parents’ house.
It was that she’d just realized she was mostly in love with him.
Sex with Jake had always been great. Sex with Jake when she was mostly in love with him might be beyond great. How was she supposed to live her life after he left, having had beyond-great sex and knowing she’d probably never have it again? Or at least not with anyone else? Could she live the rest of her life having sex only four times a year when Jake visited?
Better to not know for sure what she was missing.
Or something.
The heat in Jake’s eyes, the emotions of their afternoon—okay, of all the days since he’d stepped back into Chance—the nearly impossible need she felt simply looking at his mouth, all combined into a swirling ball of panic.
She needed to go back to work.
She needed to get ready for dinner. Here. With his parents. She had twenty-four-and-some-odd hours. She was going to need every one of them.
“I need to go back to work,” she said, taking a big step backward, away from temptation. She started for her Jeep before she could change her mind. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning at the strategy meeting.”
“This isn’t over, Avery.”
She didn’t respond. She kind of hoped that was true.
But she was going to keep pretending everything was normal, and that she was in total control, and that she wasn’t on course for the biggest heartbreak of her life.
CHAPTER TEN
Jake walked into the Friday-morning strategy meeting with purpose.
The past two mornings, the meetings had been short and sweet. Everyone gave their reports, and then everyone got out, back to the tasks and people who needed them.
Things were going very well considering their timeline. Cleanup was ahead of schedule; rebuilding at the school was slightly behind, but only because some supplies had been held up in shipping. A problem that had taken Jake three phone calls to solve—two more than he liked to have to make. Still, the bricks and lumber and drywall paste were now in Chance and being put to use.
The reports wouldn’t take long, and Jake was prepared to use the rest of the meeting time to fill everyone in on his brilliant new idea.
The thought had been niggling in the back of his mind for a long time. But at the meeting the first day in Frank’s office, when everyone had come together, things had started to jell. Shelby had said something that had turned on a lightbulb. She’d said everyone in that room was important to the cleanup, that they were all a part of keeping the town together and getting it back on its feet.
Jake had felt a thrill shoot through him. He was used to being a part of teams, used to bringing people together, used to tapping into experts to get things done, but there had been something about that group in that room at that moment.
Then yesterday . . . between the roof and Dillon and Max talking about coming home and then, well, Avery. All of Avery—everything about her—from the way she’d checked him out when his shirt had been off, to the way she’d gone with him to look for Cooper and the way she’d hugged him on the bench, and the way she’d looked up at him, her eyes full of desire and vulnerability and fear and temptation . . . yeah, everything about Avery was behind this announcement.
Jake stepped into Frank’s office. Everyone was already there just as he’d planned. The vibe in the room was noticeably different from the first day when everyone had been standing, a little tense, exhausted from the night before. Now everyone seemed much more relaxed. Kit and Bree were sitting in the chairs in front of Frank’s desk; Max leaned against one wall; and Dillon, who flat-out didn’t relax well, stood in the middle of the room. But his hands were in his pockets, and he was smiling.
And then there was Avery. She was also smiling, chatting with Shelby, in her white button-down shirt and khakis, her hair up, her glasses on. Hot and in charge. Happy.
The sight of her made him ache.
Then she turned and saw him. Her smile grew, and he knew he wanted her lighting up because of him forever.
“Morning, everyone.” He strode to the middle of the room.
“Morning, Sunshine,” Max said, giving him a funny look.
Jake was feeling almost giddy. Not a manly adjective, but accurate. Things were good—great, even.
“How are things around town?” Jake asked Avery, handing her a folder