Chapter 19
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
BEING A FIREFIGHTER made Elijah a light sleeper.
He was already up to move at a moment’s notice.
But last night, he didn’t wake up at all.
He probably hit a REM cycle. This morning, when he stretched awake, the voluptuous body belonging to Georgia was next to him.
Just the sight of her made his mouth water.
Her curves were permanently tattooed on his brain.
All he desired was to crawl between her legs and wake her up with his mouth on her, eating her out until she orgasmed.
But that wasn’t happening.
He already broke a cardinal rule of not letting women sleep over. If he continued having sex with her, sleepovers would lead her on and make her think he wanted more than he could give her.
Elijah was an asshole, but he wasn’t that big of a prick.
Georgia deserved a partner who would give her the future she deserved. Someone who had some stability and didn’t have such a dangerous job.
She rustled in the bed, rolling over to her stomach.
Damn, her ass was delectable. He grinned when he saw the bite mark he left on her right ass cheek. For her being new at sex, she sure liked it rough.
Shit, his dick was getting hard again. He got out of bed and went into the bathroom to get ready for the morning.
It was Sunday, and he had a shift tomorrow, so he typically did last-minute chores and made sure his fridge was stocked.
That way, when he got off work in two days, he wouldn’t have to do anything.
After brushing his teeth, he peeked out the door to see Georgia still lying in bed. He jumped into the shower, and his thoughts were consumed with the night before.
Of how Georgia sounded when he ate her out, as she begged for him to let her orgasm.
Fuck, this was not helping him control his hard-on, but he couldn’t stop the replay.
She was a fucking goddess when he rolled onto his back last night, and she sat on top of him, riding him until she came. Her blond hair swinging down her back, her full breasts bouncing. He groaned about how he grabbed her hips to fuck her.
No, he was not going to jerk off to her while she lay in his bedroom.
Damn, he was acting as if he’d never had sex before. The way he needed her was feral.
While washing his hair, he went over the seven essentials of firefighting to get soft. After he went through water supply, ventilation, and fire suppression, he was able to get out of the shower.
With his towel wrapped around his waist, he walked back into his bedroom, this time with a fully dressed Georgia sitting on his bed.
“You took a long shower,” she said mischievously.
He grabbed a pair of underwear from a drawer and slipped them on, then dropped the towel. “Do you need me to drive you home?” Crap, his suggestion wasn’t nice, but he wasn’t commenting that the long shower was to calm his raging hard-on.
“Nope, my Uber will be here any minute. I was hoping you’d finish up in there, so I didn’t ghost you.”
“I’d be fine either way.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, but I would have felt bad if I disappeared without saying goodbye.”
He nodded because what else was there to say?
Georgia stood and slipped on her sandals. “Listen,” she said as she walked to his bedroom door. She turned to face him. “I know last night, just like the week before, didn’t mean anything more than what it was. It was just sex.”
“I don’t want to lead you on.” He was trying to let her down gently.
But to his surprise, she laughed.
“Or maybe I don’t want to lead you on.” Georgia showed him her megawatt smile. “What I’m trying to say is you can’t get angry if I’m talking to another man like you did last night. You said you don’t commit, and I respect that. We need to draw the line in the sand, you know?”
Why did this feel like a breakup conversation?
And why did it bother him?
The vibration of her phone against her purse was loud in the silence. She pulled it out and then looked back at him. “My Uber is here. Are we good?”
“I don’t think we are anything.” He crossed his arms, pissed off.
She tilted her head and watched him for a minute before she left without saying goodbye.
It was better this way.
Elijah made a promise to himself to leave Georgia alone, no matter the desperation he felt to have her again.
“DR. CROSS, YOUR next patient is a routine visit,” one of the nurses said to her as she scrubbed her hands. “Maggie Thatcher, she’s actually a nurse in the ER. Twenty-three, no prior health concerns. I finished her vitals. Nothing abnormal. She’s in room nine.”
“Thank you,” Georgia said as she grabbed the patient’s clipboard from him. She knocked on the door before she walked in.
“Hi!” The dark-haired woman greeted her with a smile. “I heard the practice had a female doctor, so I immediately switched my provider to you. Nash told me you were the best of the best.”
