JUNIPER
Everything was warm. It reminded me of the way the sun hit my skin at the beach. I wanted to keep my eyes closed and fall asleep.
“Juniper.” The voice was faint, but the familiarity of it made my heart go wild.
I opened my eyes, breaking free from the darkness, but I didn’t expect to see the beach around me. The sand and ocean seemed to stretch on forever, and the waves crashed onto the beach, but no sound followed. There were no seagulls calling out, either. There was only one sound that hit my ears.
“Juniper! What are you doing just sitting there?”
I couldn’t remember how I had gotten here, but suddenly I didn’t care.
A man walked across the beach towards me. He was barefoot and the scoop of his shirt teased the rippling muscles below. He was tall—even from this distance th
