Текст книги "Whipped"

Автор книги: Elizabeth Lee

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

I tried to use Monday as a day to really clear my head before I saw Georgia again. I even managed to not smoke an entire pack of cigarettes. I was stressed and I’d promised Will that I’d take it easy on the PT to give my body a chance to rest. The call of a Marlboro Red was tempting, but each and every time I stepped out onto the porch to fire one up, Georgia’s voice popped into my head.

That’s a terrible habit.

No matter how much I wanted to be mad at her and ignore her words, I couldn’t. She was right. It was a bad habit. I loved the way she looked out for people, especially me. She was a caregiver by nature and she had definitely chosen the right career path. It just sucked that it was currently taking up so much of her time.

The more time I spent away from her the more time I had to think about the conversation that needed to happen between us. And, the more I thought about that the more I worried that she wasn’t quite ready to let go of her past. The anxiety of not knowing exactly where I stood with her had me on edge.

I’d driven across the property to Reid’s parents’ home when Georgia’s text came through that the furniture truck would be showing up in about twenty minutes. I wanted to get everything unlocked for them and make sure the house was ready for the ungodly amounts of items I knew Nora and Reid had been ordering over the internet. I’d figured it was a lot because I knew that Reid never did anything half-assed. That’s why we got along so well. We were all out in most aspects of life. The shrill of cicadas was already starting and the air was crisp as I drove along the gravel road. It was a peaceful place to build a home, I’d give Reid that. It was too bad I hadn’t been able to focus on the country charm of the place I was staying.

Georgia’s little black SUV pulled up the lane a few minutes after I’d gotten there. I stood on the front steps and smiled when I saw her get out. The leggings, long flannel shirt, and boots look she was rocking made her look adorably sexy. I’d yet to find a look that I didn’t like on her.

“Hey,” she said as she walked over. “Thanks for helping me with this.”

“No problem.” I reached out a hand to her as she stepped up and placed a kiss on her cheek when she was up to my level. “It’s good to see you.” We held each other’s gaze, both of us obviously wanting to say more, but the second I started to open my mouth we heard the roar of a truck approaching.

“Right on time,” she said with a smile.

“Yep,” I said, as she hopped down off the steps and waited to greet the movers. She pulled a notepad and pen from the bag she had slung over her shoulder. I was sure it was a checklist of items we were expecting. She was always one step ahead.

It didn’t take long for her to start pointing men in directions, telling them what went where and how to set up the rooms. She delivered each and every one of her marching orders with a smile. Not one of guys there seemed to mind taking orders from her. She was Sergeant Barbie, complete with her pink notepad.

“This seems to be going well,” I said sneaking up behind her. The third truck had arrived with a bunch of little boxes. I gathered from the word FRAGILE written across most of them that they were knick-knacks and candles I was going to be helping her unload once all of the trucks had come and gone. I placed my hands on her hips and looked over her shoulder at her list. “What do you want me to do now?” I’d been helping as much as I could and trying to stay out of the professionals’ way.

“This is good,” she said, turning in my arms. Holding her this way almost made me forget my frustrations over the past few days. I leaned in and kissed her lips softly.

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too. I’m sorry I was so busy this weekend. I would have much rather been with you than at the hospital and dinner with the Shaws.”

Dinner with the Shaws? And then I remembered Iris saying something about Sunday when we were in the grocery store. Just another reminder of Jamie. Once again he kept showing up at the most inopportune times.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, hearing the disdain in my tone. I noticed one of the movers waiting for instructions from her and took the opportunity to avoid saying something I’d regret in front of a room full of strangers. “I think he needs your help,” I said, pointing over her shoulder. “I’m going to check on the bedrooms. Make sure they got everything in the right place.”

“Um... okay,” she said. I could tell that she knew something she’d said hadn’t set right with me. Was I out of line for being aggravated? I didn’t want to be put off every time the guy’s name was mentioned, but it was off putting.

