“Scale of one to ten, how am I doing?”
“Seriously?” He shook his head. “You really need a statistical validation?”
“Damn right I do. I gotta be the best.”
“You’re knocking it out of the park.”
“There we go. A good ole baseball analogy. There’s the Will I’ve come to know and love.” That earned me a shot to the shoulder from him. “Easy there, I’m injured.”
Will rolled his eyes as the two of us walked over to the water cooler. I filled up my bottle and the two of us continued to give each other a hard time.
“Maybe you need to have Dr. Forlani build you a new shoulder from cadaver parts,” I suggested. “Get you back on the mound.”
“I’m not sure a dead guy’s arm would do the trick,” he said. “Besides, who would be here to train your sorry ass if I was gone?”
“Very true. No new arm until I’m back to one-hundred percent.” I laughed. “Think it would be all right if I started driving?” I asked. “I mean, it’s my left leg.”
“Yeah probably. Maybe give Doc a call and make sure,” he said. “I’m not sure why you’d want to though,” he continued. “I mean, from what I can see, you’ve got a ride.” He pointed out Georgia leaning against the doorframe. “Why mess with a perfectly good thing?”
“Good point.” I had to agree. Just the sight of her standing there did something strange to me. It was the same feeling I got in my stomach just before attempting a major stunt. Except there was no way to train for Georgia. I just had to wing it and hope I didn’t fuck up and scare her off.
Seeing Georgia every chance I got was nice. Maybe I could wait a little longer before I got behind the wheel. In addition to the nervousness, a warm sensation settled into my chest the moment I laid eyes on her. It was odd considering most of the feelings I had when I looked at women seemed to be localized to one place in particular. The southern region. Not that she didn’t cause quite a stir in that area as well, but when it came to her there was…more.
Georgia smiled and waved when she noticed we were looking at her. I hoped I wasn’t coming off as Creepy McStaresalot, but she was just so damn beautiful. I couldn’t help but look at her. The soft looking gray sweater she was wearing over a pair of dark blue skinny jeans made me want to wrap my arms around her. Pretty much everything she wore—everything she did—made me want to hold her in my arms. I hadn’t stopped thinking about the kiss we’d shared a few nights back. It was soft and sweet, but damn it all if it hadn’t been one of the greatest moments of my life. It took a lot of self-control to not push it further with her. But, if I wanted to be a stand-up guy, the kind of guy that deserved a girl like Georgia Bennett, I knew there would be a lot more self-controlled moments in my future.
Standing there, watching her grin and wait for me, had made it worth it. I didn’t want to rush a single thing with her. I wanted to enjoy the time we had together. When we’d talked about our relationship histories, it made me realize, for the first time in my life, I wanted to know what it was like to really be with someone. In more than just a wham, bam, thank you ma’am kind of way. This so-called “casual” thing we were doing was starting to seem impossible. At least for me.
“Hey, Georgia,” Will said when she finally walked over to where we were standing. “How are you?”
“Good. You?” she asked politely, placing her hand on his arm to greet him. I assumed that they knew each other from working at the hospital. I hoped that that was the case anyway. She said she hadn’t dated anyone since Jamie. I had to believe a fling with a Physical Therapist was out of the question.
“Well you look great,” he added. Will was smiling at her like everyone did, but it wasn’t settling right with me for some reason. She withdrew her hand from his arm after what seemed like an eternity and I suddenly realized I’d been frowning the entire time she was touching him.
It was innocent, I told myself. She was just a friendly person offering a friendly greeting.
“Thanks,” Georgia replied. “So do you.”
She glanced at me after she accepted his compliment like she was checking to see if I noticed another guy thought she was pretty. Of course I freaking did. The real question was what the hell was he doing? Was he actually flirting with her in front of me? The grip on my water bottle tightened a little. Will’s dimpled smile and all around boy next-door good looks started to irritate me. He wasn’t bad looking, I guess. But, he wasn’t me. Surely, Georgia wasn’t interested in him. Was she? They carried on a short conversation about the terrible food choices in the cafeteria. It was more than their conversation that made me lose my appetite.
So this is what jealousy feels like.
Despite the fact that their interaction was cordial and not at all threatening, I couldn’t help but focus on the way his smile lingered after she spoke to him. He’d be here in town after I headed back to Texas. And her fling with me would be the stepping-stone to something real with him, or a guy like him. The heat in my chest spread to my face and I knew it had a lot more to do with watching them interact than the workout I’d just finished.
I tried to settle myself down, turning my head slightly to the side and feeling the bones in my neck crack, which only made the thought of putting my fist through his face that much more appealing. I chalked it up to the testosterone boost I had after my training, but the idea of another guy putting the moves on her was too much to take at the moment. I couldn’t remember ever giving two shits about a girl I was with talking to another guy. This right here was unknown territory, ladies and gentlemen. Seeing her smile at him and give someone else her attention had me all kinds of tormented. Not to mention, Will was probably more her type. The two of them had way more in common than the two of us. I was adrenaline and good times, he was in her field of study and probably a lot more like Jamie than I was. The time for my usual game was gone. I needed to step up to the plate if I wanted this girl. Will could eat his baseball analogies with a big side of stay the hell away from my girl.
“You ready?” I asked, needing to get out of there before I convinced myself that Will was an actual threat. I didn’t need to beat my therapist’s ass for talking to a girl that wasn’t even mine to begin with.
Yet, anyway.
“Yep.”
“See you in a couple days, man,” I told Will as I tossed my arm over Georgia’s shoulder. He might not have had any hidden agenda with her, but I wanted to make my point nonetheless. Georgia Bennett might not have been mine, but she sure as hell wasn’t going to be anyone else’s. Not while I was in town anyway.
* * *
Georgia had agreed to take me by the local grocery store. The Froot Loops were gone, along with the left over pizza. Bare cupboards were not something I usually dealt with. I spent so much time on the road and in training that eating out had become my normal routine.
“You coming in?” I asked when she didn’t turn off the car after parking. There were only a few cars in the lot of the small town store. I appreciated the ease of going shopping. Back in Texas, the closest grocer was a big box store that I avoided at all costs.
“You want me to?”
“Well yeah,” I nodded, “I don’t know what’s healthy and what’s not. Aren’t you the one always telling people to take care of themselves?” Add it to the list of things that had me interested in her. I’d kind of always only thought about myself, so I was more than intrigued by a girl who seemed to think about everyone but herself.