Chapter 24
Jake saw her the second he stepped into the den.
Georgia was curled up on the couch, blanket wrapped tight around her shoulders, firelight flickering over her face. She wasn’t crying, but the look in her eyes hit him harder than tears would have.
He moved in, quiet, and sank down beside her. “You okay?”
Her lips pressed together, then she let out a shaky laugh. “When Ben saw you and his face lit up, it reminded me of Connor when you brought him to the track that day. Remember?”
“I remember.”
Just like with Georgia, every moment he spent with Connor was tattooed in his memory.
Jake hadn’t known the first thing about transporting people in wheelchairs. How tricky oxygen tanks with all the lines could be. So he’d done his research because he wanted to make sure that kid smiled. And he wanted to prove to Georgia that he could help shoulder the load, if she’d just let him.
The day had been a comedy of errors. The oxygen tube popped a tiny hole—nothing duct tape couldn’t fix.
Connor became so excited when he met one of the drivers that he knocked his funnel cake onto the ground, igniting a powdered sugar IED.
A glitter bomb would have caused less damage because the driver came out looking like he’d battled it out with a bag of flour and lost.
But nothing was going to dampen their time. Jake had gone big, calling in favors, saving his cash, wanting to make it Connor’s best day ever. He even managed to convince the security guard to look the other way while they snuck into the owners’ box. A day for the books.
As the engines had thundered to life, Jake had leaned closer to Connor. “Here it comes, buddy. Best part—first lap. You’ll never forget it.”
But Connor was rocking side to side in his wheelchair, his little knees knocking together. “I have to go.”
Jake had looked at Georgia, who lowered her voice for Jake’s ears only. “Right now, he feels like one of the guys. He’ll be mortified if his sister takes him to the bathroom in front of all these men.”
He’d looked at Connor and back to Georgia. “How do I…?”
She’d placed a gentle hand on his and squeezed. “You’ll figure it out.”
How many times had he told her that he could handle her life, that he wanted to be a part of every aspect of her world. This had been his chance to prove to her how much she meant to him.
He’d leaned over and gave her a smack to the lips.
“Hey, buddy, I have to make a pit stop too.” Jake had opened the owners’ box door and held it so Connor could wheel his way out.
It had taken a little maneuvering and quick thinking on Jake’s part, but the pit stop was successful and when they made it back to the box, Georgia had greeted him with a look, which he couldn’t quite decipher, but wanted to be on the receiving end of for the rest of his life. He was pretty sure it was pure love.
Just thinking about it now made his heart roll over in his chest.
“I don’t know how you made it happen, but you made it happen. The perfect day,” she whispered. “That was the best day of his life.” Her voice trailed off, words dissolving in the flames.
Jake’s hand found hers, steady, warm. “I remember. It was one of the best days of my life too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” he said gruffly. “Connor was so happy and he made me feel like I was a superhero.”
Her hand tightened around his. “In his eyes, you were.”
“And in yours?”
“You were everything bright in my world,” she said. “Then it all went black.”
“Mine too,” he murmured.
Her eyes flicked to his. Soft. Tired. So damn vulnerable it nearly undid him.
“God,” she muttered, forcing another laugh. “I must look ridiculous. Everyone else is in the family room sipping hot buttered rum, and I’m in here hiding out like—”
“Like a person who feels things?” Jake cut in gently. “That’s not ridiculous.”
She turned toward him fully, brows lifting. “Easy for you to say. You’re not the one brooding by the fire like some tragic heroine.”
A smile tugged at his mouth. “No. But I’m sitting next to her.”
She blinked at him, caught between amusement and exasperation. “You always do that.”
“Do what?”
“Say the exact right thing.”
Jake leaned a fraction closer, his thumb brushing her knuckles before he could stop himself. “Maybe it’s because I actually pay attention.”
Her laugh was soft, unsteady. “Dangerous habit.”
“Worth it,” he said.
“What if we go there and it’s all a mistake?” she voiced for the second time.
“We both know that’s a lie.” His voice softened, the grin slipping away so she’d know he meant it. “A mistake is you walking away instead of calling me on my shit. A mistake was me letting you walk away without a fight. There have been a lot of mistakes on both sides, but last night wasn’t one.”
“Maybe last night wasn’t a mistake. But continuing on like this will work is.”
“Do we have challenges? Absolutely. Am I willing to figure it out? Abso-fucking-lutely. The question is, are you?”