I sucked in a breath the second I turned away from her and tried to chill the fuck out. This whole teetering on the edge of insanity thing was not good for me. I needed the movers to get in and get out so that we could hash out exactly what our deal was before I lost my damn mind.

* * *

“I think that’s the last of them,” she said as we watched the last truck pull out of the driveway. “Only took four hours,” she said. “Not too bad.” She smiled to herself as she ran her pen down her list one last time. “Still want to get some dinner?”

“Sure,” I said, as we walked into the house.

“Then maybe we can start unloading some of this other stuff.” She pointed at the boxes in the kitchen. “I mean... if you’re up for it.”

“My knee’s fine,” I assured her. The pain was less and less each day and nothing I couldn’t muster through.

“I’m not talking about your knee,” she said pointedly. “What happened earlier? After we kissed.”

I bit down on my bottom lip and shook my head. My eyes looked around the room before settling on the ceiling. I’d calmed down after my initial reaction to hearing that she’d spent Sunday with Jamie’s parents, but it had irked me.

“You can tell me.” She walked over and took my hand in hers. Her slender fingers intertwined with mine like they were made to do just that. “Please.”

“Why didn’t you tell me your family dinner was with Jamie’s family?” The words seemed to fly out of my mouth once I started. “I mean, I know his mom invited you to something in the grocery store, but I guess I thought that you weren’t going now that we are... whatever we are.” I could hear the pettiness in my voice, but I didn’t care. I’d been nothing but honest with her.

“I don’t know why I didn’t tell you,” she said with a nervous shrug. “I guess I didn’t want to upset you, which I clearly have.”

“I’m not upset, Georgia. I’m frustrated. Dinner with his family. The engagement ring. The box of his things in your closet. I’m really trying to understand, but—”

“You looked through my things?” She dropped my hand and crossed her arms over her chest. “That is not at all what I meant when I told you to make yourself at home.”

“No, I didn’t look through your things. I went to shut the closet door and I saw his name on the box, which I didn’t look through, in case you’re wondering,” I explained as I paced across the kitchen, earning a frustrated glare from her. She leaned against the counters waiting for me to justify seeing her things. “Believe me the last thing I wanted to see was another reminder that you’re still in love with someone else. The ring was enough.”

“That’s a low blow. Of course I still love him. It’s not like I chose to not have him in my life.”

“I get that, I really do, but you did choose to start a relationship—or whatever the hell this is—with me when you’re clearly not over him.”

“What do you want me to say?” Her eyes began to well with tears. “I’m trying to move on. I’m trying to move forward. That’s what we agreed on. You’re being really irrational about this.”

“Am I?” I snapped. “I think I’ve been more than rational about it. I’ve given you every opportunity to take things slow. You say you want to move forward but the second his name is mentioned you freeze up.”

“I do not.”

“You do. You did in the store when we saw his mother. You did the other night when you realized you had the ring on.”

“You were the one that stopped the other night.”

“Of course I did! The ring your fiancé gave you was staring me in the face. And don’t deny that you were just as thrown off as I was. I saw the look on your face. Like you were doing something wrong. It’s okay for you to be with me. It’s okay for you to move on with your life.” I let out a sigh. “Look, I’ve been supportive and understanding, but I can’t compete with a ghost, Georgia. I won’t.”

“I’m not asking you to,” she said as the first tear fell down her face. “I want to be with you. You think I like living in the past? Having to revisit losing him every single day? Because I don’t.”

“You have a really weird way of showing it then. You still wear his ring.”

“On a necklace!” she yelled. “That I haven’t even had on since the other night.”

I could see how frustrated she felt and I hated that we were fighting over this. Hell, I hated that we were fighting period. I never wanted to make her cry and it was taking everything I had in me not to pull her into my arms.

“I want this. I want you.” She sniffed. A moment passed as she tried to compose herself and it took everything I had in me not to comfort her. If we were going to be together, this was a conversation that needed to happen. “You know, I was hoping to tell you tonight that I think I might be falling in love with you, but now—”

“You what?” I was surprised to hear her say that she was falling in love with me. I felt like an ass. A very lucky ass, but an ass nonetheless. Here I was reading her the riot act and she was planning on telling me something monumental—for both of us.

