“This is a real surprise,” one sportscaster commented, “considering Hunt has smoked every competition so far.”
“But he is coming back from a serious talus fracture…” another reporter continued.
Julia plugged her free ear as her panic mounted. Finally, the beep came, and Julia’s words poured out. “Drake, it’s Julia. Why did Noah scratch? Is he okay? Is he hurt? If you tell me the problem, I can talk you through some therapy.” Babble, babble, babble. “Okay, just…please call me back to let me know he’s okay. Thanks.”
And she disconnected, closed her eyes, and rubbed her temple. Calm the hell down, you freak.
“Julia,” Mable said. “Isn’t this the young man you’re worried about?”
She lifted her head and looked at Mable, but she wasn’t going to be able to concentrate on anything until she heard back from Drake. “What are you talking…” She scanned the faces of the residents all clustered in the rec room now. “What’s going on?”
“I can tell you the problem.” The deep, familiar voice behind her nearly jerked her heart from her body. She jumped and swiveled, and found herself facing Noah. Noah. “And I have an idea of what kind of therapy I need too.”
Julia had her hands curled under her chin. One rose to her mouth but froze on the way as her brain came back online and the panic ramped up. “Shit, what…? Are you…?” Her gaze scanned him head to toe—he was standing level, his posture solid, his expression free of pain. “Why did you scratch? You’ve been doing so well. Is everything okay?”
“Julia, honey,” Mable said. “Slow down. Let the boy answer one question at a time.”
Noah’s smile was guarded. “Can we talk…privately, I mean?”
“Go on now, everyone.” Clara came in and shooed the patients back to their activities. “Let these two have a few minutes.”
Noah thanked Clara, but Julia couldn’t take her eyes off him. It felt so amazing just to see him in person…so handsome, so full of life…
“Hey,” he said quietly. “You okay?”
“No. I’m…confused.” She bounced out of the strange mental place. “First, just tell me, are you okay?”
“Physically, I’m perfectly fine.”
Her breath whooshed free, and relief flooded in. “Thank God.”
“Emotionally, I’m seriously screwed up.”
Her gaze sharpened on his, and all the guilt she’d been holding in seeped to the surface. “Look, I’m really sorry for the way I handled things at the end. I should never have gone to the doctor without you. I see that now. At the time, I was too close, too worried, I cared too much. But it was wrong, and I handled it badly and—”
“Julia.” Noah gripped her face with both hands. “Did you give the money back?”
“Wh-what money?”
“The money Epic promised you. Drake just told me they promised you more money to stay to the end, but you returned it. Is that true?”
Hurt twisted the knife in her heart. Tears pooled along her lower lashes. “Is that all that matters to you? Money?” She pushed his hands away, a sour pain developing in her gut. “Yes, I returned the second half of the money, okay?”
“Why?” His gaze was fiercely intense. “You got me to Snowmass. Why’d you give it back?”
She crossed her arms as if that could protect her from more hurt. “Because that wasn’t the deal.” She lowered her gaze. “The deal was that I stay until the end, and I walked away.”
When he didn’t respond, she lifted her gaze to his face and saw the Noah she knew, his expression open, his blue eyes bright and filled with regret. He pushed a hand through his hair, and she caught a glimmer of wetness on his lashes. “Jesus Christ.”
“Noah, why’d you scratch? Why are you here? What’s—”
He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers in a rough kiss. She stiffened, gripped his arms, and made a noise that was muffled by his mouth. But, oh God, he felt heavenly.
After a long moment of silence, he pulled back, and a smile quivered on his lips before disappearing. “I didn’t know how else to get you to shut up.”
She closed her fingers on his arms. “Please tell me what this is about.”
He took a breath and held it a second. “I scratched because I was standing up on that launch pad waiting for the snow to clear so I could ride, when Drake gets a call from Epic to tell him you sent the check back.”