grin.
“Hero deed number three.”
She took the bag and lifted an eyebrow. “Three? You got me off the tree trunk and rescued my clothes. That’s two.”
“I’d be happy to repeat number one if you’ve forgotten.”
She stared at him, knowing immediately what he was referring to. Orgasms counted as heroic deeds, huh?
In the middle of a disaster, he was still teasing her. And still making her hot.
“Jake! Jesus, Jake.”
Jake pulled his attention away from Avery and looked over to see his cousin Max Grady striding toward him. Max had a limp from a leg injury sustained from a bad fall when they’d been assigned to Katrina cleanup together, but he looked big and determined as he bore down on them.
Max was home for the reunion, too, but, of course, Jake wasn’t surprised that he would dive right into the rescue and recovery as well. It was one reason Jake considered him more of a brother than a cousin or friend. Max had been a part of the Army Corps of Engineers, was now in construction, and was the cleanup-and-recovery specialist for a major portion of the Midwest, extending from western Oklahoma through Arkansas and up into Missouri—a huge portion of Tornado Alley. Max was also a storm chaser, and the men shared an obsession with weather, tornadoes in particular.
“We found your truck four blocks over, and no one had seen or heard from you,” Max said.
Jake didn’t hug men easily, but Max was one he made an exception for. The men embraced, and Jake thumped his friend on the back reassuringly. “I’m good. We had to hunker down in the shed.”
Max’s eyes immediately went to Avery. “The shed, huh?”
“We were getting more streamers,” she offered weakly.
Jake grinned at that. They hadn’t touched a streamer while in the shed.
Max chuckled. “I could use a few more streamers myself.”
Avery’s face flushed an adorable tomato-red, and Jake felt a stupid surge of . . . something. Pride? Possessiveness? He was the one who’d messed up her hair, smudged her lipstick, and put that pink in her cheeks.
“Block the window.” She reached in through the broken window to unlock the passenger-side door and climbed inside.
Jake moved in front of the window, and Max shifted to stand beside him, facing away from the car. Jake knew she was getting dressed, and it took every bit of restraint he had not to climb in there with her.
“What’s going on in town?” Avery asked through the window.
“The main damage is here,” Max said. “The mobile-home park is upside down, and lots of damage as I went through town.”
“Nobody injured?” Jake asked.
“Only scrapes and bruises so far. I checked in with Dillon a little bit ago. He’s doing triage at the clinic. They’re ready for whatever.”
Dillon Alexander was the third of the three cousins and best buddies who had gone off to the National Guard after graduation. Dillon had been a part of the medical branch, but Jake and Max had been fortunate to have him with them in Louisiana. He’d left the Guard for medical school after two years and was now the second in command at the busiest ER in Fort Worth, Texas.
Jake felt Avery’s hand on his back, pushing him forward, and he stepped out of the way so she could open the door.
She emerged wearing blue jeans, a T-shirt, and heavy work boots. She’d also gathered her hair back in a ponytail. She looked so much younger. He made a fist and gripped it tight to keep from lifting his hand to wipe the smudge of dirt from her cheek.
If he touched her now, he wouldn’t want to stop. As usual.
Plus, that wasn’t his place. Even if he had been part of the reason for her having dirt on her cheek.
The sex had been awesome. The sounds she made, the way she felt and smelled and tasted. But holding her under the bench in their little tent, weathering the storm, had been—something else. It had taken him all the way back to graduation night. The night when she’d looked up at him like he was some kind of superstar.
God, he’d loved that look from her. Could still recall it perfectly. Other women, other people, for that matter, had looked at him with everything from admiration to hero worship over the years, but Avery was the only one who still mattered ten years later.
He shook his head and focused. They had a town to clean up. Their town. Again.
They followed Frank and his entourage toward the school