CHAPTER THIRTEEN
When Everett opened the door to the bunkhouse, Georgia was standing there with an eager expression. Once she’d stepped into the house and he’d shut the door, his arms were around her, his lips on hers.
It’d been like this for the past several days. Deanna was feeling better, but still not one hundred percent, so if they couldn’t meet under the guise of Everett showing her around Hope Falls, she’d sneak out at night or tell her friend she was off for a walk on the nature trail—when, really, she ended up here with him. Something he couldn’t be happier about.
As their tongues danced and swirled around one another’s he cupped her ass in his hands, and ground her into him. She had such a terrific ass. It was near impossible to keep his hands off it.
Georgia drew back, and for a second, he was concerned that something was wrong. But, when he saw her expression, he knew he was off base. She smirked up at him. Then she pulled her coat off and let it drop to the floor before removing her boots. Without a word, she strolled around him and to the living area, where she dragged her shirt off over her head and rotated around to face him.
“You coming?” she asked as she began to undo her belt buckle and her pants. She didn’t wait for his response, heading to the bedroom instead.
“What are you doing?” he asked after her.
Then he chuckled. Because really, did he care? She was in the process of getting naked so all was well in his world.
“I’m eager to climb Mount Everett, and I can’t be gone long,” she replied, all sexiness and sass.
He threw his head back and laughed. Everett was as eager, if not more, for her to climb on top of him, so he shed his clothes as he followed her to the bedroom. By the time they reached his bed, she was fully naked and he had only his boxers left to lose.
Georgia nodded toward the bed, indicating that he should lie down on it. He was more than happy to oblige, plopping down in the middle of the mattress, his erection straining the confines of his boxer briefs and begging for attention.
She crawled up from the bottom of the bed until she was straddling his waist. Her weight settled on top of him and he pushed his hips up, while reaching out to cup her tits. He massaged them, thumbing her puckered nipples back and forth until she sighed and ground against his pelvis.
“I missed you today,” she said, letting her eyes close and her head fall back.
He didn’t know how she meant it—whether she missed this or his company in general. One thing he’d come to realize, albeit reluctantly, was that he too missed their connection when she wasn’t around.
Though they hadn’t known one another for a long time, Georgia had made an impact on his life. She had him thinking about things he hadn’t even considered being a part of his life in longer than he could remember. For so long, he’d been running—from himself, from the memories. She made him want to stop, be still.
He was shaken from his thoughts when Georgia leaned in to place a kiss on his pec.
“This body.” She sucked his nipple into her mouth. “It’s so perfect.” Then she tongued her way down the center of his chest.
She’d just looped her fingers into his underwear to pull them off when his cell phone started ringing from his nightstand.
“Are you kidding me?” he ground out.
Georgia reached over to grab it off the nightstand and passed it to him. Dawn’s name lit up the screen, jerking him out of the perfect world he and Georgia had cocooned themselves in. One he needed to remind himself didn’t actually exist, because the past was always waiting for him once Georgia had left his side.
“Do you need to answer it?” she asked in an unsure voice. His jaw tightened, knowing she’d seen the name on the screen when she’d picked it up.
“Yeah. I’ll be a minute.” He hit answer on the phone. “Hey, Dawn. How’s it going?”
“Things are okay here. How are you?”
“I’m doing good. Still working the ski patrol in Hope Falls.”
She laughed for a second. “I never know where you’re going to be when I call you. Half the time, I expect you to answer and tell me you’re on the other side of the world.”
He ran a hand through his hair, hating that he felt so raw and exposed from having to speak to Dawn in front of Georgia. He was opening himself up to all kinds of questions—from both of them.
“You know I’d never do that without telling you first. How’s Carrie doing?”
“She’s good. Growing like a weed and learning something new every day.”
Everett continued his conversation for another few minutes, but Dawn must’ve been able to tell that he wasn’t his usual self. Georgia quietly observed from the end of the bed, her arms wrapped around herself.
“Did I catch you at bad time?” Dawn asked.
“Actually, would you mind if I gave you a call tomorrow sometime? I’m kinda in the middle of something.”
A crease settled between Georgia’s eyebrows at the way he’d chosen to phrase his response, but he couldn’t very well tell Dawn that he had been seconds away from getting laid when she’d called.
“Sure thing. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Night, Dawn. Give Carrie a kiss for me.”
“Will do. Night.”
The line went dead, and Everett shifted to put the phone back on his nightstand.
Georgia’s eyes were narrowed as she waited.
“Before you say anything, it’s not what it sounded like,” Everett said in an attempt to head off an argument.
“It sounded like you took a phone call from another woman who you’re obviously close with when you were seconds away from sleeping with me.”
