“This is one of my favorites,” I told her.

She looked at it some more, then turned her gaze up to look at me. “I love that you managed to capture the vibe of the story and the aesthetics of it perfectly without needing to have the title of the book in neon over the headboard. It’s the essence of the book, but the client can still feel like it’s her own.”

“Yes.” I grinned in agreement, feeling like I’d truly found my creative kindred spirit. “The essence, that’s exactly it. Convey the vibe of the book and ground it with pieces or colors that are important in the story. For example the green in those chairs is from one of the dresses she wears in the book.” Yazmin nodded again, and this time there was a spark in her eye, and I knew we were on exactly the same page.

“So I have a question for you,” Yazmin said as she leaned back on the booth and spread her arms wide. She was hot as fuck and if I wasn’t desperately in love with Theo Ganas I would try something for sure. “If you could do anything you wanted, think as big as you could, what kind of designs would you be putting out?”

“Wow, really?” I asked genuinely surprised. The question robbed me of breath for a moment, and not because I didn’t have an answer.

“Yeah, really. Lay it on me.”

I hadn’t been kidding when I’d told Theo that no matter how many curveballs I was thrown I’d always keep myself ready for the moment I was called up to make the play of my life. Maybe I didn’t know if this thing with Yazmin would pan out or end up being a letdown like the show, but I had to try. After all, she was taking a chance on me too.

Trust went both ways and faith did too. I had to take a leap, and trust that Yazmin was there for the same reasons I was. Theo had asked me to be on the show because he wanted an excuse to get closer to me. I knew that now, and the reason why he couldn’t just tell me how he felt was because I’d put up walls at every opportunity. Told him again and again I didn’t have faith that anyone could love me exactly as I was.

I hadn’t trusted him. I hadn’t trusted that the show would work out. I hadn’t trusted myself. But I had to start. I had to start because I’d done this. I was sitting at this table because Yazmin had seen what I could do and wanted to work with me. Theo had come to Dallas because he loved me, and he thought I was worth his admittedly extra-as-fuck and over-the-top gesture.

I was worth all this.