Page 85 of Any Luck at All

But even so, she had to tell him before that, didn’t she? How else would she live with the guilt?

He held her and gently rubbed her back. “Do you want to eat or work? Or just stand here and let me hold you?”

What she needed was to get herself together. Leaning back, she cocked her eyebrows. “What kind of pizza?”

“I wasn’t sure what you’d like, so I got a half cheese and half pepperoni.”

“I say you open that bottle of wine while I open the pizza.” Then, with a dramatic flourish as though her task was as hard as his, she opened the box and pulled out a slice of pepperoni. She took a bite and moaned. “This issogood.”

He grinned. “Well, if that impresses you, wait until you get a look at what I got for Jezebel.”

“So you brought both of your girls some treats?”

His wink sent a bolt of lust and remembered pleasure through her. “I promise you’re my favorite.”

Turned out he’d brought some groceries too—some milk, coffee, eggs, another bottle of wine, along with some cheese and bread, and a few tins of sardines to lure Jezebel. Georgie put her pizza on a plate and helped bring them inside.

“I can’t say I approve of this plan,” she said, scrunching her nose. “It’s going to smell terrible if we leave that out.”

“And that awful aroma is sure to draw her home,” he said with a grin. “Beau used to give her these for a treat. It’s the devil cat’s version of catnip.”

“If this is such a slam dunk, why didn’t you try it before?”

He made a face. “I was worried she might show up and attack the contractors. As you’ve seen, she doesn’t take kindly to finding people in ‘her’ house.”

Which surely didn’t bode well for Georgie and Adalia.

Soon they were sitting out on the back porch, like they had that first night, eating pizza and sipping wine. A feeling of peace stole over Georgie. It felt like this was how it was supposed to be all along, like she’d spent the last two weeks fighting herself for no good reason at all.

“I didn’t know you drank wine,” she teased, nudging his shoulder. “Isn’t that kind of sacrilegious?”

He nudged her back. “You’re right. It’s sacrilegious for either of us to drink it. I guess I should bring the other bottle home with me.”

When they finished eating, River set out an open can of sardines on the back porch. Georgie had given him permission to try it once, with the agreement that he would be the one to remove the smelly fish if Jezebel (or worse, something else) didn’t get to it first.

“Maybe the neighbors will stop texting me at all hours,” River said. “The latest rumor going around is that Jezebel is a black panther escaped from Beau’s backyard exotic zoo.”

After cleaning up their dishes, they went upstairs and started changing the beds together, Georgie more than a little tempted to pull him onto one, but she checked the time and realized she had to go to the airport.

“You go get your sister,” River said, leading her to the bedroom door. “I’ll finish up here.”

She hesitated. While she absolutely loved that he’d dropped by to help, she didn’t want him to be here when she brought Adalia home. She and Adalia had too much ground to cover, plus she needed time to tell her sister about him first.

He grabbed both of her shoulders and held her gaze. “I promise that Hops and I will be gone when you get back.”

She looked away, feeling ungrateful. “River. I’m not ashamed of you.”

“I know. But this isn’t the way to tell your sister. You need to focus on her and what happened. We have time.” He gave her a soft kiss. “I’m not going anywhere.” Then he smiled. “Except for tonight, obviously.”

She laughed and rested her hand on his chest, savoring the feel of him.

Maybe love itself wasn’t toxic at all. Maybe her mother had just picked the wrong man.

She left River on Beau’s front porch, but not until after he kissed her so thoroughly her body ached to stay with him and finish what they’d started. He gave her a wave while Hops chewed on his shoestring, and then the two of them went back inside.

What would it be like to come home to River?

The thought caught her by surprise. But it was even more surprising how right it felt.

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