Twisted Up (Taking Chances #1) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,56
wouldn’t be surprised if he walked into congressional meetings in DC and the senators did the same thing.
“Seriously?” Avery muttered.
Jake must have heard and understood what she meant, because he chuckled behind her. He was close enough that she felt the rumble. She also felt his hand at her lower back nudging her forward.
Well, if they wanted to show the town that they were spending time together and getting along, this was the place to be seen together. It seemed like the whole town was here.
Being the center of attention was not the norm for Avery, and she found herself leaning back into Jake’s touch. For the first time, maybe ever, Jake’s proximity calmed her a bit.
They walked through the crowd together, with Jake acknowledging people throughout the room as they made their way to a booth toward the back. He smiled, shook hands, but never moved his left hand from her lower back.
Avery smiled as well, returned greetings, and generally tried to look like she was thrilled to be here. She was, however, honestly grateful to see Brenda and Becky, the twin sisters who owned A Bar, standing next to an empty table, holding two huge drinks.
The drinks were green and had yellow twisted straws sticking out of them.
Avery didn’t care what they were, as long as they had liquor in them.
She took one and sipped.
Delicious.
“Tornado straws?” Jake asked, accepting his.
Becky grinned. “Of course.”
Avery eyed the straw. That hadn’t even occurred to her. Wow, talk about going with a theme.
“What else would we put in the Twisted Sister?” Brenda asked.
“You invented a drink for the tornado?” Jake asked, taking a taste.
“We did. What do you think?”
“Delicious.”
“You invented a drink for the tornado?” Avery repeated.
“We did a whole menu. We’ve got the Storm Warning. It’s lemonade with a kick . . . starts out sunny and sweet and then boom, hits you.”
Jake laughed. “Awesome.”
“We’ve got Hailstones, too,” Brenda added with a grin. “It’s a brandy slush. And Liquid Lightning—a whole bunch of stuff goes in that one, but it definitely gives you a jolt.”
Avery sucked harder on her straw. This was fun. It would give people a smile. It wasn’t like drinking something called Liquid Lightning would make people complacent about the storms or that they’d hear “warning” and think lemonade. She needed to lighten up.
“Hi, you guys!” Shelby seemed to appear out of nowhere. Her smile was huge. “I’m so glad you came out tonight!”
Avery worked to give Shelby an equally bright smile, but her face felt stiff. “Hi, Shelby.”
It wasn’t like she never spent time at A Bar. She and Bree and Kit got together for lunch and drinks all the time. When Liza could get a night away from her six kids, she joined them. But either the rest of the people in the place paid her no attention when she was with the girls, or she was so at ease with the girls that she didn’t worry about what other people were thinking. That was an ease she didn’t feel with Jake.
But when Jake suddenly took her hand, she had to admit that the way she felt wasn’t bad. He made her feel jittery, like all her senses were working overtime, but it wasn’t exactly unpleasant.
In fact, as the heat from his hand seeped into hers, she started feeling . . . comforted. By Jake.
She might be in big trouble here.
Then he squeezed her hand and she felt instantly better.
Definite trouble.
“Come on. Sit with Frank and me,” Shelby said.
They should definitely do that. Because they were professional colleagues who needed to talk about some of the recovery strategy while happily socializing with the town over optimistically tornado-themed drinks. Sitting with the mayor would seem much more professional . . . and much less like a date.
Not that this was a date.
Except that with Jake holding her hand, the heat of his big body never more than a few inches away from hers, and the sensations from the kiss outside still humming through her bloodstream, it really felt like a date.
Those thoughts vanished a moment later when she stepped through the doorway into the back room. “Oh. My. God.” Avery stopped short and felt Jake bump into her. But she couldn’t even fully appreciate the him-against-her feeling.
The sight in front of her was too distracting.
In the middle of the room, on top of the hardwood floor they used for dancing during wedding receptions and parties, was a tornado.