Straight Up Love (Boys of Jackson Harbor 2)

“Seriously? You think you can manipulate me with donuts?” Colton asks, but he’s already stepping forward and reaching into the box.

Ava snatches it away before he can grab one. “There are too many people in my room. Everybody out.”

Colton snatches the donut box from her hand. “I’ll take these.”

She points a finger at him. “You can have one, but if you eat more than one of my donuts, I’m coming after you!”

Her little brother grins. “Yes, ma’am.” He

turns and leaves the bedroom.

I watch him go. “You sure I’m safe out there?” I ask, waving toward the door, and not at all worried about Colton. “It might be smarter to stay in here with you. I’m afraid he might beat me up to protect your virtue.”

Ava

“Why’s everyone so worried about my virtue all of a sudden?” I ask Jake. “You both need to calm down. I’m a grown woman.” Seriously, I’m not sure what Colton’s problem is this morning. He’s always been protective of me, but he knows Jake’s just a friend.

That said, I am suddenly all too aware of my thin tank top and Jake’s proximity. Funny how just last night I was thinking about how I like to maintain a bigger personal bubble than most people, but the need for that extra space never seems to apply to Jake.

Then again, after the way my insides seemed to shimmy and melt when he touched my lip, maybe it should. Shit. What was that?

Nothing. It was nothing but the response of a body that hasn’t had much physical contact lately.

“Get out,” I tell Jake. “I need to get dressed and brush my teeth.”

“Need any help?”

I arch a brow. “Help brushing my teeth?”

“Help getting dressed. Or . . . undressed.” He gives me that devilish grin that makes most girls drop their panties. It could totally work on me too if I hadn’t worked so hard to build up an immunity.

I grab a pillow and launch it at his chest. “Get out. Colton’s out there, and if he heard you saying that he’d punch you.”

His gaze drops from my eyes to my chest. “Might be worth it.”

“Out.”

Chuckling, he tosses the pillow back on the mattress and leaves my room.

I crawl out of bed and take a big gulp of my coffee, grateful for Jake’s thoughtfulness. Then I go into the bathroom and shudder at my appearance. I took a long, hot shower when I got home last night and then slept on my wet hair. This morning, it’s a mess of tangled waves. And even though I washed my face in the shower, I didn’t bother getting all my eye makeup off, and now the remnants are smudged around my eyes.

Sighing, I grab a makeup remover cloth and take care of it. Then I brush my teeth, pull my hair into a sloppy bun on top of my head, and dress in a pair of black leggings and my favorite Hamilton hoodie.

When I go back out to the kitchen, Colton and Jake are already there, shooting the shit, and someone’s made a fresh pot of coffee.

“It was awesome,” Colton says. “I was flying through the air and then the bottom of my bike, just”—he makes a cutting motion with his hand—“gone. It drops, but I’m still up there, handlebars in my hands and nothing underneath me. My team was freaking out on the sidelines, and I was flying.”

They must be talking about the last motocross race when Colton nearly killed himself. Not the first or the last time, just the most recent. Thank God I wasn’t there to see that. I don’t think I could have handled it.

“You’re lucky you didn’t break a leg,” Jake says.

I nod in agreement. “Or your neck.” Colton needs more voices of reason in his life. Levi just eggs him on.

Colton shrugs. “I’m fine. The crowd loves that shit anyway. It was great.” He turns to me. “You look better.”

“Thanks, I guess?”

He smirks. “Jill left me a message about dinner at Dad’s place in a couple weeks. Molly’s coming back to town?”