Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 57407 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57407 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 287(@200wpm)___ 230(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
“He’s a man,” Courtney said with a roll of her eyes as she took a drink of her wine. “They don’t like to spew their emotions.”
Georgia winced. “Well, I spewed mine. I told him I loved him.” And she had no regrets about revealing her feelings, even if she hadn’t heard the words back.
Courtney’s eyes widened. “And?”
Sighing, Georgia pushed the ice cream around in the bowl with her spoon. “In all honesty, I didn’t give him much of a chance to respond since I was in the middle of my tirade about being an independent woman who didn’t need to be coddled and all that. But he actually looked…anguished.” And she couldn’t forget that misery on his face.
Courtney swirled the last bit of moscato in her wineglass, thinking for a moment. “Maybe he feels the same way and couldn’t bring himself to say it, thinking it would only complicate matters.”
“Maybe,” Georgia said in a quiet tone. “I’ll never know, will I?”
She didn’t want to keep rehashing those painful memories and instead asked Courtney about her latest project. Courtney told her about the gallery sales she’d made on a few pieces, and showed her photos of the whimsical owl she was currently sculpting.
A knock on the door startled them both, and they jumped.
“Are you expecting anyone?” Courtney asked.
Georgia shook her head. “No.”
She moved to get up, but Courtney did so first, heading to the door to see who it was. When she opened it, Drew stood on the other side.
Georgia sucked in a startled breath, and her heart began beating wild and fast in her chest. He looked utterly gorgeous in a charcoal-gray tailored suit. His dark-brown hair was mussed, as if he’d been tunneling his fingers through the strands. For a man who was always so confident, he appeared…nervous, his forehead creased with apprehension.
“Hi, Courtney—”
Her bold-as-brass sister didn’t let him finish. “I hope you’re here to grovel,” she said, poking her finger against his chest as she spoke. “Because if you’re here for any other reason, or you hurt my sister any more than you already have, I’m going to make it very hard for you to walk the next time I see you. Got it?”
The corner of his mouth twitched, and he nodded succinctly. “Loud and clear.”
“Good.” Courtney let him in, then glanced at Georgia. “Do you want me to stay?”
Georgia stood up, because sitting with Drew still standing made her feel much too vulnerable. She had no idea why he was here, but she shored up that same determination and fortitude that had gotten her through last night, along with pulling her protective walls even higher.
“No, we’ll be fine,” she told Courtney.
Her sister walked back, grabbed her purse, and started for the door, stopping in front of Drew before leaving. She gave him another finger jab in his chest. “Don’t fuck this up like you did last night!” she said, then stalked out the door, leaving them alone.
“She’s such a charmer,” Drew said. He moved into the living area, closer to Georgia, his gaze taking in her unkempt appearance from head to toe…and softening at what he saw.
Keeping her distance, Georgia crossed her arms over her chest defensively and lifted her chin. “She’s just being…protective.”
“I get why,” he said, regret written on his face. “I said some incredibly stupid things last night, and I hurt you, badly. I’m sorry for that.”
“Yes, you did.” She had no idea where this was leading, but she refused to let him off the hook so quickly. “Is that what you’re here for, to apologize? Because if so, apology accepted, and you can leave knowing your conscience is clear.”
Georgia was shocked by the slow, sexy grin that spread across his lips. And even more startled by the way her traitorous body reacted to that sinful gesture.
“Damn, you’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?” he said, shaking his head, an almost amused look on his face.
She shrugged as the smallest bit of hope blossomed in her. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Oh, I think you do,” he said, pushing his hands into the front pockets of his slacks. “You’ve accepted my apology, but you haven’t forgiven me.”
Oh, yeah, her heart was now ricocheting in her chest. “I didn’t realize you were looking to be forgiven.”
“The only way we’re going to get past what happened last night and move forward is for me to earn your forgiveness for making the first of many mistakes in our relationship.”
He was talking in the present tense, and it took everything in her not to fold like a house of cards. She’d gotten an apology, but she deserved to know what had changed since they’d parted ways the previous evening—and what would change going forward. “You can certainly try.”
He nodded and exhaled a deep breath. “First of all, you were right. It was wrong of me to make a unilateral decision for us to break up. If we’d had that discussion and openly communicated, this never would have happened.”