CHAPTER 30
The last stretch to the car felt both impossibly short and like a lifetime. Amelia reached the door first, her chest heaving with laughter and the exertion of the run. She turned to face him, her face flushed with excitement, her hair, though short, was a little disheveled, and her bare feet a stark, beautiful contrast to her pretty dress.
Sterling came to a stop just in front of her, his own breath catching not from the run, but from the sight of her. He simply looked at her, and in that moment, the noisy chaos of the carnival faded away. All he could see was the radiant, unfiltered joy on her face.
He had seen her for the first time that morning in a diner with that unguarded smile before he pointed it out. She had been guarded, weary, and her every movement had been carefu
