Peachy Keen (22 page)

I gathered her long blond hair in my hands and pushed it over her shoulders, away from her face, letting my fingertips brush along her spine as I inched forward to kiss her collarbone. Her rhythm picked up and her breaths became pants. I felt her fingers press into the back of my head and I lifted my face to look at her. Our gazes locked and heat rippled through me. Resting my forehead against hers, I kept staring into her beautiful eyes. Lost inside of her, body and soul, I whispered my love for her against her lips, to which she simply whimpered.

She humped me faster, a chorus of cries suddenly spilling out of her as passion swept her up. I watched as she bucked with one goal in mind, gritting her teeth, her eyes slamming shut. She leaned back and circled her hips rhythmically, a long, deep, lustful moan falling from her swollen lips. I kissed her, smothering the noises with my own as I came. As I pulled her close against me, settling horizontally on the sofa to regain our breath, I prayed she’d make me crazy forever in return.

***

The sound of my phone in my bedroom pulled me from sleep and when I opened my eyes, I remembered Georgia showing up at my door. I smiled, relieved to find her tucked under my arm on the couch where we’d passed out watching television. My phone quit ringing for a second then started all over again and I winced, freeing myself from Georgia’s embrace carefully so as not to wake her, before stepping into my bedroom quickly.

“Hello?”

“Holy shit. I’m proposing today,” Evan declared.

A grin took over my face and I sat on the edge of my bed. “Hell yeah, you are!”

“Shh, hang on…I think I heard something,” he whispered.

“Dude, are you freaking out?”

He’d told me all about his plan. Wake up early on Christmas Eve get the house ready—decorate everything but the tree—make her breakfast and then propose with the huge rock he’d bought her by hanging it on a branch.

“I don’t think she’s up yet,” he said with a little gulp.

The thought rolled through my mind that Evan had proposed once before, but somehow with Danielle this felt like the first time. The only time. I guess feeling joy for him in his moment of impending life-changing bliss instead of fear did that. But just like my time with Meredith couldn’t compare to what I had with Georgia now, there was no reason for regret. We’d made it here to the starting line…the beginning of the journey. It just took a few steps on the winding path first.

“You’re gonna be fine, man. She loves you. She loves the house. It’s all good, Ev. She’s going to say yes.”

Little footfalls perked my ears and I glanced at the door to see Georgia standing there with nothing but a smile on. I lost my breath at the perfect lines of her silhouette, backlit by the sun streaming in the window in the hall.

“Trying to kill me?” I whispered around a laugh.

“What?” I heard Evan say.

“Nothing, sorry.” I shook my head and pointed to the phone, mouthing Evan’s name.

She nodded and made her way to me, pushing her palms against my chest so I fell back on the mattress. Straddling me, she grinned and stamped her teeth into her bottom lip as she looked down at me.

“Is there a chick in your apartment?!” Evan demanded.

Georgia’s brows shot up and her mouth gaped comically as she pointed to herself, clearly having heard him. My voice spiked to a pitch higher than normal. “What? No!”

She shook her head with a silent light and I couldn’t resist putting my hand on her waist.

“Oh, shit, man. It’s Christmas Eve! Is she a clinger?”

One of her eyebrows arched and she sat back from me a little as if to ask me if I thought she was a clinger. I sat up and locked one arm around her middle, resting my cheek against the center of her chest, listening as she sighed. I was the clinger. I’d cling to that body, those lips, her delicate fingers for eternity.

“I was kidding, Harry,” Evan finally said. “Everything okay?”

I laughed and remembered I was still on the phone. I leaned back and Georgia smirked, climbing off of me and bouncing over to my dresser where she found and slipped on a t-shirt.

“Yeah, man. Don’t worry about me. I’m sure you did a good job decorating. She’s going to love it. If she doesn’t say yes, I’ll buy a case of Johnny Walker Blue and help you drink her away,” I teased, hearing Georgia scoff beside me.

He told me to fuck off and after another laugh, we hung up.

“How’s my gorgeous girl this morning?” I asked as I stood and pulled her tiny frame back against me. The sight of her in my clothes nearly made me hard. I slid my hands under the shirt to smooth over her hips as she spun in my arms.

