Chapter 16 #2
Relieved that he was letting it go—for now—Georgie laughed.
“Shut up.” She took a left onto Cory Lane, navigated the winding road, and turned into the driveway of the prestigious private school, which was deserted for the summer.
Right away she understood the purpose of this mission.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me! We drove all this way to look at a windmill? ”
“Not just any windmill. It’s a wind turbine and the first of its kind in the area.”
Georgie groaned. “We could’ve gone to the beach or flown a kite on Ocean Drive or watched the boats in the harbor, but no. We get to visit a gigantic windmill. Lucky me.”
Nathan chuckled and opened his door. “I hate to say it, but sarcasm doesn’t look pretty on you, Georgie Quinn. Take a walk with me.”
Dreaming of the beach, Georgie got out of the car and took his outstretched hand. “You’re going to owe me big-time for this, Caldwell.”
“That sounds promising.”
Georgie cracked up. At least he could be counted on for consistency.
As they navigated the dirt path that led to the base of the windmill, he told her it was one hundred sixty-four feet tall and each of the three blades was seventy-seven feet long.
“You’re a nerd, Nathan. Seriously.”
“I’m insulted.” But he seemed more amused than insulted.
“So what’s the point?” she asked, tipping her head up for a better view.
“They expect it to cut the school’s two hundred thousand dollar electric bill in half.”
“That much?”
“Yep. It’ll probably reduce their heating bills, too.”
“How much did it cost?”
“One point two five million. So in ten years it’ll more than pay for itself, and it has a life expectancy of twenty-five years. Pretty cool, huh?”
“Very,” she said with a decided lack of enthusiasm.
“This is the future, Georgie. We can’t sustain our reliance on foreign oil. These kinds of alternative energy sources are going to become commonplace. There’s another turbine over at the high school if you want to see an even bigger one.”
“Thanks, but I’ll pass. How did you become such an enviro nerd?”
“My mother is a hippie environmentalist.”
Georgie stared up at his clean-cut self and tried to imagine him with a hippie for a mother. “No way.”
He rewarded her with the grin that occupied every square inch of his face. “You’ve decided I’m too much of a nerd to have a hippie for a mother, right?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, it’s true. If you don’t believe me, ask Ben or Ian.
She lived on a commune in Utah for two years after college.
They were way out in front of the environmental movement and so was she, which is why we recycled at home years before it was in vogue.
Since there was nowhere local to take it back then, she and I used to drive it to a place in Boston once a month.
She got our whole neighborhood on board, and the car was usually full to the gills with cans and newspapers and beer bottles.
What I remember most vividly from those trips is the stench of beer. ”
Georgie laughed.
“These days, one of my favorite sounds in the world is the crash of bottles into the recycling truck on garbage day.”
“No doubt the highlight of your week.”
“My favorite day.”
“You really are a nerd, Caldwell.”
Smiling, he rested his hands on her hips and tugged her to him. “But you want me anyway.”
She gauged the almost dangerous glint in his eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
Hooking his good arm around her neck, he brought his mouth down on hers and set out to prove her wrong. While his kisses the night before had been about gentle seduction, this one was about passionate persuasion. His tongue slid past her teeth in teasing thrusts that made her desperate for more.
Georgie fisted his shirt, trying to gain purchase as her head spun and her heart pounded.
She loved the way he kissed, how his soft lips moved over hers as his stubble rubbed against her cheek—not to mention the way he tasted and the spicy male scent that permeated her senses every time she was close to him.
It was okay to admit all that, right? Just because she loved kissing him didn’t mean she loved him, did it?
The hand that had been resting on the small of her back slid down to palm her bottom. He pulled her tight against his erection.
“Nathan,” she gasped. “Someone might see us.”
Raising his head, he took a quick glance around. “Who?” He returned his attention to her lips.
“Wait,” she said, pressing her hands to his chest. “I need to catch my breath.”
He flashed her a cocky grin. “Took it away, did I?”
“Don’t look so satisfied.”
“I’m far from satisfied,” he said in a low, sexy voice, his blue eyes heavy with desire. He took her hand and started back to the car.
