A Sweet Mess - Jayci Lee Page 0,52
At the end of the productive tour, the sway of the van lulled Aubrey to sleep as Michael drove the group back to their lodgings.
“Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty.” She heard a faraway voice calling her. She struggled to wake up, her eyelashes fluttering against the weight of sleep.
Aubrey’s eyes shot open, remembering she was in a tour van. In fact, she was the last one in the van, and Michael was standing beside the open passenger door wearing his white, toothy grin. He offered his hand to help her off the van, and she grasped it to make sure she didn’t bury her drowsy nose into the driveway.
She tested her land legs and was relieved to find them sturdy, but when she tried to withdraw her hand, he held on. Suppressing her annoyance, Aubrey smiled stiffly and tugged harder at her hand.
“Sorry about keeping you. Thank you so much for a lovely tour.”
Michael relaxed his death grip, and she retrieved her hand, but he didn’t leave as she’d hoped. Now that she was fully awake, Aubrey was impatient to get started on her recipe.
“Are you sure you don’t need me to help you inside?” He gave her what had to be a well-practiced puppy dog face.
Cute … but not that cute. She sighed and opened her mouth to shoo him away, but her words caught in her throat as strong hands wrapped around her waist.
“Thanks for the offer, but I can take it from here.” Landon spoke quietly from behind, but the icy steel in his voice propelled Michael into action. He scampered to hand over her wine to Landon and drove away in a cloud of dust.
Aubrey spun out of Landon’s hold and gaped at him. His high-handedness infuriated her, but his possessiveness lit a fire in her pants. Fury and lust wrestled inside her with no clear winner.
“Enjoying the locals?” Landon raised an eyebrow and regarded her with a humorless smirk. “So this is how you’ve been spending your days.”
What the blazing hell? “Why, yes, I do enjoy meeting the locals.” Aubrey’s temper burned through any lingering confusion. She was her own person, and no one controlled her choices. “There are so many lovely, interesting people here.”
“Is that so?” His icy voice sent a shiver down her spine.
“More importantly, it’s none of your business how I spend my days. Or with whom.”
“Like hell it isn’t.”
“I agreed to guest star on Aria’s show with two original recipes. I went wine tasting to find the Moscato for my second dessert, because it’s a part of my job, if you recall.” Her flight instinct had a slight edge over her fight instinct, but she held her ground and pulled back her shoulders. “I don’t go frolicking in the fields when you leave the house, asshole. I take my work very seriously.”
“Fuck.” The fight drained out of Landon in a blink, and he scrubbed his face with his hands. “That was uncalled for. I was way out of line.”
“It was, and you were.” As she stood glaring at him with her arms folded across her chest, she noticed for the first time how exhausted he looked. Her brows drew together as concern overshadowed her anger.
“I didn’t like it,” he said, holding her gaze. “I didn’t like seeing him touch you. Looking at you that way.”
“Landon,” she whispered. His words wrapped around her heart and squeezed tight. “You can’t say things like that.”
“I know.” His regret and yearning were palpable in the moment, and his vulnerability made Aubrey ache to hold him.
Landon squeezed the back of his neck and closed his eyes for a few breaths. When he opened them again, all his emotions were in check. The moment had passed. Gratitude, disappointment, and regret filled her.
“It looks like you’ve had a rough day.” Her voice shook only a little.
“The construction on the schoolhouse is delayed by days. Every damn thing is leaking and short-circuiting. Then, the production manager’s wife went into labor five weeks early, so he had to fly home today. The baby was in a rush to meet his parents, I guess.” He ran his fingers through his hair, looking sheepish. “So yeah. It’s been one hell of a day, but it’s no excuse for being a jerk.”
“No, it isn’t.” Aubrey’s tart response was half-hearted. He needed to rest, not stand in the middle of the driveway arguing with her for no good reason. She held out her hand with a no-hard-feelings smile. “With all that going on, I’d