It was all I needed to hear.

I just needed the chance to explain, let Sophia see that I wasn’t the villain Audrey made me out to be. I closed and zipped her suitcase, brought it to the front room and set it by the door so she could see that I wasn’t going to force her to do anything she didn’t want to do—like staying one more night.

“Take a drive with me,” I said.

Sophia’s soft eyes glanced up to me. “Where?”

“There’s something I want to show you.”

“I’m not in the mood for mansions.”

I laughed. “I promise that it’s more spectacular than that.”

“Nolan, I don’t know,” she protested.

I tugged on her hand, leading her out of the condo and down the stairs to my truck. We kept exchanging glances without talking. Opening her door, I assisted her into her seat, shutting the door behind before sliding into my own. She was already buckled by the time I slid the strap over my waist. I liked her willingness to go along for the ride.

Turning the key, I thought how this might very well be my last chance to prove to Sophia that I was serious about wanting to date her. The engine rumbled and I pulled out of the parking lot, driving to the edge of town before heading up the dark mountain valley.

It was quiet except for the country music playing in the background. We both stared straight ahead as if hypnotized by the headlights lighting up our path to my secret spot. Neither of us said a word. And the longer we brewed in our own silence, the more nervous I became.

Sophia flipped her cell over on her lap, checking it for the third time in a matter of minutes.

I knew I had to say something, break the awkward silence that plagued this ride. But I didn’t know where to begin, especially with the questions I assumed she was just dying to ask. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her away. But I was afraid that maybe Audrey had already done that for me.

Sophia checked her phone again as if adding to the insult.

I wiped my sweaty palm on my thigh, making a right turn onto a dirt road.

Sophia rolled her narrow eyes in my direction.

“We’re almost there,” I said.

She looked at her phone again and I wondered at what point she would lose reception. We were getting close to the fringe of civilization and it wouldn’t be long before everything went black.

Lifting my gaze back to the road, I knew what it was she was thinking. That I was some kind of playboy who gets off on sleeping with as many women as I could. It was easy to think, but she couldn’t have been further from the truth. What happened with Sophia and me was an anomaly and something I hadn’t done before. Though I certainly didn’t have any regrets about how quickly I fell into her bed. In fact, it was the best thing to have happened to me in quite some time and I could only hope that she felt the same.

“Here we are,” I said as my headlights lit up the end of the road.

Sophia looked around, rubbing her forearms as I cracked my window and slowed to a stop. And when I killed the engine, everything went pitch dark. No one was around but us. Nothing but the sounds of nature and our own breathing.

“Did you bring me here to kill me?” Sophia said in a serious voice.

I jerked my head around and said, “What? No.”

She turned her head, her face serious as stone, and just when I thought it couldn’t get any more unsettling, her eyes popped and she started laughing. “Gotcha!”

My head fell back as I closed my eyes. Blowing out a heavy sigh, I chuckled.

“You should have seen your face.” Sophia shook her head.

I rolled my head to her. “Not funny.”

“Then why are you smiling?”

“Because your laugh is contagious.”

She locked her gaze with mine and it didn’t take long for me to get lost in the beauty of how her irises glimmered in the darkness of the night. When she licked her lips, I reached over and took her hand inside of mine. “Do you trust me?”

“I want to,” she breathed.

“What I want to show you is just right over there,” I said, pointing through the windscreen.

Sophia turned her head and squinted into the darkness. “I don’t see anything.”

“That’s why I’m here. To show you the way.”

“What is it?”

“You’ll see once I show you.” My thumb stroked the pulse in her wrist. “Are you ready?”

She nodded.

I opened my door, stepped out, and hurried over to her. She fell into my arms and I kept her close as we walked into the darkness. I knew that she wasn’t used to midnight walks in the woods by the way her blood swelled her fingers. We slowly worked our way further into the forest. Her palms sweated as the dry grass crinkled beneath our feet. But before I let us fall back into another round of awkward silence, I said, “It’s crazy to think that something could be watching us.”

She clenched onto my arm tighter and dug her heels into the dirt, just as I’d planned. “What are you talking about?”

“Wild animals.” My voice was barely a whisper.

“What, like, bears?” she asked in a shrill voice.

I turned to look at her with round eyes. “Big bears.”

She melted into me, holding onto my arm as if her life depended on it. Looking around, I could feel her senses on high alert. And when I started walking again, she flinched at the rustle beneath my feet.

“But it’s cougars you really have to worry about,” I murmured.

Sophia looped her arm through the crook of mine, still looking around into the forest that surrounded us. “I know the town is flooded with them.”

