Chapter 3
three
Cash
“What are you even doing here?” I shout over the music while Maisy drags me away from the woman I’ve decided I’m going to marry. “I thought they turned away math nerds at the door.”
Her fingernails dig into my skin until she finds a suitable spot to chew me out and turns to face me. “The question is, what the hell are you doing?”
I look back at Georgia, thinking maybe whatever hold she has on me will disappear with a little distance between us. No such luck.
“Cash?” Maisy demands.
I turn back to my sister. “Trying to talk to my future wife. Do you mind?”
Maisy lets out a disbelieving laugh. “Oh my god, you’re unreal. Your so-called future wife? That’s Georgia.”
“Wait, you know her?”
Maisy takes me by the shoulders. “Georgia. Georgia Grant? As in my new roommate? As in the very sweet, very innocent girl I told you to keep the fuck away from not four days ago?”
I blink, then glance back at the beautiful woman leaning on the wall.
From here, it’s even more striking how she stands out against the drab crowd, like she was painted from light and sprinkled with pixie dust. Sparkling blue eyes, sleek black hair spilling over her left shoulder, soft glossy lips still holding on to a whisper of the smile I put on them.
“That’s your new roommate,” I repeat. “The girl I supposedly met when we were kids.”
“Yeah,” Maisy says, jaw dropped in disbelief. “Did you not put two and two together? How many Georgias do you meet in a day?”
“I didn’t remember her name, and anyway, why would I expect to see her here? You and your dork crew usually stick to the libraries and lesbian bars.”
Maisy’s shoulders sag as she sighs. “Just stay away from her, okay? She’s my friend. And even if she weren’t, she’s the last girl on earth who deserves to have Cash Hartnell inflicted on her heart.”
“The hell does that mean?”
“If you want to talk about this later, I’d gladly go through your texts and find years’ worth of evidence. But for now, stay away from Georgia. Got it?”
I nod. “Got it.”
Not a chance in hell.
“I’m serious.”
“Me too.”
She watches me warily. “So I’ll see you for breakfast on Saturday.”
“Hey, how are you getting home tonight? Let me walk you.”
“We’re okay. Ximena’s boyfriend is meeting us later and he’ll walk with us.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Come find me if anything changes. I’ll be here ’til closing.”
She pats my arm tolerantly, but I know she loves my protectiveness. “You got it, brother. See you later.”
Lights shine off her hair, creating a red halo, as she heads back to her friends.
Fitting. As the crowd parts, I get a brief yet perfect full-body glimpse of Georgia, black jeans outlining her legs and the swell of her hips, lavender sweater highlighting the curves of her waist and making my hands itch to curl themselves around her.
But then my view’s blocked—by a dude. My muscles tighten.
Who’s the guy? Maisy will chew me out if I come any closer; still, an unfamiliar feeling of possessiveness surges inside me.
I need to see what’s going on. Thinking on my feet, I head toward the bar so I can check the dude out from the side.
Not a football player, I think with relief once the guy’s profile is in view.
He’s a head taller than most of the people in the room, but other than that, I don’t know what the fuck makes him think he should hit on someone like Georgia.
Shitty hair, mediocre looks, no style whatsoever.
Maisy’s friends are blocking my view, and I will them to step aside so I can see Georgia’s face.
Is she smiling and laughing with this dude like she did with me?
God, she’s sweet. I knew she would be the second I spotted her across the room, but she surprised me with how freely she smiled.
How unguarded she was despite her quiet demeanor and the way she kept herself pressed against the wall.
Maisy’s friends still haven’t moved out of the way, so there’s nothing I can do—short of planting myself in the middle of the room and staring at Georgia like a total creep—except return to my friends.
I find Cam and Reeve among a cluster of football players.
They’re talking about the best plays of our season, a topic I’d normally love to weigh in on with some stories of my own, but I can’t follow along. All I want is to talk to Georgia again.
That’s my girl. The thought popped into my head the instant I saw her, her dark hair and doe eyes and placid smile making her the most stunning girl in the room.
