Sara Stone - Full Exposure

Eric closed his eyes. His world rushed headlong into a downward spiral, shifting beyond his control. Here, in this little boy’s room, a stuffed animal under his head for a pillow, he felt as if he’d been thrust back in time. He’d been on the verge of falling for her. He’d wanted to believe they could have a future together. And she was walking away.

No. He couldn’t let her go. He refused to lose her.

Eric sat up and reached for Nate’s stuffed froggie. Slowly, he pulled his hand free from Nate’s smaller one, offering the frog in its place. Lost in sleep, the little boy snuggled up to the stuffed animal.

“I’ll be right back, buddy,” he whispered.

Nate didn’t move. Eric silently rose to his feet, tiptoed out of the room, and burst into a run when he hit the hall. He took the stairs two at a time.

“Georgia!” He raced into the kitchen. He caught a glimpse of her brown hair. The door leading to the garage closed behind her. He followed, catching up with her as she opened the door to the Jeep. She froze, one hand in the open driver’s side window. He saw her red eyes and knew she’d been crying. But the way she held herself, her shoulders back, her head high with her hair flowing freely over her shoulders, she looked beautiful, strong, so damn determined.

“Don’t leave,” he said. “Stay and talk to me. Please, Georgia.”

Lips pursed, she shook her head. “I need to do this on my own.”

“No, you don’t.” He stepped down into the garage, moving closer, needing to pull her into his arms. She belonged here, with him.

“I do.” She climbed into the car, closing the door, shutting him out.

“If you want to do the right thing for me and for Nate,” she said through the open window, “let me go. I can’t . . . I can’t do this. Us. I thought I could, but . . . I’m sorry.”

He saw the chink in her armor when she said the word us, as if being with him was her Achilles’ heel, the one thing that could tear her apart when what she needed right now was to come back into her own.

Georgia turned the key and pressed the button to open the garage door. Eric stepped back, releasing his hold on the car. Inside, his heart felt as if she’d taken an axe to it, splitting it open like a log. But if this was best for her and for the child upstairs . . .

Eric closed his eyes, his hands forming fists at his sides. He’d take a fucking chainsaw to his heart—anything—if it meant taking care of Georgia.

GEORGIA TURNED ONTO the two-lane, paved road and accelerated. Windows open, wind blowing, she watched the speedometer as it moved past the speed limit. Ten miles over. Twenty. Twenty-five over. Her pulse raced. She felt out of control, yet completely in charge at the same time. It was a heady rush.

“Just a little faster,” she murmured, pressing her foot down. She craved more. The speed. The excitement pulsing through her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted movement on the side of the road. Georgia slammed on the brakes. A deer leapt into the center of her lane and froze. Georgia silently prayed the car would stop in time, knowing if she jerked the wheel in one direction, she risked skidding into the ditch, or worse.

“Stop, stop, stop,” she begged the car. If she hit that animal, if she killed it . . . No, she couldn’t bear it. One more life wiped away, and this one all her fault.

Screeching, the Jeep stopped a few feet in front of the terrified animal. It blinked, staring at Georgia for a second before prancing to safety. A second, smaller deer followed.

“Oh, God,” she whispered. “What have I done?”

Georgia slowly steered the car to the side of the road, out of the way of oncoming traffic. Leaning back in her seat, she closed her eyes. She’d been so desperate to escape her own feelings that she’d nearly killed an innocent animal.

Cars passed her on the left, and she knew it was only a matter of time before someone stopped to check on her. She couldn’t stay here, but she was not ready to go back to Eric’s house. She needed time and space to think. She had to find her way through this mess.

Georgia steered the Jeep back onto the road and headed for the one place she could always call home—her brother’s house. Truth descended on her, and this time she couldn’t escape it. She didn’t want to run, not anymore. Hiding from the things that scared her most was no longer an option. The only thing that would make her feel alive was living her life to the fullest. No more wild adventures. If she wanted to live, she had to go after the things that mattered in her life.

Eric.

In the morning, she would return to Eric’s home and fight for her future. She would find a way to explain that she needed him, not to solve her problems, but to love her.

