“I don’t want another protector,” Vic continued. “I want a partner.”

Sophia took the step closer this time. “I can’t let you throw away your responsibilities for me.”

“I don’t intend to. I mean to share them with you.”

“I’m too much of a liability. My past—”

“I don’t want your past. I want your future.”

“You can’t separate the two. Your mother was right about me.”

Vic smiled broadly once more.

“What?”

She took the last step, the one that put them close enough to share the same breath. “My mother told me to come get you back.”

“Now I know you’re drunk.” Sophia tried to push her away, but Vic caught her hands and pulled their bodies flush.

“I’m serious. About all of this. I told my parents what I intended to do, and I’m going to tell you the same thing. I plan to make movies in Northland. I’m going to provide for my people. I’m going to modernise and build something lasting of my own, whether I hold onto the title or not. I’m going to do it with you or without you, but it would be better with you. We can be better together.”

She wanted to resist this. She didn’t believe in fairy tales. She didn’t ever wish for a white knight to ride in and save her. “I can’t let you hand me your life on a platter. I know what people will say if I get my first director’s job from a rich lover. I couldn’t live with myself if they said those things about you, too.”

“I won’t lie.” Vic’s blue eyes brimmed with sincerity. “Some people will say horrible things, neither of us are new to that. They don’t know us, but you know me. You see me more clearly than I’ve ever seen myself. You had faith in me that I never had in myself. Please let me offer you the same.”

The walls she’d worked so hard to build around herself began to crumble. Why did Vic have to be so damned perfect? It was unrealistic to think a mere mortal could resist logic laced with such genuine emotion.

“I need you beside me,” Vic pleaded. “I need you in my life. I need you in my future, and god knows, I’m going to need you on this movie. Why does that need matter less if I’m also in love with you?”

“I wanted to earn it. I worked so hard to try to earn it.”