The damn grandma kiss.
I’d had the opportunity to take her in my arms and kiss her like she was meant to be kissed—hot and wet and hard. But I hadn’t done that. I’d pussied out earlier. I wasn’t pussying out now. So I turned around and marched back across the sand.
Dammit, this girl was more drama than I ever bargained for. It didn’t matter, though. Because maybe, just maybe, she was going to be worth everything to me.
I retraced my footsteps, followed the stone stairs from the sand up to the deck, and found the table where everyone, minus Georgie, still sat.
“Where is she?” I demanded, not bothering to be polite.
Three blank faces and one smug face stared back at me.
“Nine minutes,” Ellie answered, checking her phone. “Booyah. Someone owes me a Coke.”
“I’m serious, Ellie. Where is she?”
Ellie took a giant breath. Then she pushed out her chair and made a big show of standing to her feet. That easygoing, shit-eating grin that always lingered on her face—it vanished. And a stern face, one I hardly recognized, replaced it. “Sit your ass down, Noah.”
What? “Why?” I asked, leery.
“Because I have something to say.”
I could tell she meant business, and Ellie never meant business. So I sat my ass down.
She sat back down in her chair, as well. “Here’s the deal,” she said, the entire table drawn into our conversation. Even Rhett seemed mesmerized. “You’re my best friend, Noah, but Georgie…she’s my baby sister. I love you, but if you’re not one hundred bazillion percent sure about her—right now, right this moment—then you need to stop this. I can’t see her hurt. Never again. It would crush me.”
My jaw tightened. “That’s not what I want, and you already know that.”
“I know,” she muttered, her voice cracking. Shit. I never meant to upset her.
And then I glanced up. Something across the room caught my eye. Georgie. She was talking to her asshole ex or current boyfriend or whatever the hell he was. I already knew Logan. He was Ben’s friend. I just hadn’t made the connection between him and Georgie earlier. Before this moment, based on my past knowledge of the guy, I’d already pegged him as a decent man. But he instantly became an asshole in my book—because what kind of fool would give up on such an amazing girl like Georgie? A real fucking asshole—that was who.
Ellie noticed what I’d seen, and our conversation ended. All conversation at the table ended. Georgie stood there talking to the asshole for what felt like forever. I didn’t charge across the room or do anything stupid—because, frankly, that had never been my style. I knew when to shut my mouth, and I knew when to bide my time. And I also realized I knew Georgie a little better than I thought.
At work earlier, I’d spent a full thirty minutes studying her, memorizing that sexy little body of hers. When she felt comfortable, she had an easygoing, playful way about her. Not too unlike Ellie. But the Georgie I observed now had her arms crossed tightly over his stomach and a rigid posture. She was wildly uncomfortable and possibly in pain. And every ounce of my being, every bone in my body, tingled with the need to go save her—to interrupt her conversation with the asshole, swoop her up in my arms, and just carry her out of this place.
I was about to go do exactly that because I couldn’t take another nanosecond of this torture. But then she jetted out her hand, and he shook it. Well, that was a fucking relief. A handshake was about the last thing I’d ever want Georgie to offer me. It spoke volumes. It told me all I needed to know.
Logan gave her a small, cringe-worthy hug, and they parted ways. Georgie back in my direction, and Logan off in the other direction. And as Georgie turned around, I noticed a little falter in her step when she spotted me across the room. Heat scorched through my body as her eyes collided with mine.
That moment had come—the moment where I couldn’t go another minute without knowing what those sweet, plump lips of hers would taste like.
“I’m one hundred bazillion percent sure,” I whispered to Ellie, standing, while my eyes stayed focused on Georgie. I left the table, crossed the room, and gave her the kiss my whole damn body was aching for.
That was almost three hours ago.
Now, with her head resting on my thigh and her long hair fanned across my lap, Georgie lay curled up against me on the living room sofa. I brushed my fingers over her silky brown hair. I’d been wanting to touch it for days now, maybe even longer. She’d fallen asleep about two episodes ago during the Seinfeld marathon the five of us had started after leaving Chancy’s and coming back to my house. But the sun was sinking outside and it was still my day to work. I needed to get back to The Swing to help during our busiest time of the day. Which, unfortunately, had to be right the fuck now.
