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her case.. When the picture of her and Brett had appeared in the papers, he had his answer for those absences. Her telling him she didn’t love him anymore had crushed him. After that, threats from his sponsors weren’t in the forefront of his mind. Healing his bruised and battered heart had been all he concentrated on. He also hadn’t wanted to see or hear Anabel’s I told you so . They hadn’t spoken about the fight. Instead, they worked on keeping his fitness level up and getting to the Olympic trials.
    Now he had to wonder if Anabel had said anything to Julia about breaking it off with him.
    “No one said anything to me. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that sponsors pull out at any hint of a scandal. I lost nearly all of mine after the bribing headlines hit the Internet.”
    He couldn’t tell from her cadence if she was lying or not. It didn’t matter if Anabel said something or not. The onus of the relationship falling apart was on the both of them. The past was the past— the big question now was, could he forgive Julia for what she’d done with Brett?
    Did they have a hope of trying to be friends? He couldn’t deny he was still attracted to her. He hadn’t looked at another woman since their breakup. Julia flamed his senses to life like no one ever could.
    Mitch sat back down next to her and took one of her hands. He’d always loved holding Julia. Always needed to have that connection with her, even it if was just their knees brushing together.
    “I know you would never bribe judges. It’s not in your nature. You didn’t have to go through it all alone. I loved you, Jules.”
    She lifted her sunglasses. Her blue eyes were shining with unshed tears. Her hand cupped his jaw. “I know,” she whispered. “But I had to. I had to protect you, Mitch.”
    He couldn’t stop himself from leaning forward and slipping a hand around Julia’s neck, bringing her closer to him. “I didn’t need protecting then, and I don’t need it now.”
    Mitch closed the distance between them and laid his lips over hers, giving in to the temptation that he’d been denying himself since the moment he saw her standing at the airport. He needed her kiss as much as he needed his next breath.
    Julia sighed against his mouth, and he took advantage to slip his tongue in. Her hand moved from his face to his neck, bringing her body closer to his. Her body melted into his like it hadn’t been almost a year since they’d been apart. Since the last time they’d touched.
    God, he missed this. Missed being able to touch and kiss Julia whenever he wanted. He hadn’t even looked at another girl since they broke up. He wanted nothing more than to scoop her onto his lap so that she rested against his aching erection. But he was also aware they sat in the middle of a park where anyone could walk past them.
    Reluctantly, he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.
    “Meet me after the medal ceremony, Jules. We still have unfinished business between us, and we’re not going to get through it all now. I need to go get ready.”
    Julia pulled out of his embrace. He wanted to pull her back. He could almost feel the brick wall she was about to put up. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
    “Don’t shut me out again, Jules. If you aren’t waiting after the medal ceremony, I’ll come looking for you. I know which room you’re in.”
    “How do you know that? Now who looks stalkerish?”
    “Brooke told me you were sharing, and she happened to mention which building you were in and room number, in case I wanted to visit , were her words.”
    With her sunglasses still sitting atop her head he was, once again, able to tell what was going through her mind. There, she blinked her eyes too fast. He’d caught her by surprise, and, yes, that was definitely irritation flitting by. Now her mouth relaxed, so she was coming around to the idea of a surprise visit. Even though they’d been apart since the beginning of