Page 14 of Slow Burn

Georgia closed her eyes and made a silent vow to never take a shot ever again.

“Then you told me you wanted to go home.” Despite him feeling like crap, the grin on his face was full of mischief. “No, that wasn’t right. You told me you wanted me to take you home and take your v-card.”

Oh. My. God.

Georgia wished her bed would just swallow her whole and end this nightmare of a conversation.

“I knew you were full of shit pretending you were a virgin, but I wanted to go home too. You ordered an Uber, and we went outside to wait. You told me if I didn’t come home with you, you’d find someone else to…” The smile slipped off his face.

This didn’t seem like the story had a happy ending.

“Some douchebag was outside and heard you. He basically dropped to his fucking knees, begging to go home with you. That’s when I fucked up.” Elijah’s deep voice paused.

Again, her fingers touched her lips.

“You kissed me?” she whispered. “It was you?”

He nodded with an annoyed look. “Yes, like a complete drunk asshole, I kissed you. Then your Uber showed up. We got back here, where you stripped off your clothes, asking me again to take your virginity. Is that some kink you have?”

“You have no idea,” she muttered with her head hanging.

He sat up. “Anyway, I got you to bed, and you asked me to rub your back because the room was spinning. I did give you a mini-massage, and then I got hot so I took my shirt off. Next thing I knew, I fell asleep, and here we are.”

Georgia wanted to cry.

“I’m sorry I kissed you,” Elijah apologized with gentle eyes. “But I swear nothing else happened. Drunk or not, I would never take advantage of you. Or anyone for that matter.”

She believed him. As much as he drove her crazy, he wasn’t a bad guy.

But now she was sad on top of being hungover.

Because she didn’t remember every detail of what it felt like to have Elijah kiss her.

FINISHED INSPECTING THE last fire engine, Elijah went to his checklist and crossed off rig check. All of the pumps, sirens, and tools were working, plus all the tanks were full of gas. He was always grateful for slow times at the station because it meant the locals of Landmere were safe. It also gave him time to do his routine non-emergency work.

“Lou, you hungry?” Anna asked him as she hung the last of the personal protective equipment she was examining. “Roman texted me, and he said he was going to bring pizzas.”

Elijah checked his watch, and it was almost seven at night. He was in the last twelve hours of his shift. Coffee and a pizza sounded fucking glorious.

“What are the odds you could con him into bringing cold brew from Dunkin’?”

She grinned. “On it. I’ll also ask for some donuts, so we have them in the morning.”

“Nash and Levi will appreciate the food when they start their shift tomorrow. Arlo and I will be just coming off.”

“Where is Arlo?”

Elijah pointed down the hallway. “Doing HAZMAT training in one of the offices.”

“Oh yeah, he told me he had to do that today. What are you going to do with your seventy-two?” Anna threw her auburn hair into a sloppy bun and kept talking. “You’re obviously going to sleep, but what else?”

He pointed at his laptop sitting on the table. “Work. I need to schedule the community events and assign who is attending what.”

She excitedly raised her hand. “Please let me be part of prom promise! I love talking to the kids.”

“Done.” He was relieved he didn’t have to.

“I expect twenty push-ups for each slice of pizza!” Roman yelled as he came around a fire truck and joined them in the station’s break area.