Twisted Up (Taking Chances #1) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,2
caring about or being attracted to Jake . . .
They had both been up at city hall, but they hadn’t even seen each other until the warning siren went off and everyone headed to the basement for shelter. It was close quarters, people tightly gathered in the middle hallway—the safest place in any structure, surrounded by load-bearing walls and devoid of windows—when she’d stepped on someone’s foot. She’d turned to apologize and found herself face-to-face with Jake.
“Sorry about your foot,” she’d said. She’d been breathless and hated that he could make her breathless even in the midst of a natural disaster.
“Definitely not thinking about my foot right now,” he’d said.
Avery could distinctly remember the way her entire body seemed to melt at that. The heat she could feel standing so close, the intention in his flirtatious words, the gruffness in his voice, the sexy grin, all made her feel like he was stroking his hands over her body, preparing her for more. Much more.
Then, when the building began to tremble as the tornado roared by, Jake had wrapped his big, strong arms around her. And when the lights flickered and then went off, he’d kissed her.
He’d kissed her. She had, naturally, kissed him back. Why wouldn’t she? They were trapped together in a scary, potentially life-threatening situation.
And he was a damned good kisser.
The best she’d ever had.
Of course, she’d known that even before his lips had touched hers. He’d been amazing even at age eighteen.
Damn him.
It was the way he took her face in his hands, and how there was just a breath of a moment where she could have said no, and then when he first captured her lips, it was only the lips. It was like he was savoring the moment. Then she’d slid her hands up his chest to his shoulders and sighed, and that was when he groaned the sexiest groan she’d ever heard, tipped her head to the side, and opened his mouth over hers. That, too, had lasted for a bit, building the anticipation, and then his tongue had stroked along hers, slow and sweet and deep.
Even remembering it now, Avery felt need clench hard and deep within her.
A loud clatter jerked her back to the present.
As she stared up at Jake, she was eternally grateful for whoever had dropped whatever they’d dropped.
She’d been staring at him this entire time, reliving that kiss, on the verge of sighing out loud.
“You don’t seem surprised to see me.” He grinned right on cue.
She pulled her shoulders back and narrowed her eyes. “Someone told me you were in town.”
“Three someones, I’m guessing. I made sure to drive by Liza’s hair studio, and I waved at Kit and Bree on my way past the square.”
She took a deep breath and worked on not blushing. Or gritting her teeth. Jake had a special talent for making her do both. His cockiness knew no bounds. It was amazing how she could be attracted and irritated at the same time. “My friends might have a few other things to do than pay attention to you, you know.”
He shrugged. “You’d think. It was weird how they all three reached for their phones and started typing as soon as they saw me.”
Subtle, girls. Way to be subtle.
She opened her mouth, but then he held up her phone.
“I’m back.”
He’d seen the texts. Of course he had.
“Thank goodness the emergency-management system in this town works better than my personal notification system.”
They couldn’t have texted her fifteen minutes ago? Had he driven straight over here? If he had, why? It was early for people to be arriving for the party.
“You needed warning I was on my way?” he asked, eyebrow up. He stepped back and looked her over from head to toe.
It took everything she had not to squirm.
At least she was confident she looked good.
Her dress was a pale green and fitted. It had straps that arched over her shoulders and crossed in an X in the back. With her deep-red hair, she had fewer color choices than most women, but green was a good one on her. Her hair was curled and pulled up into a twist. She was even wearing earrings. She was the fire chief, and her job didn’t have her using a curling iron or putting on dresses and heels very often. As much as she’d hated it, she had known that Jake would be here tonight, and she’d wanted to look amazing. Tonight she felt feminine and beautiful.