Page 41 of Close to Heaven

Thirteen

Jax’s heart was racing when he pulled into Avery’s driveway. Instead of getting out of his truck, he sat there for a few minutes, trying to talk himself out of it.

Dakota had called him about an hour ago and practically begged him to have dinner with Avery. She’d explained that she and Cody had dates, and she hated for Avery to be left alone.

“She’ll be fine,” he argued.

“I know, but I feel bad about leaving her.”

“Then why did you?”

“She convinced me to go.”

“Oh, so you were forced into it?” he teased.

“Will you just do this for me? Please.” She dragged out the word for good measure.

He sighed. “Does Avery know about this?”

“Not exactly, but sort of.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I suggested it, but she said you’re her employer, not her babysitter.”

“That’s true.”

“Jax!”

“Why is this so important to you?”

“Because Avery’s been going through a rough time lately, what with her absentee boyfriend and her dad’s health issues. Anyway, I think she could use some more friends.”

Friends? Me and Avery? It was hard to think of her that way when he’d been envisioning them as more, which was why he should absolutely say no to dinner.

“I get that, but—”

“Do you have other plans?” Dakota asked, swiftly changing tack.

“No, but—”

“Have you eaten dinner yet?”

“No, but—”

“So what’s wrong with sharing a pizza with Avery?”

Everything. “Nothing, I guess.”

“Thank you.”

“Huh?” He must have agreed and not even realized it.

“Love you. Gotta go!”

Dakota had hung up, and he’d stared at the phone in disbelief.

Now here he was, an hour later, with a warm pizza in the passenger seat, wondering why he’d agreed to this.