Rachel smoothed a hand over her barely there bump. “My second. Paige is with her daddy, well, one of them.” She started to explain.
Georgia waved a hand. “Oh, I totally get it. Two husbands. Twice the sex. Twice the laundry. Twice the putting up with their shit. That’s what my sister-in-law says. Of course, she also says twice the love. She’s happy with my brothers. They’re twins.”
“So are Max and Rye. Max is giving me hell, actually.” She sniffled a little. “I don’t see why he can’t take anything seriously. Just yesterday he was supposed to get a medical exam so we could get life insurance, but instead he punched Doc in the face and got himself arrested.”
“Oh, he sounds like he’s acting out. I used to do that all the time to get attention from my brothers. They would get so involved in their lives, and my dad was never around, so I would pull some stupid crap at school just to get Win to come home for a while. It’s totally not fair. I should apologize to him for that.” It really hadn’t been fair, but at the time, she hadn’t known what else to do. She’d been very selfish. The night before seemed to have changed something in her. She’d gotten a lecture from Logan about halfway through the night. He’d been buried deep inside her, his hips rolling in a lazy, deeply sensual rhythm. He’d talked about communicating. He’d told her she had to talk to him or it wouldn’t work. “Maybe your husband is just trying to get your attention.”
Like she’d been trying to get Logan and Seth’s yesterday. She’d tried to please them by dressing up and cooking dinner and making things nice, and when that hadn’t worked, she’d thrown a fit.
Maybe next time, she’d just get naked. They seemed to really like her naked.
Rachel’s eyes widened. “Do you really think so? I have to be honest. I’ve been a little worried that maybe he was bored with the whole family thing, and this was his way of having fun. I can treat him like a kid half the time. I don’t really mean to. I just get in that mom mode and I start in on them both. Rye will turn me over his knee and show me who’s boss when I start in on him, but Max just seems to pull away. I don’t know why. He would put anyone else on their ass.”
“Because he loves you. I don’t think men are always as rational as women are. I think he could be just as lonely as you are. I heard having kids can be hard on a marriage. My dad tended to get divorced every time he had a kid.”
Rachel’s hands came up, her eyes flaring in obvious revelation. “So he’s doing what he knows to do. Oh god, Georgia. He’s acting out because he’s trying to get my attention. When we first started dating, we had this deal, Max and me. When he acted like an idiot, he owed me sexual servitude.”
She wondered if she could get Logan and Seth to agree to that arrangement. Sexual servitude sounded really nice. “It sounds like that’s what he’s doing then.”
Rachel smiled and gave Georgia the biggest hug. “Oh, I’m so relieved. You’re a lifesaver, Georgia. Why don’t you come out for dinner sometime next week? Bring Seth and Logan. We would love to see them.” She turned. “Marie, I need to go find Max and lay down the law. Can you handle this without me?”
“Sure thing.” Marie stepped up to the small podium and everyone seemed ready to start this meeting thing.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Rachel started to take off the shoes.
But Georgia was enjoying playing fairy godmother. She shook her head. “No. He’ll think the shoes are hot. You can borrow them for a while. I’ll use yours.”
They weren’t what she was used to, but they looked comfy. And they fit, and it was worth it to know she’d made someone really happy.
“Thank you.” Rachel gave her another hug and ran out the door as fast as the heels would allow her.
Nell was standing next to her. “I do not approve of your footwear, but that was a really nice thing to do.”
“Thanks.” Georgia looked Nell up and down. “I love making people over. It’s so much fun.”
“Well, you obviously dress really well. I prefer cruelty-free clothes, though.” She ran her hands along her too-long-for-her skirt and shuffled those totally cruel on the eyes shoes she was wearing.
Oh, someone else needed a fairy godmother. “Nell, I think I can help you there. I just need my credit card and a computer. This is going to be so, so much fun. I love a good makeover!”
Holly’s head turned. “Did someone say makeover?”
Lucy and Hope turned as well.
“That sounds like fun. I’ve never done makeovers before,” the one named Lucy said. “We should have a little party.”
Georgia could totally do a party. She did kind of have the biggest cabin in the town after all. And if Logan and Seth didn’t like their hideaway being invaded by makeup-loving women, then they really shouldn’t have chosen her as their girl.
Marie was standing at the podium. “I think that would be fun for y’all. Now it’s time to get started. Miss Naomi has graciously agreed to teach us all a little about first aid today.”
A beautiful curvy woman with rich chocolate skin and the loveliest hair stepped up. She had a secretive grin on her face, like she was in on a joke no one else knew. “Just in case the son of a bitch you shoot next turns out to be your neighbor. Because that can happen, ladies. Now I’ve brought some supplies and I have a slide show. Let’s get started.”
Georgia took a seat next to Nell and tried to look like she was listening. But her mind was whirling with menu possibilities and how she would set up her little party.
Friends. She was making friends, people who thought she was nice, who thought she was worthy.
Nell leaned over. “Do you really think I could find pretty shoes that don’t harm the environment?”
Georgia was a little surprised when Nell actually reached out and grabbed her hand. Tears threatened. She’d been in damn LA so long, she’d forgotten how nice it was to hug and hold hands with friends and know that she would be accepted. “I promise, I will find them.”
Naomi started to talk about exit wounds and CPR, but Georgia was making lists of appetizers and wines she needed to buy for her party.
Being with friends, helping them and becoming meaningful—that was everything she could hope for.
And if she couldn’t find pretty shoes for Nell, she would make them herself. She was a Dawson, after all. And Dawsons persevered.
Seth slapped a branch back and wished he’d switched into boots for this particular outing. “Are you sure you’re not just being paranoid?”
Logan just followed the man in front of him, never looking back. “I know what I saw.”
“Well, it wasn’t an alien. They have ways to hide their presence in the daylight.” Mel was leading this band of merry men. “Unless they’re playing games with us.”
Mel stopped as though the thought deeply disturbed him.
“I don’t think it’s aliens.” Seth felt a deep need to stop Mel before he started to talk about probes. Mel liked to get real in depth about probing, and he could go into gruesome detail. Apparently Mel had been in the thick of the alien wars for a long time, and being a warrior equaled anal probes. Seth had already decided not to get involved with aliens. Though he did intend to get involved with anal probes. Fuck. He so wanted to fuck Georgia’s ass. He wanted to do it in front of a mirror so he could watch the way her eyes widened and her pupils dilated as he entered her. She was so gorgeous. So perfectly sexy. And those damn shoes killed him. She’d been wearing hot pink ridiculously high heels, and all he’d been able to think about was getting those heels around his neck and driving his cock inside.
“Where do you think Momma Marie took her?” Seth asked, trying to catch his breath. Trekking through a mountain at nine thousand plus feet wasn’t something he was used to.