When I laughed, she joined me. Sophia had a way of surprising me when I least expected it. Her one-liner was enough to prove that she had the courage to go all the way. And as I led us further into the woods, I knew that it could be scary not knowing where we were going. But once the view broke through the trees and branches, it was completely worth the initial feelings of fear.

“It’s incredible,” Sophia said as she stepped in front of me, soaking up the village lights below.

Wrapping her inside my arms, she naturally fell back against my chest, letting me hold her as we stared into the depths of the valley below. She breathed easier and, despite us still not having all that much to say, it felt less awkward than before. I appreciated the fact that we could get past all the emotions we harbored from trying to make sense of my past relationship with Audrey and how we weren’t sure exactly how to properly express our feelings of doubt when it came to what came next.

“This is where I come when I need to reset,” I said.

Sophia squeezed my forearms, holding me tighter. I liked the way she fit against me. It felt right, and there was no doubt in my mind that this was meant to be. Looking up, the Milky Way clouded a path across the sky. “Hey, look there,” I said, pointing to the sky.

Sophia lifted her gaze, following my finger to the sky. “What is that?”

“It’s a satellite.” I smiled.

It glided across the sky like a moving star. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.”

“There’s a first for everything.” My arms squeezed her tighter.

“Was she your first?”

I knew she was referring to Audrey. But I didn’t know if was asking if Audrey was my first love or my first girlfriend, or maybe both.

She twisted in my arms and glanced back at me.

“She was my first girlfriend—the first girl I slept with.”

Sophia turned back around to face the view. “So that’s why she can’t get over you?”

I hadn’t ever thought about it like that, but I suppose it could have been partially the reason why Audrey was so set on making sure I ended up with her. Even though I knew deep in my heart that I was never going to let that happen. “The fundraiser last night, it was put on by Audrey’s family.”

Sophia held her breath and, though I couldn’t see her face, I knew she’d closed her eyes.

“And the reason I was late to the bar was because I thought that Audrey’s father was having a heart attack.”

I heard Sophia gasp before she murmured, “What do you mean, thought?”

“My office received a call saying there was an emergency at his estate and that he’d had one.” I told her the truth of what I knew. “But when I arrived at his house, it was clear that I had been set up.”

“By Audrey?”

I nodded. “Though I can’t prove it.”

“If that’s true, that’s disgusting.”

“You don’t know Audrey. She certainly has it in her to do something like that.”

“But why?”

Over the next several minutes I painted Sophia a picture of what my past with Audrey entailed. How we started dating, how our parents continuously pushed for us to be together—including how it was assumed by nearly everyone that I would take her as my date to last night’s fundraiser.

“It makes sense now,” she said.

“What does?”

“Everything. Why people were looking at me like I didn’t belong. Why I was told that you should have been with Audrey, and why Audrey is telling me that I’m just your weekend fling.”

Bringing my hands to her shoulders, I needed her to see the sincerity in my eyes when I told her, “She’s jealous of you because I have finally found someone I actually want to slow down for.”

Her starlit eyes danced across my face. “But I don’t even know who you are.”

“But I know enough to be sure that this feels right.” My hands smoothed down her arms. “Don’t you agree?”

Inhaling a deep breath, Sophia held my gaze and said, “Nolan, I had a fun weekend, but this isn’t how we should start a relationship.”

My body went cold at her rejection.

“It’s moving too quick.”

“Then we slow it down,” I fired back. I would do anything to make sure I saw her again. Because after sifting through the doubt, I knew deep down that she felt the same way I was feeling now.

“I live in Denver.” She frowned.

“Me too.” My brows raised.

She jerked her head back as if surprised to learn the news.

“What did you think, that I lived here?” I pointed to the lights below. “Where would I work? What would I do?” I laughed.

“I don’t know. I guess I just assumed.”

And then, surprising us both, her phone chirped with a series of messages.

Without hesitation, she pulled her phone out from her pocket and quickly read through the messages. “Oh, thank God.” She breathed a sigh of relief.

“What is it? Everything okay?” I asked, thinking back to how glued she was to that device on our drive up here.

She looked up at me from under her lashes. “I have to go.”

“What, now?” She nodded as she peeled her short frame out of my grip. “Is there nothing I can do to make you stay?”

She giggled as she turned to face me. “Nope,” she said, stepping forward. Lifting her head, she stood on her toes and pulled my lips down to hers. “But you say you live in the city?”

“I do.” My lips brushed over hers.

“Then you have permission to call me.”