Nothing Between Us

Keats hurried past him and pulled open the first door in the hall. But it was a linen closet. “We need a couch or a bed.”

Keats swung open the next door, revealing a small guest room. “In here.”

Good. That’d be better than invading her personal space in her master bedroom. But when he carried her in and saw a set of binoculars on a small table next to the window and a small bullet vibrator, he realized he’d seriously failed on the personal space issue. This wasn’t just a guest room, this was the room—the one she watched him from. A twist of desire went with that image, his libido having no decency when it came to appropriate time and place to get fired up. But he ignored it and focused on the task at hand. Georgia needed to lie down and get her breath back. He’d worry about the awkwardness this might cause later.

The bed was made, so he laid her atop the mint green comforter, and Keats put the bag up against her mouth.

“Breathe, it’s going to be okay. We’ve got you,” Keats said, brushing her hair off her damp forehead in a tender gesture.

Georgia exhaled into the bag and blinked her eyes open long enough to give Keats a grateful look.

Colby frowned, a kick of jealousy going through him. Jealousy and something else. Watching the two of them share a little moment, Keats half dressed and Georgia lying in bed, had his thoughts going in a dangerous direction again. He shoved the thoughts aside. Clearly, it’d been too long since he’d had someone in his bed. His brain was in one-track mode.

Focus.

The sound of the crinkling bag was the only noise for a few minutes, but to Colby’s relief, Georgia’s breathing started to regulate. “That’s it.”

When the breaths became long and steady, Keats left the room for a minute. He came back wearing a fluffy purple robe and carrying a wet washcloth. He kneeled next to the bed and wiped Georgia’s cheeks and forehead with gentle swipes, then folded the cloth and put it over her eyes.

Keats gave Colby a pointed look, then cocked his head toward the table. Colby didn’t waste a second. He slid away from the bed and discreetly tucked the vibrator into the half-open drawer of the side table. He eased it closed, hoping Georgia would think that was where she’d left it. He had a feeling she’d be mortified if she knew what they’d seen.

He stepped back toward the bed just as she was lowering the bag and pulling the towel away. Her dark eyes were clearer than they had been, but the set of her mouth was weary, like all her energy had been sapped. “I think I’m okay now.”

Colby reached out and gave her hand a squeeze. “Glad to hear it.”

She slowly pushed up onto her elbows. Her gaze skittered over to the table behind Colby. Worry flared there in her eyes, but when she looked back to him and apparently read no awareness on his face, she relaxed a bit. He could almost hear her thoughts. Phew, he hasn’t seen them yet.

She glanced at Keats. Her lips curved into a shaky smile when she saw him in her robe. “That’s a good look for you.”

Keats peered down at his purple ensemble and grinned. “I was having trouble keeping that towel on. I didn’t want to make you hyperventilate again. Or traumatize Colby.”

Colby snorted and she smirked. “That scary?”

“No, that impressive,” he said solemnly.

Georgia pressed her hand to her forehead and shook her head. “Shameless.”

Colby clamped his lips together, trying not to laugh. The shy Keats he’d known before had definitely left the building. He was charming the panic right out of Georgia.

Georgia peeked over at Colby and reached for his hand. “Thank you for catching me. They usually don’t make me that dizzy. Everything in my vision flipped upside down.”

He brought her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the top of it. “Happy to help. Do you get those often?”

Her gaze slid away, but she nodded.

“I’m sorry if I startled you coming up the stairs. I thought something was wrong. I didn’t realize what—well, I still don’t know what was going on.”

“Ants,” Keats supplied. “A shit-ton of red ants attacked me in the yard. I must’ve kneeled in a pile. Georgia hustled me up here before the damn things could eat me alive. But they were all over my clothes so I had to strip them off.”

“Oh.”

“And I’m sorry about … all of this,” Georgia said, sitting up in the bed. “It wasn’t that you startled me. It’s just”—her jaw twitched and she looked down at her hands—“I don’t let people inside my house. I have … issues with that. I didn’t think about it when Keats needed help, but when that part was over and you came up the stairs, it all hit me.”

Colby kept hold of her hand, not entirely shocked by the revelation. He’d realized early on that Georgia didn’t like to leave her house. She didn’t even step into his yard. So it wasn’t too far of a stretch to realize her anxiety extended to people coming into her space as well. “I’m really sorry. I would’ve never come inside without permission.”

She shook her head. “It’s okay. This is beyond embarrassing. I hate what this does to me. I mean, normal people can have neighbors over.”

Keats frowned. He probably felt the same way Colby did about the word normal. What the hell was normal? Fuck normal.

“But maybe this was good,” she continued. “Like pulling off a really big Band-Aid. Because look, you’re both still here, and I’m not a panting maniac anymore.”

Colby could think of better ways to turn her into a panting maniac, especially with two guys and a bed—and maybe that vibrator, but he should probably be struck down for having that thought at the moment. “It’s one way to do it. Like guerrilla exposure therapy. The room full of spiders for the arachnophobe.”

She shuddered. “Yeah, I think I’ll just keep my fear of spiders then, thank you very much.”

Keats smiled. “Ditto. And add fire ants to that list. I’ve had enough exposure therapy for one day. A few more minutes with my pants on and I might have lost my ability to father children.”

Colby chuckled. Fire ants in your underwear. Now there was a thought to inspire nightmares. He had a feeling he’d missed the ant version of the Tommy Boy “Bees!” scene when Keats had discovered he was being attacked.

“So,” he said, standing up and putting his hand on the back of Keats’s neck, making sure neither of them turned toward the binoculars. “How about I go grab this guy some clothes and we get out of your hair for a little while so you can rest?”

Georgia rubbed her hands on her jeans in what looked to be a calming gesture before she stood, revealing that maybe she wasn’t as easy-breezy as she was pretending to be. “Yeah, okay. I have rogue ants to clean up anyway.”

“Do you need any help?” Keats asked.

She reached out and squeezed his arm, giving him a warm smile. “No, you both have done enough. Thanks for not making me feel like an idiot.”

When she leaned over and kissed Keats’s cheek, Colby had to fight hard not to show his surprise. It was so un-Georgia-like. But she wasn’t done. She stepped over to Colby, pushed up on her toes, bracing a hand on his shoulder, and gave Colby one, too.

It took everything he had not to put his hands on her and pull her closer, inhale that coconut scent he only got a brief whiff of during the kiss. “Our pleasure, gorgeous.”

They all walked downstairs together, but soon Keats and Colby were back outside. Georgia locked up behind them, and Colby and Keats headed next door to get Keats some clothes. But as soon as they walked into the kitchen, Keats spun around and crossed his arms. The stance might have had a shot at looking tough if not for the purple robe. “Well, that was interesting.”

“That’s one word for it,” Colby said, rolling the tension out of his shoulders. “Thanks for the towel thing, by the way. Saved a potentially awkward situation.”

“No problem. I didn’t want to embarrass her,” he said with a shrug. “Not that she should be embarrassed—I mean, how hot is that? But you know how girls can be. And dude, the binoculars? Does that window …”

“It looks into my bedroom.”

“Fuck,” he breathed, putting his hand over his heart. “That’s so damn dirty. I think I’m in love.”

Colby laughed. “She’s not spying on you.”

“An epic tragedy,” he said with a grin. “Maybe we should switch rooms. I’m happy to give her a show.”

Colby leveled him with a look, and Keats laughed.

“No, but seriously, are y’all hooking up?”