Kissin' Tell (Rough Riders #13)(26)

And she fled.


Maybe this hadn’t been the best idea.


Georgia had been skittish all night. When she wasn’t ignoring everything and everyone around her.


It bothered him that she hadn’t joined in the conversations at the burger joint. Not that she’d been rude. She’d just seemed uninterested and entirely focused on her food.


Maybe she’s shy.


That jarred him.


Georgia Hotchkiss…shy?


No way. She’d always spoken her mind.


Hadn’t she?


No. If he remembered correctly, the only time she’d voiced her opinions was when Deck hadn’t been around. Like in history class. The rest of the time she’d kept quiet. So she wasn’t aloof or stuck-up, as most people—including him—had assumed.


As much time as Tell had spent watching her in high school, how had he not noticed that she was actually shy?


Because you were a teenage boy too busy imagining f*cking her.


Seemed he, too, had seen only what he’d wanted to see.


When Georgia returned from the bathroom, her face was even more pale.


He was by her side in an instant. “What’s wrong?”


“I’m ready to go. If you want to stay and watch the end of the movie, it’s not that far to my place. I’ll walk.”


“Like hell you will.” He loomed over her. “Stay here. I’ll grab the blanket and be right back.”


They didn’t speak on the short ride to her house. After he’d parked in her driveway, he said, “You wanna tell me what’s really wrong?”


She continued staring out the window for another minute before she faced him. “Now that I’m back in Sundance I see a lot of mistakes I made.”


“Like what?”


“Like I didn’t make much effort in high school to make new friends.”


“Why’s that? Because you’re a little shy?”


Georgia looked at him sharply. “How’d you know?


“Lucky guess.” He kissed the back of her hand. “Go on.”


“I’m not painfully shy or anything. I was just raised in a God-fearing home where men were masters of their domain. My mom was a foreigner and introverted, so I ended up like her, where RJ took after my dad and was outgoing. Took me a long time to figure out most people thought I was stuck-up because I wasn’t like RJ.”


“With the last name McKay, I’ve dealt with a lot of those preconceived ideas too. It sucks.”


She nodded. “But mostly I didn’t try to find a best friend because I already had one.”


“Deck?”


She shook her head. “RJ. Whenever we moved to a new town, I didn’t worry about fitting in because I had him. Then he took to Sundance like he was born here and he kind of left me in the dust, which is probably why I clung to Deck so much. Everybody knew RJ. Everybody liked him.” She looked away. “I miss him. I know it’s been almost nine years and it should be easier, but it still hurts. And being here makes me face it every day.”


“Hey.” Tell leaned across the seat, gently encouraging her to look at him. “I know how that feels. I still expect my brother Luke to barrel up when we’re out fixin’ fence. Course, he’d tell me I was doin’ something wrong. That part I don’t miss.” He smiled. “But I miss him. Not the Luke who was a shitty husband to Jessie or the Luke who was Dad’s favorite kid as well as his favorite whipping post. I miss Luke, my brother. The guy he was when it was just the four of us. Not trying to impress the ladies, or trying to piss Dad off, or trying to make Mom laugh when she was so damn miserable. But the guy who taught me stuff. The guy who listened when I talked. He’s been gone almost five years and I still miss him every day. I know I’m lucky that I’ve got two other brothers. But neither of them replaces Luke.”



Her eyes filled with tears. “Thank you.”


“For what?”


“For understanding. For not thinking I’m some kind of freaky girl for crying over my dead brother.”


Tell hauled her into his lap. “I’d never think that.”


Georgia curled into him. “I’m sorry this has turned out to be a shitty date.”


“Sweetness, it’s always a good date when I’ve got you in my arms.” He kissed her forehead.


“Sorry to rip you away from the end of the movie.”


“I know how it ends. John Wayne wins.”


“Wouldn’t be much of a John Wayne movie if he didn’t.”


He stroked her hair. “Can I ask you something? I’m not clear on why you chose to return to Sundance. You had to know there’d be memories of RJ all over the place.”


Georgia absentmindedly stroked the tops of his fingers. “Maybe I came back here to face my demons. Be warned: I’ve got quite a lot of them.”


“Don’t we all.” Tell eased her back so he could take his time kissing her. Enjoying the feel of her soft body against his. Enjoying a lazy exploration of her mouth.