Boss Meets Baby(127)

‘Why?’ he asked her, his gaze hard.

‘Why what? Look…you’re really making a mountain— out of a molehill, you know!’

At Keir’s answering glower, Georgia shrugged.

‘All right then. You want to know why I stayed a virgin up until now?’ There was a small but discernible— quiver of her prettily shaped top lip. ‘After taking care of Noah, earning my living has always had to be the top priority in my life. I simply didn’t have the time or the energy to devote to an intimate relationship.’

‘Other people manage.’ Keir was striving to understand her.

‘Well…other people have different situations and priorities. Since my parents died, mine has been taking responsibility for Noah, making sure that the mortgage and the bills are paid and that we have enough to eat.’

‘After your parents died, didn’t you and Noah inherit the family home?’

‘We did…but it wasn’t paid for. We only inherited— the mortgage.’

It seemed to Keir as if her beautiful green-gold eyes clouded over with sadness for a moment.

‘My father got into trouble with his business and accumulated quite a bit of debt before he died…that’s why. I had to work hard to help pay that off too.’ She shrugged, clearly uncomfortable at having been made to reveal such a precarious situation.

Now that he knew her reason for staying a virgin for so long, Keir was stunned. She’d sacrificed a life and a relationship of her own for her brother, as well as taking on her parents’ debts. Rarely, if ever, had Keir encountered such selfless love and devotion. Absently he laid his hand on his flat, lean stomach and rubbed it, a myriad of conflicting emotions flooding through him at that moment.

‘And just how long did you intend to carry on putting Noah’s needs before your own, Georgia?’ he gently enquired.

‘It’s not a question of—’

‘How long?’ Keir insisted.

‘I didn’t have any finite date in mind! When someone is depending on you, you just get on with things! I know he’s a man now, and the business is starting to take off, but I suppose I just got so used to doing what I was doing that it became a habit not to think about a—a relationship with someone.’

She held the sheet tightly in front of her breasts, as— though to protect herself.

And even though he clearly saw that she was vulnerable right then, Keir almost wanted to shake her. He could scarcely believe that she’d been willing to put her brother’s welfare above her own for so long. When he thought of his tense relationship— with his own brother—a factor that maybe he should have been more diligent in trying to improve—Keir silently confessed to feeling slightly ashamed.

‘But you must have dated men, surely? Didn’t you ever let anybody get close?’

‘I went out on a couple of dates, but I never encouraged— the men concerned to take things further,’ she— replied flatly, pushing her fingers through her tumbled locks. ‘I was always worried that the energy it would take to commit to a relationship might encroach on what I had to do to survive.’

‘But this is your life we’re talking about, Georgia!’

Yes, it was her life—and hearing Keir say the words out loud made her realise that it was about time she started to consider what she really wanted for herself. The momentous event that had just occurred had awakened her as thoroughly as though she’d been asleep for the past twenty-eight years—and— finally woken up to reality. Transported to another realm by the hot tide of lust and urgent carnal demand that had gripped her body so emphatically in Keir’s arms, Georgia had at last discovered her own sensual nature. And, more profoundly, she’d discovered that she wanted to be loved by a man. She didn’t want to spend the rest of her life alone.

Her parents’ death had cost her dear in more ways than one. She’d expended so much time, energy and devotion on taking care of Noah and keeping their family home together that she’d honestly doubted she was capable of committing herself totally to a relationship—but— now a real flicker of hope was burning inside her, and she didn’t want to let that flame of hope go out.

‘I’m quite aware that it’s my life…And if you imagine that I don’t have hopes and dreams of my own then you’re wrong—because I do!’

Tears were horrendously close, boiling up behind her lids, while her throat felt as if she’d swallowed razorblades and hot water.

‘Noah is a lucky man to have such a devoted sister. You’re an amazing woman, Georgia…and the man that you eventually end up with will be a very lucky man too.’ His expression was unrelenting in its intensity, and Keir knew he meant every word of that compliment. Even if the idea of her ending up with someone else seemed to trigger an avalanche of hurt inside him.

‘And what about—?’ She seemed to hesitate to pursue her question. ‘What about what just happened between us?’

God, she was so innocent! Keir’s heart seemed to stall inside his chest at the realisation.

‘It was probably inevitable! You can’t suppress your own needs for ever…eventually something has to give!’

‘So…’

He saw her absorb what he’d said with what seemed like distress. ‘What you’re saying is I could have gone to bed with anybody? It just happened to be you?’