Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 135604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
I waved back, hoping he knew how grateful I was for everything he had done and was doing for my dad, and watched him move down the hallway and disappear into another room.
Then I grinned into the phone and whisper-pleaded before hanging up, “Never cut your hair, okay?”
* * *
I was at the beach.
Or at least near it. I could smell the water all around me. The salty air. The end of summer sunlight.
Dream Jamie.
God … So, so good.
I lifted my chin and inhaled lungfuls through my nose. My body hummed and my toes curled inside my sneakers. It was the best smell in the world. Jamie and the ocean and Jamie and sand and sunlight and Jamie Jamie Jamie.
I wanted his smell to fill me and stay there. I never wanted it gone. I never wanted to wake up.
I moaned softly inside my dream when the smell seemed to curl around me and tighten, drawing me nearer to it. I smiled and buried my face there. I burrowed closer, begging a quiet please to God to keep me under.
Dream Jamie chuckled. His laughter shook my body and warmed the skin beneath my overgrown bangs. I pictured his self-righteous smirk and sky-colored eyes. I felt his smooth, sin-speaking lips press to my forehead.
Like, really felt them. Felt them felt them. His laughter, too.
And his arms around me and his body beneath me and his heartbeat under my hand and please please please don’t let me wake up.
“Baby,” his soft voice whispered.
And even that felt real. Sounded real, too. Jamie’s breath on my forehead. His voice seeping into my ears and into my heart. His finger under my chin, gently lifting and wait …
I peeked my eyes open, slowly because I was scared. Scared of leaving my dream and the Jamie I could feel, here, right here, right now, because I knew the second I opened my eyes, he would be gone, back to his hotel room in Florida.
And I would go back to struggling for comfort in an unforgiving hospital chair that had needed new padding a good ten years ago.
Only now even as I slowly woke up, it felt like the most comfortable place in the world. Huh …
Breath catching in my throat, my eyes fluttered, barely opening, lashes obstructing my reality, then the finger under my chin added pressure, craning my head back and I gasped the second I felt his full, perfect mouth nibble and nip at mine before pressing into a kiss.
It lasted a second, barely, and it was gentle and sweet, not dirty like Jamie always kissed me. These weren’t lips that craved and needed. These were lips that cherished. That said, “Missed you,” and “Fuck, so much, babe,” and “Baby … Legs, look at me,” and wait …
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.