With a sigh, I gently lifted her head and tried to move off the couch without waking her. No such luck. She sat up, narrowing her eyes at me, and briefly stretched her arms above her head. “How long was I out?” she asked.
“Not long. I have to go, though. Come talk with me in my room for a quick minute first?”
She nodded and stood to follow me, her cheeks turning a cute shade of pink at my request. Ellie whistled as we crossed in front of her and left the room together. The others were too into the show to care. She followed me down the dark hallway and into my room. I couldn’t tell if she was being shy or if she wasn’t saying anything because she’d only just woken up. I flipped on the light and led her inside.
Her eyes took in her surroundings. My room was neat—yes, I was a neat freak. I went for my dresser, needing something to do. There I found a rubber band and quickly pulled my hair back. I pocketed my car keys and cellphone, then glanced up in the mirror only to catch Georgie watching me closely. I froze and stared at her for a moment. This weird expanding feeling happened in my chest. It was the same feeling that kept happening when I was with her.
Clinging to the edge of my dresser, I gripped my fingers into the wood—because her hair was a little ruffled and her pretty blue eyes sleepy. She was sexy as fuck and having her alone in my room wasn’t helping. I never usually let anyone into my room. I liked to keep my personal space personal. But I kept making exceptions for this girl and what was worse, I no longer cared that I was. The blood roaring through my veins was finding its way south. I needed to say something, anything, before I lost complete control here. My fingers dug harder into the wood, but not a single, damn word came out of my mouth.
Did she feel this too?
She exhaled slowly and broke some of the tension by speaking first. “Your room is nice. It’s very clean.”
“I have a problem with that. Come here.” My voice came out rougher than normal. She stood too far away, and I needed her closer.
“You have a problem with what?” she asked and walked across the room.
“With cleaning.”
“That sounds like a good kind of problem.” As she approached, I managed to unclamp my hands from the dresser so that I could turn around and hold her instead. My grip settled on the sides of her waist, and I pulled her against my groin. My dick was hard and straining against my jeans. We’d entered very dangerous territory. Alone. In my room. Me hard as a rock and losing control. But mostly, I just needed her near me.
“Ellie and Rhett both love my problem. I’m their damn maid, whether they want me to be or not. But for me, actually, it’s just…time-consuming.” I’d never dared admit I had a problem until this moment, but the honest to God truth was that I did spend way too much of my free time cleaning and re-cleaning. I sighed, wishing I’d kept my mouth shut. “Anyway, sorry I brought that up. I didn’t bring you back here to burden you with my shit. I just wanted a moment alone with you before I had to go back to work.”
“You can burden me with whatever.”
I reached up to brush away a strand of her hair that had fallen in her face.
“Seriously,” she said, pulling away from me and sitting down on the edge of my bed. “It�
��s not like I don’t notice how everyone is careful around me. My mom has been super, sickeningly sweet ever since my suicide attempt. She used to tell me, to the point of constantly annoying me, exactly what she thought about every little thing I did. Good or bad. Now she’s careful with everything she says. Dad too. Even Ellie kind of—in her own way. It’s nice. I love that everyone is trying so hard to make me comfortable. I know they all love me, and I’m sure with time everything will go back to normal, but if you want to burden me with your shit then do it. Because, seriously, I’m not as fragile as everyone thinks.”
A smile crept over my lips. When she got fired up it was the most fucking adorable thing in the world. “Okay,” I said. “Yes, I spend a lot of my time cleaning. But it’s not so much about everything being clean, but about everything being orderly.”
“What does orderly mean?”
