Page 18 of Slow Burn

“Well, your way hasn’t worked yet,” Sophie countered.

Georgia gave her bestie the middle finger. “I do agree with what you’re both saying.”

“But?” Sophie pushed.

Anna jumped up from the couch. “Oh my god, she knows who she wants. Who is it? Who do you want your first time to be with?”

Heat rushed across Georgia’s skin. She was sure her face was ruby red from blushing.

“If she isn’t at work, she’s with us,” Sophie shared aloud. “Everyone at her office is taken or geriatric.”

Anna did a dance. “It’s someone from the fire station!”

“Who?” Sophie yelled her question excitedly, joining Anna in jumping around.

It took a few minutes, but her friends finally calmed down and sat next to her on the couch.

“If I tell you, you have to promise me it doesn’t leave this room.”

Naturally, her friends readily agreed.

Welp, there was no turning back now. She faced her friends and shared the news about the best kiss of her life.

With Elijah Barnett.

ELIJAH WAS TORN. It was day two of his seventy-two hours off, which was typically when he was most likely to do anything. Roman invited a few people from the station to his house, which sounded fun. But when Roman told him Georgia would be there, he wasn’t positive he would attend.

He had been doing a damn good job of avoiding her after he almost fucked her on the counter at the station.

But there was no way he could manage not to see her forever. Hell, Nash was his best friend, and he was getting suspicious since Elijah had bailed on him twice already.

Against his better judgment, he agreed to go to Roman’s party. And for the past ten minutes, he sat in his car in front of his friend’s house. Fuck it. If she was inside and there was tension, he would leave.

It was as simple as that.

Elijah got out of his car and walked to Roman’s door. He made a quick knock, and Roman screamed that the door was open and to come in. Only Benny and Roman sat on the couch, each drinking a beer, watching a baseball game on television.

Annoyingly, he was disappointed the women weren’t there. One woman in particular. Georgia.

They probably heard it was a low-key night and decided to do something else.

Which was fine.

“Anyone else want a beer?” Elijah asked as he walked into the kitchen.

“Grab six!” Roman shouted from the other room.

That sounded like it was going to be a raging kind of night, but he didn’t work for two more days, so what the hell. Roman wouldn’t care if he crashed in the spare room. Not wanting warm drinks, he grabbed a bowl, added ice, and tossed in a bunch of beer bottles.

“What’s up, assholes!” Nash hollered as he walked into the house.

Nice, most of his friends were here. Elijah added a few more drinks to the bowl and went into the living room. He sat on the couch and twisted off the beer cap. “What’s the plan for tonight?”

Nash grabbed a beer from the makeshift cooler. “I thought we could pregame here and then head out?”

Roman groaned. “I really don’t feel like going out tonight. I just got off shift.”

They all nodded, knowing what that was like.