The Stillness Of You by Julie Bale Page B

another swig of my beer but her words stopped me
cold.
    “ There
was a girl at the door but she left before I got a chance to tell
her you were out back. She looked a little upset and she seemed
real surprised to see me.”
    My heart
took off and I jumped from low slung bench near the
barbecue. Georgia. It had to be her.
    Shit.
    “Who is
she?”
    I hopped
the railing, ignoring Eden’s question, and ran around the house
hoping like hell she hadn’t left yet. I rounded the corner and
caught sight of Matt’s car as she tried to maneuver it around my
truck.
    The
relief I felt was short lived because she’d just managed a three
point turn and was about to take off. With a burst of speed I shot
forward, jumping in front of her, a grin on my face, my hands
outstretched as she slammed on the brakes, the bumper missing me by
an inch.
    She could
have knocked me down but I would have been right back up and in her
face. Now that she was here I wasn’t letting her go
anywhere.
    I’d been
thinking about this girl every single minute of every single day
for the past week and to see her so close, to be in her space,
filled me with something I wasn’t going to even guess at. But it
was good, whatever this was…hell yeah, it was good.
    I’d
decided the day before to give Georgia until tonight before I made
a move to get in touch with her. I wanted to respect that Georgia
needed some time and space, but on the other hand, I was so hot for
her that I found it hard to concentrate on anything. Hell, I’d
played the shittiest round of golf ever, because I couldn’t get her
of my mind. And considering it was in my own charity golf
tournament, well you can imagine the ribbing I took.
    But it
was all good now. She was here. Right here in front of
me.
    For
several long moments we stared at each other and when I was sure
she wasn’t going to pull away, I advanced, watching her eyes follow
me until I stopped beside her window.
    Slowly it
slid down and I bent over, leaning my elbows on the lip of the
window, my gaze taking in the face that had starred in more porn
star fantasies than I would ever share. Those eyes. That hair. That
mouth.
    I was
tight, my muscles bunched, my heart beating way too fast. But even
more pressing, I ached to touch her. To reach forward and claim
that mouth and to taste her again. When the hell had I ever felt
like this over a girl?
    She cleared her
throat and tapped the steering wheel with her fingers. A blue
halter dress left her shoulders and most of her legs bare, and my
mouth went dry as my eyes took a trip down her body. When they
traveled back up, goose bumps rolled across my skin as we made eye
contact.
    “Hey,” I said
softly, drinking her in, in one long gulp.
    She jerked her
head, a quick little nod, but didn’t say anything, her expression
shuttered, closed…and if I didn’t know any better I would say just
a tad bit jealous.
    My grin widened
and a scowl touched her mouth.
    “ What’s
so funny?” she asked sharply.
    There
were no questions, no nice, safe conversation. There were her dark,
furled brows, her steadily tapping fingers and her green-eyed
jealousy.
    “Are you going
to turn off the engine and get out of this car?”
    “Nope.”
    “ Huh.” I
leaned an inch or so closer. Holy hell the smell of summer caught
me hard and my gut clenched as I let the scent waft over me. In me.
Through me.
    “So you came
all the way out here to ring my doorbell and then leave without
even saying hi?”
    She licked her
lips, that soft pink tongue mesmerizing as it swiped along her
bottom lip.
    “Ben, I don’t
know what I was doing coming out here, but obviously you’re busy
and I don’t want to interrupt.”
    “ Busy?”
My grin was goofy. Oh, this girl was so jealous and I fucking loved
it. It meant that she cared. It meant that she’d made it through
whatever it was she’d needed to work out. She’d come for me and
that was enough.
    Her face was
less than two inches from mine and my gaze roved