Georgie’s heart continued to thud as she walked with him down the dirt path.
When they reached the parking lot, he angled her back against the sun-warmed car and molded his body to hers.
Cradling her face in his hand, he kissed her lightly this time, as if he intended to keep her off balance.
“You’re so beautiful, Georgie,” he whispered against her lips, bringing her in closer and then wincing when his injured arm protested the movement.
“No, I’m not. I’m short and my eyes are too close together and—”
He silenced her with another passionate kiss. “If I say you’re beautiful, you have to believe me.” His fingers slid beneath the hem of her shirt and heated her skin. “Have you been thinking about the first night we spent together?” he whispered in her ear.
Georgie’s eyes darted up to meet his. “No,” she said in a shaky voice that gave her away.
“Liar,” he chuckled.
She shuddered from the skim of his lips over her ear.
“I think about it all the time. I dream about it.” Under her shirt, his hands coasted up over her ribs. His thumbs grazed her nipples.
“Nathan,” she moaned as she arched into his embrace. “Stop.”
“Okay.”
As he kissed her forehead and removed his hands from under her top, Georgie could have cried from the loss. Wait, she wanted to say yet again. I didn’t mean it!
“Ready to go?” he asked with maddening nonchalance.
Was he serious? Could he really turn it off that fast? He was making her crazy one kiss at a time, which, she suspected, was his plan. She could barely stand, let alone drive, but with the brush of her hand across her burning lips, she made an effort to pull herself together.
“How about I drive for a while?” he asked with a smug grin that told her he was well aware of the effect his rapid withdrawal had on her.
“Fine.” Georgie threw the keys at his head, plopped into the passenger seat and slammed the door.
“What’s got you so hot and bothered?” he asked as he got in the car with the keys in his hand rather than sticking out of his head as she had intended.
She shot him a look of pure disbelief. “I’m neither hot nor bothered.”
“Sweetheart, you’re both, and that just infuriates you, doesn’t it?”
“God, you’re so full of yourself! How can you stand it?”
“At least I know what I want. You, on the other hand. Who knows from one minute to the next what you want? Hot, cold, warm, icy, smoldering, and then just as fast we’re right back to frigid. That one’s a real turn off, I gotta tell you.”
“Are you through?”
“I’m just getting started.”
“I told you what I wanted—way back at the very beginning. Remember? Do you have any memory of me saying I. Don’t. Want. To. Get. Involved? Ringing any bells?”
“Involved? Is that what we are? Well, at least it has a definition now. That’s progress.”
“Ugh!” she shrieked. “You are the most aggravating person I’ve ever met! You hear only what you want to hear, you keep showing up, making yourself necessary to me, kissing me senseless, and what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to deal with that? Can you tell me?”
He smirked, and it took all her willpower not to smack it right off his face. “Why are you making that face?”
“I’m necessary to you, huh?”
“See what I mean? You hear only what you want to hear! I swear to God, if you weren’t already injured, I’d beat the daylights out of you myself!”
“That I’d like to see. In fact, the minute my arm stops hurting like a bastard, you’re on.”
“Now you’re making fun of me, aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah.” He flipped a lock of her hair between his fingers. “I guess I am.”
Smacking his hand away, she glowered at him.
“Do you really want me to leave you alone, Georgie?” he asked softly. “Do you want me to go away and never come back? Because if that’s what it’ll take to make you happy, I’ll do it, even though I’d miss you and all your many moods like crazy. Is that what you want?”
As she glanced over to gauge his sincerity, her stomach hurt at what she saw on his face. The cockiness was gone, the humor was gone, and in their place was sadness. That she had done that to him dissolved what remained of her anger. “No.”
“Are you sure? You need to be sure, because I don’t plan to make this offer again.”
“I’m not sure of anything. That’s the problem.”
“Here’s something you can be sure of—I’m falling for you, Georgie Quinn, and you’ve become quite necessary to me, too. Vital, in fact.”
“You really have to stop saying that stuff.”
Leaning in to kiss her, he said, “Okay.”