The day winds on, the two of us vegging out on his leather sofa after a long walk that took us well into the afternoon. It turns out he likes old movies, the way I do, though he doesn’t have nearly the extensive knowledge I have. We decide on Gone With the Wind, a nice long one he avoided watching before even though his mother gave it to him nearly five years ago, but he insists on watching it when I tell him it’s my favorite.

“You don’t mind?” I ask, settling in with him.

“Why would I mind?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a man who would indulge my taste in movies.”

He grimaces. “I think we’ve already established that the men you knew up to this point didn’t have any taste, Dawn.”

“Good point.”

“Do me a favor.” He kisses the tip of my nose like he did out in the park. It’s a cute gesture, one which I think would be dangerously easy to get used to. “Stop comparing me to any of them. You’re making me hate them all and remember what we agreed: new year, new you. All right?”

“Right.” I want to kick myself. I can’t let all that past bullshit leak into what’s so nice right now. I have no idea how I’ll be able to gracefully extricate myself from the situation and I hope he’s not waiting for me to decide it’s time to leave. I don’t want to overstay my welcome.

Another reason I was uncertain over whether he’d want to watch such a long movie.

I tell myself I’ll leave after the movie and, resting my head on his chest, I curl up beside him. There’s another thing he’s taught me: how I need to learn to live in the moment instead of the past or future.

It’s not long before his breathing softens, goes even. He’s sleeping. I lift my head just enough to get a look at him, and what I see is nearly enough to stop my heart. No matter how many times I see his face, it’s still enough to do that to me—especially right now, while he’s asleep and vulnerable. Trusting me. Behaving like we’re just an ordinary couple, hanging out on a day off, being lazy and enjoying each other’s company.

I want to memorize every angle of his profile. The jaw, the chin, the nose. The faint stubble on his cheeks, the dark lashes which stand out against his cheeks. His lips. “Thank you,” I mouth, just in case I don’t get the chance to thank him when this is over.

I lower my head again, going back to Scarlett and Rhett and their shenanigans. I wonder what Scarlett would do in a situation like mine.

For one thing, she probably would’ve thrown James’s things out the window, the way Gena suggested. My eyes begin to close without my even realizing I was sleepy, and they stay that way until Ace stirs beneath me.

“I think I must have been really tired,” he says, yawning and stretching after waking up about halfway through the film. Scarlett just decided she’s never going to be hungry again.

“I take it you’re not normally the napping type,” I observe, rubbing sleep from my own eyes. I didn’t mean to doze off on his chest, but he’s just got one of those chests that beg a woman to rest on it. A quick swipe of my hand over my chin confirms that I didn’t drool all over him.

“I can’t remember the last time I took one.” He flashes a sheepish grin. “Naps aren’t productive, and I’m nothing if not productive.”

This sends a pang of guilt straight to wherever guilt goes. The gut, maybe. Here I am, acting like exactly the sort of person Marissa made me sound like. Encouraging a perfect physical specimen to eat hot dogs and take naps in the middle of the afternoon. “Am I a bad influence on you? I mean, what do you normally do when you hang out with a woman? Running? Rock climbing?”

He shakes his head, ruffling my hair. “No, of course I don’t. Well… sometimes, but not all the time.”

“Because I don’t want to hold you back or make you change your routine just because I’m here.”

He sits up a little, making me sit up, too. “You sound a lot like somebody I used to know. It’s like her thoughts are coming out of your mouth. Weird.”

“You mean… her?” I don’t even want to say her name. Marissa. The bitch.

“Yes, her.” He runs a hand through his hair, then over the back of his neck. Muscles jump in his cut-glass jaw. I can barely take my eyes off him long enough to focus on what we’re discussing.

“I’m sorry. I was really only asking an innocent question. You said you don’t take naps, but you just took one.”

He looks at me like I just sprouted a second head. “Which is a good thing. My doctor’s been on my case about getting more relaxation for years now. Literally, years. I always come just inches away from telling him to shove it up his ass, too, but maybe he’s right.” He stretches, both arms over his head, a goofy grin on his face. “I feel better today than I have in ages, and it’s because of you.”

His words warm me all over, right down to the tips of my fingers. “Maybe it’s the hot dog. I mean, you never know. It could be what you were missing all along.”

