Page 80 of Fall for You
Get a grip. This isn’t last year, and you’re not hurt.
But her lungs only worked harder, her chest rising and falling faster than she could handle. Panic started to creep in.
She wasn’t hurt, so why was she panicking?
Where was the oxygen she needed?
Her breaths were gasping. Desperate. Tears filled her eyes.
Oh God, what is wrong with me?
I should be celebrating. I should be?—
“Ronnie?” Dallas called her name again, but she couldn’t respond. She heard clips pop and the rustling of snow gear as he ditched his board and crawled toward her.
“Hey.” His face came into view, his gentle smile filling her vision. His expression shifted when he took her in, and then he was grabbing her gloved hand and giving it a firm squeeze. “It’s okay. Just breathe.”
He seemed to be doing it for her. She watched his eyes, so serious and concerned as he took a deep breath, prompting her to follow along. When he exhaled slowly, she tried her best to match his rhythm.
The lines of his handsome face were made of granite right now, etched deep with concern yet hard enough to be controlled. “Where does it hurt, Ronnie?”
She shook her head, only managing a soft whimper.
With a whispered curse, Dallas tugged his glove off with his teeth and pulled out his phone. Holding it up, he checked the screen and gruffly assured her, “Don’t move. I’m calling for help?—”
“No!” She reached up and snagged the phone from him, finally snapping out of her frozen state.
She didn’t want a call. The drama. The attention.
She didn’t need it.
Sitting up, she ignored his urges to stay still and told him, “I’m okay. I’m not hurt.”
“You sure?” He eyed her warily, his gaze moving over her limbs, her face, as if he could do an X-ray with his eyes alone. “Sometimes you don’t know unless you?—”
“I’m sure.” Her voice sounded far stronger this time, but to her horror…
She burst into tears.
“Ronnie?”
She shook her head, her belly surging with a sob she couldn’t control.
Dallas was all around her in a heartbeat. He was a tall guy with broad shoulders—she’d known this—but right now she was experiencing it. He’d wrapped his arms around her and was holding her to his chest, blocking everything else out.
For a second, she could let herself believe that the rest of the world didn’t exist.
Sobs racked her, but he only held her tighter.
Finally, she heard his low rumble of a voice through his chest. “Sweetheart, are you sure you’re not hurt?” At her nod, he added, “I know you must be scared about what another injury would mean for your career.”
To her horror—and no doubt his too—this only set her off again.
He rubbed her back, tucking her head under his chin as he made the sort of soothing sounds one would use with a kid. And it…
It was nice, honestly.
She let herself sink into him further, trying and failing to remember the last time anyone had comforted her. Even after her injury, when Margot and her dad had visited her in the hospital, she’d found herself reassuring them that she’d be all right. That she’d be able to compete again.