“I said I think I’m falling in love with you.”

“I...” I knew what I should have said. I should have told her I felt the same way, but this was new. I’d had girls says they loved me, sure, but not the way she was. They loved who I represented and what they thought they could get out of being with me. “You are?”

“Yes, you jackass, but you’re too worried about my past that you’re too blind to see it.”

Maybe I was. Maybe I was focusing too much on what she used to have with Jamie and not enough on what we were building together. Both of us seemed to have some things to let go of. Before she could call me another name or leave altogether, I walked over to the counter she was standing in front of and crushed my mouth to hers as I cradled her face in my hands. Yelling and crying could wait, I wanted to take my frustrations out in another way. I let my lips and my tongue say all the things I couldn’t. I didn’t want to be some runner-up for her heart. I wanted to be the only guy who ever kissed her this way. I wanted to be the only guy who made her body and her mind feel cherished. I wanted to be her everything.

Her hands slipped up around my neck. I dropped mine to her thighs as I lifted her up and placed her on the counter. Her legs locked behind me as if she didn’t want to let me go. Our mouths continued the confrontation we’d started with our words. Hers was biting down on my bottom lip as a frustrated cry slipped from her lips. Mine was trying to convince her through lashes of my tongue that I felt the same way about her that she did me. One hand tangled in her hair as the other held her body against mine. The heat of our kiss was only matched by the heat building between us as my cock pressed against her center.

“I only want you,” she said in a breathy moan as I rocked into her, her thighs clenching around me. I wanted to rip her clothes from her body and show her exactly what she would get if she kept whispering words of want in my ear. “Only you.”

“I want you too,” I said putting enough space between us that I could slip my hand down the front of her pants. I needed to touch her. I wanted at least one of us to get some relief from the pressure building in our bodies. I kissed her neck as I let my fingers move between her legs and slip inside of her. She cried out from the pleasure as she held onto my shoulders. Just hearing her moans was enough to nearly push me over the edge. The taste of her skin on my lips. The feel of my fingers moving inside of her, stroking her in every right place. The way it felt when she tightened and quivered around my hand. When I leaned back to look at her face as she came apart, I knew there was no going back for me. Whatever issues we had could be sorted out because this woman was it for me.

That moment far surpassed the others we’d shared. For a moment it was like there was nothing or no one that could stand in between us. We’d yelled. We’d screamed. We’d kissed. And, then she let me touch her and gave me a part of herself that she’d locked away for a long time. It was just us.

Knock, knock, knock.

And a delivery guy who was knocking on the door.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Brett said as he rested his forehead against mine. My body was still trying to process what just happened. It was the first time, in a long time, that I hadn’t given myself an orgasm. It felt good. Too good. So good that I was worried I might have just been ruined for any future self-stimulation. I knew my body and I knew my capabilities, what Brett had just done with one hand in a few short moments far out did anything I’d ever been able to do.

“Getting interrupted is kind of our thing,” I said with a smile. His hand slipped from between my legs and helped me off the counter.

“A thing I’d like to stop doing.” He laughed. “You better get the door,” he said. He placed his lips on my forehead before backing away. “I need a minute.” He excused himself to the bathroom and I knew exactly why. I’d felt the strain of his dick against his jeans. I’d fully planned on repaying the favor he’d done me, but like I said, getting interrupted was kind of our thing.

I went to the door, trying to put myself back together as best I could before opening. I was walking on shaky legs and more relaxed and content than I’d been in a long time. I could still feel his hands on me. In me. My lips were swollen from his kisses. My skin was still heated from his touch and what he’d just done to me. I took in a deep breath and tried not to smile like an over satisfied lunatic.