I really didn’t want her to think less of me. In. Any. Way. Because I loved the way she looked at me. Like right this moment—her big eyes stared up at me as she waited on whatever I might say, like we were having a much more interesting and pleasant conversation than we really were. But why not tell her? Maybe it would make her feel more normal to know how fucked-up I truly was. “It means I keep everything in my environment immaculately clean because it brings me a sense of calmness. Same goes for work and my personal life. I like things my way. I’m like this because my childhood was complete chaos and I crave the opposite now. And the worst part is, I know there should be a problem there somewhere, but mostly I’m fine with the way I am. Aside from the time-consuming part.”
“And your nightmares?” she asked, not missing a beat. “How do they fit in?”
I swallowed hard. I’d forgotten she knew about those also. “Completely separate problem.”
“But am I still helping that some? I mean, being your snuggle-buddy and all.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Yes.” More than she’d ever know.
“Good.” She dropped her arms to her sides, tucking her fingers under the edges of her thighs. Seeing the image of her sitting there on my bed in that skirt of hers had my stomach doing summersaults. “But Noah,” her voice softly said, “if I’m ever doing anything that interferes with your orderly thing then you have to tell me.”
But that was the thing—for the first time in my life, I wanted the interference. I had my rules and I had my walls and I wanted to let her smash each one of them away. Only her. I didn’t respond to her request but instead moved across the short distance that separated us, took her face in my hands, and pressed my lips to hers. I claimed her mouth with mine, taking exactly what I wanted. She tasted so damn sweet, and she opened up to me so easily.
“I have to go,” I said, breaking away from her perfect mouth. I needed to get away from her before I completely lost my shit. “I’ll see you, in bed, later tonight.”
* * *
Normally I enjoyed work. I was proud of my business and how efficiently Ellie and I ran everything. But tonight, for as busy as we were, the time dragged. I’d never in my life told anyone the things I’d told Georgie earlier. And as I sat in the back office, running over the day’s numbers, she was all I could focus on. Why had I opened up to her so easily? Maybe because I felt like she actually listened when I spoke. Or maybe because whenever her blue eyes stared in my direction there was zero judgment reflected back in them. I liked those things about her, and it didn’t hurt that she was something straight out of a fucking dream as well.
In high school, I’d been that kid. The one everyone whispered about and secretly feared would one day bring a bomb in his backpack to blow up the school. I had a mean, abusive uncle waiting at home to tell me exactly the kind of fuck-up he thought I was each night. He was the only person I had left in the world. I had no friends, no real family, and no hope of a better future. I was lost, drowning in hate and chaos, until Ellie found me—her friendship saved my life.
When I saw Georgie bleeding out on that bathroom floor, maybe I saw a little of myself in her, a little of that lost kid who wore black eyeliner, trench coats, and hated himself. I saved her life that night. But I hadn’t counted on everything that had happened since. Part of me felt like Georgie was saving me, all over again, the way Ellie had back in high school. But this was more, this was deeper, and I hadn’t even realized I still needed saving.
I took a breath, trying to pull myself out of my thoughts. I didn’t want to make sense of it all. I just wanted to let whatever was happening with Georgie happen. It felt good so far, so why start questioning it?
Staring out my office window, the one that overlooked the miniature golf course, my eyes raked over the people left golfing. It was past eleven, we were officially closed, and all I had left to do was wait on those still golfing to finish up before I could head back to my girl.
And that was when I spotted her. Rhett’s girl. The mystery girl. The blonde. Holy shit! I jumped to my feet, dashing out of the office, determined to talk to this girl before she disappeared again. I still had no earthly clue how I knew her, but Rhett hadn’t dropped his infatuation since he’d slept with her, and I couldn’t let her slip away without saying something for my friend.
Dashing across the course, jumping over the mini Mount Rushmore, I leaped right in the path of Little Miss Mystery Girl. I mentally started running over the possibilities of where I might know her. Was she a past employee? No, I’d remember. Was she someone I went to high school with? No, she seemed younger than me.
“Noah,” she gasped, startled by my sudden appearance. “You scared the shit out of me.”
