Chapter 31
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
BEING IN A relationship wasn’t as excruciating as Elijah expected it to be. Or perhaps it was just easy being committed to Georgia? There was a time when he would snub his nose at couples who constantly texted or touched each other. But now he got it.
Whenever he thought about her, which was a fuck ton, he sent her a text if they weren’t together.
And if they were together, he would find a way to touch her, whether just holding her hand or kissing her.
Like he turned over a new leaf. He loved talking to her and making her smile.
It was an addiction he had, to make Georgia happy.
Today was the start of a two-day shift away from her, and fuck, he hated it.
Georgia was better at sending pictures now, when she wasn’t with him.
He smirked. They weren’t pictures most women sent, not with his peach.
They were always cute and clever. Like a cover of the book she was reading or his bed after she made it.
“Why are you smiling?” Nash asked as he crashed into the chair next to him in the break room.
Benny coughed to cover his laughter. “He’s been like this since he waltzed into the station three hours ago.”
“Waltzed?” Nash questioned.
Elijah rolled his eyes. “I did not waltz.”
“You were practically floating, man. I also noticed every time you’re on your phone, you basically light up.” Benny ratted him out, and Elijah made a mental note to make sure he assigned Benny some grunt work.
Nash sat up like he was struck by lightning. “It’s a woman. Who is it?”
Fuck, was now the time?
Georgia didn’t bring this up again. Elijah didn’t want to go behind her back. Sure, he was new in a relationship, but confiding in Nash that it was with Georgia, without telling her, didn’t feel right.
“Can’t I just be in a good mood?”
“No.” Benny and Nash answered at the same time.
Nash kept talking. “You will never be classified as a smiley person, but today you are about to get the title. Who is she?”
“Awww! Elijah has a novia,” Benny teasingly sang.
“Elijah and mystery woman, sitting in a tree,” Nash continued to stir the pot.
“You both need a hobby.” Elijah brushed them off.
He had never wished for an emergency, but the fire alarm went off, alerting the station to a fire in a corporate building. Thank fuck the conversation was over. Everyone hauled ass to get the truck ready and head to the location.
Elijah was literally saved by the bell.
GEORGIA NEVER WORRIED about Nash as a firefighter.
Despite his laid-back attitude, he was a rule follower at work.
She was reassured by his commitment to his career and the precautions he had to follow.
He was safe. As a firm believer that anything could be potentially dangerous, and she trusted Nash, she never lost sleep.
However, when it came to Elijah, she was a wreck.
All the conditions were the same, and Elijah was more of a compliance freak than her brother, but her heart raced when she saw on social media that a raging fire had taken over four hours to control.
Needing to talk to someone, she called Sophie.
“Hey, sunshine,” her best friend greeted her. Thankfully, she was in a better mood than she was a few weeks ago. When Georgia asked her about it, Sophie shut it down, saying she was especially emotional because she was on her period. Georgia tried to get more out of her, but she didn’t budge.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting ready for happy hour,” Sophie told her. “I matched with someone on the new dating app you told me about, so I’m meeting him for a drink. Are you okay? You sound upset?”
Georgia stopped pacing around her kitchen and sat down in the living room. “There is a fire, and I’m worried—”
“Nash is fine,” Sophie soothed her. “You need to remember he is a trained professional. Besides, he hates me too much to let something happen to himself because then who would torture me?”
That got a small smile from Georgia.
“Wait, this is about Elijah, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
“Well, the same thing goes. I know you are in love, so it changes things, but you need to trust Elijah to do his job.”
In love.
This got a bigger smile out of her.
“Don’t you have a key to his house?” Sophie asked.
“I do.”
She swore she felt Sophie roll her eyes.
“Then get your butt to his house, pull on one of his T-shirts that probably smells like him, and snuggle in his bed. Once he’s back at the station, send him a sexy picture of yourself so he knows what he’s coming home to. Since it’s Friday night, he’ll be coming back to you on Sunday.”
Standing up to take Sophie’s advice, she was surprised Sophie was so romantic. “For someone who swears love is dead, that’s really great advice. Thank you.”
“Hey, I don’t think love is dead for you!” she corrected. “It will just never exist for me.”
Georgia paused. “You don’t actually believe that.”
“Go to Elijah’s house.”
“Don’t change the subject. Who is the secret man who broke your heart?”
Sophie huffed. “I’m going on a date, so I refuse to let a man-child be on my mind. I need to finish getting ready, but I promise to text when I get home. Don’t worry about Elijah. Trust him and count down the hours until you get to see him again.”
“Why won’t you talk to me?”
“Because he isn’t worth it. Love you.”
With that, Sophie ended their call.
This was the second time in a month that Sophie showed some of her cards about a man who did damage to her heart. Georgia wasn’t letting this go, but she’d take her time because her friend wasn’t the type to talk if she didn’t want to.
Grabbing her keys, she headed to Elijah’s house.
IT WAS AFTER midnight when Elijah and his team returned to the fire station.
Over eight hours at the fire site, and all of them were exhausted.
That didn’t stop the paperwork he was required to complete. But he needed to take a shower and complete a full decontamination for his gear. Then there was rehabilitating all of the equipment, restocking the fire trucks and ambulances, and another shower.
Fuck, he wasn’t going to be able to take a rest for a few hours.
By the time he got to the plethora of paperwork, it was after 2 a.m. Elijah kept reminding himself all he needed to do was finish the detailed incident report and summarize the call logs.
“Coffee!” he screamed from his desk, hoping someone was still in the kitchen area. If someone didn’t bring him caffeine in ten minutes, he’d get up and do it himself.
Nash was a dream come true as he sauntered into Elijah’s office. He slammed a mug of coffee on the desk, liquid sloshing over the rim.
“What the fuck?” Elijah grilled him.
“Maybe I should be saying what the fuck to you?” Nash yelled back.
This was outrageous. They busted their asses for hours to contain a fire that brought down an entire building, and his friend was pissed he had to get coffee for him?
Elijah glared at him. “It’s a fucking cup of coffee. I’ve been behind my desk finishing reports. I didn’t think you’d care about helping me out.”
Nash threw Elijah’s phone at him. “I don’t give a fuck about bringing your caffeine fix. What does bother me is my baby sister is texting my best friend about how she’s in your fucking bed waiting for you.”
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
Now wasn’t the time to ask Nash why the hell he was going through his phone. The damage was done.
“She was the reason you were actually showing your teeth and smiling today.” Nash put his hands on Elijah’s desk, leaning closer. “What the fuck is going on?”
What could he say to calm Nash?
His only option was honesty, but he was one hundred percent leaving out how he took her virginity. “We’re dating.”
“Dating!” Nash pushed off the desk and started pacing the cramped office. “You don’t fuck women who live near you because you hate commitment, yet now you suddenly think you’re good enough for my sister?”
“Fuck off!”
“No, no, I’m not going to fuck off. Not when you will, undoubtedly, hurt George. Of all the women to sleep with, it had to be her?”
Dragging his hands through his hair, he looked at Nash. “I’m not going to hurt her. Georgia is so much more than just someone I am sleeping with. I swear, she means something to me.”
“Hell, is she the one you were talking about when you told me I had no idea how good your sex life was?” Nash groaned. “No, don’t answer that.”
Unable to stop himself, Elijah smirked.
Nash pointed at him. “If you break her heart, I’ll do everything in my power to ruin your life.”
“Agreed.” Elijah didn’t hesitate. “I never want to hurt her.”
But Elijah couldn’t stop the nagging thought. Was he good enough for her?