Twisted Up (Taking Chances #1) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,59
out of her. He’d go along with just about anything if it meant he got to sit with his arm around her, with her side pressed up nice and tight against his.
No complaints from him at all.
He knew Avery was far less comfortable with being the subject of town gossip, but he thought it was good for her. She deserved the attention. Not necessarily the what’s-she-doing-with-Jake-behind-closed-doors type of attention, but the more eyes that were watching her with him, the more people would see how amazing she was and how great she was at leading the town through the recovery.
He hoped the whole town paid very close attention for a long time.
“Excuse me, I have a couple of people I need to talk to.” Frank left the table, and Jake had to admit A Bar was a good place for the mayor to hang out. In Chance everyone stopped by A Bar at some point. It was a very efficient way to conduct business. Especially at a time like this, when everyone in town needed to work with everyone else. A Bar was the location of what could easily be called a town meeting. All Frank needed was his gavel. Though, honestly, he was getting everyone’s undivided attention faster with the mugs of beer he was handing out.
“Crap,” Avery muttered.
Jake had been stroking his thumb up and down the side of her neck, and now he felt her tense against him. No one else in the room could see where his thumb was or what it was doing, but he was taking complete advantage of the fact that Avery couldn’t slug him for touching her.
He loved her skin. He liked feeling it against his lips and tongue and lots more of his skin than just the pad of his thumb, but he also liked how she’d been relaxing into him, as if the stroking were comforting.
Now he looked up to see what had caught her attention and saw it immediately.
His aunt Gigi was headed for them.
He kept his hand on Avery’s shoulder, sensing that she wanted to bolt.
“You’ll do the talking, right?” Avery whispered to him.
She was suddenly leaning into him hard. Which was completely fine with him.
“If you want me to.”
“But I reserve the right to pinch you or elbow you if you start making up some crazy thing,” she added.
He grinned. With his aunt’s attention on them and their shared desire to lift everyone’s spirits, it was tempting to make this into a really juicy story.
He had no doubt Avery would pinch. Probably hard. But it might be worth it.
The thing was, they had a pretty juicy story anyway, and he didn’t mind sharing it. For the sake of the town, of course. The town he wanted to see shine again. The town he wanted the Bronsons to love as much as he did. The town that was a part of him.
The town he’d left ten years ago for bigger things. Which he’d found.
Why, then, did every trip home make it harder to leave?
“I really fucking hate tornadoes.” Gigi squeezed in next to Shelby.
Jake pushed his thoughts and emotions about Chance down deep and pasted on the smile he’d perfected over the years of being interviewed and giving speeches. It wasn’t exactly fake, but it also didn’t allow people to read much into his expression. “Hi, Gigi.”
Without looking at her, he knew Avery wasn’t smiling. He squeezed her shoulder.
“Good to see you sticking around for a while, Jake,” Gigi said in her smoke-roughened voice.
“My pleasure,” Jake told her.
“The suits decide they could survive without you?”
The suits. Jake swallowed. He didn’t really want to go into all that right now. Because no, the suits did not think they could survive without him, and he was getting pretty regular phone calls and e-mails emphasizing that point.
“They know Chance is important to me,” he said. That was true. He had his answer down pat by now—This is my hometown, and I need to stay until the people are back on their feet.
“Chance is doing really well,” Gigi said. She gave Shelby a nod. “Things are looking good.”
“I think so, too,” Shelby said enthusiastically. “We’re right on schedule. Thanks in part to Jake, Max, and Dillon being here.”
Jake appreciated his cousin’s acknowledgment, but Gigi’s comment did bring up something he’d been stubbornly ignoring—Chance was doing well. Everything was on track for the Bronson visit if things continued the way they were.