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Mitch’s name was next, and the roar from the people around Julia almost deafened her.
    Normally Drake would be sitting beside her, and she would grab his hand to hold onto for support. He wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity, which was unusual, but she couldn’t worry about that. Instead she grabbed Brooke’s hand.
    “May the best man win,” she said to Brooke.
    “A dead heat would be interesting, wouldn’t it?”
    Julia laughed. “Yes, although what would happen then? Two gold medals awarded?”
    “I have no idea.”
    Julia squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath before opening them again in time to see Mitch step up onto the starting block. He was, no doubt, visualizing his every stroke, every turn, and the moment he finished. She hoped whatever he saw came true.
    “On your marks. Get set.”
    The gun sounded and all eight men entered the pool with a massive splash. Julia jumped up with the rest of the people around her, all leaning forward to see whose head would pop up out of the water first.
    Her breath hitched when Dane’s head appeared a fraction of a second before Mitch’s. Their arms pounded in and out of the water, almost in perfect synchronization as they headed down the pool. They turned together. Whoever came out of the turn first always seemed to have the better advantage over the rest of the pack. Her focus wasn’t on the other racers; her eyes were glued to Mitch’s position in the pool.
    She screamed loudly when Mitch’s dark head broke the water after the turn. Dane wasn’t that far behind, but Mitch had a slight edge over him. The 400m individual medley was a long, physical race involving all four swimming strokes. She knew Mitch would be pacing himself, but with Dane so close, he was going to have to dig deep if he wanted to ensure the victory was his.
    The last forty meters seemed to go in slow motion, with neither man giving an inch. She knew freestyle was one of Mitch’s strongest disciplines; it appeared to be Dane’s too. It was one of the closest finals she’d ever watched..
    “I can’t look,” she muttered, but looking elsewhere wasn’t an option.
    Each man pushed himself to the brink, and in a massive splash both hit the wall. Julia couldn’t tell if Mitch hit first or Dane did.
    “Who won?” Brooke asked.
    “I don’t know.”
    Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the electronic leaderboard. Julia held her breath.
    And there it was.
    She jumped up and down and grabbed Brooke. Mitch had won. He’d won his fifth gold medal in this third straight Olympics.
    “Oh my God, he did it, Brooke. He did it!”
    “I know. What a race.”
    Julia fixed her attention back to the board—Mitch had won by three one-hundredths of a second.
    “Holy crap, it was close.”
    On the deck, Mitch was now out of the pool, accepting hugs from his fellow competitors.
    Relief poured through her —their time together at the park hadn’t been a distraction for Mitch. Perhaps it was only her reliving the kiss they’d shared. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed his touch until the moment he’d placed his lips over hers.
    Mitch looked into the crowd, tracking the rows of people until he found who he was looking for.
    Her.
    He smiled, and she clapped her hands above her head. If possible, his smile grew bigger. At the moment, everything felt close to perfect.
    An hour later everyone in the aquatic center stood for the final national anthem. This time it wasn’t going to be the “Star-Spangled Banner.” The 400m freestyle final had been completed, and this time Dane beat Mitch. Even though she knew Mitch would’ve loved to win another gold, she had a feeling he was happy with his silver. A silver at the Olympics was an amazing accomplishment. Hell, she’d be happy if a silver medal was in her future. It wasn’t like this was his last race yet.
    Now the time had come for her to meet Mitch. It was getting late, and she had an early morning practice session. No doubt Mitch would have one