Nora and Reid hadn’t been kidding when they said they’d bought furniture for every room in the house. The final delivery for the evening was a new washer and dryer for the laundry room. I showed the deliveryman where to unload it and by the time he’d finished hooking it up and Brett and I had finally had dinner, it was close to eleven.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come back to my place?” Brett asked as we were locking up Reid’s parents’ house for the night. We’d have to come back later that week and finish, but the good news was my sister and Reid would be home that weekend for a visit and to show Reid’s mom and dad their new home.

“There is no place I’d rather go,” I said, rising up on to my toes to kiss Brett. “But, I’ve got to be at the hospital at six.” My busy schedule was really starting to get in the way. I was starting to think that I needed to make a little more time for myself. And for Brett.

“Okay,” he said taking my hand in his and walking me over to my car. The dark sky was lit by a bright moon as he kissed me good night. “Clinicals Wednesday and Thursday, right?”

“Yep.” I nodded, impressed that he’d actually memorized my schedule. “But Friday my schedule is wide open.”

“I like the sound of that,” he said before returning his lips to mine. “I’ll make damn sure we don’t get interrupted.” He leaned back to look at me. “Damn. Sure.” His promises were as scintillating as his touch. I was looking forward to our uninterrupted day together.

* * *

The next two days seemed to creep by, so by the time Friday finally arrived I couldn’t wait to see him. Even if it meant seeing him while we finished up moving furniture and decorating the Travers’ house.

“What the hell is this?” Brett asked when we finally went to finish unpacking all of the items for the Travers’ house. “The edges are all dinged up,” he said, running his fingers over the edge of a picture frame he’d just unpacked.

“It’s supposed to look that way,” I said. “It’s shabby chic.”

“New shit that looks like old shit.” He laughed. “It’s a good thing I’m not an interior decorator.”

“Yeah stick to what you’re good at,” I said, taking the frame from his hand and placing it on the bookcase that was built into the wall of the living room. “Dirt bikes and video games.”

“Oh, babe...” he said, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind. “I’m good at so much more than that,” he teased spinning me around the room playfully.

I wiggled in his arms when he began to tickle me and it wasn’t long before we were on the floor.

“See how good I am at wrestling,” he said pinning my arms over my head.

“Come on let me up,” I said, trying to roll over and escape his hold. His knees were on the ground on each side of my body, and I could tell he was leaning more to the right to favor his left. Boxes were strewn all around us. The room was nowhere near put together. “You’re going to hurt yourself,” I warned.

“No chance.” He shook his head, wrapping one hand around my wrists while the other one picked up his tickle assault. I kicked my legs and tried to get him to move as I tried to breathe between laughs.

“Stop,” I giggled. He was grinning like a fool as he watched me writhe beneath him. “Please.”

“Okay, okay,” he said as he stopped tickling me. He leaned in, his nose practically touching mine. “How bad do you want me to let you up?”

“Bad. We have a lot of stuff to get done.”

“Fine,” he said, faking a pout before he dropped his lips to mine. He kissed me quickly before climbing off of me and sitting with his hands out behind him. “No fun for Georgia. She has work,” he teased. We did have work to do, but I’d been having a great time all day with him. He made the task of emptying boxes much more enjoyable.

“We’d never get this finished if you had your way,” I said as I climbed to my feet and shook my head. I walked around behind him and dropped down to my knees to place my hands on his shoulders. “Don’t you know that the sooner we get this finished,” I added, massaging his shoulders before running my hands down his back. He leaned into my touch. “The sooner we can get out of here.”

“Keep doing that,” he urged, letting his head drop to one side. I placed a kiss on his neck and continued to move my hands over his back. As he relaxed, I slipped my arms up under his and had him in a headlock before he even knew what happened. “Hey!” he said, trying to move. I tightened my hold on him and laughed.

“See? I can have fun,” I said, placing my lips close to his ear. I let my weight fall on his back to keep him in place.

“You’re going to regret this,” he said as he tried to pull from my grasp.

