The lioness paced back and forth on the other side of the double, chain fence, her ears twitching and her heavy paws hitting the cement.

“She seems so unhappy,” Nicole called.

Lauren jogged up to her, pushing sticky hair from her face. Her bun was coming undone, hair falling against her shirt’s collar. “You ever heard of projection?”

Nicole frowned and crossed her arms.

“She’s hungry,” Lauren said, checking her watch. “It’s feeding time in twenty minutes.”

Nicole turned away from the lions’ habitat and looked up at the trees. It was a beautiful day, and even though it was summer, it was much cooler in upstate New York than it had been in Florida. Florida. Her heart ached every time she thought of it. Florida used to be nothing more than a state. A place on a map. Now it was Heaven lost. Nicole wanted to never set foot there again.

She knew how unprofessional it had been to quit her internship out of the blue, without any warning. As hard as that had been, though, Gordon’s response that they would “manage without her” hurt even more. She’d claimed personal issues as the reason for her sudden departure and he’d encouraged her to go and work things out.

Florida Keys Conservation didn’t need her. No one in Florida she’d thought needed her really had. Perhaps Amelia tried to reach her. She didn’t know. Her phone had been off for days.

If anyone knew she’d left because of a guy, they’d think she was crazy or dramatic. But she wasn’t. She’d waited her whole life for a man who would be worthy of letting in. Aidan had broken down walls no one else had been able to crack. To lose him, to be betrayed by him…there were no words for that kind of devastation.

“Hey.” Lauren’s voice was softer this time, and she nudged her sneaker against Nicole’s. “I hate to see you like that.”

“I’ll be fine.” Her head hanging, Nicole started back along the trail that led to the house Lauren and her parents lived in. All together, the property was twenty acres. That included the house, the center’s main building, and the big cats’ habitats.

If Nicole weren’t feeling like she was dying, she would have been a little more excited about spending the last few days on a big cat sanctuary. As it was, she couldn’t go more than a few seconds without thinking about Aidan.

“There are two tours scheduled this afternoon,” Lauren said. “Are you going to help me give them?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’d rather clean the enclosures.”

“Wow! That’s saying something.”

“I’m not really in a social mood right now.”

Lauren abruptly stopped walking and turned to face Nicole. “I know I’ve already said this, but I highly suggest you talk to him.”

Nicole groaned and rolled her eyes. “Lauren—”

“It really sounds like it was a misunderstanding.”

“Nope,” Nicole snapped. “I don’t think it was.”

“You’re going to have to talk to him sooner or later.”

“Not true.”

“Oh, yeah?” Lauren’s gaze purposefully slid over Nicole’s shoulder, landing on a point somewhere beyond her.

Nicole turned and found a familiar figure halfway up the trail. She sucked in a harsh breath. No. It couldn’t be.

Aidan walked toward them, his eyes on her. As they locked gazes, he stopped.

Nicole spun back to Lauren. “Are you serious?”

Lauren didn’t look sorry in the least bit. “I had to do something.” Waving at Aidan, she turned and went in the other direction, toward the supply sheds.

Aidan took a careful step toward Nicole, then another. She opened her mouth, thinking she needed to tell him to stop, to turn right back around but she couldn’t.

It had been almost a week since they’d seen each other, but he already looked different, somehow. Or maybe it was just the bags under his eyes and his scruffy, unshaven face.

Nicole protectively folded her arms. “Lauren brought you here, huh?”

“I got in touch with her first.”

Nicole turned off her phone after she’d quit her internship. She needed silence, peace. The burden of betrayal weighed on her chest and stirred up the memories of her father’s publicly aired lies and her mother’s pain and humiliation. She twisted her lips and said nothing.

Aidan’s whole face seemed to crumple. “Give me a chance. Let me explain.”

She drew her bottom lip between her teeth and looked away. The treetops still danced from the wind and the big cat sanctuary was eerily quiet. Aidan had come all this way to talk with her. She wanted to be cynical and believe this was another trick, but that one act broke her down a little bit.

“My dad made the deal without telling me. I knew nothing about the announcement.”

She looked at him without saying a word.

“You have to believe me. I was as shocked as you were when I heard the news. The deal’s off now. I made sure of it.”

“The deal is off?” she repeated. “The reality show?”

Aidan’s gaze never strayed from her face. “Yes.”

“Why did your dad do that? How can he make a deal without your approval?”

“Well, he’s my manager, so the technicalities of it are pretty simple, really. But I suppose you mean how could he dare to pull something like that over on me?”

Nicole gave one nod.

“He thought he was doing what was best for me,” Aidan said. “He thought that if he went ahead and made the deal, I’d eventually come to my senses. We talked about it, though, and I think things are clearer now. The deal is off. There’s no reality show. Not now. Not ever.”

Nicole’s mind was racing. She suddenly felt closer to Aidan than ever as she realized how both of them had been forced to cope with the consequences of their parents’ bad decisions for years. Still, even though she had no reason to doubt his explanation, it wasn’t easy to put the pain and the sense of vulnerability that she’d experienced over the last few days behind her.

“I came to believe you knew me better than anyone else and I thought I knew you—”

“And you do, Nic. You know me like no one’s ever known me,” he interrupted.

“When I heard the announcement, I felt like I was losing the ground under my feet, like my world was falling apart. It’s silly that I let you have such a powerful impact on me in such a short amount of time.”

“It’s not silly, it’s beautiful. That’s the same impact you have on me, baby. The time that we’ve known each other has been like no other one in my life.”

He closed the distance between them. Her arms fell at her sides and she looked up at him, her breathing quickening along with her heart rate. No matter what happened next, no matter if they ever saw each other again, Aidan would always do this to her. Just the thought of him would make her come undone.

“Why did you turn off your phone?” he asked. “I went to the office and they said you’d left. Just all of a sudden. Why did you run away? What are you afraid of?”

She narrowed her eyes, feeling her chin tremble. “Betrayal can destroy you. I’ve seen it with my mother since I was a kid. I don’t want to live through all that ever again. When you’re alone, no one can hurt you.”

“When you find love and you still decide to be alone, you’re hurting yourself for not giving yourself a chance to be loved and to love.” Without any warning, his hand was on her cheek. He cupped her face, turning it up to his. Nicole’s knees shook and she struggled with warring urges to look away and keep staring into his eyes till the end of time.

A heavy silence enveloped them. Even though she knew in her heart that Aidan was an honest man, there was still a part of her that said things weren’t that simple. Could someone who grew up like her ever come to truly believe that she may get her own happily-ever-after?

His eyes shone with wetness. “I’m tired of the celebrity status. I’m tired of fake friendships, fake love, fake life. I need something real. I need this. I need you. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

A sense of relief and warmth washed over Nicole at the thought that the future she had imagined for the two of them was still possible.

A smile started to curl up the corner of her lips as she reminded herself of a verse from the Bible, ‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.’

“I struggled to believe that I would ever find someone like you.” She reached up to stroke his hair. “Now that I have, I can’t let the fear of getting hurt control my life anymore,” she said, finally convinced that a man like Aidan wasn’t sent into her life by chance.

“I’d never hurt you, baby. And I never will. I love you.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. “I love you like I’ve never loved anyone in my life.” Aidan’s words were slow and sweet, trapping Nicole like they were made of honey.

“I love you, too,” she whispered, her eyes shimmering with emotion.

“That’s all I wanted to hear. And that’s all that should really matter.” His free hand slid behind her neck as he pressed his lips to hers.