“While I don’t always agree with my brother,” she said as she blew some air on her stethoscope. “You’re in good hands with me. I reviewed your vitals, and everything looked good. Let me check your heart and lungs, and then I’ll do the rest of the physical. We shouldn’t be too long.”
“Thank you. Today is my first day off in over a week,” she mentioned. “We were short-staffed, so I picked up shifts to help.”
“As your doctor, I have to say to take it easy.” Georgia already liked this patient. “But I completely get it. Take some deep breaths.”
She listened to Maggie’s heart and lungs. Everything was healthy. From there, she did the head and neck check, followed by gently pressing on her abdomen to palpate her internal organs.
“On my end, you pass your physical,” Georgia shared. “I will give you a script for routine blood work, but is there anything else you want to discuss?”
Maggie grinned. “Growing up with Brooks and Nash, was it just hot guy after hot guy always in your house? I’m Matt Thatcher’s younger sister, and I swear my crushes on his friends were outrageous when I was a teen.”
Thatcher, that was why she recognized the last name. Matt was a paramedic at the fire station and, growing up, he was Nash’s best friend.
Georgia laughed. “I can’t believe I just put two and two together.” She pretended to face-plant in her palm. “And I can attest to crushes I had on my brothers’ friends.”
One in particular who she newly crushed on.
“Those firefighters are something else.” Maggie fanned herself off.
She and Georgia chatted for a few more minutes before Georgia promised to say hello if she saw her out, before leaving her patient alone in the room so Maggie could get dressed.
The rest of the day ran smoothly, and time flew until it was after six o’clock. She went into her office and changed out of her scrubs into leggings and a college T-shirt. Grabbing her phone from her purse, she had a missed call from Sophie, so she called Sophie back as she walked to her car.
“It’s Friday night,” Sophie singsonged when she answered. “Want to come over for pizza and hang?”
She opened her car door and slid into her seat, buckling her seat belt. “That actually sounds amazing. I’m about to go home. Give me like an hour. Do you need me to pick anything up?”
“Wine, all the wine.”
Georgia chuckled. “How many people did you invite? Are we talking two bottles or twelve?”
“It’s just us! But bring three bottles. School starts next week, so I need to drink up.”
They got off the phone, and Georgia showered and was ready to go in twenty minutes. She stopped at the liquor store and was searching through the wine section, trying to decide whether she was in the mood for a Cabernet or a Pinot.
“Hey, Sis,” Nash called out to her, joining her in front of the red wine section. “You already have two bottles, and you’re searching for another one. What happened?”
She gave him a hug. “I’m going to Sophie’s, and she requested three bottles.”
“Ah, so Sophie happened,” her brother teased like he always did when it came to her best friend. “Are you ladies hanging in?”
Deciding on the Cab, she grabbed the bottle and put it in the cart. “Yes, which is just what I need after a long week. What are you doing?”
“Grabbing some beer.” He lifted his hand holding the six-pack. “Then heading to Benny’s house for poker. Elijah and Thatch are playing too. We might go out after, but who knows. Elijah was talking about going to Colgate, and we always have a good time there.”
Colgate was about a twenty-minute drive from Landmere. Georgia hated how her stomach flopped when she realized Elijah was going there to meet a woman from his stupid zip code.
“Thatch just broke up with his girlfriend, so we’re trying to keep him busy,” Nash continued sharing details of the weekend.
She forced a smile. “Speaking of Thatch, I met his sister Maggie. She’s great.”
They walked together to the checkout line. “Maggie is a character. The guys always flirt with her when we’re at the ER, and she just eats it up.”
Georgia sensed that Maggie seemed a bit boy crazy.
Nash grabbed the bottles from her cart and paid for them. They walked out of the store together, her brother following her to her car.
He put the bottles in the trunk. “When you get to Sophie’s, you better tell her I got the wine.”
“Why do you always want to start a fight with her?”
“Because she started it.” He slammed his trunk closed.
“Wow, mature words coming from my thirty-six-year-old brother,” Georgia mocked while getting into her car, leaving the door open so they could finish their conversation.
“Just trust me on this one.” He was being as elusive as ever.
But she didn’t push him.
Because she was also being secretive.
Nash had no idea Elijah was the man she gave her virginity to.