Georgia parked the Jeep in front of Liam’s modest ranch home, surprised to find the lights on. She had a key and had planned to slip in and retreat to the spare bedroom, the one she’d claimed when she first returned home from Afghanistan. She hadn’t expected Liam to be awake.

Georgia slid out of the driver’s seat and headed for the front door. It was open when she arrived, and her brother stood in the doorway, wearing a pair of ripped jeans and an old T-shirt inside out.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come here. It’s late.” She glanced over her shoulder at the parking area for a second car.

“You’re welcome here anytime,” Liam said. “You know that, Georgie.”

“Thanks, but if you have company, I can leave.” She took a step back.

“I’m alone. Just couldn’t sleep.” He stepped back, holding the door open for her. “Come on in. Join me for a drink.”

Georgia obeyed, heading for the kitchen.

“Since you’re here, I’m guessing Eric told you,” he said tightly, pulling two beers from the fridge.

“Told me what?”

Liam let out a mirthless laugh, and Georgia glanced around the kitchen, noting the empty beer bottles by the sink. Her brother didn’t drink much. Rarely more than one or two beers, especially during fire season when the crews had to harvest trees whenever they could. More than two and he didn’t feel comfortable operating the machinery the next day.

“Are you drunk?”

“Getting there. I bet Eric sent you here to check on me. You two are close. More so now that you’re living with him. Are you sure he didn’t ask you to come by and question me?”

“In the middle of the night? Why would I question you in the middle of the night?”

Liam set his mostly full beer on the counter. “The DOF is accusing me of running the equipment after one in the afternoon the day the fire started.”

“What? But you didn’t, right?”

“Hell, no. But Eric,” Liam said, running both hands through his hair, “I’m not sure he believes me. Even if he does, if the DOF investigation concludes that I ordered the crew to run over, if they believe this goddamn anonymous tip, he won’t have much choice. He’ll have to fire me.”

“Eric wouldn’t do that.”

Why hadn’t Eric told her? She thought back to the other night, when he’d come home in a foul mood. He hadn’t said a word.

Because when he’d mentioned real consequences—and nothing was more real than firing his best friend—she’d turned the conversation 180 degrees and focused it on her time in Afghanistan.

“He wouldn’t fire you if you didn’t do it,” she said firmly. “Talk to him. He’ll tell you the same thing.”

“I don’t think he’d have much choice,” Liam said. “And shit, I told him not to tell you. He promised he wouldn’t.”

“He didn’t say a word about the DOF and their accusations.”

“Then why are you here? Did something happen?” Concern trumped his drunken state, and she could see Liam was ready to take on whatever had sent her running home.

“I had a nightmare.” She proceeded to tell him about waking up and needing to go for a drive, leaving out the part when Eric burst in to save her or Nate woke up afraid that bears had invaded her room. She explained about the deer in the road.

“I realized how foolish I’ve been, trying to feel alive instead of focusing on living, instead of opening up to the people around me.”

“You weren’t foolish,” he said, crossing the room and pulling her into a hug. “You did some stupid things, but maybe that’s what you needed. Don’t give yourself too much grief. That’s what I’m here for.” He drew back and smiled down at her. “So this focus on living? What does that mean?”

“Not driving too fast,” she said. But she couldn’t tell him the rest, not tonight. She wanted to wake up every day in love and surrounded by people she called family. It wasn’t a cure-all. She’d still have nightmares, possibly other setbacks. But she wasn’t going to let those hold her back. Not anymore.

“I guess that’s a start,” Liam said.

Georgia nodded. “I’ll let you know when I figure out the rest.”

“OK,” he said. “Planning to crash here tonight?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind. I might need to stay for a while.”

His smile faded. “Because of the nightmares? Or did things go south between you and Eric?”

“After the nightmare, I think it might be best. For Nate,” she said. Right now, she couldn’t say one way or the other where things stood between her and Eric. She only knew what she wanted from him. “We can figure it out later. Right now, I’d like to watch a movie on your couch. Maybe fall asleep.”

“I’ll join you,” he said, stepping back, releasing his hold on her as he headed for the other room. “And if you fall asleep, don’t worry. I’ll stay up. You know, just in case you start to have a bad dream.”