A sultry grin painted her mouth. “Peachy.”

I laughed and glided my hands up toward her breasts, my thumb swiping over her belly button ring first. My fingers pulled the hem of the shirt up and I looked at the little pink jewel. “Do you know how fucking hot that is?”

Georgia glanced down in astonishment. “That?! I think about taking it out all the time.”

Gripping her waist, I pulled her to me, kissing her neck with a growl. “Don’t you dare.”

She giggled and leaned in to my touch. “I think it dates me. It’s so high school.”

I nibbled gently at her earlobe, loving the gentle sigh she expelled against my beard. “Exactly. All the hot girls I liked in high school had one. You know, back when I was a Gatsby-loving-geek.”

She giggled. “You’re still a geek.”

I reared back and caught her smiling eyes. “Whatever. At least I got the girl. You want breakfast?”

She pushed up on her toes and kissed my lips tenderly. “I’d love some. Mind if I hop in the shower?”

I groaned. “Oh, come on! I have to cook while you get all soaped up? Not cool.”

She shrugged at my teasing and bounced out of the room while my feet led me to the kitchen with a smile plastered on my face. I threw some bacon in the skillet and started a pot of coffee. My body was full of energy, thrilled and yet anxious about having Georgia with me for the holiday. I stepped into the living room and cleaned up our mess of strewn about clothes and throw pillows. I tensed when I heard the front door unlock.

Holly let herself inside, balancing two huge party trays in her hands and a few grocery bags hanging over one elbow. When she turned after shutting the door, she saw me frozen on the carpet.

“Merry Christmas Eve,” Holly chirped.

“What the fuck are you doing here? I thought you were at Mom and Dad’s?”

She set the trays on my coffee table and planted her hands on her hips. “Well, everybody was sad that you weren’t coming home and I know you’re kinda grumpy because your girl shot you down so I just figured I’d surprise you...”

Her eyes moved to my right and widened. “Georgia’s here,” she said with a frightened smile. My head whipped around and I saw Georgia squeezing her hair into a towel, dressed in jeans and t-shirt.

“Holly, hi!”

I looked back at Holly and saw panic wave across her expression.

“What?”

“Okay, I didn’t know she was gonna be here,” Holly started.

“Holly…” I snarled.

Her eyes landed on the floor and I suddenly saw the little girl I’ll bailed out of trouble countless times. “Everyone’s coming. The whole family is coming here for Christmas because I didn’t want you to be alone.”

My head flung back and I huffed at the ceiling. I shouldn’t be mad at her; she normally wasn’t the sweet one and this was really sweet. But I wanted my hours with Georgia. Bombarded by an abrupt string of thoughts, I closed my eyes. My father didn’t have a tactful bone in his body. Hilary was known to be incredibly judgmental. Heather was loud and her husband was louder. Shit. If Georgia thought I drove her crazy…a Christmas with the Simms family would get her committed. I glanced over at her and offered a half-smile. She shook her head and shrugged with a sweet smirk.

“So I meet your whole family with only a few hours to prepare,” she joked with a shrug. “Crazier things have happened to us.”

God, I loved that woman. I wet my lips and winked at her, the tension in my chest lessening with every time I looked at her—thankful she’d shown up.

“It’s a little worse than you think…” Holly said slowly. “They’ve already landed. They’re headed over right now.”

Fuck.

22.

Brave

Georgia

Harrison dragged in an uneven breath, clenched his fists and looked over his shoulder at me. “Can you give us a minute?” he said tightly.

I barely squeaked a reply and gave a quick smile to Holly, who looked somewhere on the borderline between terrified and pissed, as I picked up the deli trays and grocery bags she’d brought. Overcome by the scent of burning bacon and freshly brewed coffee, I pushed open the swinging door that led to the kitchen. I busied my hands, putting the trays in the refrigerator, tossing the blackened strips of bacon from the skillet into the garbage and then running the faucet to soak the pan.

“Holly, what the fuck were you thinking?” I heard Harrison say.

“I didn’t know she’d be here!”

Eavesdropping wasn’t something I usually set out to do, but in this instance—especially since the two of them made it so easy—I had to. I poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the little kitchen table, anxious to hear their conversation.

