Page 17 of Phoenix

“I’ll come help you with that,” I say, eager to get her alone.

“You don’t have to. I’m a big girl. I can do it,” she replies.

“Southern hospitality and chivalry dictate you allow me. Wouldn’t want to piss off the culture, now would you?” I grin wide.

“For fuck’s sake.” She sighs. “Fine. You can help me.”

“See? Was that so hard?”

Nora

Why does he have to be so fucking charming all the time?

With his eyes, his voice, his body, his laugh, and his smile. UGH! He frustrates me by simply breathing, because he ticks every box I have when it comes to a man. That’s why he’s so bad for a girl like me, not to mention the fact he has a career that puts his life on the line every single day.

I can do the casual sex thing sometimes, but when I feel that tingle in my belly, I know I need to stay far, far away. I could too easily catch feelings, and that’s got bad news spread all over it.

I felt the tingle the minute Case walked into Amelia’s hospital room, all those months ago. It was instant, like all the air had been drained out of the room and I vibrated from head to toe.

I feel it even now, as I watch him pull my large suitcase from the trunk of Amelia’s car.

“How long have you been in town?” he asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Just this morning, actually,” I say.

“Staying for a while?” he says, his voice straining a bit as he moves the incredibly heavy suitcase. “Christ’s sake, I hope so. It feels like you have everything you own in here.”

“Life of a girl.” I smile. “I’m staying a few weeks, I think. We’ll go by feel.”

“Work let you off the hook like that?” He knows my issues with work. I happily, and drunkenly, vented to him all about it one night before our infamous poker game.

“I had lots of vacation time saved up. Decided to finally put it to use.”

“Good. Just wanted to make sure you were all right,” he says. I can see in his eyes he is genuinely interested. Yet another reason why he’s so very bad for me.

“I’m great. Just here for a breather.”

“We should go grab a drink while you’re here then. Celebrate this breather and catch up a little,” he says, as we make our way back up the front steps with my suitcase.

My immediate inclination is to say no, because I don’t trust myself around him, but the idea of a night out on the town in Savannah sounds too good for my soul.

“I’d like that. A drink and time to unwind is exactly what I need.”

We stand silently, just staring at each other. It’s like our eyes are drawn to one another and we don’t want to break the connection, but Grayson does that for us with a holler from inside the house.

“Touchdown!” he shouts.

“You better get back in there. See if your team is getting their asses handed to them,” I say, taking the luggage from him.

“Yeah. We’ll talk about getting a drink before I leave tonight. I’m holding you to it, so don’t back out on me.”

I know he’s referring to the would-be kiss and cheek incident after the night at the bar playing poker. I avoided him after that and flew back to California two days later.

“Case...about that...”

“Fumble!” Grayson shouts again, very excitedly. “Case, get your ass in here and watch my Dawgs destroy you!”

“We should get back in there. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up some other time,” I continue.

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