"Dominic? What the hell?"

Clara got out of the backseat, keeping one hand on the door as if she might need to make a hasty escape.

Dom wasn't sure how he'd imagined this to play out—truth be told, in his typical fashion he hadn't thought this far ahead—but "What the hell?" wasn't the reaction he'd expected. It crossed his mind to simply walk over there and kiss her senseless, letting the action speak for itself, but he knew better. One punch in the face was enough for today.

"Clara," he approached her, still panting.

"How did you know I was here?" she asked, sniffling.

"Sophie," they both said in unison.

"She just can't not meddle," Clara sighed.

"And thank heavens for that," said Dom.

"Hey, lady!" the driver's voice came from the cab. "Are we goin' or what?"

Dom pulled out whatever green bills he found in his wallet and tossed them into the front seat without sparing a look. "Give us a moment, sir."

"Oh hey, it's you again!" The man's eyes bulged as he sat back with a greedy smile, quietly counting the second wad of cash he'd gotten from Dom today. "Take your time, take your time," he said.

Dominic gently took Clara's free hand in both of his.

She cast her beautiful eyes down, then looked up at him. "Dominic, we cannot keep doing this." She paused to wipe her cheek with her other hand, then laid it on top of his. "I can't keep doing this."

Dom cupped her cheek and stepped closer. He knew her, and so he knew when she was fighting herself because she felt conflicted inside. He also knew that he could help her get through it. "I know," he said. "And you're right. We can't keep doing this, because there's no point. Don't you see?" He searched her eyes. "There's no point in fighting what we both know is true and real."

You and I, we are meant to be. I know you can see that, Clara.

Her eyes roamed the sharp angles of his face. There was an entire conversation that passed in those few heartbeats, but Dom knew better than ask. She would tell him when she was ready.

Clara took a deep breath. "I know what you did for me. My father told me."

Dom pressed his lips. She was never supposed to know. He didn't want her to feel like she owed him anything. He looked away, cursing. It was hard not to feel cross with uncle Jimmy.

"Don't be mad at him. I'm glad that he told me," she added. It scared her how well she understood him. It wasn't supposed to be that way after all this time. He was supposed to feel like a stranger, not like the realest thing in her life.

Someone behind their cab honked and yelled something incoherent, at least to Dom's British ears. Clara's driver was quick to cuss back and wave for the other car to go around him. Dom briefly wondered just how much money he'd thrown at the man.

"I had never felt more betrayed in my life," Clara said suddenly, and Dom's heart ground to a halt. She looked away. "That day in the villa, when I overheard you and your father, I felt like someone had pulled the rug from under my feet. Everything I thought I knew..." She shook her head.

"Clara, I am so sorry—"

"—I know you are. I know a lot of things now that I didn't—couldn't—have known back then. We were young. I was naïve."

"But it was real, you know that now, right? How I felt about you, it was real," he said urgently. She was like water slipping through his fingers, and he was a man dying of thirst trying to keep her in his palms. "It's always been real," he whispered.

She met his gaze with an odd expression. "I always wondered. I think...I do...know. Now."

He took her delicate face in his hands, bringing them so close he could see his own face, wild and red and entirely besotted reflected in her big eyes. It was like he needed her to look straight into his soul when he said, "you're right, we were young. I was a foolish boy. But if you think I am going to be a bigger fool than the first time around and do anything to lose you again, you are out of your mind. I am crazy about you," he said, looking up at the heavens and shouted, "crazy!" He saw the beginning of a smile forming on her lips. "And I am willing to spend the rest of my life proving it to you. If you will give me the chance."

Clara looked into the face of the man who had come back into her life from deep within the past and wondered, could he also be her future? She didn't have an answer to that yet, but for the first time in years, Clara felt a dark corner of her heart light up with colors. It was the yellow of a sundress she'd worn at a party once upon a summer. It was azure like the sea that carried their little boat off into the sunset. It shone with brilliant white like a linen shirt over tan, taut skin. And it was ruby-red, like a box that held dusty memories bursting to be brought back to life. She closed the distance between them, and her lips were on his, and it felt so right, like the click an old lock makes when the true key is turned inside.

Dominic wrapped his arms around Clara, enveloping her with his whole body, and plunged into the sunlight of her kiss.