It threw me for a second because that’s not how my brain works.
Yes, I like pretty women, and yes, it’s standard for me to spot one and know I’m approaching her before the night is over.
But this? Something’s different. This was pure intuition that this girl needed to belong to me; that I was going to make her mine; that there was no other way it could ever play out.
This was me crossing the room like a magnet was drawing us closer, knowing that after I met this woman, I wouldn’t be the same.
I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I think I like it.
“What do you keep looking at?” Cam asks, catching me staring in Georgia’s direction. “Is that your sister over there?”
“Yeah.”
“You worried about her?”
I shake my head. “Just trying to see who’s hitting on her and her friends.”
He accepts this with a dip of his chin. It’s a valid excuse—I do concern myself with who gets near my sister on the rare occasion we’re socializing in the same space, even though Maisy has never been shy about telling guys to get lost. And as I spot Georgia’s suitor turning away, I wonder if I owe my sister a thank-you.
“Make way, it’s time to toast the man.” Lorenzo, clutching two fistfuls of beer, shoulders his way between me and Cam and starts passing out drinks. “Congratulations to the lucky-ass agent who just signed our boy Cam Forrester.”
“Hold up.” I turn to Cam in surprise. “What? You didn’t tell me! When did that happen?”
“Today.” He shrugs like it’s no big thing. The guy’s always been too modest for his own good.
I throw an arm around his shoulder and squeeze him in a half headlock, half hug. “Congratulations, brother! That’s huge.”
Cam smiles as the group drinks to him, then diverts the attention away from himself with a nod to me. “What about you, number seven? What are you going to do with that precious Combine invite?”
Normally I love when he throws the spotlight on me, but tonight it cranks up my nerves.
“TBD, man. Big fucking TBD. Not that I couldn’t sleep all the way from now until the Combine and still wipe the floor with every other fool with the misfortune to compete against me for the fastest 40-yard dash.”
“Ha,” Reeve crows. “But you’re not sleeping, you’re training your ass off like you plan on being there and are maybe a little worried about those fools you’re competing with.”
“Hey, man, this body? Be a crime to let it go to waste.” I make a show of lifting up my shirt to show off my abs while my friends groan and laugh.
“Put that shit away already, would you?” Reeve says. “The fact I could draw your torso from memory is fucking sick.”
Faking a pout, I drop the fabric. “Yeah, you love it.” So what if I’m proud of my body?
I’ve worked my ass off for it. Besides, my reputation for taking my shirt off whenever the mood strikes is half the reason certain girls even show up at our parties, and the last thing I want to do is disappoint them.
When talk returns to Combine invites, I glance across the bar to where Maisy’s group is staked out, and I catch sight of Georgia again.
She’s sipping her drink with her pink-painted mouth, her nails the same color as her lips.
Her long hair shines under the shifting light from the arcade game a few feet away, and when she runs a hand through it, it spills through her fingers like silk.
I love a girl who enjoys dressing up, painting her face and nails, adding some sparkle to her ears and neck and wrists.
And okay, I love a bare-faced girl too, but there’s something about a woman who appreciates the finer details.
Georgia casts a curious glance around the room, and I straighten up, puffing out my chest. Is she looking for me? Probably. I couldn’t have imagined that spark between us. Shit, spark doesn’t even begin to describe it. More like magic. Alchemy. Destiny banging down the door.
A craving hits me hard—the desire to be near her again and soak up the energy she gives off.
Her quiet, easy demeanor calmed me as soon as she spoke.
And calm isn’t exactly a word I’d use to describe myself.
Yet something about the way she seemed so comfortable in her own skin settled me right down.
She never does catch my eye, but I’m not worried.
Tonight I’ll leave her alone like I promised my sister, but there’s no way I’m staying away from this girl and the pull she has on me.
I couldn’t if I wanted to. I need to talk to her again and hear that sweet laugh of hers.
Lucky for me, I know exactly where to find her.