Braydon (26 page)

JESSIE WATCHED BRAYDON’S
enormous truck back out of her driveway and disappear down the winding dirt road that would lead to his house. It wasn’t until she remembered that he was coming back—in thirty freaking minutes—that she went to the kitchen and grabbed her coffee.

In a mad rush, Jessie managed to shower, shave her legs, and brush her teeth in record time. There was no chance of her getting both her hair dried and herself dressed before he came back, so she combed her wet hair and opted to focus on the latter. Grabbing panties and a bra, a pair of shorts, and a T-shirt from her drawer, she made quick work of making herself presentable. She contemplated wearing sandals, but then she thought about what Braydon had said. He was going to help Gage with the fence. And if she knew her sister, Kylie was going to be helping too, even if her husbands didn’t want her to. Not that they’d have any reason not to.

Forgoing her sandals, she grabbed her Nikes and a pair of socks before heading back to the living room. She was tying her shoe when there was a knock at her door.

“Come in,” Jessie hollered. She got to her feet and turned to look at the man now gracing her entryway with his handsome presence.

“Impressive,” he said with a grin.

“Hey. Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I can’t get ready in under an hour.”

“Clearly,” he agreed with a laugh.

“Let me just get a hair tie and my cell phone.”

Braydon nodded and Jessie turned back to her bedroom. Her heart did a strange leap and her tummy twisted with anticipation. It was time to move forward. See where things went. She wasn’t sure this could quite be called a date, but she wouldn’t deny that she was excited about it regardless. Just the simple fact that Braydon seemed so intent on truly dating her had caused her insides to mimic that fateful day when she’d tried Zumba and failed miserably. Quite the strain on her body, plus she was breathless in the end. Same feeling she had now.

This was new for them.

Hell, it was new for her, period.

Truth was, Jessie hadn’t had too many traditional relationships in the past. She figured that was mostly her fault. Over the years, she’d had plenty of men ask her out, but she had found that her history was littered with long-term relationships. Again, her fault, because she couldn’t just date a guy and enjoy herself. She got attached and ended up exclusive with one.

Dating hadn’t been a priority when Jessie had already claimed to have fallen in love with a man. The men she’d been with took that as a sign that dating wasn’t necessary. And spending time with one at that point usually meant sex was on the agenda.

She’d been an idiot, never truly giving herself enough credit. Even her father had told her that a time or two.

And yes, from the moment she opened her eyes that morning, she had expected things to be weird between her and Braydon because of the whole falling-into-bed-on-the-first-date thing. After all, yesterday had been amazing, but they had still slept together in the heat of the moment. No matter what it might look like, there had been a significant amount of heat encompassing last night’s encounter, and she couldn’t take the blame for succumbing to it. She didn’t know a single red-blooded woman who wouldn’t lose her panties after one kiss with one of the Walker brothers.

What was different was the way things had been that morning. From experience, Jessie had been half expecting Braydon to disappear at dawn. Not that he deserved to be lumped in with the lot of losers she’d been with in the past, but she was known for jumping to conclusions. Almost as bad as making assumptions.

But when she woke up, Braydon had still been there. He’d actually still been asleep, which was what surprised her most.

Grabbing her ponytail holder and her phone, she practically skipped back into the living room. Braydon was leaning against the wall, his thumbs flying over his phone.

Texting.

He was obviously texting. Not to mention frowning.

“Everything all right?” she asked, praying that he wasn’t going to back out.

And didn’t that sound desperate.

Jessie knew she needed to slow down because she was already getting in way over her head again.

“All good,” he said with a huge grin as he looked up. He tucked his phone into the palm of one hand and then reached out to her with the other. “Come on. Before Gage has a coronary.”

THE DRIVE OUT
to Kylie’s didn’t take them long. They didn’t do a lot of talking on the way, but someone clearly wanted to talk to Braydon, because his phone kept chiming. He never bothered to look at it, but Jessie could see from the hard set of his jaw that he wasn’t happy with whoever it was.

“You’re awfully quiet over there,” Braydon said, drawing her attention.

Jessie smiled. “Sorry.”

“What were you thinking about?”

Oh, God. He did not want to know what she was thinking about. “Nothing,” she mumbled.

Braydon laughed, a choked sound that covered his mumbled “Bullshit.”

Jessie laughed at him.

“I’ll get you to talk later,” he assured her.

“Is that right?”

“Yes, ma’am. You can count on it.”

Jessie glanced up through the front windshield to see that they were pulling down Kylie’s driveway.

“I love this house,” she crooned before she could catch herself.

“It’s impressive. Especially now that Kylie’s finished with it,” Braydon said.

“She worked so hard on this place. I still don’t know how she does it, and I work with her every day.”

“She’s certainly talented,” Braydon said as he brought the truck to a stop.

“Yeah. She is,” Jessie agreed softly. Too bad she hadn’t gotten any of the talents that her sister had.

The thought depressed her, but Jessie tried not to let her expression reflect her negative thoughts. There was no time for self-doubt. Not right now anyway. Especially since she was about to be face-to-face with her sister and Jessie knew without a doubt that Kylie would pick up on the slightest nuance in Jessie’s mood.

So, when Braydon opened her door, she forced a smile and kept it there until it didn’t feel fake. And when he took her hand and twined their fingers together, her smile became genuine.

She only hoped she could keep it that way.

chapter
FIFTEEN

H
auling wood from one place to another was mindless, backbreaking work. Not that Braydon minded doing it. He was used to manual labor.

Except today was Sunday, the last day of his weekend, and he wanted to spend it with Jessie. Just the two of them. Had he even thought that was a possibility prior to committing to helping Gage, he probably would’ve told his brother-in-law no can do.

Not really. Braydon had no issues helping his family.

