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I jumped up, and then I ran. I ran as fast as I could, laughing, sobbing, probably looking like a crazed woman.

Then I leaped into Will’s arms.

“Michelle, god, Michelle,” he said, his face buried in my neck. Then he pulled back and we kissed—the longest, deepest, most perfect kiss I’d ever known.

“I love you, Will. I love you with everything I have.”

Somehow, we stumbled back to his room, crashing through the door of the presidential suite. For a moment I paused, holding Will away as I looked at the room, my mouth hanging open.

“Good lord,” I said. The space was as big as my whole cottage. There was a whole living area with a fireplace, a giant freestanding tub behind a frosted glass partition, and on the other side, a massive bed loaded with plush pillows. And just like the lobby and restaurant below, one whole wall was windows looking out onto the valley.

Then Will was picking me up, walking me to the bed. He lowered me down onto it as if I weighed nothing.

“Seeing you tonight,” Will said, “was nothing short of a miracle.”

He kissed me, sending sparks flying through me, my skin tingling like I was lit up from the inside.

“I’m sorry I said that about your… about Joe,” Will said.

“You were only half wrong,” I said, rising up on one elbow. “I loved Joe. He was my husband, the father of my children, and he was taken from me too soon. But because I was through the worst of my grief, I thought I could move on. When it didn’t work out with Steve, even though I wouldn’t admit it to myself, I thought it was because no one could ever fill Joe’s shoes. But it wasn’t about that. The thing is, no one has to fill his shoes.”

I looked down at Will’s nice loafers hanging off the end of the bed.

“You have your own shoes to fill.”

Will smiled, reaching a hand up and running his thumb over my temple.

“What if I hurt you, Michelle?”

“I’m not going to get confused, Will. I don’t expect you to be perfect.”

“What if I’m exactly like my father?”

“Maybe he’s not as bad as you think he is.”

Will’s eyes flashed with something like pain. “I was cruel to him, the last time I saw him.”

“Then you’d better sort things out before it’s too late.”

He nodded. “You’re smart, Michelle. You don’t give up until you figure things out.”

“Some might call it stubborn.”

“That too,” he said, grinning. His eyes twinkled. “Thank you for not giving up on me.”

I bent down and kissed him, and suddenly, everything else disappeared. All that mattered was us, here, together.

Will put his hands on my waist and turned onto his back, taking me with him so I landed on top of him, laughing.

“You’re going to kill me, in this dress.”

“How about out of it?”

His pupils dilated before me. “Even better.” Then his eyes went to the massive jacuzzi tub in the corner of the room. “How about over there?

Ten minutes later we were sitting together, immersed up to our necks in bubbly water. I leaned back against Will’s body, every part of him hard. Then I angled myself next to him–there was enough room in the giant tub–and reached down, idly stroking his chest, slipping my hands down beneath the foam.

“Remember that night in the coffee shop?” I said. “Where that couch threw me onto you”