Hope Falls_Off-Limits Love Read online

  “Georgia, come let me introduce you,” Deanna said, tugging on her arm. “Some of the guys from the fire station are here.”

  Eli made the round of introductions, and Everett noticed that a couple of Deanna and Eli’s coworkers were blatantly checking Georgia out.

  He didn’t like it. Not one bit. Though it shouldn’tmatter to him at all.The fact was, seeing the men gathered around the table checking out Georgia’s ass while she was faced away from them pissed him the hell off. And made him feel territorial. Like he had some kind of right to tell all the horny pricks to back off.

  He clenched his fists and, rather than schooling the Neanderthals on their caveman ways, slid into the booth they’d claimed next to Eli’s work crew, and reached for his Coke. Everett was on designated-driver duty tonight—something he took seriously. Especially after—

  No. He pushed the thought from his mind, unwilling to venture there. It wasn’t the time or the place.

  “Okay, everyone. Gather round,” Lucky said as he slid into the booth across from Everett, drinks strategically held in his hands.

  Deanna and Georgia ended their conversation, and his cousin took the seat beside her fiancé while Georgia sat in the booth next to him.

  She’d kept her distance—there was probably more than a foot separating them, for which he was thankful. Not that he didn’t want her closer to him. Quite the opposite—but nothing could happen between them. She was off-limits. His cousin’s friend. Everett wouldn’t use her to get his rocks off and then toss her aside. He might not know her well, but it was clear in the way she carried herself that she wasn’t the kind of girl who fooled around without some kind of commitment. And commitment wasn’t something he could offer her—or anyone.

  It’d been too long since Everett had enjoyed the company of a woman—which his little brother liked to remind him of often. Every red-blooded-male part of his body screamed at him to reach out and touch her. To see if her hair was as silky as it appeared, to find out if her ass was as firm as it’d looked in her running pants that morning. He wanted to know if her ample breasts would fill his hand or prove too much and spill out over them.

  Damn it. He was just as bad as the guys in the booth next to them.

  Lucky distributed the girls’ drinks and pushed Eli’s beer to the end of the table. Everett glanced away from the booth and saw his brother busy chatting up a table of women on the other side of the bar. Typical Eli.

  “How’s your knee?” Everett asked Georgia, shifting in his seat to see her better.

  A pink hue flooded her cheeks, and she looked down to the table, where she picked at the label on her beer.

  “What happened to your knee?” Deanna asked with her forehead scrunched.

  Georgia sighed, and Everett pretended he didn’t notice how it pushed her chest out and stretched the fabric of her sweater.

  “I had a bit of a mishap this morning on my run.”

  “What kind of a mishap?” Lucky asked.

  “I ran into one of those giant planters on Main Street.” She shrugged, trying to play it off, but Everett wasn’t about to let her off quite so easy.

  “What Georgia means is that she dove head first into the planter.” A smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth.

  “Oh my God. Georgia, are you okay?” Deanna asked while trying to hold a laugh in.

  Georgia laughed herself and smacked him across the arm in a scolding manner. “I did not dive. It was a graceful fall at worst.”

  “Keep telling yourself that,” he retorted, reaching for his glass so she couldn’t smack him again.

  Georgia rolled her eyes in a playful way, and it made him want to say more things that would cause a similar reaction because it was so damn cute.

  “Anyways…I banged my knee on the planter when I fell. Everett saw what happened and was nice enough to drive me back to your house.”

  Deanna’s gaze darted between the two of them before she spoke. “That was nice of him.” Then she looked at Lucky. “Honey, wasn’t that nice of him?”

  Lucky shrugged and took a sip of his beer.

  “To answer your question, though, it’s feeling much better, thank you. A little sore, and I’m sure I’ll have a bruise, but no big deal.”

  “What’s no big deal?” Eli asked as he slid into the seat beside Georgia.

