Twisted Up (Taking Chances #1) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,4
have happily given a kidney or an arm for his family. She would have been more than satisfied with his mom’s meat loaf on a weekly basis and the chance to take piano lessons on their baby grand—things Jake had complained about. Not to mention being a part of a family that belonged, who supported one another and made a lasting, positive impression on the people lucky enough to be around them.
Jake had had it all, and he’d still left for greener pastures.
He was always looking for more and, to a girl who would have given anything for even half of what he had, his attitude seemed ungrateful. She didn’t have a lot of patience for ingrates. Even ingrates who had rock-hard abs and shoulders, light-brown sun-streaked hair, and blue eyes that always seemed full of mischief.
Jake turned his attention back on her. “Now, where were we?”
But before she could respond, his phone rang. With an exasperated sigh, he silenced it without looking at the screen.
“I was about to remind you that the night I said those nice things, I’d had a lot of peach schnapps,” Avery told him. “If you need your ego stroked, you should go find your grandma. She always has wonderful things to say about you.” Fern Mitchell went on and on about Jake every chance she got, in fact.
He grinned. “My grandma isn’t going to say the kinds of things I want to hear from you, A.”
She gritted her teeth again. He was the only person who called her “A,” and he did it in spite of her asking him not to. Worse, she was afraid she’d miss it if he did ever stop. It was intimate. Too much so. It reminded her of the night they’d spent together when the nickname had started.
Thinking about that was not going to help her hide how he affected her.
“All you’re going to hear from me is ‘Get out of my way,’” Avery said, grabbing the end of the burned tablecloth and crumpling it into a ball.
“Now when you say things like that, I take it as a challenge.” Jake took the cloth from her. “Wouldn’t want you starting it on fire again,” he said.
She frowned. “What?”
“You’re looking so hot, you might—”
“Give me a break,” she muttered.
Jake chuckled as she knelt and swept the glass stones back into the jar and then set it and the candle back on the table with a thunk.
“I’ll take this out to the dumpster,” Jake said, indicating the cloth he held. “Where are the extra tablecloths and stuff?”
“Tablecloths are in the storeroom, but the streamers and stuff are out in the shed,” Avery said. “I’ll go.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No.” Okay, that had been firmer than it needed to be. She adjusted her tone. “Thanks anyway.”
“You might have to reach for something high,” he reasoned. “Can’t have you climbing on things in those heels.”
Yeah, yeah, he was six-foot-something and full of muscles, and she was five foot five. But she had muscles. She kept in great shape. Firefighting was no cushy job. “I’ve got it. No problem.” She climbed ladders to the tops of buildings, carrying tools and hoses. She could retrieve a box of streamers and confetti.
“Still, I’d feel better going along.”
She sighed and looked up at him. She wasn’t going to win this battle. No matter how many warnings she put up to guard herself against Jake, he always took her by surprise, and it always resulted in her getting weak in the knees and warm all over—some places more than others—and kissing him back.
Well, if she was going down, at least she could try to hold on to what remained of her senses—and pride—instead of pressing up against him, sinking her fingers into his hair, opening her mouth, and moaning like she usually did.
“Fine. You can come help me,” she agreed and started for the door.
Jake was clearly taken aback by her concession, because it took him about five steps to catch up with her. “I’m glad to see you’re being reasonable about this.”
“Yep, reasonable. That’s me.”
He snorted.
The butterflies that were rocking out in her gut at the idea of Jake kissing her in the shed were incredibly annoying.
Ignoring the way he made her feel shouldn’t be this hard. It wasn’t like he was a part of her daily life or regular routine. She didn’t daydream about him every day.
Besides, in her daydreams he wasn’t just charming and hard in all the right places. He was also the guy who