“I missed you so much,” he said to the woman in his dream.

“I missed you too,” she whispered. “Go back to sleep.”

He let out a long breath.

KENDALL OPENED HER eyes the next morning to Drew having a murmured conference with a tall, dark-haired nurse. He still clasped Kendall’s hand.

“I’d like some breakfast, but first, I think I need to visit the men’s room,” he said to the nurse.

“You’ll need some assistance for that.”

“Are you sure?” he said. “Will I be able to take a shower today?”

“I don’t think you’re going to be able to get those stylish boxer briefs off by yourself right now, Mr. McCoy,” she teased.

“Normally I’d think that was a great thing,” he muttered. The nurse burst out laughing.

“How about a sponge bath after your trip to the men’s room?” she coaxed. “The doc was nice enough to use some waterproof sutures in your shoulder, so we’ll try a shower tomorrow morning before you leave.”

“My hair—”

“I have some lovely dry shampoo with your name on it.” The nurse glanced over at Kendall and grinned. “Good morning. And you are?”

Kendall shoved her hair out of her eyes. “I’m Kendall.”

“I’m guessing you two know each other.”

“You could say that,” Kendall said.

She probably looked like hell. The hospital was probably used to seeing people in less than magazine cover model condition, but she didn’t want Drew to scream and run when he glanced over at her.

“We don’t usually let visitors bunk with the patients, but I’ll overlook it.” The nurse stuck out her hand. “I’m Cheryl. I’m about to go off-duty, but I’ll be back at eleven tonight. I’ll take Drew to the men’s room, and the day nurse will be here to help him with the rest of the items on his to-do list.”

Kendall shook her hand. “Is there coffee anywhere?”

“There’s an espresso cart in the waiting area,” Cheryl said.

“God bless you,” Kendall said and shoved herself off Drew’s bed. “I’ll be right back.”

She hurried into the bathroom. By the time she emerged, Drew was slowly making his way across the hospital room. His legs weren’t the problem. His heavily-bandaged shoulder was affecting his balance. Kendall was fairly sure the pain meds were creating an issue as well. Cheryl, the nurse, was leading him toward the bathroom.

“Take it easy, Drew. We’re almost there.”

Drew glanced over at Kendall. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” she said. “Want me to get you a coffee?”

She saw his lips curve into a smile. “Hell, yeah. Tall latte, please.”

Drew was sitting up in the reclining chair when she walked back into his room, and he was eating what looked like breakfast for five. “I’m a little hungry,” he explained.

She put his to-go cup on the rolling table in front of him and pulled a folding chair closer to him. “It looks good.” She peeled the wrapper off of some kind of protein breakfast bar she had bought from the barista.

“Want some?” he said. He pushed the tray closer to her while he unearthed another fork from under a second plate.

She held out the protein bar. “Want to share?”

“Sure.”

Drew smiled at her. He offered to share his food, but he seemed somewhat preoccupied. Maybe he was just in pain and still tired. He seemed happier to see Cheryl than he had been to see her, though, and the first gnawing tendrils of worry started in her gut. She cut the protein bar in half with a plastic knife and handed it to him.

“Isn’t blueberry your favorite?”

“Fruit is good,” he said. He didn’t meet her eyes. He nudged a plateful of scrambled eggs and turkey bacon in her direction. “Have some.”

She took a bite of food that tasted like sawdust in her mouth, chewed, swallowed, and said, “What’s wrong, Drew?”

“What do you mean?” He took another bite of fresh fruit salad. He still wasn’t looking at her.

“We’re talking past each other. We’re not talking to each other.” She hauled in a breath. “Are you mad at me?”

He put his utensils down and sat back in the chair. “Why would I be mad at you?”

He looked into her face, but he wasn’t smiling. If she had to give his expression a name, it would be “wary.” He wasn’t committing himself or his feelings to this conversation. He might have been holding her hand when she woke up this morning, but he wasn’t extending himself in any way, shape, or form.

She stared at him for a moment. “Maybe you could tell me how you feel instead of answering a question with a question.”

He took a sip of coffee and set the to-go cup back down on the table. “Truthfully, I’m hurt.”

“I know I wasn’t there when you woke up yesterday—”

“No, you weren’t. You didn’t call. I thought it wasn’t important to you.”

“Your mom called me yesterday with your phone. Did she tell you I was in the middle of a gigantic firefight?”

“She said you had an emergency you needed to take care of.”

Kendall sucked in a breath. “I did. I cut Rocky Hill yesterday after he beat the hell out of his girlfriend in Las Vegas in front of several hundred witnesses. I had to do a press conference, among other things. I also fired one of the front office staff for defying me when I said I didn’t want him to bail Hill out of jail. I didn’t leave the office until eleven o’clock last night.” She pushed the eggs around on her plate. “I was at the airport to fly out yesterday morning, Sydney called me, and I had to turn around and go back. Didn’t you see what happened on the news?”

“The TV in here is broken. The hospital said they’d either replace it or fix it today. ESPN wasn’t high on my list right then.” He folded his arms in front of him, or at least tried to. She stared at him.

“You have to know that I did my best to get here,” she said. “The Miners’ owner was nice enough to let me use his plane so I could be here late last night, or actually, early this morning. I left as soon as I could and I didn’t do this to hurt you.” She hauled in a breath. “You are very important to me.”

He gave her a nod. They sat in silence for a minute or so. He glanced away from her and swallowed hard.

“Drew, what’s the real reason for this?”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“I know you’re hurt because I wasn’t here when you woke up, but there’s something more to this.”

He folded his lips, gave up attempting to cross his arms, and folded his hands in his lap. “Are you staying with the Miners?”

“I wasn’t going to until late yesterday afternoon,” she said.

“What happened then?”

“I had a long talk with the owner. He officially offered me the GM job. He is happy with what I am doing with the organization and the team, and he’d like to have things settled in the next several days. His attorneys have notified him to expect an indictment.” She swallowed. “I’m not sure if he will give the team ownership outright to his wife before the paperwork arrives or what is going to happen, but the franchise will need to batten down the hatches to survive, so to speak.”

“Where does that leave us?”

She looked into his face. “I will have to live in California for the foreseeable future, if that answers your question.”

“If we want to stay together, I’ll be living alone in Seattle six months a year.”

“Drew, we haven’t been on a real date yet. Maybe we should try the meeting in the middle thing you talked about last week before we decide it’s not going to work,” she said.

“I’ll be in rehab for at least six months now, most likely a year. In Seattle.” He let out a sigh. “I’m not sure this is going to work, Kendall. You’ll be working sixty to seventy hours a week for the Miners. Our GM must be part giraffe; I don’t think that guy ever sleeps. You’ll be so exhausted on the nights we can see each other that dating will be out of the question—”

“I’ll make it happen,” she said. “I’ll do whatever I have to do.”