starred in, especially the romances, every couple has that moment. Where everything seems great and their relationship is going really well and then…bam!” She clapped her hands together.

“Bam?”

Stephanie nodded. “Bam. Dark moment. All is lost.”

“And you think that will happen with us?”

She nodded again. “I mean, it almost has to. We’re a classic love story. Meet cute—sexy man works for starlet. They’re attracted to each other. Events keep them apart. Get pushed together again, and more events pull them apart and then finally…this can work.” She used air quotes to explain to a very humored-looking Travis. “Happy happy times.” She looked toward the bedroom and he laughed. “And then…dark night of the soul.”

“All is lost.”

“Exactly.”

“And you think that’s going to happen here?” She nodded, and he laughed. “You’re crazy, woman.” Travis closed the distance between them again and pulled her close. “We’re not a Hollywood movie that you’re starring in.” He placed a kiss on her forehead. “We are Stephanie and Travis.” He pressed a kiss to her lips. “And we are real.” He looked in her eyes as he spoke. “Very real.”

Real.Yes.

She kissed him then and, just like that, all her worries slipped away because Travis was right. They were real. There was no dark moment. And she was done with pretending. Why shouldn’t she get her happily ever after? It was her turn.

ChapterTwelve

“You’resure you want to do this?” Travis looked across the cabin to Stephanie, who was rummaging in a closet, and then back to the door. “You really want to go out there?”

She laughed. “I think it’s time.”

He wasn’t so sure. The last two days spent alone with Stephanie in the cabin had been nothing short of perfect. Once they got over their hesitations and cleared the air over everything that they imagined was keeping them apart, everything they’d been holding back with each other flowed freely—almost overwhelmingly so. Much like the swollen river that had finally forced them together.