  She shifted down to make room for him, forcing Everett’s and Georgia’s thighs to touch. He suppressed the shudder that almost ran through him. Since when did sitting this close to a woman have him sporting a semi? It was like he was back in grade school again. Georgia gave Eli a brief rundown on what had happened that morning and Everett used the opportunity to adjust himself.

  “You sure you don’t want me to look at your leg for you? I am trained in delivering the finest emergency medical care.” Eli waggled his eyebrows.

  A giggle escaped Georgia, and instead of focusing on how cute it was, Everett found himself envisioning taking his brother by his collar and tossing him out of the bar so he wouldn’t be close enough to touch Georgia’s anything.

  “You haven’t changed.” She shook her head and leaned forward to sip her drink. “Those lines didn’t work back when I was in college. They’re certainly not going to work now.”

  Eli, Deanna, and Georgia all laughed while he and Lucky exchanged puzzled looks.

  “What am I missing?” Lucky asked.

  Deanna took a moment to compose herself before responding. “Eli here”—she motioned to him with her hand—“wouldn’t stop hitting on Georgia when he came to visit me at college. He was incessant, trying to show what a player he was, until Georgia knocked him down a few pegs and Eli realized it was never going to happen.”

  The image of his little brother trying to score with a younger version of the woman sitting next to him clawed at his brain and his gut tightened. The muscles in his arms grew tense as he bunched his hands into fists on the tabletop before reaching for his glass. Everett didn’t want the fact that his little brother had hit on Georgia way back when to bother him, but if the iron grip he held his glass in was any indication, it didn’t matter what he wanted. What was it about this woman that stirred up all of these emotions in him? Especially when he’d been doing pretty damn well at not feeling anything for the past few years.

  Georgia laughed, which dragged him from his thoughts.

  Eli feigned offense. “I’ll have you all know that I was emotionally scarred for years from that experience. It took a long time to recover and get my mojo back.”

  Georgia twisted her lips and looked up into the air. God, her lips were so pink and plump that Everett had a hard time removing his gaze from them. He wanted to know what they’d feel like on his own.

  “I seem to recall you making out with some brunette in the corner of the living room at a frat party later that night. I’d say you managed to get over your heartbreak pretty quickly.” Georgia rolled her eyes.

  The entire table erupted in laughter, including Everett. It pleased him to see that Georgia and his brother obviously had no sexual tension. On the contrary, they had more of a brother-sister vibe going on.

  Deanna’s laugh was cut short when her hand flew up to cover her mouth. Her eyes went wide, and panic flashed across her face as she gripped her stomach with her other hand. Before anyone could ask what was wrong, she’d sprung up from the seat and ran to the bathroom.

  “Was it something I said?” Eli asked.

  “I should go check on her,” Georgia said as she motioned for Eli to let her out of the booth.

  “Was she feeling okay before you guys got here?” Everett asked Lucky as Georgia raced to the bathroom.

  “Seemed to be. I’m not sure what’s going on.”

  Georgia returned a few minutes later, worry clouding her expression. “I think Deanna caught a bug. She’s in the bathroom, throwing up.” She looked at Lucky. “She needs to go home to bed.”

  Lucky was already gathering their coats and halfway out of the booth before she’d fi
nished speaking.

  “If I go warm the car up, can you meet me out there?” he asked.

  “Of course.” She reached forward. “Here. Pass me both of our coats.”

  “I can drive you home later if you want to stay.” The words had escaped Everett’s mouth before he’d had a moment to give them much thought.

  What had possessed him to say that? Clearly the smaller of his two heads was doing the talking for him.

  Georgia darted her gaze over to his. She shifted on her feet and bit her lower lip.

  “You should stay,” Lucky said. “I can take care of my girl.”

  “You just got here,” Eli chimed in. “Besides, how much fun are you going to have listening to my cousin bow down to the porcelain god all night?”

  “Hmm...sure you don’t mind?” She raised her eyebrows.