Okay, maybe it was what it had sounded like.
“I had to take the call. I’m sorry,” he said.
“Why did you have to take the call, Everett? And who is Carrie?” Her arms shot up at her sides. “Do you have a child?”
He sat up and cupped her face, willing her to understand. “Trust me. I have my reasons.”
Georgia crossed her arms over her chest, which only highlighted her nakedness even more. “Not good enough. You’re hiding something. I’ve had this feeling all along that there’s something you’re not telling me, and now, I want to know what it is.”
Her tone was firm and final, so if he didn’t open up to her, this would be it. She’d walk out the door and the connection they shared would be lost. It was inevitable in a few days anyway, but Everett wanted to delay it as long as possible. Even if it meant he’d have to discuss the single most difficult night of his existence.
He breathed in deeply, not even sure where to start. He hadn’t discussed what had happened with anyone since that terrifying night three years ago.
“Back in Sacramento, I used to work as a paramedic. Three years ago, I was on shift. It was late at night, and we got dispatched to respond to a nine-one-one call about an accident on the freeway. It was a three-vehicle crash with multiple victims. One of the victims was trapped in the vehicle. When we arrived, the fire department was already working on extracting the person with the Jaws of Life. When they freed the victim, I realized it was my best friend, Jake. I didn’t even recognize his car at first—that’s how mangled it was.”
Everett’s stomach churned as every detail of that night came back to him with startling clarity—from the rain-slicked roads to the nausea that had overwhelmed him when he’d first seen Jake’s terrified gaze fix on him. He clenched his fists at his sides, but Georgia took one of his hands in hers.
“You must have been so scared,” she said with deep empathy.
He shook his head. “Not then. Not yet, anyway. Once he was on our stretcher, I went into work mode, determined to do everything I could to save him. And I did,” he said, his voice hoarse and choking on emotion. “I did everything I could, but it didn’t matter. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.” He shuddered, remembering the vacant, empty expression on Jake’s face when he had succumbed to his injuries.
Georgia’s gasp brought him back to the present.
“It wasn’t your fault.” She wrapped him in her arms and hugged him.
Though they were chest to naked chest, there was nothing sexual about it. He allowed himself a moment of her comfort before placing his hands on her shoulders and pushing her back.
“I’m sure you did everything you could.”
He nodded, staring off at nothing. “I did. And, in the end, it didn’t matter. My closest friend, a guy I’d known my entire life died in front of me, on a steel slab, in pain and terrified.”
“I still don’t understand who Dawn is…”
“Dawn was engaged to Jake, and she was pregnant at the time of the accident. Carrie is her daughter.”
Unshed tears shone in her eyes. “That’s so sad. I’m sorry.”
“Since then, I’ve felt a level of responsibility for the two of them. I failed Jake, but I swore to myself I wouldn’t fail them.”
Georgia gripped his face. “You didn’t fail Jake. You did what you could, but sometimes, these things are out of our control.”
She was right. Logically, he knew that what she’d said was true, but guilt had always prevented him from fully accepting it.
He shrugged it off. “I keep in touch, make sure they have everything they need.”
“How is she doing?” Georgia asked.
“Good. She’s met someone. They aren’t married, but things sound serious.” A small smile formed on his face. “I’m glad she’s been able to find happiness and move on with her life.”
“Don’t you think you deserve the same?” she asked as she stroked his face.
Everett’s gaze snapped to her steady one, and he found himself at a loss for words. “Why do you say that?”
She rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the reason you’ve been a vagabond is because you’re running from the memories of what happened.”
Wow. It wasn’t like his family wasn’t wise to what had been going on with him, but no one had found the balls to state it so plainly to him. He wasn’t sure how to respond. They sat in silence until Georgia rested her forehead against his.
“You can’t run forever,” she whispered, but it hit him like a punch to the gut, expelling all the air from his lungs.
He couldn’t do this. He’d already shared way more than he’d ever planned to with her.
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
“Are you sure you—”
“I’m done talking about it,” he clipped. Then, the guilt set in. That familiar feeling weighing him down like he wore body armor made of lead. She’d only been trying to help. He tried to lighten the mood. “You know, I’d much prefer to pick up where we left off before my phone rang.” He brought his hand down between her thighs and spread the wetness he found there with his fingers.
Georgia’s eyes heated, and her eyelids drooped.
“Everett?” she asked in that breathy voice he loved hearing because it meant she was turned on.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you...” she trailed off and her cheeks grew pink. “Why did you call me peaches the other day?”
He chuckled then laved at her breast. “Because that’s what you tasted like that day when I was between your thighs. Like a juicy Georgia peach.”
That was another reason he liked Georgia so much—she knew when it was time to talk and when actions spoke louder than words.