“I don’t think so,” I said confidently. I knew that self-defense class I took my freshman year of college would come in handy one day. “In fact I’m really enjoying it at the moment. Zero regret.” As he continued to try and move away from me all I could do was laugh.

“I kind of figured this was how their relationship would play out.”

Brett and I both froze in place when we heard Reid’s voice call out. We looked to our left to see him and Nora standing there hand in hand.

“I told you my sister was tough,” Nora said with a smile.

“I’m totally letting her win,” Brett insisted before I let him go from my hold. He jumped to his feet quickly before helping me up.

“No you weren’t,” I insisted as I straightened out my shirt. “I had you.”

“Maybe,” he said, bumping his shoulder against mine as we walked over to greet Reid and Nora. “You guys are early,” Brett pointed out as we all exchanged hugs and handshakes.

“We caught an early flight,” Nora explained. “I figured you two might need some help with the finishing touches.”

“Clearly it’s a good thing we showed up when we did,” Reid said. “Got here right before you passed out, Sally,” he teased Brett.

“Hardly.” Brett shook his head as I nodded in agreement with Reid’s rousing.

“Things look great so far,” Nora said as she walked around the room, checking the boxes that were still left to be opened.

“We’ve finished all but this room and the kitchen,” I told her.

“And the garage,” Brett added. “There are some shelves that need to be put together out there.”

“We can do that,” Reid said, slapping Brett on the shoulder. “Let’s go do some manly stuff with power tools while the girls finish up with the decorating,” he said, deepening his voice and puffing out his chest.

“Yeah,” Brett agreed, matching the goofy way his buddy was walking out of the room. “Manly stuff.” He fired a wink in my direction as he was leaving the room and I couldn’t help but grin.

“So?” Nora asked as soon as the guys were out of the room.

“So what?”

“So... tell me what is going on with you two,” she insisted before walking over to start unpacking a box.

“Things are good,” I told her. “Really good.”

“That’s so great. I can’t remember the last time I saw you look so happy,” she continued. “Like genuinely smiling, having a good time happy.”

“It feels pretty good.” I smiled. “How are things with Reid? You’re always so busy interrogating me when we talk that I never get to ask you.” Our roles had reversed over the past month. Before, I was the one who listened to her. I’d put on my therapist hat on more than one occasion when Reid had first come back to Halstead. I never would have imagined that Nora would be talking me through my own relationship so soon. My feelings for Brett had definitely snuck up on me.

“I can’t even tell you how happy I am,” she beamed. “It’s even better than I’d imagined it would be.” As we finished up the unloading and decorating of the room she filled me in on her whirlwind, second chance love affair. “Watching him ride and seeing what his life is like now was a little overwhelming at first, but he’s so good about including me any way he can. And, Throttled Energy asked if I wanted to be the official tour photographer. Can you believe that?”

“Of course I can,” I told her. “You’re a fantastic photographer, Nore. They are lucky to have you.” Hearing how she was going to be getting paid to be with Reid all the time made me a little jealous. Brett and I had only just begun our relationship, but I knew that when he went back to work things were going to be difficult for us. Long distance relationships are never easy. I knew from personal experience. At least this time around I could call or text Brett whenever I wanted. When Jamie was overseas I was lucky to talk to him once a week. It was usually two or three weeks before we were actually able to connect.

It wasn’t so much the being apart that scared me when it came to living in different states, it was all of the other unknowns. We could make the time to see each other and to talk. I kept telling myself that I had to be okay with possibility of Brett getting hurt. Not to mention, I had a little concern that once he was back in his element, he’d decide that his old ways were much better suited to him than some small town nurse. All of the women and partying and not being tied down. Was I exciting enough to hold his interest? Could I keep a guy like Brett satisfied in the long run?

“Think we should try and put this coffee table together?” she asked, taking a box cutter down the center of the tape holding the box together.

“I think we can handle that,” I agreed. “I’ll go steal some tools from the guys,” I said, picking up the instructions from the top of the box to see what we would need. “I’ll be right back.”