Chapter Thirty Four
Domestic, Deranged, and Hot as Hell
“ W ake up, darlin’,” I rumble, voice thick with sleep as I brush Georgia’s mess of hair from her face.
She blinks up at me, a soft smile ghosting her lips before jerking upright with a gasp, moving so quick, her head knocks into mine.
Grunting, I shake the throb away and glare down at her, jaw ticking as I prod at her forehead. “You hurt yourself—”
“Oh my God! Aurora!” she cries, jumping off the couch. The blanket wrapped around her drops, tangling with her feet and she stumbles forward, arms spiraling like a damn windmill.
I snatch her up, arm around her middle and haul her into my arms, her back to my chest.
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” she whimpers, nails biting into my arm. “Shit. Let me down—”
“Hey, hey, relax,” I interrupt, moving her from the danger zone of the blanket and coffee table. “She’s okay. She’s playing with my sisters out back.”
Georgia freezes, body tense for a split second before the fight drains right out of her. Confident she’s not about to fall or run, I drop her feet to the ground and slowly release her.
She smooths her hands down her clothes—black fitted pants and a soft sweater. Same thing she was wearing when she showed up last night and rescued me from severe sleep deprivation brought on by a screaming, drooling, pooping toddler.
Only thing Georgia’s missing is those damn sky-high heels that kill me every time she wears them, which isn't much. My girl prefers her cute little fake cowgirl boots. I make a mental note to get her some real ones.
With a slow exhale, she turns to face me, lip tucked between her teeth, hands clenched in front of her.
She looks nervous as hell—awkward even. And she’s silent, which isn’t like Georgia. Even when she’s mad, she’s rambling a mile a minute, or biting my head off at the very least.
Only time I’ve seen her so… stand-offish … is when she’s pulling away, walls up and feet halfway out the damn door.
“You slept,” she finally whispers, body language closed off.
I nod slowly, eyes narrowed.
“I’m glad. You needed it.”
Gesturing to the couch, I grumble, “Why didn’t you come to bed with me?”
“With you?” she asks, voice a little high-pitched, cheeks burning red.
“Oh, I, uh—” She takes a step back… a step away from me.
“Just fell asleep. I was going to make you breakfast, but I wasn’t sure when you’d be up, or if you’d want me to hang around after you slept.
I can…” Brows furrowed, she gives a sharp nod. “I’ll go—”
Nah. We’re not doing this shit.
Unable to take the distance—emotional and physical—I haul her over my shoulder and stomp toward the kitchen.
“AH! What the hell are you doing, Kade?” she snaps, little palms slapping against my back. “Put me down, you big brute!”
I grin. There’s my wildfire.
My hand claps down on her perfect, round ass before I drop her on the island. Don’t give her a second to overthink a damn thing before I’m on her, forcing my way between her thighs, hand gripped around her jaw, fingers threaded through her wavy hair.
“Talk to me,” I demand, voice rough, muscles corded with tension as my eyes flick between hers. “What the hell happened between last weekend and now?”
Her throat bobs beneath my grip, fingertips digging into the counter like she wants to touch me but doesn’t know if she can, or should .
I hate it.
She drops her gaze. “Nothing.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t look away.” I tighten my grip, still keeping it gentle, but enough to tip her head back, forcing her to look at me. “Gotta help me out here, freckles. Know it’s been a few days, but—”
“Four days,” she huffs, and I’m shocked to see her eyes gloss over. “But I didn’t… you didn’t…”
She trails off, swallowing hard.
My mind races through an invisible battlefield I can’t quite see, trying to put the pieces together.
I know Georgia is quick to run when shit gets scary. Don’t blame her for it after all she’s been through, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make it hard to navigate whatever… this is.
To me, what we have between us feels a hell of a lot like the start of something permanent. Something I’ve dreamt about my entire damn life.
Thought she wanted that, too. Thought she felt the same way.
Did I fuck it up already? Get it wrong? Push too hard?
But then her words come tumbling back, the vulnerability on her face, the hurt in her eyes.
Last time I saw her, she was wrapped in my arms, and holding me like she never wanted to let go. And then she left for work, and Aurora showed up, and everything after that was a whirlwind. I’d been so caught up, that I didn’t think to call her…
Fuck.
“I didn’t call you.”
The way she flinches tells me all I need to know.
Cupping her face with both hands, I tilt her neck back and drop my forehead to hers, inhaling the sweet, wild scent that’s all her, and let it calm the chaos still clawing under my skin.
