on Jake. She took the final step that put her directly in front of him. “It’s been one day. You’ll leave tomorrow or the next day, and we’ll still have a lot of chainsawing and digging and working to do.”
He stepped in, nearly on her toes. “Why do you care if I’m here?”
“I don’t.” Or she wished she didn’t, anyway.
“You want me to leave right now?”
“I want you to not show up in the first place if it’s not to stay.” She realized she was going to regret some of the things she was about to say, but she couldn’t stop herself. “You think you’re this big superhero, but you know what I’ve always noticed? That when Spider-Man chases that big lizard through the city, he might save a few people from becoming lizard food, but he makes a hell of a mess in the process. Then he smiles and waves and accepts the applause, then goes home and has milk and cookies with Aunt May and leaves everyone else to clean up.”
There was a glint of something that looked like anger and amusement at the same time in Jake’s eyes. “So I’m like a superhero to you.”
Infuriating. That’s what he was. “You’re like . . . a tornado. You sweep through, touch down for a minute, then leave with a huge damned mess behind you.”
Oh, boy, that was pretty much a huge, obvious confession of her feelings for him. Avery didn’t have to look around the room to know that everyone had noticed.
Besides, Avery was too caught up in how Jake was staring at her. There was desire there that stirred something deep in Avery’s gut. And pure satisfaction. Like she’d just confirmed something he’d known all along.
Dammit.
“The only person I seem to mess up is you,” he said. “Why do you think that is?”
“Why do I even talk to you?”
“Because you can’t help it. For the same reason you can’t help—”
She narrowed her eyes, daring him to finish. He could say kissing him, he could say sighing when he touched her, he could say taking her clothes off with him in a shed. She couldn’t help any of those things. She flat-out couldn’t help responding to him. And he clearly knew it. But if he pointed it out now, it would prove that he cared more about his ego than her reputation.
“—wanting to smack me.”
She let out a breath. And stared at him. He did care about her reputation? Had he just protected her? And why did that make her feel warm at the same time it irritated her? Because the idea of Jake protecting her made her want things she knew she couldn’t have. Mostly him.
She tried to project the irritation instead of the longing she was fighting. “I should—”
A sudden shrill whistle cut into their argument.
Avery and Jake both froze, then turned toward the sound. It had, amazingly, come from Shelby. Her cheeks were red and she was clearly upset. She had disentangled herself from her husband, and Frank had, probably wisely, taken a step back.
“Enough!” Shelby exclaimed.
“Shel—” Jake started.
“No, I’m going to talk now.” The usually bubbly blonde planted her hands on her hips. “This town is going to get back on its feet. Right now. We are going to clean it up, it’s going to look better than it did before the storm, and everyone is going to do it with a damned smile on their faces.”
Avery risked a glance around the room. The other two women were staring at Shelby with shocked expressions. No one had ever seen the perky, sweet Shelby riled up like this. It was sort of impressive. Even Shelby’s cousins stood up straighter at her words, not a smirk in sight, looking like they were about to salute.
“Chance needs to rebuild, and we have to do it quickly,” Shelby went on. “The Bronson family from Kansas will be here to see the farm and check out the town in two weeks.”
That quickly focused everyone in the room. Shelby was absolutely right. That visit had to go perfectly. Avery had been past the farm that morning. It was a huge mess. Definitely not in any shape to make a good first impression on the Bronsons.
“If we don’t get this town put back together, they are going to pass on the farm deal, and we’re all going to be screwed. Plus, my favorite aunt is sad,” Shelby went on, referring to Gigi Montgomery, the CEO of Montgomery Farms for the past