Wait. No … My God. How good was this dream?

I pulled away from warm breath tickling my mouth and my cheek, slid my eyes fully open, and blinked at the face staring back at me.

I blinked again. And again.

Then I shot ramrod straight, peeling my body off rock-solid muscle, and slid my hands over cheeks that scratched and bit my palms. I pushed my fingers through too-long hair that was gritty from sand and salt water curled and oh, my God oh, my God oh, my God.

I sucked in a breath. My boy of summer smiled and made my heart dance inside my chest.

He was here.

“Oh, my God,” I whispered into the dark room, quiet except for the beeping of the monitors and the sleepy sounds coming from my parents. “Oh, my God,” I repeated, staring into surprising eyes, still whispering but sounding more urgent now. “What time is it? How did you get here? How did you …” I glanced over Jamie’s shoulder and squinted through the window blinds, focusing in on the street-lights illuminating the parking lot. Then sliding my eyes back to his face and my hands to the tops of his shoulders, I leaned closer and asked, “Have I been asleep for days? How are you even here right now?”

I felt delirious and drugged from my dream.

Was it Sunday already?

Jamie laughed inside his chest. His smile lifted his cheeks.

“Travis,” he stated, wrapping his arm tighter around my back and giving me a squeeze. “He called when he got word on your dad being here. I took the first flight out I could get. Fuckin’ airline.” Jamie’s mouth hardened in irritation. His fingers tensed on my hip. “Would’ve been here sooner if we hadn’t gotten delayed on the tarmac waitin’ on a gate to free up. I tried callin’ you.”

“I left my phone at work,” I explained, frowning.

“Know that,” he replied. “Got your message when we landed. I think your mom’s phone is either off or dead. My call went straight to voice mail.”

It was dead. I knew the second it happened, too, considering how glued to it I had been.

“She doesn’t have her charger with her.” I pouted. “I gave her a nice long lecture about the importance of always keeping an extra in the car in case of emergencies like this.”

Jamie smirked. His arm around my back and his hand on my hip tugged me closer. “You fuckin’ missed me, girl,” he murmured in that teasing way he always did, running his nose along my cheek.

I closed my eyes, smiling and softly admitting, “Yeah,” as my hands slid around his warm neck. “Like crazy. I’ve decided I can’t handle you going to competitions without me. I need to be there, too. Oh”—my eyes flashed open and I leaned back—“do you have your trophy with you?” I asked him, then tilting on his lap, I looked on the floor beside the chair, spotting the black duffle bag he had packed for his trip. “I want to see it,” I added.

Jamie said nothing. Righting myself, I watched his smirk melt into something softer.

“What?” I asked, not understanding why he was looking at me the way he was doing.

“Got the call from Travis right before it was time for my run.” His shoulders lifted. “Couldn’t do it. Knew I needed to be here, so I left. I dropped out.”

“You left?” My eyes widened as I shifted closer. “You didn’t compete?”

Jamie shook his head.

“But …” I stared into his eyes, trying to comprehend. “You said you were always wanting to win that one. That your sponsors were there. They didn’t mind you leaving?”

“Don’t know since I didn’t ask what they fuckin’ thought about it. I just left,” he replied, not sounding remorseful about that decision one bit. “And yeah, I wanted to win that one. It would’ve been a nice title to claim, but I wanted to be here more than that. I didn’t know how serious this was gonna be with your dad. I didn’t want you havin’ to go through this alone even if it wasn’t serious, which, spoke to Travis and got the update. Glad to hear your dad’s gonna be straight, babe. That’s good. But honest? I got that update before I even boarded the fuckin’ plane to come here and I still boarded it. I wanted you more than that win. Wouldn’t be surprised if I felt that shit at every meet either, so don’t be shocked if this is a recurring thing. I like that you wanna come with me, Legs, but I know that ain’t gonna always be doable. You got a life here. A job you can’t be skipping out on. I leave and come back a day later or, fuck, hours later without a trophy, you know why.” He smiled, adding, “Ain’t ’cause some asshole beat me out. That ain’t ever gonna be the case.”

I blinked. My chest starting rising and falling rapidly.

My God. Did he just say all that?

“Babe,” Jamie prompted when I remained silent. His hand left my hip and cupped my face.

“I skipped so many steps,” I whispered, scooting closer as my fingers spread along the back of his neck.

Jamie’s eyes searched mine for meaning. For understanding. “Steps?” he asked.

I nodded. “To get here with you. How I feel …”

His face relaxed. Jamie knew what I was saying. He was following me. “Yeah,” he murmured, sliding his thumb along my cheek and smiling softly. “Think we skipped ’em all, babe.”

Oh, God. We? He was going to kill me.

“I am so happy I hit you with my car,” I confessed, watching his brows lift and disappear behind his hair. “But not really, you know? Just …” I inhaled a shaky breath. “It started everything. It got us going. That bet.”

Jamie’s mouth lifted in the corner then. He understood.

Still, I kept going. I had so much more to say.

“I have no idea how long it would’ve taken me to quit fighting you and what I was feeling if it wouldn’t have happened and I don’t like thinking about it,” I continued sharing, getting the rest of this out quickly. “I don’t like thinking about the past few weeks without you, Jamie. I don’t. I hate it. My only regret besides hitting you with my car and almost hurting you is that I didn’t do it sooner.”

His eyes went round.

“I had so many opportunities to run you over. I should’ve jumped on those,” I explained. “Moving day at Brian and Syd’s when you refused to get on your bike and allow me to back out of the driveway, I could’ve done it then. I should’ve. God, I could’ve been skipping steps months ago. Can you imagine where we’d be right now?”

Jamie’s eyes were shining so bright they were lighting up that hospital room.

“You sayin’ you wanna skip more steps with me?” he asked, beautiful grin stretching across his mouth as his hand slid to the back of my neck and curled there.

“I’m saying I just wanna keep going how we’re going, no matter how crazy it feels or too fast or whatever, I love what we’re doing,” I replied. “I love every part of it, Jamie, and I don’t wanna slow down. I feel like I have months to catch us up on and I’m gonna do that. It’s my fault we aren’t further along. Not yours. I’ll get us there.”

“Babe,” he murmured, sounding ready to argue.

“I’ll get us there. I promise,” I urged, holding firm to my plan, moving closer until our foreheads kissed and whispering, “I’ll give you all of my truths, I will. Just don’t hurt me, okay?”