“Saying I’m sorry won’t fix it,” I murmur, brushing her cheek with my thumb, “but I am. I’m sorry, Georgia. I shouldn’t have let it drag on so long without reaching out. That’s on me.”
“No,” she whispers, voice tight and raw as her hands finally leave the counter and grip my wrists hard enough to leave nail imprints.
“ I’m sorry. I let my brain fill up with all sorts of ugly thoughts about what happened between us.
” A shaky breath escapes her, but it sounds too close to a sob.
“I’d like to say it was a one-off, but it happens a lot with me. ”
I press a kiss to her forehead, trying to pour comfort into the contact, trying to stitch together what I’ve unknowingly torn open. “I’m not afraid to fight your demons, Georgia Walker.”
“I’m a lot of work,” she says, like she’s trying to scare me off.
“I’m not afraid of hard work,” I murmur, my lips ghosting her skin. “And you’re worth it.”
Her breath catches, body shivering against me, but the tension in her shoulders doesn’t fade, so I continue, rambling the truth like a madman.
“Wanted to call you the second I woke up to an empty house. Missed you more than I probably should, but I don’t give a fuck.”
“You did?”
I nod, keeping her close. “Wanted to beg your perfect ass to come back and never leave.”
“Kade…”
“It’s true,” I murmur, thumbs tracing the soft skin of her jaw as I pull back far enough to see her eyes. “If I told you all the things I feel where you’re concerned, darlin’, you’d run for the hills and never look back.”
Her tongue drags across her lower lip, slow and sexy, before she breathes out, “Try me.”
And God, it yanks me right back to that day all those weeks ago when I showed her around this very house and she begged me to tell her why I wanted so many rooms.
Meadow eyes flare up at me and for a second, I wonder if she’s thinking of it too. She brought it up while her bare, wet cunt was rubbing my cock the other night, so clearly, my dreams are on her mind as much as they’re on mine.
“You really wanna know?” I ask, my voice rough.
She nods, gaze flicking to my lips and then back to my eyes. “Yes.”
It hits me then, that maybe I’ve had it wrong.
Maybe Georgia’s need to run when shit gets scary isn’t because she’s afraid of me going all in—it’s because she’s afraid she’s falling alone.
Maybe she needs the reassurance that what’s between us isn’t one-sided.
Don’t know if it’s love yet. Don’t know if I’d recognize love if it hit me in the chest. The only time I ever thought I had it was with a woman who turned out to be more manipulator than partner. A woman who lied to me, used me, and weaponized her pain in ways I’m still untangling.
Did Marlee ever love me? Did she even know how?
Doesn’t matter. Not anymore.
All that matters is Georgia. This moment. This woman sitting in front of me, holding on with her fingernails and heart.
“I want you, Georgia Walker,” I say, voice low and steady. “In a big, scary kind of way.”
Her eyes widen, lips parting, but I’m not done.
“Called you mine the other night, and I meant it. Want your softness and sass. Your stubborn mouth and your tendency to overthink everything. Want the girl who’s had to fight for herself every goddamn step of the way.
Want the woman who never got chosen and still shows up for everyone else anyway.
I want the parts of you that you think make you too much—your fear, your fire, all of it. ”
Her chest rises in a sharp breath, tears flooding her eyes so fast it nearly unravels me.
“I’m not sayin’ I’ve got it all figured out,” I admit, brushing a tear from her cheek with my knuckle. “And I’m not sayin’ I know what comes next. But I know what I want. And it’s you. Aurora. Us.”
“But…” Her head shakes. “What happens when my contract ends?”
My stomach flips and turns, heart kicking at the thought.
Don’t want her to leave. Not now, not never.
But that’s not my choice.
If she doesn’t find what she’s looking for in Heart Springs, she might leave and never come back. Part of me wants to run out right now and dig hard for her roots just so I have something solid to give her.
Georgia has to want this, though.
Has to be in this with me.
I’ll fight tooth and nail for this woman, but she’s gotta fight at my side.
If I learned anything from my past, it’s that a person who wants to go, will go. One way or another, they’ll find an exit and bolt through it first chance they get—no matter what, or who they’re leaving behind.
Tried to be everything I could be for Marlee. Tried to show her that I was worth choosing. But she chose herself, and from what Ethel said, she kept making the same choice ‘till the day she died.
Didn’t want to fall into someone who had a foot out the door… tried to avoid it. But Georgia isn’t just someone, and ignoring what I feel for her is as useless as it is painful. All I can do is hope this shit doesn’t blow up in my face eventually.