Kissing Jagger’s bare chest, I smiled when a low rumble let me know he was waking up.

“The sun is up, Jag, it’s time for you to get up too.”

His free hand lightly fell to my messy hair and trailed down to my bare back. “Tell me I’m not dreaming,” he pleaded, his voice rough and raspy from sleep.

Wiggling out of his grasp, I hovered over him and smiled. “Not dreaming. And as much as I want to spend all morning in this bed with you, I’m covered in black smudges, and so are your sheets.”

A lopsided grin covered his face as his eyes roamed over my na**d body. “And they look perfect on you.”

I gave him a droll look then rolled my eyes. “I’m sure. I’m gonna jump in your shower.”

“Don’t be gone long.”

Kissing him quickly, I climbed off him and the bed before he could get me to stay there, and laughed at the way he pouted before lying back down.

As soon as the water was hot enough, I pulled my hair back up into a bun and stepped into the large, open shower. My eyes shut as I enjoyed the hot water spraying all over me, and before I’d even begun trying to de-charcoal myself, Jagger was stepping in behind me.

“Took too long,” he grumbled as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me back against his chest.

“Three minutes is too long?”

“After last night?” His lips went to my neck, causing me to shiver. “Yeah, it’s too long.”

Jagger

August 14, 2014

I IMPATIENTLY DRUMMED my fingers on my knees as I waited for the food I’d ordered. I’d only been away from Grey for fifteen minutes, and I was anxious to get back. I was still struggling with the thought that all this was a dream, and that I would wake up and Grey and I would be exactly where we’d been when I’d dropped her off at her parents’ house the night before. If it was a dream, I wanted to enjoy it as long as possible. If it wasn’t, I wanted to enjoy her every second for the rest of my life.

An order came up, but it wasn’t mine, and I shook my head when I realized how ridiculous I was being. She would be there. We would eat our late breakfast and hang out until she had to go to work—like we usually did. Nothing would be different, and yet everything would. The knowledge that Grey LaRue was finally mine after nine years of waiting was making it impossible to stop smiling.

I felt like such a girl.

Grabbing my wallet, I pulled out the worn and torn piece of paper from behind my license and unfolded it. As I looked over the four words I’d written down almost a decade ago, a strange sense of peace coursed through my body knowing that I was finally going to get the chance to give her this note—that I was finally going to get to ask her what I’d wanted to for far too long.

“Jagger.”

My head shot up as I quickly refolded the note and started putting it back into my wallet, but my fingers froze when I saw LeAnn standing in front of me.

“How are you?” she asked as she sat down next to me.

I looked up to where the orders were coming out and bit back a curse as I slowly finished putting the note in my wallet and my wallet in my back pocket. “I’m good. How are you?”

“I’m really great,” she said excitedly. Her voice softened and she placed her hand on my forearm, causing me to look over at her when she said, “I wanted to talk to you.”

“LeAnn, I already told you—”

“No, I know. I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for how I reacted a couple months ago. I felt so stupid that night after I’d thought about it, but I’ve been too nervous to say anything to you. And then the only times I’ve seen you, you’ve been with Grey, and I didn’t want to make it awkward by apologizing about something like that in front of her.”

“She already knows,” I said with a shrug, and looked around the restaurant again. “I told her awhile ago.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Oh, you did? Well, that’s embarrassing for me, but it’s good that you two are so open with each other.”

My fingers started drumming faster. I wanted to get away from LeAnn . . . I wanted to get back to Grey.

“So, she’s the lucky girl, huh?”

My hands stilled, and I slowly looked back at LeAnn.

She started talking again as soon as I was looking at her. “I think it’s great, Jagger, really I do. I always knew how you felt about her, that’s why I never liked her in high school—but you two really deserve each other. She deserves someone like you after what happened with Ben, and you deserve the girl who’s always held your heart.” LeAnn smiled shakily and looked away for a second. “I’d always hoped you’d feel that way about me one day, and I think that’s why I was so mad when I saw you in the convenience store the other month, because I finally realized that you never would.”

I didn’t say anything as I continued to stare at her. I didn’t know how to respond to her words, or what she expected me to say. I couldn’t apologize, because I wasn’t sorry for getting away from LeAnn, or for loving Grey. And, honestly, I didn’t know how to deal with the sane LeAnn I’d seen three times now. This was completely unlike the girl I’d known.

“Anyway!” She pointed toward the seating area of the restaurant for a second before shooting me a bright smile. “I should get back to breakfast, I just saw you over here and thought this would be my only chance to apologize.”

I nodded and looked up when my name was called for the order. “Well, I appreciate it, but I’m fine with keeping everything that’s happened in the past,” I said when I stood up and grabbed the bags of food.