“That doesn’t matter. Even if she wasn’t here, why the hell would you think springing this on me would be a good idea?”

The venom that laced the words on his tongue scared me. He’d never said anything bad about his family before. What could be so terrible about them showing up unannounced?

“That isn’t my fault! God, it could be a thousand times worse. Hilary had her heart set on bringing a certain unwanted guest until I forcefully talked her out it.”

“What? Who?” Harrison asked.

“Meredith. Hilary seemed convinced you wanted to get back together,” Holly replied. I swallowed a mouthful of coffee and a lump bobbed in my throat under the warm french vanilla flavor. “She said you were going on and on about how you were ready to have a life with someone—get married and have kids.”

Another thick gulp pained me before he spoke.

“I was talking about
her
!” he hollered. “I don’t want anything to do with Meredith. I want Georgia. I want all of those things with Georgia.”

My mug slipped from my hands, colliding with the table and rolling on its side, spilling what remained of my coffee. “Shit,” I breathed, running for the roll of paper towels. As I sopped up the mess, my ears perked again at the sound of Harrison’s hushed voice.

“I can’t fuck this up, Holly. You don’t understand. We’re barely off thin ice. I’m doing everything to keep her calm. Having her meet everyone…now? Jesus, especially Hilary. Literally throwing her to the fucking wolves sounds nicer.”

I exhaled a laugh and dragged my hands through my nearly dry hair.

“I know, I’m so sorry. But…”

They were quiet and I wondered what was going on. Part of me wanted to put my ear to the door but then a vision of someone bursting in, swinging the door on its hinges and clocking me in the face popped into my mind.

I took a step toward the door, prepared to tell Harrison I would leave if it would make things easier. It was the last thing I wanted. I’d sped the entire way to his apartment from my grandmother’s house because I’d been dying to see him, desperate to leap into his arms and erase the last time we’d seen each other from both of our minds. But just like he didn’t want to fuck things up, neither did I. I didn’t want to be a part of any stress for him or his family, so if that meant leaving—intent on meeting his family another time—then I’d do it. When my palm met the door, I heard a knock.

Commotion followed and it only took a second for me to realize that the living room had just filled with the Simms family. I scrambled away from the kitchen door and looked around like an idiot, listening Harrison greet people. Laughter and a few cheerful holiday wishes as well as “Surprise!” flooded my ears and I couldn’t decide if I should hide under the table or climb out the fire escape.

The kitchen door suddenly flung open and two identical girls bolted toward the refrigerator. They were clones of each other, down to their matching red sweaters and plaid skirts. One of the girls grabbed a chair from the table and shoved it against the refrigerator so the other could hoist herself onto it. With my ass pressed against the countertop on the opposite side of the kitchen, I barely breathed as I watched. Then they both whipped their heads toward me at the same time, speaking in unison after a beat.

“Who are you?”

Damn, I thought it was Christmas, not Halloween. Creepy kids. I cleared my throat and breathed deeply. Here goes nothing.

“I’m Georgia. I’m guessing you’re Violet and Lorelai?”

The one standing on the chair smiled and narrowed her dark eyes on me. “How do you know that?”

I smirked back and pushed off the countertop to head for another cup of coffee. If I was going to get through this, I’d need caffeine. “I’m a friend of your uncle Harrison’s. May I ask what you’re doing?”

She climbed up and reached into the cabinet above the refrigerator while her scheming sister answered, “Looking for cookies. Uncle Harry used to hide his junk food stash above the fridge at his old house in California.”

I chuckled then laughed a little harder when the tiny thief presented a box of Oreos that she promptly opened. She offered one to her sister before putting it back where she found it. I shook my head with a grin as each of them devoured a cookie while they put the chair back in its place as though they’d never snooped.

The door swung open again. “Girls, you can’t just barge into your uncle’s apartment like that. What are you two—” The woman stopped when she saw me from the corner of her eye and my breath stuck in my throat. Four sisters. I’d have to deal with the stunned
who-the-hell-are-you
face two more times…three if I included his parents. Fuck.

“That’s Harry’s friend,” one of the twins chirped.

I forced a smile and allowed myself to be brave; putting my hand out to the woman I knew to be Heather. Her wide eyes looked me up and down but I didn’t let it jar me.