Page 42 of Georgia On My Mind (Southern Promises)

Gia licked her lips and tried to explain. “You have to know it was my very first time at the club. I was trying to make some quick money—”

“I know!” he interrupted loudly.

“What? How?” She watched him sigh deeply, his knuckles turning white as he forcefully gripped the steering wheel.

Gritting his teeth, he described what had transpired. “A huge fight broke out when I rushed the stage, but it didn’t last long. When things calmed down, that damn owner, Bartelli refused to let me go backstage to get you. All he was interested in was getting some other poor girl out there performing for the crowd. Oh, and getting his check back from you. Two thousand dollars. I agreed to help him find it in your stuff, but first, he had to track down his night manager who had the keys to the dressing room you locked yourself in. I was out of my fucking mind worried about you. He told me everything—that you needed quick cash and had agreed to two shows at the club.” He turned and looked straight at her. “What in the hell were you thinking? And what did you need that amount of money for?”

Gia crouched silently in the seat, humiliation filling her entire being.

“You choose to keep putting yourself in these dangerous situations, Gia. And the drugs? Why? Your own mother died from a drug overdose! Why would you do that? Is this another habit you’ve been keeping from me these past few months? Are you trying to follow in your mother’s footsteps?”

“No!” she cried out.

The heated exchange was escalating, and Hart suddenly pulled his car into a grocery store parking lot, putting it in park and abruptly facing her. “Then why? Were you forced to take them?” His expression pleaded with her to tell the truth.

“No… No one forced me to do anything. I… I don’t know why I took the Valium. I was stressed and upset… Charity told me it would calm me down. I just wanted to get through the night without falling apart.” She watched Hart run both hands through his hair before laying his head back on the seat in exasperation. “The money was to get my Aunt Caroline’s ring back from a pawn shop. It’s the only heirloom I have from my family. The money wasn’t for my business or drugs or anything else. It was for the ring. My ring.” Feeling bold, she forged ahead, wanting him to know the whole truth. “I wanted to ask you for the money. I did. But I didn’t know…”

“Didn’t know what?” His penetrating gaze made her shudder.

“I didn’t know…I was scared and embarrassed.”

“Didn’t know what, Gia?” His voice was low and rumbled with anger. She had pushed him to his limit.

Closing her eyes, she yelled out the words as fast as she could. “I didn’t know if you loved me!” Her entire body was shaking when she finally opened her eyes back up and stared at him, waiting for a reaction.

Hart pinched the bridge of his nose and spoke calmly. “Did you see the text I sent to you?”

“Yes.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “But I didn’t see it until this morning. My phone was in my bag the whole time last night.”

He hung his head, avoiding her stare. “Are you telling me if I had told you I loved you before you left that day, you wouldn’t have gone to the club?”

“Yes.” It was the truth. She was finally telling him the whole truth.

“Oh, my fucking god.” He turned away and looked out the window, running his fingers across his lips in contemplation. After a few agonizing minutes of silence, he sighed again. “We’re broken people, Gia. I’m broken. You’re broken. We’ve both had our fair share of terrible mistakes.” Shifting, he turned and looked directly at her, his features soft and his manner unusually calm. “I do love you.”

She couldn’t speak for fear of collapsing into a heaping pile of sobs. Hart was saying the words to her out loud—the words she had been so anxious to hear.

“When two broken people come together in love they can become whole again. I need you, Gia. I want to be whole. I want us to be whole.”

Her lips trembled as she tried to hold back her emotions, listening to every poignant word.

“I don’t care where you came from or who your mother was or what you almost went through with last night.” He reached across the car interior and delicately stroked her cheek. “You make me better than I was before, and I love you. I promise I’ll tell you every single fucking day from now on.”

Leaning into his touch, she smiled and gazed into his deep, brown eyes, feeling the weight of a thousand pounds lifted off her shoulders. He loved her, and she was ready to be whole again too.

“I love you too, Hart,” she replied sincerely. The release of those three little words off her tongue was cathartic. “And you better believe I’m going to tell you every fucking day from now on too.”

He stifled a chuckle and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. She relished the moment, allowing his love to finally penetrate her pores and start to put back together the broken pieces.

***

They walked hand in hand into the bedroom, the morning light appearing brighter to Hart. Immediately, he pulled off his t-shirt and watched as Gia did the same. His breathing staggered as he palmed her gorgeous breasts, making him aware of the growing bulge in his shorts. He helped ease her onto the bed and straddled her body, pulling off her yoga pants and underwear in one motion. Dragging his fingertips across her skin and circling her soft mound, he reveled in her beauty, aware that things were different now. They weren’t just lovers anymore having sex. They were lovers who were making love.

“I want to indulge in every crevice, every inch of skin on your body,” he whispered lustfully into her ear. Her figure hummed beneath him, the electricity between them powerful. He knew without a doubt that the love he felt for Gia was the kind of love that could destroy him.

Placing the tip of his manhood against her sweetness, he teased her playfully, making her writhe and twist with want. She moaned with pleasure, her blue eyes shining like the glint of sunlight bouncing off the surface of water. Slowly, he slid into her wet seam, taking in staggered breaths, the sensation of her tight warmth surrounding him in ecstasy. This was where he was meant to be.

She raised her hand up to his bruised cheek and stroked him, her fingers feeling like soft feathers against his skin. “I love you,” she whispered.

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