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t anticipating taking Jessie out later.

Ever since he’d suggested that they go on another real date, the idea had been churning in his head endlessly. His trip to his house hadn’t even distracted him enough to stop thinking about it. However, that could’ve been because Brendon hadn’t been home, either.

As much as Braydon had wanted to know where his brother was, or more accurately, if he was getting himself into more trouble than he had already, he had refused to let his mind wander in that direction. Instead, he had focused on getting back to Jessie.

He thought his worry was going to abate when Brendon texted him about the time he was walking back in Jessie’s front door. But after reading the text, he was pretty sure he was more worried now. Brendon hadn’t come home last night, but Braydon didn’t need an announcement from his twin to know that. The evidence had been the empty house he’d walked into. A brief glance around had told him Brendon wasn’t there, nor had he been there.

Several texts later, Brendon had pretty much brushed him off.

Apparently Brendon had brushed off Sawyer as well, because Braydon’s phone had been blowing up all morning with texts from Sawyer, who was extremely worried. As much as Braydon wanted to assure Sawyer that everything was fine with Brendon, that he just needed some time to himself, he didn’t believe it for a second.

Once he and Jessie arrived at Kylie’s, Braydon had left his phone in the truck, not wanting to be distracted when he was supposed to be working. And now, after three hours of relocating wood to the various places where the sections would be added, Braydon was in desperate need of another shower and possibly a beer or two. Oh, and he was almost desperate to check his phone.

He was worried about Brendon. Something was off. He could feel it.

“I seriously owe you one,” Gage told him with a slap on the back after Braydon dropped the last of the two-by-fours that he’d been carrying.

“I’m sure you can pay me back by picking up the tab at Moonshiners,” Braydon said easily as he lifted his ball cap and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the edge of his shirtsleeve.

When he looked up to continue his conversation with Gage, he noticed Jessie staring at him from several yards away. He smiled at her.

Gage twisted, then glanced over his shoulder before he turned back to Braydon. “Be good to her,” Gage said, his voice low and lacking the taciturn tone Braydon had become familiar with.

“I intend to,” he informed Gage truthfully. It might take some effort for him and Jessie to get to the next level, but Braydon fully intended to work through their obstacles.

“She was a mess when you were gone,” Gage said, his eyes locked with Braydon’s. “She likes to pretend she’s tougher than she is. Just keep that in mind.”

A mess? Braydon wanted to implore Gage for more regarding that fact, but Jessie and Kylie approached, effectively cutting off the discussion.

“Hey,” Kylie greeted Gage. “You need to shower,” she told him decisively, her nose scrunched up in distaste.

Gage grinned at Braydon and then turned to Kylie. In a move that caught her off guard, Gage wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off her feet.

“Oh, gross! Gage! You’re sweaty! Put me down.”

“Now you need a shower, too,” Gage growled at her, refusing to put her down. “Care to join me?”

Braydon peered over at Jessie, who was watching the commotion. Yeah, a shower sounded just about perfect. Then a movie. And dinner.

God, yes. Dinner sounded good.

“You about ready?” he asked Jessie as Kylie laughed, doing her best to get Gage to release her.

“Whenever you are,” Jessie told him, meeting his gaze.

“We’re gonna get out of here,” Braydon told Gage. “If you need more help tomorrow afternoon, just holler. I can stop by after work.”

“Travis’ll be home in a couple of hours. I intend to put his ass to work, so you’re off the hook. But thanks,” Gage said, placing Kylie back on her feet.

Braydon nodded and then reached for Jessie’s hand. He linked their fingers and tugged.

“Call me later,” Kylie told Jessie.

“I’ll try.” The gleam in Jessie’s eyes made Braydon’s heart rate ratchet up a few notches.

They had just made it back to his truck when Jessie sniffed him. “You definitely need a shower.”

“You think?” he teased. “Want me to rub all over you so you need one, too?”

Jessie’s eyes glowed with suggestion as she peered back at him. “Not necessary.”

Oh, Lord help him. The promise in her sexy tone made his cock roar to life.

“My place or yours?” he asked, realizing a little too late just what he’d said.

As though he had just told her that her cat had died, Jessie’s face fell and he didn’t need to ask why. “It’s gonna be all right, Jess.”

She smiled, but he could tell it was forced. “For now, how about we just plan to go to my place when we want to be alone.”

Braydon nodded. He would agree for now. But he had no intention of hiding Jessie away from the world. Hell, as it was, he wanted to shout to the heavens that he had the woman of his dreams. He didn’t care what Brendon said . . .

That thought gave him pause.

He closed the passenger-side door and made his way around to the driver’s side as he contemplated that. It wasn’t that he didn’t care what Brendon thought. He did. He didn’t want to hurt his twin. That would never be his intention.

When he climbed in, he snagged his cell phone and glanced at the screen. No messages. He wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad.

He was pulling out of the driveway when Jessie said, “You’re gonna have to talk to him.”

“I have talked to him,” he told her.

“You did? What did he say?”

“He’s happy for us?” Braydon cut his eyes over to her briefly. She was frowning, which didn’t seem like an appropriate response to the news he’d given her. “What’s wrong?”

“Did he say that?”

“Yeah, he did.”

“Did he mean it?”

Braydon looked at her again. “Brendon doesn’t say things he doesn’t mean.”

And that was the truth. They were both honest, but Brendon was brutally honest. At least that was the case when he opened up enough to say what was on his mind anyway.

“I plan to talk to him more, Jess,” he said, hoping to ease her fears. “But for now, we’re cool.” That brought back his worry over his brother. Brendon hadn’t seemed himself earlier. Granted, the only communication they’d had was over text and everyone knew how easily that could be misconstrued, but Braydon still had an unsettling feeling in his gut.