Page 16 of Beautiful Desire (Blossom Beach #3)

Georgia

“ H old up, wait a damn minute.” Charley scoots to the edge of the couch and grabs her glass, guzzling what’s left of it before she stands and says, “More wine.”

I huff out a small chuckle as I stand. Swiping my nearly empty glass off the table, I finish it off as I follow my best friend into the kitchen. It’s Friday night, and it’s been a hell of a week, so this girl time is much needed.

“Where’s he at anyway?” Charley asks. Setting her glass on the counter, she reaches for the bottle of red next to the stove before glancing over at me. “Do we have another? This one’s almost gone.”

“Yeah, I’ll grab it.” I nod. “He’s studying at the library for a few hours, then going to the gym, I think.”

It’s been a couple of days since the dick pic incident, and I’ve been silently freaking out about it ever since.

Because of our conflicting schedules, the only time I’ve had to really see him since then has been at the store.

Which has been nice since it’s easier to keep my distance when I’m focused on work.

And distance is definitely what I want. I’m rarely ever an avoidant person, since confrontation isn’t something I struggle with, so hiding from my issues isn’t typically my go-to method, but this situation is so very different.

I went back and forth with myself about whether I should tell Charley what happened, but I knew my head was going to explode if I didn’t get it off my chest. I usually always go to her and my sisters with everything—venting, advice, just needing a laugh—but there’s no way in hell I could tell my sisters about this—not with Fletcher being our stepbrother .

Not only am I pissed at myself for allowing Fletcher to get under my skin, but also, more than that, I’m honestly a little ashamed about the reaction I had to the picture.

It’s like I wasn’t in control of my own body, like my brain and vagina were on two completely different wavelengths.

Because I know had I been thinking clearly, had I not been completely driven by this blinding lust, there’s no way I would’ve done what I did.

And what pisses me off the most, and what I keep going back to is, I don’t even fucking like him .

Genuinely, I cannot stand being around him, because seeing his smug little rich boy face does nothing but remind me of the shitty situation I’m now in because of him and his father.

So, how the fuck did I get so turned on? Why would seeing that turn me on?

“Damn, the gym this late at night.” She snorts. “I’d hate that.”

After I fetch another bottle of red from above the refrigerator, I hand it to Charley before grabbing the wine opener from the drawer and passing it to her. “Fletcher would live at the gym if he could, I swear.”

Charley pours on the heavy side, then hands me a nearly full refill as she rests her hip against the counter.

“This is wild , Georg.” Huffing a laugh, she eyes me from above her glass before taking a sip.

There’s a twinkle in her ice-blue eyes before she adds, “But, like, it kinda makes me horny at the same time.”

Rolling my eyes, I turn around and walk out of the kitchen and back into the living room. “This shouldn’t make you horny, Char.” I groan as I plop down in the chair, then take a large sip. “You need to tell me how stupid and inappropriate this is.”

Charly drops down on the couch and sets her glass on the table, glancing at me with an amused curl to her lip. “But why would I do that?”

“Uh, because it’s true?”

Arching a single brow, she asks, “Is it?”

“Oh, my gosh, Charley, yes!” Clicking my tongue, I say, “Yes, it’s inappropriate and stupid. I’m almost forty. Four. Oh. Charley!”

“Thank you for that,” she teases. “Had you not laid it out for me, I may never know what forty meant.”

I give her an unamused look, and she breathes out a chuckle before her gaze softens.

“First of all, you are not stupid, Georgia, and you’re not allowed to talk about my best friend like that.

Secondly, what’s your age have to do with it?

Not only is Fletcher a fully grown man, but you say that like you don’t have a track record for being a cougar.

” She snorts, and I bite back a smile wanting to come through.

“Not the point.”

“Okay, then what is the point?”

“Charley Rose Madison.” I throw my hands in the air, feeling like we’re speaking two different languages here. “The point is, he’s my stepbrother , and on top of that, I’ve known him since he was fourteen, Char. Four?—”

“Knock it off,” she blurts out with another chuckle, cutting me off. “My goodness, you get intense when you’re spiraling.” Expression turning serious, even as her lip twitches with humor, she points at me. “Don’t make me come over there and smack some sense into you, babe. You know I will.”