She lifted a sad shoulder. “I don’t know.”
The genuine uncertainty in her eyes blew him off balance. He had about two seconds to bring this back around or he was going to lose her.
“Georgia,” he whispered, her name rough on his tongue. “If I kiss you right now—”
Her breath hitched. “Then you’d better not stop halfway.”
That was all it took. Jake leaned in and kissed her.
It wasn’t tentative. Not after tonight. Not with the haunted look in her eyes. He couldn’t erase the pain that had resurfaced but he could temper it, bring some warmth to the darkness.
He tried to keep it slow, careful. But when she fisted her hand in his shirt and dragged him closer, caution went up in flames. He deepened the kiss, groaning softly when she met him with the same urgency.
The blanket slipped off her shoulders. His hand found the small of her back, pulling her flush against him. She tasted like chocolate and peppermint, like something he hadn’t realized he’d been starving for.
When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Georgia pressed her forehead to his. “We’re making a mistake,” she whispered.
Jake’s thumb traced her jaw. “Funny. Doesn’t feel like one.”
She searched his face, eyes shimmering in the firelight. “This doesn’t make the complications between us disappear. There’s still a canyon between us that can’t be crossed.”
“I’ve made a career of making the impossible possible.”
Something in her broke then—he felt it, the way her shoulders softened, the way her fingers curled into him instead of holding back. She kissed him again, hungrier this time, and Jake answered with everything he’d been holding back for years.
When he finally gathered her into his embrace, she let him. Her arms looped around his neck, trusting, sure. That trust was more intoxicating than the kiss, more binding than the heat curling low in his stomach.
He stood, carrying her easily, and she laughed softly against his throat. “Where are we going?”
“My room,” he said, voice rough. “There are a lot of things I need right now, and my grandparents walking in on us isn’t one of them.”
“What do you need?”
“Your hair spread across my sheets and your legs straddling my face.”
That got a little chuckle out of her. “Funny. I was thinking the same thing.”
With the fire crackling behind them, Jake carried her into the dark of his bedroom, his dick pounding like it was about to break through his zipper.
When he’d peeked into the den moments ago, he’d told himself he was just there to offer comfort, then against his better judgment he’d gone and kissed her. Now, he was sitting on the bed, and she was standing in front of him, her green eyes boldly locked on his.
The air between them electrified like a lightning storm was overhead.
“Did I mention I have a thing for elves now?” he said, taking in her little green number. “It’s the stripped leggings that do me in.”
“If that turns you on, wait until you see what’s under the green skirt.”
“Is it a matching set?”
“Let’s just say, it’s festive.”
He groaned. He couldn’t help it. The image of Georgia in red lace, silky skin, and a Santa hat did it for him.
“I can get this rolling.”
She walked toward him and when she went to drop to her knees, he said, “Nope. We both enjoy every round. And, trust me, you don’t want to miss round two.”
“Does it involve my legs straddling your head?” she asked sweetly.
“Until you suffocate me,” he said, slipping his hands up underneath her dress and—after delivering a teasing smack to that heart-shaped ass—tugged the candy-striped leggings down and the dress off, so that he could see the Christmas present waiting for him beneath. And what a gift it was.
The lace was fuck-me red, practically transparent, and had a thin strip of silk that disappeared between her cheeks. Then there was the bra—designed to be taken off by a man’s teeth.
“If I’d known that’s what you had on under this outfit, you would’ve been on your back in the bed of my truck.”
“In the snow?”
“Darlin’, the snow wouldn’t stand a chance with the heat we create.” He twirled a finger. “Now, spin for me.”
Georgia took a little step back and slowly turned around, making a big deal of things. When her back was to him, she gave a little shimmy that he felt all the way south of the Mason-Dixon line.
She gave a cute look over her shoulder then, and as if that wasn’t enough to turn his heart over, she winked.
“Come here,” he said, holding out his arms. She walked right into them and something so right and inevitable clicked into place, like she’d been meant to end up here, in his family’s house, and in his arms, all along.
He kissed her softly, then not so softly, and then hooked his fingers in the elastic of her thong and slid it down her legs, slowly exploring every inch of satiny skin.
For a pocket rocket, she was all legs. Miles and miles of toned, tan, tantalizing legs that he wanted to commit to memory. First with his hands, then his lips, and eventually—when she was panting his name—his tongue.