Chapter 24

24

G eorgia Beck couldn't believe how well she fit into this Young brother's arms. She'd recognize a Young any time she saw one walking the streets, even if they came and went from Coral Canyon as quickly as the weather around here changed.

He wasn't Tex, but he did have a hint of gray along his temples, so she thought he might be Trace or Otis.

It doesn't matter , she thought, sinking further into his kiss. Boy, this cowboy could kiss a woman, and Georgia's legs trembled as he brought her closer to him and broke their connection. "How long do you want me to keep goin'?" he whispered.

CJ hadn't spoken again, and Georgia didn't dare look past the kissing cowboy to see if her ex still stood there. She took a deep breath of the cotton in the cowboy's shirt, wondering why her heart had started bumping so strangely about the time she'd seen this guy standing in the hallway outside her office.

He shouldn't have been there, and yet it sure seemed like the Lord had dropped him into her life right when she'd needed him most.

CJ cleared his blasted throat, and that sent another dose of sourness down her throat and through her veins.

"I've got it," Cowboy said, and he turned while keeping her sheltered in the shadow of his body.

"No one's supposed to come down here," he said, his hand slipping into hers. Everything that had been cold in Georgia's life warmed up, and she had no idea what that meant. She couldn't be attracted to this man. She'd just needed help in the form of a kiss for a few seconds.

She'd kissed him for longer than that, she knew, but she wasn't going to apologize for it. It had been the single best kiss of her life, even if it had been done in a moment of extreme desperation.

CJ stuttered something Georgia didn't even pretend to listen to, and Cowboy said, "She's not interested in getting back together with you, brother. Sorry." He didn't sound sorry, and for some reason, that made Georgia like this Young brother even more.

Footsteps sounded down the hall, fading as CJ left. Cowboy turned back to her and blew out his breath. "All right, he's gone." He reached up with his free hand and wiped his face like the activities of the past five minutes had made him sweat.

That couldn't be the case, because she hadn't attracted anyone's attention in a while. Well, anyone worth attracting, that was. Looking up into Cowboy's deep, rich, dark brown eyes, she could've sworn she, one—swooned. Two—saw desire flickering in the depths of his eyes. Three—felt the earth move for a second time that day.

"Daddy?" a girl called, and Cowboy spun toward the doorway.

"I'll be right back," he said, jogging out of the office and down the hall. She heard his deep voice talking to his daughter, and Georgia steadied herself against her desk with both palms pressed flat against the wood.

"What have you done to yourself?" she murmured. She reached for her phone to text Abby, because she'd know what to do. She'd know which Young brother had a daughter, and if Georgia could get the name of the girl, Abby could pinpoint who he was.

She didn't even get a text off before Cowboy returned, this time his eyes roaming her office instead of locking onto hers. "My hat," he said. "There it is." He swooped to the ground to pick it up, and she hadn't even noticed he'd lost it. The kiss was that good.

He did look at her then, and sparks filled the entire room, making popping, crackling sounds fire in her eardrums. "You, uh…can I get your name?"

She tried to speak, but her mouth had turned to sandpaper at some point. She cleared the roughness away and said, "Georgia Beck."

"Ah, Beck's Books." His smile could fill entire towns of children with wonder, and she found herself returning it.

"Yes," she said.

"I'm Otis Young," he said, reaching to shake her hand. He chuckled with a nervous undertone as he did. "Seems like we're doin' things in quite the opposite order." He looked at his daughter. "This is my girl, Joey." He released her hand and put that arm around the girl's slight shoulders.

"Hello," Joey said, clutching three books to her chest.

"She owns the shop, Roo," he said.

Joey's face brightened then, and Georgia's soul lit up as she met another book lover. "Looks like you've got some books there."

Joey nodded, suddenly shy as she dipped her head toward the floor. With her pink tee, she wore a pair of short shorts and flip flops, her legs spindly and long, just the way Georgia's had been growing up. Hers still were, but she concealed them well behind cute skirts and masterful pedicures. If people looked at her toes, they weren't judging her legs and making comments about how they couldn't possibly hold up her body.

"I'll be right out, baby," he said. "Go look at that dog book you were excited about."

Joey did what he said, and he watched her go back down the hall, his smile only faltering as he turned back to Georgia. "Did that work?"

"Did what work?" She reached up to tuck her hair back, but it just sprang right back out. Her curls betrayed her all the time, so she wasn't sure why she'd hoped they'd cooperate with her now. At least they hadn't gone into frizz mode yet.

"The kissin'," he said with a grin. He leaned into the doorjamb, and his arrogance floated on the air like a scent.

She busied herself with moving papers around on her desk, heat filling her face. She blushed fairly easily, especially around handsome cowboys, and she hated that about herself. "I think so," she said. "He left, didn't he?"

"He sure did."

Georgia looked up and into Otis's eyes again. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "I mean it. I've been trying to get him to accept the break-up for over a month. Maybe longer."

Otis let his gaze drip down her body to those immaculate toes, and his eyes zipped back to hers. "You're not wearing shoes."

"I work indoors," she said.

"I suppose you don't step on books," he said.

