He said it all in a rush and paused to suck air and rub his face.
Julia hugged herself, waiting for all the information to pour out of him, tortured by his distress.
“And I…I…I realized, at the worst possible moment, that it wasn’t about the money for you. That you really did care about me first. And I…I…didn’t see it because no one but Drake and Finn have ever cared about me more than the money or the fame. And, I just…had to see you. Had to tell you that I handled that situation with the doctor just as badly as you think you did, and I know now that you were trying to take care of me, trying to look at the big picture while I was microfocused on the Games, and…Jesus…I’m just so sorry…”
“Okay. Okay.” She curled her fingers into his jacket with emotion swelling, making her ache. “I hear you. It’s all okay. We’re good. But you have to get back to the Games, Noah. You’ve got to clear that scratch. You’re risking your future here.”
He lifted his hands and cupped her face, his gaze direct and suddenly calm, confident, and clear. “Without you, I’m risking my sanity. And I see my future right in front of my eyes.”
Her heart beat hard, fast, and chaotic. Her belly tingled. “Noah—”
“I bought the Zephyr Academy.” He spoke over her. “The week you left, I knew you were right about the school, so I bought it. I want to start the adventure center we talked about, and expand it to include other types of activities and vacation options. Finn’s an expert white-water rafter and rock climber and can run tours in the off-season. I don’t know where we’ll go from there, but that’s a start.
“And I think it’s a perfect location for you to run your own physical therapy service. The people who come for the extreme vacations might need therapy, and with all the athletes who live there or vacation there, you could have a nice regular clientele. Plus, a lot of locals ski and need therapy, and—”
She pressed her lips to his, cutting off his ramble. Then wrapped her arms around his neck and took the kiss deeper. He opened to her and dragged her body against his. The moment their tongues touched, he groaned and dug one hand into her hair.
When she broke for air, she said, “You had me at ‘Can we talk?’”
Relief eased his big shoulders. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers. “I love you so much. I didn’t know what I was going to do if you said no.”
She kissed him. “I love you too.” She kissed him again. “So much.” She kissed him again. “And if you want to finish out the Games or the season or even the next ten years, I’ll be at the bottom of every hill waiting for you, no matter what.”
He grinned, brushed her hair off her face, and lowered his mouth to hers, whispering, “I knew you were worth the risk.”
Julia stood at the front of the platform along the sidelines designated for family members of X Game athletes, shifting from foot to foot.
“Jesus,” Finn said from his spot next to her. “Would you hold still? You’re making me crazy.”
She couldn’t pull her eyes from the red-and-yellow jumpsuits on the rescue workers carrying out the stretcher of the last boarder down the run—the run Noah would board next. “You think he’s okay up there? Remember how it messed with his head when he saw Braunhauf crash on TV? I should have gone to the top with Drake and Rafe…”
“You told Noah you’d be at the end of every run for him,” Finn said. “You’re right where you belong. And he’s going to be fine. This is his signature competition.”
“I know, but I’ve also seen the shit he plans to do, and it freaked me out when he was doing it in a padded room with a trampoline to save his ass.”
Since Noah had made it back to the Games before the whiteout cleared, he’d been able to cancel the scratch and compete in the SuperPipe, which he’d aced. If he won the gold on this Big Air competition, the last competition in this year’s Games, Noah would set a world record for most golds taken in any one winter here. Drake already had the endorsement contracts negotiated and typed up. A few signatures, and Noah would be set financially for the rest of his ever-loving life. He even had a new offer from Ben & Jerry’s for another ice-cream flavor for charity. They’d already proposed the name Air-maggedon for the new concoction, though individual flavors had yet to be determined.
But all Julia cared about was Noah walking away from this last run with all his physical structures intact. And now that Noah’s surgeon had received Julia’s messages and returned her calls from his volunteer stint overseas, she knew Noah’s chances of recovering even stronger than before the accident were high.
As it turned out, both Julia and McMillan had been partially correct about Noah’s condition. Julia had accurately identified a weakness in the compound. It turned out that there was a likelihood of shattering the bone if another severe injury occurred before the cement cured. But that risk dropped with every day that passed. And since Noah’s recovery had progressed normally, as overseen by McMillan, the chance of Noah incurring more problems if he reinjured himself now had dropped to twenty percent.
In Julia’s heart, that risk was still too high, especially considering it didn’t take into account the insanity Noah had planned for this event. But she understood his need to take the risk—she’d fallen in love with an adrenaline junkie. And, as Noah liked to say, wasn’t life itself a risk?
“There he is,” Finn said.
Julia followed Finn’s gaze up to the starting platform where N
oah stepped onto the deck, one hand holding the pipe of the cage behind him, the other fist-bumping Drake and Rafe, where the other men stood off to the side.
“Put out good vibes, Jules,” Finn said. “No negativity, no worries. Just raw juice.”
“Got it. On it.” She wrung her gloved hands and pressed them against the knot spreading pain through her abdomen. “Exuding raw juice.”
“That’a girl.”
The announcer called Noah’s name, and the crowd went wild. Excitement and pride and joy surged inside Julia, and her smile felt like it took up her entire face. She fisted her hands overhead and jumped on her toes, screaming for him.
Then he took off—no flourish, no fanfare, just a hop and a twist and he was sliding down the slope. Julia’s breath caught, and she clasped her hands beneath her chin, her focus intensely homed in on Noah.