Page 2 of Slow Burn

“You know I would never tell you about my sex life.”

“There are miracles.”

He gruffly laughed. “And it seems you’re still my prude little sister.”

“Rude. And to think I was going to thank you for planning everything for tonight. Promise me you’ll actually show up. Please don’t tell me you’re on shift this weekend.”

“Nope, I got Benny to swap for me,” Nash confirmed with his famous laugh he always gave so easily.

Another little dance party for Georgia. “Yay! We’re going out, and I plan on having multiple drinks and dancing all night.”

Her brother groaned. “I know you’re old enough to drink, but we have never gone out drinking together. You better not disappoint the Cross name by being a lightweight.”

She rolled her eyes. “As if I would embarrass you. Just because I got good grades didn’t mean I was sitting at home every night.”

Which was sort of true.

Kind of.

“Thank fuck because if you have two drinks and fall out of your seat, I’d leave you there.” He chuckled. “Is it too soon to tell you my friends are off limits?”

“Don’t be the guy who can joke about sex but then gets all macho man on his sister about it. You’re better than that.”

“I’d prefer you to be a lightweight than you hooking up with one of the guys from the fire station. In fact, sleeping with one of my friends is off the table,” Nash warned.

“You have nothing to worry about there,” Georgia reassured him. Not that she’d ever follow such a ridiculous notion that she was off limits. But if it shut Nash up, then so be it. “The idea of hooking up with one of your friends is not on my bucket list. I’m not trying to date a grandpa.”

“Hey! I’m thirty-six. You can’t compare me to someone that old.” He pretended to sound offended.

“Tomato, toma-toh. I can’t wait to see you tonight. What’s the plan?”

“Tell me again why you had me arrange this and not Sophie?” The notorious cheerfulness in her brother’s voice vanished. This was on track for whenever her best friend was brought up.

Georgia was used to playing referee between them. She still needed to get a few more things from her car, so she shut and locked her apartment door, and headed down the stairs again. “Because when I told you I was coming home, you said, and I quote, this is the best news ever, I’m planning a welcome home party for you. And when I suggested Sophie could help, you said no way in hell. No, wait. I think you said fuck no and you’d rather your favorite appendage be cut off than having to be near her.”

Nash must have kicked something that scraped across the floor because she heard the scratchy sound. “Fuck, you’re right. George, why did you have to be best friends with Satan?”

“You are the only person who believes that,” Georgia countered. She popped open her trunk and grabbed a box, then a bag that she swung over her shoulder. “I actually have to let you go. I’m getting the last bit of stuff from my car. Where and what time for tonight?”

“Lighthouse at nine,” Nash confirmed before hanging up.

Damn it, she didn’t get to ask who was going, besides him and Sophie.

Landmere wasn’t a small town, but it wasn’t a city either. It was stuck in purgatory between the two. Instead of six degrees of separation, there were three. That wasn’t going to stop her from making dating a priority. She had a boyfriend in high school, Victor Bord, and it wasn’t very serious. According to Sophie and her other best friend Anna, he’s married and has two kids.

Good for him. Georgia didn’t pine over him when they did date, so she wasn’t upset he wasn’t on the market now.

Though she didn’t like being lonely, and she did care about that.

Once she put in some time at the medical practice to learn the ins and outs of her new job, she was going to date.

“I’m a doctor,” Georgia whispered to herself as she shoved through her front door and dropped the box she was holding. She grinned, doubting she would ever get tired of hearing her new job title.

Georgia went to her room to get ready, deciding her first night out required something dressier than her usual scrubs or jeans and a T-shirt. To spice things up, she put on a black dress that fell mid-thigh with some ruffle on the bottom, had long lacy sleeves, and showed just a little bit of her cleavage to leave a man itching to see more. She added a long rose gold necklace with different shades of red gems dangling from the end. To match, she wore her favorite red sandals.

After blowing out her blond hair and curling it at the ends to give the carefree, beach look that actually took way too much time, she did her makeup.

Glancing in the mirror, she blew herself a kiss, loving her look.