  “Not at all,” he replied. The strangest thing of all was that he meant it.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Georgia couldn’t drink another shot. Hell, she couldn’t even look at another shot without wanting to reenact Deanna’s earlier performance in the women’s restroom.

  She’d been a little nervous, staying there on her own. But she hadn’t wanted to seem rude or like the party-pooper of the group, so she’d politely accepted the first offer for a shot. Then another one had shown up on the table for her. And another. After the third one, she’d had to enlist the help of Everett to make them stop. Eli had disappeared to the other side of the bar to chat with an attractive redhead who had been eyeing him all night. Everett hadn’t seemed too pleased with his appointed job, or maybe it was her overindulgence that he wasn’t pleased with.

  He was so intense. Maybe he needed to get laid. She wouldn’t mind that assignment.

  Though no one was able to hear her internal thoughts, she smacked her hand over her mouth—a little to forcefully given the wide-eyed reactions of the other guys at the table.

  “I think it’s time to take you home,” Everett announced. He gripped her upper arm to help her out of the booth.

  Georgia didn’t put up a fuss. In fact, now that she had a little liquid courage in her, she didn’t find it so hard to admit how attracted to Everett’s dark intensity she was.

  Why hadn’t she wanted to pursue anything again? In her current state, she couldn’t think of a single good reason not to see what it would be like to be with a man like him. It’d been way too long since she’d been wrapped in a man’s arms. All of her orgasms lately had been courtesy of handheld electronic devices.

  Sad but true.

  Everett held her coat out for her. Her head flopped back as she stood before him to take him in. His dark hair and the shadow of his beard gave him a rough, weathered aura that tugged at her insides.

  What would that face feel like between her thighs?

  Hopefully she hadn’t just thought that out loud.

  She didn’t think she did anyway.

  “I like this.” Georgia ran her hand along his stubble.

  His jaw contracted under her fingers. He sucked in a large breath and didn’t let the air out until he responded seconds later.

  “Thanks,” he said and shifted his weight. “Come on. Let’s get your coat on. I have to work in the morning.”

  Georgia spun around and slipped her arms into her jacket, and before she was able to say anything else, Everett was dragging her by the hand to the exit.

  “Hey! Where’s the fire?” Georgia drawled as her boots crunched the snow beneath her feet.

  Fire. That was it. Maybe he was a firefighter too. She had a faint recollection of him mentioning where he worked earlier but couldn’t remember what he’d said.

  Everett opened the passenger’s door and helped her inside before going around to the driver’s side and hopping in.

  “This is the second time in one day that I’ve been in your car,” Georgia observed.

  He pulled out of the parking lot and out onto the dark and deserted road with a noncommittal grunt.

  Now that they were in the enclosed space, his scent wafted over to her. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. God, he smelled good—like a mix of men’s cologne with a woodsy undertone. It made her want to lean into him.

  Georgia scooted over in her seat until she was able to rest her head against his shoulder. He made a great pillow. She thought she should tell him so, but she was so warm and comfortable now that she didn’t feel like moving a muscle.

  He continued to stare straight ahead with a blank expression as he navigated his way back into town. Georgia’s eyelids grew heavy as she stared out the windshield and listened to the thrum of the pavement under the tires. Maybe she’d close her eyes for a second.

  Before she knew it, Everett was waking her up with a shake of his shoulder. “We’re here.”

  Georgia blinked a couple of times to clear the cobwebs, and when she was able to focus, realized they were parked in Deanna and Lucky’s driveway. She pulled herself off Everett and shifted to look at him.

  “Thanks for the ride.”

  Everett stared at her with an intensity in his gaze and her breath grew shallow. He didn’t say a word, but he didn’t have to. The magnetic pull between them was undeniable.

  Georgia swallowed hard and licked her bottom lip, wanting nothing more than to kiss him.

  Then why the hell didn’t she? She was a member of the new breed of women who believed in going after what they wanted, wasn’t she? That was why she was in Hope Falls in the first place, after all. Why did Everett have to be the one to kiss her? This all sounded reasonable to her in her sexually frustrated, alcohol-plied state, so she closed her eyes and leaned forward.

