Full Exposure (Independence Falls 1)

“I’m your big brother, Georgie. That’s what I’m here for.” He sat on the couch and picked up the remote. “But no chick flicks. I can’t stay awake watching some shirtless dude.”

She laughed, despite the swirling emotions inside. Liam was here for her, always. And how was she repaying him? Sleeping with his best friend and boss. But no, it wasn’t just sex—she was falling in love with Eric. And she refused to walk away from love just because it was complicated.

Chapter Seventeen

ERIC WOKE TO small hands pushing against his shoulder. He opened his eyes. A stuffed giraffe stared back at him.

“Georgia says you have to get up.”

Rolling until his back lay flat against the hardwood floor, Eric found Nate staring down at him. “She’s here?”

Nate nodded, pointing to the door. Lifting his head, Eric spotted her, leaning against the entrance, holding a steaming cup. It was as if he was waking from his own nightmare. Except this time, Georgia had come back, leaving him wondering if he’d emerged in a dream.

“We let you sleep in as long as we could.” She stepped into the room and held out the mug. “Coffee?”

“Thanks.” He stood, tucking his dress shirt back into his pants before accepting her offering. After she’d driven away, he’d returned to Nate’s side and spent the night in yesterday’s suit. But that was only one reason he felt as if the lines between dream and reality had blurred. He’d watched her drive away last night and assumed he’d lost her. And now she was standing in front of him with a cup of coffee.

Lifting the mug to his lips, he studied her. She’d traded her jeans and T-shirt for a red polka-dot sundress with buttons running down the front and sandals. But the young, feminine clothes bore a sharp contrast to the determination he saw in her brown eyes.

“You came back,” he said softly, unable to hide his awe. “I thought you were gone.”

“I needed to think,” she said. “And after I take Nate to school, we should talk.”

“Whatever you need,” he said. The idea of redefining this relationship, thrusting it back over the line, ripped at the raw, hurting place inside him. But he’d stand by those words and do as she asked. If it was in his power to help her, he would, no matter what it cost him.

AN HOUR LATER, Eric was sitting at the kitchen table, checking his email and notifying his assistant that he’d be arriving late this morning. He’d showered, shaved, and dressed for the day in a fresh suit, shoving his emotions aside as he went through the routine actions.

He’d called a few independent investigators, asking them to drop by his offices that afternoon. If the DOF insisted on blaming his crew, and Liam in particular, he wanted confirmation from an outside source before he let his best friend go.

“Is now a good time?”

He looked up. Georgia stood in the doorway, twirling her keys in her hand.

“Yes.” He closed the laptop and stood, heading toward her. “Did Nate get to school OK?”

She nodded but didn’t move from the doorway. “Were you planning to tell me about the fire investigation and Liam?”

Eric froze in the middle of his kitchen. “No. He asked me not to say anything. Not until we knew more. He didn’t want to worry you. Who told you?”

“Liam did.” She slipped the keys into a pocket hidden in her sundress and folded her arms across her chest. “I drove to his place last night. He thought you’d sent me to question him.”

His hands formed tight fists. “Did you tell him the truth?”

She cocked her head, studying him. “I explained about my nightmare, but I left you out of it. And I didn’t tell him about us. I couldn’t. Not when he told me you might fire him.”

“I’m hoping it won’t come to that.”

“Do you believe him? Do you think he is telling the truth about stopping the chainsaws before the fire restriction took effect?”

“I believe in his intentions,” Eric said slowly. “I know he meant to do the right thing and follow the law. But there is a chance he tried to push the crew, to fell one last tree, and got too close to the time limit.”

“No,” she said firmly. “He didn’t.”

“I hope you’re right.” He wanted to believe his best friend. But he couldn’t fudge the truth to protect him. Not when it came to a forest fire that had the potential to cost hundreds of people their lives, never mind the crews who’d worked around the clock to put out the blaze. It was one thing to overlook a spark. People made mistakes. It was another to violate the fire code. Even by a few minutes.

“Either way I’m hiring a private investigator to find out,” he said.

“And until you learn the truth, you don’t want to tell him about us.”