Page 92 of Slow Burn

GEORGIA NEVER WORRIED about Nash as a firefighter. Despite his laid-back attitude, he was a rule follower at work. She was reassured by his commitment to his career and the precautions he had to follow. He was safe. As a firm believer that anything could be potentially dangerous, and she trusted Nash, she never lost sleep.

However, when it came to Elijah, she was a wreck.

All the conditions were the same, and Elijah was more of a compliance freak than her brother, but her heart raced when she saw on social media that a raging fire had taken over four hours to control.

Needing to talk to someone, she called Sophie.

“Hey, sunshine,” her best friend greeted her. Thankfully, she was in a better mood than she was a few weeks ago. When Georgia asked her about it, Sophie shut it down, saying she was especially emotional because she was on her period. Georgia tried to get more out of her, but she didn’t budge.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting ready for happy hour,” Sophie told her. “I matched with someone on the new dating app you told me about, so I’m meeting him for a drink. Are you okay? You sound upset?”

Georgia stopped pacing around her kitchen and sat down in the living room. “There is a fire, and I’m worried⁠—”

“Nash is fine,” Sophie soothed her. “You need to remember he is a trained professional. Besides, he hates me too much to let something happen to himself because then who would torture me?”

That got a small smile from Georgia.

“Wait, this is about Elijah, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

“Well, the same thing goes. I know you are in love, so it changes things, but you need to trust Elijah to do his job.”

In love.

This got a bigger smile out of her.

“Don’t you have a key to his house?” Sophie asked.

“I do.”

She swore she felt Sophie roll her eyes.

“Then get your butt to his house, pull on one of his T-shirts that probably smells like him, and snuggle in his bed. Once he’s back at the station, send him a sexy picture of yourself so he knows what he’s coming home to. Since it’s Friday night, he’ll be coming back to you on Sunday.”

Standing up to take Sophie’s advice, she was surprised Sophie was so romantic. “For someone who swears love is dead, that’s really great advice. Thank you.”

“Hey, I don’t think love is dead for you!” she corrected. “It will just never exist for me.”

Georgia paused. “You don’t actually believe that.”

“Go to Elijah’s house.”

“Don’t change the subject. Who is the secret man who broke your heart?”

Sophie huffed. “I’m going on a date, so I refuse to let a man-child be on my mind. I need to finish getting ready, but I promise to text when I get home. Don’t worry about Elijah. Trust him and count down the hours until you get to see him again.”

“Why won’t you talk to me?”

“Because he isn’t worth it. Love you.”

With that, Sophie ended their call.

This was the second time in a month that Sophie showed some of her cards about a man who did damage to her heart. Georgia wasn’t letting this go, but she’d take her time because her friend wasn’t the type to talk if she didn’t want to.

Grabbing her keys, she headed to Elijah’s house.