Page 188 of Dream On, Liar

Apparently, I had remembered enough for both of us.

I got to my feet.

Her eyes followed me.

“Why are you standing?”

I stepped around the board.

“Checking something.”

“What?”

I came closer.

She shifted backwards until her shoulders met the sofa.

My heart started beating harder.

Because this was the part I had not prepared for.

Not winning.

Her.

The last few days had been so easy that I had started pretending they were not temporary. I had stopped thinking about what would happen when we left. I had stopped thinking about the flights, the team, her father, the rules, and everything waiting beyond the cabin.

Instead, I had let myself imagine.

Not just tomorrow.

Not just the next kiss.

A life.

I imagined mornings like ours becoming ordinary. Her books abandoned around the house. Her coffee beside my breakfast. Her feet resting in my lap while she read. Her voice filling rooms that had once seemed too quiet.

I imagined coming back from training and finding her there.

I imagined her staying.

And that was when the fear arrived.

Because I was falling.

Not gradually. Not carefully.

I was failing spectacularly at stopping myself.

I crouched in front of her.

Her eyes flicked down to my mouth before returning to mine. “Are you collecting your prize?”

I smiled. “Something like that.”

She swallowed. “Can we move somewhere comfortable then”?

I laughed, picking her up easily as I moved us onto the couch.