She tilted her head at him, wondering what that meant. His face began to turn red too, and my, wasn't that adorable? She smiled at him. "Not very often."

"I just meant—if you did, you might get a paper cut." He pressed his eyes closed, and Georgia once again found him charming in a soft yet incredibly arrogant sort of way.

"No paper cuts on my feet yet," she said, looking back at the nonsensical papers. She'd messed them all up when CJ had called, and again just now. She wasn't even sure what she was looking at right now.

"Well, I have to go," he said. "It was real nice meetin' you, Georgia. If you need any more help with CJ, you let me know." He reached up and tipped his hat at her, then walked smoothly out of her office.

She forced herself to stay beside her desk until she couldn't hear the clomp-clomp-clomp of his cowboy boots against her hardwood floor. She hadn't told him that she sometimes did get splinters in her feet from that floor and her personal no-shoes-in-the-office policy. That was something she could maybe work into a conversation later.

A scoff came out of her mouth. "There isn't going to be a later , Georgia," she chastised herself. Then she picked up her phone again and called Abby.

She had no idea what time it was and if her best friend could answer a call right now. On the third ring, Georgia started to lower the phone. Then Abby said, "Georgia, you'll never believe who just called me."

She sounded breathless and not in a good way. So it wasn't Tex.

"Who?" Georgia asked, falling into the chair behind her desk. Her feet rejoiced to get some relief, but every cell in her body perked back up when Abby said, "CJ."

"What?" she demanded. "Why would he call you?"

"He wanted to know who you were dating now."

Georgia's blood turned to ice in her veins. "What did you tell him?"

"I said I didn't know what he was talking about, and even if I did, I didn't have to tell him."

Georgia nodded. "Yeah, that's good. Good job, Abby." Abby did have a sharp tongue, and she certainly didn't hold back from using it. Georgia liked that about her, because it meant when Abby was sweet, she really meant it. She was real , and Georgia didn't need any more fake in her life.

"He said you were kissing a cowboy in your office, and he demanded to know who it was."

"Oh, uh…." Georgia couldn't find the right words, though Otis Young streamed through her mind at the loudest volume she'd endured.

Abby gasped. "So it's true? You were kissing someone in your office? Who? Who was it?"

Georgia let out a long, hissing sigh. "Abby, don't get all excited."

"I'm not excited. I'm irritated you didn't tell me you've started seeing someone new."

"Because I haven't." Georgia put her head in her hands—well, the one not holding the phone. "CJ called and said he was bringing lunch. I told him under no circumstances would he do that. He couldn't come here. He said he was already there, and I went out into the hall to see. There was this…guy standing there."

So she omitted how good-looking Otis was. Abby didn't need to know that. She was in a crisis with Tex right now, and Georgia would not—she would not —tell her who he was.

"Oh, juicy," Abby said, clearly not irritated at all. She'd probably said that just to get Georgia to talk.

"Anyway, I said I needed him. Or something. I asked him to come into my office? Either way, he came into the office, and CJ showed up, and I begged the guy to pretend to be my boyfriend and kiss me." She lifted her head, the adrenaline of that kiss returning to her body. "This is all your fault anyway. You told me I just needed a new boyfriend and CJ would leave me alone."

"My fault?" Abby repeated, clearly not amused. "I didn't tell you to pull in the first random stranger and start going at it."

"That is not what happened at all," Georgia said. The kiss had been sweet, unrushed, and absolutely perfect. The kind a caring, real boyfriend would give to his girlfriend in her office at her quaint bookshop when he'd stopped by with his daughter to get a few tomes.

Oh, she was in trouble. The kind with a capital T, because she couldn't start dating Otis Young for real.

Could she?

"So you don't know his name?" Abby asked.

"I…uh, sort of knew who he was."

"You didn't ask afterward?"

"He introduced himself."

Abby made an impatient noise. "Well? Are you going to tell me who it is or what?"

Georgia opened her mouth to spill the news, but she couldn't force herself to do it. "I'm going to plead the fifth," she said. "And insanity."

"Insanity? Then I should definitely get to know."

"Can I just…I don't know. Keep it to myself for a little bit? I…feel like a fool already." She did, and she just wanted to keep that kiss between her and Otis forever. Maybe if she did, that first fake kiss could become a first real kiss between the two of them.

"All right," Abby said, but Georgia knew she'd try to get it out of her any way she could. She'd sweeten her up, throw a question into a conversation out of nowhere, or needle her to death until Georgia finally told her. "How about we go to lunch this Saturday? Rosco's. I'll pay."

And there was the sweetening. Georgia decided she might as well take the offer, because Abby wouldn't make it twice. "Sure," she said. "I'll get us a table."

The call ended, and she sat at her desk, staring at the spot where Otis had leaned in the doorway. She could see him there, as well as in her life. She didn't know what that meant, but she knew she had some investigative work to do to figure out if Otis was seeing anyone right now and how open he was to a girlfriend if he wasn't.

She couldn't ask Abby, and she didn't have the man's phone number, so that meant she'd have to resort to…more underground ways. She picked up her phone again and called her mother.