He grabs me in a bear hug. “No, I found what I was missing all along, and it wasn’t a hot dog. It’s the girl who recommended the hot dog.”

Hope blooms in my chest. Does he mean what it sounds like he’s saying? Because it sounds like he’s saying that he wants to be with me. I’m what he was missing all along, and why would he want to give up what he’s been missing?

Or I could be making this up in my head. God, I hope not. I do have a pretty crappy track record when it comes to that sort of thing.

What the hell. I might as well get it over with. I can’t hang out here indefinitely—eventually, it’s going to be time to go home, so the tough questions are going to have to be asked. “What are you trying to say?” I croak out, my heart in my throat. Oh, please, don’t let me regret asking. Please, please, don’t let me mess this up.

“What does it sound like I’m trying to say?” he challenges, raising an eyebrow. “I’m trying to say that I finally found what I’ve been missing, and I don’t intend to let you go now that I’ve found you.”

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. It’s like I was in a speeding car that suddenly hit a brick wall. Or maybe the brick wall hit me. Either way, I’m all mixed up.

It takes a moment for me to realize I’m sitting here with my mouth hanging open while he’s probably waiting for me to respond. Only what is there to say? I seem to have forgotten my words. Every single word I’ve ever known, in fact. It’s just… gone.

“Are you all right?” he asks, taking my hands.

I nod.

“Because you seem sort of… not here.”

“I’m here.”

“You look horrified.”

“I’m not. I’m stunned. Yes. Stunned is a good word for it. I’m stunned.”

“Why?”

It’s my turn to look at him like he’s got two heads. “Why shouldn’t I be? This is completely out of left field. Why me? Why are you saying these things to me?”

“Why do you even have to ask why? Haven’t I shown you? Haven’t I told you? I wasn’t joking when I told you I want to make you happier than you ever imagined before.”

My mind is whirling, but it still manages to go back to that particular moment because that’s not the sort of thing a girl forgets easily. Standing on the balcony, looking out over the city, with his breath on my neck and his voice in my ear. “I remember you saying that, but I also remember you saying something about not being in the position to do it.”

“I want to be in the position to do it—I just didn’t want to freak you out last night.” He strokes my knuckles with his thumbs, staring deep into my eyes. “I know I tend to come on a little strong sometimes. I see what I want and I do whatever it takes to get it. I’m not used to not getting my way.”

“Is this normally how you woo women?” I ask, still totally in shock. Unfortunately, my sarcasm finds a way through even in times such as this.

“I want to be completely honest,” he murmurs. “I want you to understand. It’s not like I’ve ever had difficulty attracting women—”

“I can’t imagine,” I whisper.

“—and that was always fine before. But not now.  I never cared as much as I do now. I wanted to ease you into it, I guess. I wanted to be sure you wanted to be with me. That you weren’t just going along because of my money or because of the sex.”

The sex alone would be reason enough.

“Dawn.” He lets go of my hands and takes my face between his palms. “I wanted you the moment I saw you. I don’t ever want to be without you.”

“Oh, Ace…”

“I know it’s sudden. I know that. I still want to be certain you’re not overwhelmed or freaked out by the suddenness of this, or by my forcefulness. I want you to be happy, I want you to feel appreciated and cherished. Because I do cherish you. And I appreciate the hell out of the breath of life you brought back to me. I didn’t know I was missing it until you came along.”

I’m fairly sure I’m going to die on this leather sofa.

The feeling of his hands touching my face brings me back to reality. This is happening. To me.

“I’m not freaked out by it,” I assure him, smiling through the tears that are suddenly burning the backs of my eyes. “In fact, I’ve been hoping and praying for maybe the last eighteen hours that this would happen.”

“You have?”

“Ever since we danced last night. I told myself it was wrong to want this. Us. To be more than just a one-or-two-night fling, but by the time we finished that dance… there was no going back. I had to admit to myself that I wanted more from this than just a couple of nights, as amazing as those nights were.”

“They were pretty amazing, weren’t they,” he agrees happily.

“So I’m not alone in this? You want this as much as I do?”

“More, I think more.”

“I don’t know about that…” He pulls me to him for a kiss before I have the chance to argue with him any further. Not that I care. It seems like this is the appropriate moment for a kiss.

He’d better get used to being kissed, because I’ll never get tired of this.