She hesitated, but eventually she took my hand, and I used it to pull her onto my lap. “Talk to me.” Georgia looked down, and I pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “What are you nervous about?”
“Everything.”
I nodded. “Okay. Let’s take them one at a time. Tell me all the things that are freaking you out.”
“Not being in the office.”
“You’re bringing your laptop and cell, right?”
“Yes.”
I shrugged. “So if there’s a problem, they know how to reach you. And we’ll be right here in the city, so you can get back if something important comes up. You go out of the office for meetings sometimes, right?”
“Yes, but that’s different.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. It just is. This is two weeks, not an afternoon.”
“Okay. So the amount of time is what’s bothering you. Why don’t we cut our trip from two weeks to two days? You can decide after two days if you need to go back or want to keep going with our staycation.”
“But…you said you made plans.”
“I’ll change them, if need be.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “Not a problem. But you should know, you’re not the only one who’s competitive. I’m going to do everything I can to make you have such a good time that you won’t want to go back.”
For the first time, a smile peeked through the stress on her face. “Okay.”
“Anything else?”
She looked down and twisted her fingers. “I’m nervous about…us.”
I lifted her chin so our eyes met. “I booked us two rooms. They’re adjoining. There’s no pressure there.”
“You did?”
I nodded. “I did.”
Her shoulders relaxed, and she let out a rush of air. “Okay.”
I smiled. “We’re doing great. What else you got?”
“Those are really the two biggest things.”
“That wasn’t so bad.”
“For you…” She laughed.
“You know what will make you feel even better?”
“What?”
I slid my hand up from her back to her neck and pulled her close. “Kissing me hello.”
Georgia sank into me. I could feel the sigh roll through her body, taking the tension with it as she opened and let my tongue in. By the time we separated, I’d almost forgotten my name. So if it was half as good for her, I’d done my job, and she’d be okay today.
I cupped her cheek. “Feel better?”
She nodded. “I should’ve called you last night to come do that. Maybe I would’ve had a better night’s sleep.”
“Well, I’ll be right next door tonight if you start to stress.” I looked around the room. “Think you feel up to finishing packing?”
“Yeah. Just give me a few minutes. I’m going to change, too. Why don’t you go have some coffee while I get done?”
Twenty minutes later, Georgia emerged from the bedroom wheeling a suitcase. She had on a pair of tight jeans and a Wolverines T-shirt.
“What do you think?” She pushed her hair behind her shoulders so I could see the full logo and held her hands out.
“Very nice tits,” I managed to say with a straight face.
She laughed and pointed. “I’m showing you the Wolverines T-shirt. I bought it on my way out of the game on Saturday.”
“I’m teasing. I love it.”
She turned and showed me her back, lifting her long hair. Now that I hadn’t been expecting. I didn’t even know they made T-shirts with a logo on the front and my name and number on the back. But I fucking loved it on her.
“Nice.” My brain quickly conjured an image of what she might look like wearing it with nothing else—just the T-shirt with my name across the back and her long, sexy, bare legs sticking out the bottom.
Georgia turned back around. She took one look at my face and squinted. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”
I smirked and walked over to her. “You don’t want to know. We just got you calm.” I took the suitcase from her hand. “Do you have more bags?”
“I jammed everything in the one. I might be back in a few days anyway, right?”
“Sure.” Though, not if I have anything to say about it.
CHAPTER 12
* * *
Georgia
Max surprised me with an entire day planned.
When we finally left my apartment, a car was waiting at the curb. It whisked us off to the Four Seasons Hotel downtown, where we handed our bags to the concierge and told him we’d be back to check in later. Then we headed to Battery Park to catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. We stayed outside on the deck, taking in the gorgeous spring day from the railing as we crossed the Hudson River.
“Have you ever been to Liberty or Ellis Island?” I asked.
“Yep, with my brother Austin when we were in college. I was in my first year and had an exhibition game here in the city. He came with me, and we stuck around for an extra few days. Austin was really into buildings and history, so he wanted to come see it.” Max looked out at the water reflectively and smiled. “I got smacked while we were waiting to get in to the statue.”
“By Austin?”
Max shook his head. “No, by a woman a couple of people ahead of us in line. I was an idiot back then—basically checked out anything with legs. I motioned to a woman I thought had a nice ass, wanting Austin to check her out, too. When he did, he didn’t agree with me, so we debated the subject a little. I thought I’d kept my voice low, but apparently Austin was louder than he intended as he explained how her ass wasn’t symmetrical.”
I covered my mouth. “Oh my God.”
He nodded. “Yeah. She overheard and figured out we were talking about her, but she didn’t let on until we’d made it up to the pedestal. Then she walked over and asked which one of us was the pig. I raised my hand, and she reared back and slapped me. A security guard came over, and the woman told him we’d been harassing her, and he asked us to leave. So we didn’t get to climb up to the torch.”
I chuckled. “Well, hopefully you can keep your eyes where they belong, and we won’t get kicked out today. Cross your fingers you can make it up to the top.”
Max wrapped his arms around my waist. “My eyes have no interest in wandering anywhere.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls.” I smiled.
Max’s face turned serious. “You know I’m not seeing anyone else, right?”
I hadn’t given that subject any thought. I guess between me working so much and his hockey schedule, it never occurred to me that either of us would have time to go out with anyone else. But Max was off for the summer now. And technically I was still in a relationship, so that didn’t seem fair.
“You could, if you want…”
Max frowned. “I don’t want.”
“But I’m in a relationship still.”
“I get that. Though he’s not here. And you aren’t seeing him until at least after the summer is over, so it’s easy to put it out of my mind.” His brows pulled together. “Are you planning on dating other people this summer?”