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problem, Avery?” she asked, showing a little impatience as she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Tell me you didn’t have a good time with me last night.”
I fumbled around in my head for evidence of that. “Paisley, I don’t even really remember last night. I was drinking to forget, and you inserted yourself right in the middle of all that.”
“Then let’s make some new memories,” she said, reaching for me. I backed away, shaking my head.
    “What happened last night probably shouldn’t have happened,” I said slowly. It was a shame, and it made me feel a little bad — those words were all it took to deflate Paisley’s ego and make her reach for a wrinkled sheet to cover her nakedness.
    “That’s ridiculous,” she said. “You were singing a different tune last night.”
    “Last night I was drunk out of my mind. You knew that. You took me home.”
    “I thought we were both into it,” she said. “You, especially.”
    “You’re a … beautiful young woman,” I began, and her raucous laughter made me stop. “What? What the hell’s so funny about that?”
    “You’re such an idiot,” she said. “We’re the same age, you and me. You can’t pull that shit on me. We fucked, I’d like to fuck you again, and maybe we can have something beyond that. We’re both adults.”
    But I’d already pressed my palms to my ears, trying to ward off that filthy language. Why did she have to be naked right now? Why couldn’t I stop seeing her as that wide-eyed tomboy? Why did I have to run into her last night of all nights, a night of supreme weakness, and give in to my other head, the one that always got me into trouble?
    “We’d be good together,” Paisley said. “I’ve always known it, and I think you do, too.”
    “We grew up together. That’s all,” I said. “I’m sorry that you’re reading so much more into it, but you’ve always kind of done that.”
    “You don’t understand what I’m trying to tell you,” she said. “I’m saying we’d be good together. Corbin and Summers? We’d be unstoppable.”
“Just because we had a little drunken chemistry last night doesn’t mean that we —”
    “You’re not listening to me.” She leaned forward, and it was hard to keep my eyes trained on hers instead of trailing down to follow the smooth curve of her bare back. “I can help you.”
    And there was that little girl again, the one with the skinned knee she wore like a badge of honor in scruffy skirts and shorts until it faded into a scar. It had to be long gone by now, concealed by time and other wounds. I hadn’t thought to check last night, and I couldn’t see now. She had promised that she’d repay me someday for fending off a bully, and she’d returned to me a woman to settle that debt.
    “I don’t need help, Paisley,” I said.
    “You haven’t even heard what kind of help I’m offering,” she said, raising her eyebrows at me. “This is help you’re going to want. I just know it.”
    What would it even be? Did she think I was a drunk? In need of psychological support? A makeover for my trailer? What in the world did Paisley Summers think she had to offer me? A manicure?
    “I have no idea what you think I need from you,” I said. “And it’s not a girlfriend, so don’t even go there.”
    Sure, I was jealous from time to time of the closeness Hunter and Hadley shared, but I didn’t think I had enough energy to put into an actual relationship. It was better to love them and leave them — or leave the relationship end of commitments up to my hand. We were pretty committed.
    Paisley narrowed her eyes at me. “I know why you were drinking so hard last night.”
    I frowned at her. “Why do you think I was?”
    “I didn’t say think. I said know.”
    “Okay, give it a guess.”
    “The bank’s trying to take the Corbin Ranch.”
    I tried to swallow, but my mouth was too dry. “How … how do you know that? I didn’t say anything about it to