Page 55 of One Southern Summer

The unmistakable flash of a camera jolted him back to reality.

She gasped and clutched his arm. “Who is that?”

He turned and hurried toward the entrance. Outside, a person wearing shorts and a hooded sweatshirt cut across the yard. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

The guy broke into a jog. His hood slipped back, revealing a mop of unruly dark curls. His skin was pale between the hem of his shorts and black socks and sneakers. He ran toward a gray older model compact car idling in the street.

Cole contemplated going after him, but tackling some dude in the street and smashing his camera wasn’t a wise move. Instead, he turned back to Avery. She stood beside the blueprints spread across the table, her arms wrapped around her torso.

“He ran off,” Cole said. “Maybe it was one of your loyal fans? Or a nosy neighbor trying to see what we’re building?”

“That wasn’t an amateur. Nobody’s neighbor has a camera with a lens like that.” Her gaze ricocheted around the framed-in space as if she was looking for a place to hide.

“Avery.” He moved toward her, his arms aching to pull her close. “Relax. We’re not doing anything wrong.”

“We’re here alone. It doesn’t look good.”

Really? He stopped short. Anger flashed hot in his gut. After all she’d been through, keeping up appearances was still a priority. “You’re divorced. We’re looking at plans and eating chicken sandwiches and french fries. Hardly a scintillating Saturday night.”

The shallow dip of her frown made him wince.

Drat. He’d messed that up. Clearly his words had landed all wrong. So much for being logical and pragmatic.

He didn’t care who was taking pictures of them. As far as he was concerned, they weren’t doing anything wrong. No contracts were being violated. But her pain was still very raw and maybe he’d been too bold. There wasn’t any way he could stop the following and the speculating and the covert picture taking. So why get worked up about it? But he could tell from the panicked expression on her face and the slump of her slender shoulders that she was mortified.

Or maybe the fact that he’d almost kissed her had sent her into panic mode. When he’d tugged on that curl and she leaned into his touch everything in him wanted to claim her. To kiss her and finally taste those plump full lips for the first time. Want and desire simmered in a dangerous internal cocktail, and he fought for control. If only that guy outside had been thirty seconds slower.

He worked his jaw in a tight circle. At least the intrusion had kept him from doing something he’d never be able to undo. Because deep down inside he knew there would be no turning back. He’d dreamed of kissing her for years. To be honest, he was still longing to kiss her now. Instead he had to find a way to be what she needed him to be. Self-controlled. Her problem solver.

“I should go.” Her hands trembled as she packed up her uneaten food. “I think it would be best if I went home now,” she repeated herself, as if trying to convince them both.

No!He wanted to shout.That’s not what’s best.He swallowed back a frustrated sigh.

“All right, if that’s what you want.”

“I’m sorry. I should’ve left when Wendy and Shayla canceled. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You were thinking you wanted to be free. You were thinking you feel most alive when you’re creative.”

A spark of disbelief ignited in her eyes. He stepped closer.

“It’s true, isn’t it?”

Her mouth drifted open and her fingertips fluttered at the V in her T-shirt. He shelved his hands on his hips and stared at her. “All the stuff in the periphery, it just fades away when you’re being creative. I’ve known you a long time, Avery, and you are your happiest, your most fulfilled when you are creating something.”

She trapped that plump lower lip behind her teeth and it was all he could do not to close the last of the distance between them and kiss her senseless.

She nodded slowly. “You’re right.”

“Then why are you letting the things you can’t control hold you back?”

Hurt flashed in her eyes for the second time in five minutes. Oh, he was really messing things up tonight.

Her smooth brow furrowed. “You have no idea what it’s like to be in this position.”

“You’re right, I don’t. But I do know that you’re letting all these negative voices get inside your head. You’re allowing people’s opinions to hold you captive. Avery, you can’t change what’s happened. You can’t stop the speculating, the social media posts or hurtful things. You’ll never get people to stop talking about you down at Harry’s when they’ve had one too many. Watching somebody else come undone is a spectator sport here in Camellia. It stinks but that’s the way it’s always been.”

She skewered him with an angry look. “I’m sick and tired of being in the center of the arena.” Her tone was frigid as she quickly packed up her things. The walls were closing in. She was refurbishing her protective shell and bracing to go back out into the world. “Will you please walk me to my car?”

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