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He takes me on a tour of the store, and I never imagined I’d actually be the owner of my own bookstore.

I’m not sure I could’ve even dreamed of something this incredible.

I’ve learned a lot about this place over the last hour, and he really thought of everything.

He took a struggling bookstore and bought it from the owners. He brought in a new management team and his ideas, and with his lawyer father and his teammates, he transformed the place into what it is now.

A beautiful book haven with dinocorn wallpaper where the dinocorns are reading books…drawn by his daughter.

And he invited the paparazzi, which means press coverage, which means…well, amazing things. A long line at the register and all sorts of free advertising just because of the name behind the place.

He took me on a tour first before inviting the public inside, and I swear I haven’t stopped crying since he took the microphone on that stage and publicly admitted that he has a reading disorder.

He was embarrassed about it when I first mentioned it to him. He refused to believe it. He refused to believe it about his daughter, too. So to admit to the world that it affects him and that I helped him by giving him the tools he needed means everything to me.

As he spoke, everyone’s advice over the last few weeks came to a head, and I realized I was running away because I was scared. I was scared that in the end, I was going to end up alone like I did with Owen. I was scared that I was only repeating a pattern that I didn’t want to be a part of. I was scared that he took opportunities away from me when I lost that job. I was scared that I’d lose more because of the paparazzi following us around. I was scared I was just in another toxic relationship that would cause me to come out even more damaged than I was before.

But he’s not Owen.

He’s not toxic.

Instead, he’s giving me opportunities. He’s showing me how we can use his status to our advantage. And in doing so, he’s giving dozens—hundreds, even—of kids opportunities to overcome their own disabilities and learn to love reading.

He’s giving me my own space to work with kids...the very thing that I actually did dream about but didn’t exactly know how to manifest.

Everything happens for a reason, and the reason I lost that district job wasn’t because of the paparazzi. It’s because it wasn’t really fulfilling the dream I had.

Instead, Travis is. In every sense of the idea.

And my heart is bursting with love.

I knew it wasn’t over, but I was so blinded by stubborn fear that I refused to see another way.

But this gesture has wiped away that fear, and I stand here with excitement as I look toward a future that belongs to the three of us—Travis, Harper, and me.

My mom runs up to us and grabs Travis in a hug.

“I can’t believe you did all this!” she squeals. My dad hugs him next.

“I needed a grand gesture that would show her that life in the spotlight isn’t all bad,” he tells my parents. “I needed to find a way to show her that I will never stop working to show her how much she means to me even when we fall into a routine.” He’s talking to my mother, but his words hit me right in the heart as I think back to one of the final straws in my relationship with Owen.

He told me he didn’t have to try anymore because he won me.

The real prize was finding my way out of that toxic relationship and into the arms of a man who loves me the way Travis does.

I mill around the store and offer advice to people as they look at different books, not sure which to purchase. I grab a coffee from the café. I stop by the children’s area and by the tutoring tables. I spot little details everywhere.

Harts Recommends… spicy books.

Harps Recommends… Babysitter’s Club books.

I can’t believe this is ours.

It’s beyond a dream.

The cashiers are busy as they ring up customers, everyone from football players to fans to anything in between, and Harper is busy checking out the children’s section with Bella when Travis leans over. “Can I show you your new office?”

I nod, and he leads me through the store to the back. He keys in a code—eight one eight one, his jersey number twice, as if nobody will be able to crack that code—and we head into the back room. There’s a kitchen and break room for employees on one side and private offices on the other side. He takes me into one that has Victoria Hartley on a name plate on the door with Owner underneath it, and tears fill my eyes again.

“I’m going to need a new name plate,” I say softly as I finger the engraved wood.

His brows dip when I look over at him.

“Victoria Woods.”

“Woods?” he repeats.

I nod. “Woods.”

He leans his forehead to mine and draws in a deep breath. “Are you sure?”

I close my eyes and hold onto his biceps as I squeeze a little. “I’m positive. I don’t want to get a divorce. I want to go through this life with your hand in one and Harper’s in the other.”

“Thank God,” he murmurs, and then his lips collide down to mine.

Somehow he must open the office door, and then I hear it slam as he kicks it shut behind me. As much as I want to see the inside of this office, I also know my husband and I have some making up to do.

There will be plenty of hours logged in this space—maybe even doing the very thing we’re about to do now. And right now, he takes precedence over everything else.

He kisses me like his life depends on it, and I realize how very much I’ve missed this—how very much I’ve missed him . His closeness, and his intimacy, and his love.

I happened to wear a dress today, and he makes quick work to get his cock out, shove my panties to the side, and slide right into me.

I gasp at the sudden sensation, my body awakening as he moves inside me.

I wrap my legs around his waist and set my palms behind me on my desk to prop myself up while he slams into me, both of us in a frenzy of need and want and desire as he pushes us both to the edge. His thrusts become desperate, pushing me quickly toward ecstasy, and my legs tighten around him. With every pulse of his hips, I find myself getting closer and closer to the edge, and then his thumb starts to work furiously over my clit to send me straight over it. Just as my body starts to ripple with pleasure, he tenses then lets out a sexy growl as he starts to come, too.

And in the quiet moments of the afterglow as he holds still inside me and leans forward to kiss me some more, I can’t help but think that life doesn’t get any more perfect than this.