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Georgie saw his shoulders droop and braced herself for his reply. “Because I don’t want to risk passing on my…issues, or whatever.”
Her heart squeezed painfully. “Bran,” she said softly. “Please don’t—”
“It’s actually not open for discussion. Can you get in the car please?”
She stared at him for a long moment but his shoulders were set and his jaw rigid. Now was not the time. But she definitely wasn’t going to be letting this go. She got in the car without another word.
CHAPTER20
Ryan took a sip of beer, trying to pay attention to what William was saying. He couldn’t take his eyes off Georgie as she walked around, placing platters of finger food on the long outdoor table at Juniper and William’s. He’d been away for a few days and had felt the gnawing ache of missing her in his gut. His original intention had been to stay in Melbourne one more night, but his business had wrapped up earlier than expected, so he’d headed back to Blessed Inlet. And Georgie. He’d arrived just after eleven o’clock the night before to find her waiting in his cabin for him. She’d rushed to him, murmuring a breathless “I missed you,” before kissing him hungrily. He'd scooped her up in his arms, carried her to bed and made sweet, passionate love to her.
She’d risen just before dawn, giggling when he reached for her, but admonishing him to let her go. She had a lot of cooking to do. After hours and hours of practice and intense conversations with Juniper, Georgie had a menu laid out for a welcome home lunch for the honeymooners and a thank you to everyone for looking after her. So she’d slipped out of the cabin, telling him she’d see him later. He had barely seen her since, settled into Juniper’s expansive kitchen as she was. So here he was, following her with his eyes while she laid out a banquet. Feeling his gaze on her, she turned and smiled at him. He smiled back. He had plenty of reasons to smile. There was a light Spring breeze on the air. The ocean was a calm, deep blue. The sun was shining, taking the chill out of the soft breeze. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. And the woman he loved with all of his heart was smiling at him. She said something to Juniper before walking over to join him. “I’m not sure you’ve made enough,” he teased her, gesturing to the table, which was groaning under the weight of the platters Georgie and Juniper had piled on it.
“Har har.” She pulled his head down to give him a kiss.
“What’s that for?”
“That’s to say sorry for skipping out so early this morning.”
“That’s fine, Georgie May, as long as you make it up to me later.”
“Hmm, now that sounds like a plan,” she replied, snuggling against him when he put his arm around her.
“Tell me what’s going on here.” Ryan said, pointing to the table. He needed a distraction from the smokey heat he saw swirling in Georgie’s eyes.
Georgie laughed. “Everything’s going on, I’d say. We’ve got three different types of sausage rolls. Beef, chicken and chickpea. Then we’ve got carbonara quiches, mini frittatas and egg bites. In the middle there are the mozzarella sticks and two different types of haloumi bites. I couldn’t decide which one, so Juniper said just do both, because she wanted to try them both. Next to the haloumi are salt and vinegar fried potato gems and ravioli chips. Those things on the blue plates are curry puffs and empanadas and at the end there, those are spinach and cheese bombs and chickpea and beetroot falafel.”
“Aren’t you just full of surprises.”
“I surprised myself, that’s for sure. It was a lot of work, but I’m fairly confident everything is edible.”
He chuckled, about to reply when two blue heeler dogs rounded the corner of the house, barking excitedly. Mikayla, two steps behind them let out a shrill whistle and the dogs stopped dead still and sat down.
“Mikki!” Billy ran forward and threw himself at Mikayla and she scooped him up, giving him a big cuddle. Everyone rushed forward to greet the honeymooners and it took some time before Mikayla and Rafe could step back and take in the table.
“What’s all this?” Mikayla asked.
“Georgie did a bit of cooking,” Juniper answered.
“I’ll say she did! This is amazing! Are we allowed to try some?” Mikayla asked Georgie.
“Of course. We were just waiting for you.”
That was all the go ahead everyone needed.
“I’ve gotta say, it helps that it’s finger food.” Mikayla observed, moving to sit next to Rafe on the stone wall that overlooked the ocean. “I can try a little of everything and not crowd out the baby.”
Georgie laughed. “I’m glad.” She grabbed Ryan a plate and handed it to him with a smile. “If you’re going to try the falafel balls, take some of the tahini sauce to have with them.”
Once their plates were loaded up, Ryan and Georgie sat down next to Callum and Leah. “Favorite thing about the honeymoon, Mik?” Georgie asked. “Keep it clean!” She added hastily when she saw the gleam in Mikayla’s eyes.
“The massages.”
“Yeah, how many did you have?”
“One every day. They offered a special pregnancy one, so I thought I’d better take full advantage.”
“Makes sense.”