How the fuck did she know my name? She wasn’t alone either. She was with some random guy—a guy with dark hair and more piercings than even the people in my crowd rolled with. I think she was on a date, one I’d just interrupted, and the fucker looked like he was ready to beat my ass for it too. I hadn’t meant to spring over Teddy Roosevelt’s head, nearly toppling the girl, acting like a jealous ex-boyfriend.
I caught my breath and took a step backward.
“How do you know my name?” I asked.
“I remember you from the other night,” she answered.
“Oh.” I glanced at the guy who hadn’t stopped glaring at me. He needed to calm the hell down. I hadn’t done a damn thing here. I brought my attention back to the blonde. “Sorry I interrupted your game, but Rhett Morgan has been looking for you. You know, my roommate.”
She brushed her hair over one shoulder, letting out a little chuckle. “Yeah, I’ve already heard—from you and about five others now. It’s a small town. Word gets around. Did it ever occur to people that maybe I don’t want to be found?” She stepped onto the putting green, lining up her club with her golf ball. “It’s called a ‘one-night stand’ for a reason.”
Mr. Three Lip Rings groaned. “Seriously, do you have to say that shit in front of me?” he whined. “No brother wants to hear about how his little sister is fucking the town man-whore.”
“Shut up, John.” Unfazed, she swung her putter and sunk her ball into the hole in one easy shot. Then she turned her attention back to me. “Tell Rhett I had an amazing night. He was sweet—” Sweet? Rhett Morgan wasn’t sweet. Was she high? “And I never meant to hurt him. But one night was all I wanted.” She shrugged, effectively dismissing me.
“Fine. I’ll tell him,” I answered, walking off. If she didn’t reciprocate Rhett’s feelings then I wasn’t going to stand around and argue. Still, now I was beyond pissed that I had to be the one to break the bad news to my friend. I’d never seen him so focused on one girl in his life. This was going to crush him.
Entering the main building, I glanced one last time over my shoulder at Rhett’s girl and her brother. None of this explained why she looked familiar. And maybe she had a brother who looked like an axe-murdering drug-dealer, (though I shouldn’t be judging since others did the same thing far too often with me) but this girl exuded an innocence her crass words didn’t match and I couldn’t make sense of it all.
<
br /> And then, finally, I remembered where I knew her from.
I’d seen her once before, but her hair had been brown then. I’d seen her at Ben’s funeral—crying harder than anyone in the room.
CHAPTER 14
GEORGINA
I woke a little before the sun to a very handsome man in bed with me. When I’d fallen asleep the night before, I’d fallen asleep alone.
I certainly wasn’t alone now.
Somehow I’d ended up with my leg hooked high over my intruder’s waist, his hand gently resting on my ass, and my face pressed against his chest. My unconscious self must have been clinging to the guy all night, like her own personal life-sized teddy bear, and I probably should have felt embarrassed for that, but I was way too ecstatic to care. Noah could crawl into bed with me anytime he liked, and I’d never get tired of it.
Breathing in deep, I inhaled the scent of him. Jeez, he even smelled amazing, too, like clean laundry, summer sunshine, and Noah all mixed as one. Sometimes I forgot our age difference, and sometimes it was hard to ignore. Like right now. He radiated a masculinity, a maturity, a confidence even in his sleep that other guys my own age just couldn’t even compare to. Maybe that was less about his age and more about him. Either way, it was incredibly sexy—he was incredibly sexy. I kind of loved the fact that he could physically snap me in two and the fact that I knew he never would.
I nestled a little closer into his chest, my fingers tracing gently over the contours of his abs. This close contact made my chest feel all gooey and warm inside, and I took advantage of this small opportunity to touch him while he slept. Because what if these opportunities were only temporary?
“Damn,” he muttered. “You’re sweet as fuck to wake up to.”
I froze, my heart going off like a jackhammer against my ribs. I never meant to wake him. “Sorry, Noah.”
“Don’t apologize.” His voice was rough with sleep. His fingers on my ass gripped tighter. “I missed having you in my arms yesterday. So, explore all you want, pretty girl. It’s nice. It’s making me hard, but it’s really fucking nice.”
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