joined them, her edginess increased. And Wes had hugged both Jake and Max but not Avery. She’d spent hours and hours at Jake’s house growing up. Her father had never been around, as far as Jake knew, and he’d always assumed Wes was a sort of father figure to her.
Had something happened between them?
His parents hadn’t said anything about any problems between the police and fire departments. It wasn’t unheard of in a small town. People disagreed on policy and procedure once in a while, and Avery and his dad would have plenty of opportunities to work together and possibly not see eye to eye.
But if there was a problem, Jake was sure he would have heard about it. His father kept him updated on most city business. Max’s dad was on the city council, and Dillon’s mom was on every committee in town. Jake would have heard something.
Jake watched his father. He was looking at Avery with a strange combination of frustration and sadness, and that instantly put Jake on the defensive. What the fuck was going on?
They continued discussions about the immediate recovery plan. Avery kept glancing at the school building and was giving only one-word answers to questions—mostly “Yes.” She’d wiped her hands on the butt of her jeans, tucked her hands in her pockets, taken them out, wiped them again.
The other men started around to the other end of the school, wanting to check things out from the inside but not trusting the smashed wall on this side as an entry point.
Jake grabbed Avery’s arm, holding her back. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” She shook off his grip.
“You’re acting nervous and weird.”
“I’m not sure you know me well enough to know if I’m acting weird.”
Jake felt a bolt of indignation shoot through him. Was that right? He didn’t know her well enough? He’d known her his entire life. He’d been obsess—interested in her for nearly ten years. Especially the last two. He wondered what she’d say if he reminded her that he knew how her inner thigh tasted, and that she bit her bottom lip just before she came, and that her cheeks got red faster when she was mad than when she was turned on.
But instead of any of that, he said simply, “What did my dad do?”
She stiffened, surprise clear in her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“You and my dad must have gotten into it about something. You started acting nervous as soon as he walked up.”
“I’m not nervous around your dad.”
“Then what is it?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
That bugged the shit out of him. It clearly mattered. He couldn’t explain why it mattered so much to him that his dad and Avery were uncomfortable around each other. But it did.
It was, in part anyway, that it underlined the fact that he hadn’t been there, didn’t know all the details of his hometown and his family’s life.
But it might also have to do with the fact that the woman in front of him didn’t want to let him get close. He was great. People loved him, trusted him, sought him out for his advice. But Avery wouldn’t even tell him something that had to do with his own father.
They’d had sex a little more than an hour ago, and he still felt like she was holding him at arm’s length.
He really fucking hated that.
“Avery, either you tell me what’s going on or I’ll ask him.”
She drew herself up tall. “You go ahead and ask him. I’d love to know what he says.”
He reached for her again, but she dodged his hand.
“Look, I have a lot to deal with here,” she said. “I haven’t seen my friends since the tornado hit, my town is in shambles, and I have personal and professional responsibilities to attend to. You and your dad are pretty far down my priority list, frankly. Thanks for your help during the twister, but I need to get to work. You could do the same, big-shot emergency-management specialist.”
She turned and walked off.
Jake watched her go, frustration and desire and admiration all warring for his attention.
Dammit, that woman drove him nuts.
There was no way he was going to be able to leave her alone now.
For the next few hours, he kept track of where she was and what she was doing. At one point he’d pushed her into a chair and handed her a bottle of water. She’d looked at him strangely, but she’d taken it and drained the bottle. Then she’d gotten right