“How do you know love exists?” she asked suddenly.

“Hm?” Luke’s voice was a distracted muffle against her skin as he dipped his head to nuzzle her neck.

“True love,” she clarified. Unable to stop, because apparently she’d become that person in a romantic comedy who couldn’t help spewing her thoughts and feelings all over the place, Julia pressed on. “The kind that makes your heart swell and breath catch. Makes your skin feel itchy and your eyes tear…”

“Sounds like a bad case of seasonal allergies to me,” he teased, lips pressed to the hollow behind her ear. The entire time she’d been rambling, he had continued to kiss her, mouth moving over her shoulder, her collarbone, her throat.

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m talking about those feelings you see in movies. When the character’s face is glowing, lips twitching like they’re afraid to smile, afraid because they’re both happy and scared at the same time and it’s both painful and wonderful—” She broke off, squeezing her eyes shut, struggling against all those exact feelings, even as she asked the question. “Does that actually exist?”

“Love?” he asked, sitting up. “You’re asking me if I think true love exists?”

Her body suddenly cold without his against it, Julia swallowed and forced herself to meet his eyes. Holy shit, yes, true love exists. There, reflected in his gaze, she saw the look she was giving him. True love is real. It was impossible to escape the truth on her own face, and everything fell into place. It’s real, and I know … because I think I’m in love with Luke.

“Yes,” she croaked. Accepting this truth seemed to set everything free inside her, releasing a torrent of emotion. Julia’s heart swelled, the steel band around her chest snapping. Suddenly, she could breathe again. “Yes,” she said, inhaling deeply.

When he’d looked at her tonight, time had stopped and she’d felt something shift inside her. No wonder it felt like the earth had moved. She hadn’t realized it then, but in that one moment, her world had changed. In that one moment, she’d fallen.

“Yes,” she said again, reaching out and pulling Luke back down on top of her. “Because I’m starting to believe true love might be real.”

CHAPTER 21

LUKE

Luke let her tug him back down, so close he could see each unique shard of color in her eyes, get lost in the forest of greens and browns. He traced the fine arch of one brow, marveling at the blend of colors. Russet and red and wheat and gold. If her eyes were a forest, her hair was autumn.