  Her lips had just touched his when his hands landed on her shoulders and pushed her back.

  “What are you doing?” Everett’s eyes were wide, and his tone was clipped.

  “I…uh…” No words would form as humiliation raced to invade every cell in her body. “I’m sorry.” Without another word, she spun in her seat, opened the door, and sped to the house.

  Everett called after her, but she didn’t turn around as she gripped the handle to open the front door.

  Thank God people don’t lock their doors in small towns.

  She stepped inside and closed the door as fast as possible, wanting to put as much distance between her and the man outside as she could.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Georgia was full of good ideas these days, wasn’t she?

  Because Deanna was still sick—ended up she had a bad case of the flu complete with stomach issues, a fever, and muscle pain—Georgia had decided to venture off and hit the slopes on her own after the dull headache from the previous night’s festivities had worn off. Problem was she’d only ever been skiing a handful of times. Even so, the hills she’d skied before looked like bunny hills compared to the ones at Mountain Ridge.

  She dropped her ski poles and dropped down onto her ass, content to sit off to the side of the ski run and enjoy the epic view of the Sierras for a while.

  The whole skiing thing wasn’t working out for her. Sort of similar to how the whole trying-to-kiss-Everett thing hadn’t really worked out, either. What the hell had she been thinking? He was Deanna’s cousin and she wasn’t even sure she’d be staying in town. Plus, he was clearly emotionally unavailable. Georgia huffed out a sigh and let her upper half fall back into the snow so that she could stare up into dark, gray clouds above.

  She was going to have to face him sooner or later. Georgia would have to swallow her pride, not to mention her embarrassment, and apologize. That was going to be fun. Not. Hopefully he’d have enough sense not to disclose their little transgression to Deanna.

  Georgia watched the clouds drift by and relaxed her sore muscles. She’d forgotten how exhausting skiing could be. Especially when she’d had to haul herself up off the snow every few minutes. Though she was fit overall, her body was tired and her muscles ached. And maybe she was a wee bit frustrated that she couldn’t seem to ski more than ten feet without falling
on her ass.

  She let her eyelids drift closed. The sound of skiers skiing down the mountain floated into her consciousness, and the chill from the snow below her back seeped through her coat.

  After a few minutes, she decided that it was time to try to make her way to the bottom again, but not before a deep voice sounded a few feet away.

  “Are you injured?”

  She opened her eyes, squinting briefly at the light before Everett’s face popped into focus.

  “Oh, Georgia. It’s you.” He looked down at her, a wrinkle between his eyebrows. No trace of the horror he seemed to have felt last night when she’d put her lips on his. “Are you all right?”

  Great. This keeps getting better and better.

  She blew a breath out. “I’m fine. Just resting. Frustration had me in need of a break,” she admitted then sat up.

  He chuckled with no trace of the awkwardness she had been expecting. “I take it you’re not an avid skier?” He slid back on his skis, seemingly to give her more space.

  “You could say that. South Carolina isn’t really known for its skiing.” Georgia shrugged and then gracelessly used her ski poles to manoeuvre herself up to her feet.

  Everett extended a hand to help her, but she ignored it.

  “I was heading down the slope,” he explained, “and I saw you lying there and thought maybe you’d been hurt.”

  “Nope. Not unless you can die of embarrassment.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “About last night—”

  He waved it off. “Don’t even mention it. You’d had a lot to drink. Consider it forgotten.”

  She smiled. “Thank you.”

  For the first time that day, she really took him in. He was wearing black ski pants and a red jacket with a white plus sign on the front. His ski helmet matched his jacket, and he’d pushed his goggles up on top of it. The five-o’clock shadow was gone, and the cold air had tinged his cheeks pink.

  “You’re on the ski patrol?” Duh. Way to state the obvious.