Shaking my head, I grab the wine and chug what’s left. Charley, already knowing what I want, gets up and walks out of the room, coming back a moment later with the bottle. As she refills mine and tops hers off, I can already tell we’ll be cracking open a third one before the night’s over.

After she sets the bottle on the coffee table and takes her seat, she looks over at me and says, “I seem to recall a time—not that long ago, I might add—when you told me and your sisters how you didn’t consider Fletcher family because of how little time y’all were around each other when he was a teenager.

” Charley smirks and cocks an inquisitive brow. “You remember that, Georg?”

Heaving a sigh, I nod.

“So, that right there makes what you said a moot point, but for the sake of easing the spiral, let’s unpack it,” she offers gently.

“Okay, he’s your stepbrother, yes, but as you already pointed out, you guys have never really had much of a relationship at all—familial or friendship—so, really, the only connection y’all share is that your dad is married to his mom.

Which, yes, makes it a tricky situation when you look at it without any context, but given everything else we already know to be true, I don’t think it’s nearly as inappropriate as you think it is. ”

I clench my jaw, breathing through my nose. “But it’s weird…”

“Is it actually weird?” Charley asks. “Or maybe, have we simply been conditioned and brainwashed by society and purity culture to believe it’s wrong?

Kind of like how they, historically, have done with anything else they deem too taboo .

” Using her fingers to count, she says, “Premarital sex, masturbation, birth control, abortion, polyamorous relationships, queer relationships. I could go on and on, but the reality is, none of those things are inherently wrong . Sure, fucking your stepbrother?—”

“Not fucking him,” I interject, holding up a hand.

“Hush, I’m making a point here.” Charley snorts.

“As I was saying…fucking your stepbrother might be frowned upon by certain people, but those same people probably also believe we’re going to burn in hell for being bisexual.

You see what I’m saying, babe? We shouldn’t ever concern ourselves with the opinions of small-minded idiots.

Besides, I fully believe people fuck their stepsiblings a whole lot more than we think; it’s just not talked about.

But all that to say, I don’t, for a second, think what happened is inappropriate or wrong.

Fletcher’s hot. You already know I think you’re fucking stunning and delicious and perfect.

And the two of you, together ?” Her eyes roll back as she moans.

A laugh bubbles past my lips as she flashes me an innocent, toothy grin, but before I have a chance to respond, the front door opens, causing both of us to turn our heads in that direction.

My gaze lands on Fletcher as he drops his backpack on the bench in the entryway, and my stomach does a backflip.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, harsher than I intend to.

Fletcher strolls down the hallway, stopping at the entrance to the living room. “Um, I live here?” he replies with furrowed brows.

I glance at the clock on the wall, knowing there’s no way Charley and I lost track of that much time. “But why are you here right now ? I thought you were going to the library and the gym.”

“Yeah, and I did.” He shakes his head as he walks across the living room.

Swiping the wine off the table in front of Charley, he takes a swig straight from the bottle, like a damn caveman, before he drops into the chair beside mine.

“My shift ended at four today,” he states.

“If you weren’t hiding in your office like a wounded animal, you would’ve noticed me leaving the store. ”

Charley chuckles, and when I turn and glower at her, it only makes her laugh harder. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs. “But him calling your ass out like that was funny, and you know it.”

“No, I don’t,” I grit out before turning my attention back to Fletcher. “And I wasn’t hiding , smartass. I was working . I have no reason to hide in my own store.”

A mischievous glint in his eye, Fletcher’s mouth curls into a smirk as he holds my gaze with such intensity, it almost feels like he can hear my every thought.

I have to fight to keep my expression blank and not squirm in my seat.

“I don’t know what you were doing in your office, Peach, but it certainly wasn’t working. ”

I clench my jaw, feeling my face heat while my pulse kicks up, the vein in my neck throbbing.

Narrowing my eyes, I open my mouth, a response on the tip of my tongue, but before I have a chance to, Charley cuts in.

“Hold on. What now?” Amusement brightens her features as she turns her attention to me.

“You’re telling me he calls you Peach, and this is the first I’m hearing about it? ”

“Yeah,” Fletcher answers for me, and I can feel my blood pressure rising. “She likes it too.”

“No, actually, I don’t,” I bite out. “In fact, I’m pretty sure I told you how unoriginal it was.”