Chapter 56

Matt took one step forward. "You're not losing your mind, Summer. Didn't you ever wonder if I was out there somewhere, real? If our dreams were shared and not just a figment of your imagination?"
She shook her head. "No. It just - No."
"It just what, sugar? Can't be? Why not? Is it any crazier than two people getting stuck in a Christmas ornament? Or a dating service that doesn't exist fixing up a perfect couple?" He took another step, hands out, reaching for her. "How about a girl turning into a rabbit until she makes up with her ex? You know all those are true. You're the one who told me about them. Magic happened for your siblings, so why not for us?"
"Because nothing happened to the others when they were six. You - you've been part of my whole life." She stood her ground, fists balled as he continued to approach. God, she was every bit as stunning as he had dreamed. "What the hell, have you been somehow stalking me in my dreams, and now you're taking it up a notch?"
"What?" Anger was the last reaction he'd expected from her. "No."
"And just how long have you known that the dreams were shared - that I was a real, living person?"
He shrugged. "Since I was twelve or so, I guess. Psychic stuff - well, it's not that uncommon in my family. I tried to write, email, phone, but somehow something always went wrong. The letters came back. Emails bounced. Hell, even when I thought I was about to die, all I could think of was you - that I'd never gotten to see you for real, to actually touch you."
"And you think you can just show up here out of the blue and pick up where we left off in our dreams?"
"I don't know." He searched her face for any sign of the tenderness he'd grown to love. "I guess I thought you'd be happy to see me."
She shook her head, her dark hair cascading around her shoulders. "I don't know what to think. Most of me still believes I'm dreaming."
"Why don't we try just sitting down and talking?" he said. "I didn't expect to see you today. I'd assumed you'd be at work."
"I took some vacation time." She turned and walked back toward the blanket, sitting down with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, but she nodded toward the opposite corner. "It's my birthday later this week."
Matt took the offering and sat. "I know. Thirty-three. Hard to believe we've known each other for twenty-seven years and only just met."
She snorted. "Try impossible. Why are you here, Matt? I don't understand."
"I think I told you that I've taken a disability retirement from the Air Force, right?"
Summer nodded. "Was that real? Were you honestly hurt?"
Matt tugged up the hem of his shorts to show the bottom edge of the surgical scar on his hip. "Yeah." Then he turned to show her the collection of angry welts on his back. "Everything I ever told you in the dreams is true. You want my sister or my mom's phone numbers? Hell, look them up. They're in the book. Sarah Warren and Tanya and Mike Stephens, all of Morgan's Creek, Texas."
She bit her lip and nodded. "And you said you just got a job here in Charleston."
"Aircraft engineer, remember? Y'all have this big-ass facility right here in town." Actually, Charleston was one of the best places for him to work, aside from Seattle.
"True." She paused, studying him for a long time. "You really tried to contact me before?"
"For years." He gazed into her eyes, hoping she could see the truth in his. "I think it just wasn't the right time for us yet. Maybe Fate wanted to wait until I was done risking my life on a daily basis."
"Maybe." She shrugged. "So where do we go from here? Pretend we just met?"
He dragged in a deep breath. "That's up to you. I'm not a stalker, Summer. I'm just a guy who's been crazy about you since I was nine years old."
"Crazy, huh?" She gave him a little lopsided grin. "That's exactly what I've been afraid of. I was sitting here trying to talk myself into seeking counseling about my obsession with my dreams."
He held out his hand, and when she didn't flinch, he touched her cheek. Damn, but she was even more beautiful in person than she'd been in his dreams. Her figure was the true hourglass, fashionable generations earlier, but not as trendy today. Modern men were fools. Her body was perfect, with full, heavy breasts, curvy feminine hips, and a dainty waist in between. She was a fucking sex goddess, and Matt had been hard since the moment he saw her on the beach. "You're not crazy, sugar. I can't explain how we found each other in our dreams, but we did. And now, after all these years, we have the chance to see if what we felt is real. To get to know one another in the real world. Don't you want to at least try?"
She paused for so long he thought his heart would pound its way out of his chest. Then she took a deep breath and shook her head. "I can't do this, Matt. I don't know you. Not really. None of this seems real, and I can't trust myself here."
He backed away and sat on a fallen chunk of driftwood several yards away.
"I'd argue that you know me better than anyone else in the world. But it's clear you need some time to come to grips with the idea that what we have is real." That she might reject him outright had never really crossed his mind, and it hurt, maybe more than getting shot. He clenched his hands on the driftwood. "What will it take, Summer? How can I convince you that we were meant to be together?"
She stared out over the waves, silent for a long few moments. "We get to know each other like normal people. Where are you staying?"
He named his hotel. "But I'm only there until Monday. I bought a house, not far from the beach."
"You already bought a house?" She lifted one dark eyebrow. "Pretty sure you were staying, huh?"
He shrugged. "I took the job. And I wanted a place of my own, after living in crummy on-base apartments and barracks for so long."
"And if things don't work out between us, will you be staying in Charleston?" She turned her face toward the ocean again.
"I accepted a two-year contract. So at least that long, yeah." Though being here and not with Summer would just about kill him.
"So we have plenty of time."
Matt winced. His cock would have cried if it were possible.
"Where do we start?" Only the desolate tone of her voice eased his agony.
He'd hurt her, scared her, and it was up to him to make it right. Unfortunately, right then his stomach growled, loudly.
He watched as her shoulders start to shake then she turned to face him, tears on her cheeks but a smile on her lips. Summer was laughing.
It felt like angels singing.