Braydon(109)

“I love you,” she whispered against his lips.

“I love you, too,” he told her.

“I promise you that I will never take you for granted again,” she said, her hand cupping his jaw as she stared up at him.

Braydon didn’t even know what to say to that. Those words touched his soul, and he couldn’t help but think they’d just made it to that next level. The one he’d never dared hope to make it to. With Jessie, he knew the road might be a little rocky, but he felt as though anything was possible.

“Braydon,” Jessie said, pulling his head down closer to hers. “I love you.”

Braydon slid deep inside of her, retreated. He continued, long, deep thrusts of his hips as they stared at one another. So this was what it felt like to make love to a woman. It was soul deep.

“I love you, baby,” he whispered back. “I’ll always love you.”

Jessie’s eyes widened slightly, as though she hadn’t been expecting him to say that.

Braydon added, “Now come for me, baby.”

She did.

And so did he.





EPILOGUE


October was just around the corner, which meant the summer had passed almost too quickly for his taste. As far as Braydon was concerned, fall in Texas was just an extension of summer, only a little more volatile.

Three months had gone by since he and Jessie had made a commitment to work things out between them. His life had only gotten better with every single minute that had passed. He expected that was going to continue, but he knew that what he was about to do would probably throw a wrench into the works. Hopefully not in a bad way, but certainly in a manner that was going to change the course of their lives.

That was the goal anyway.

Braydon was sitting at the dining room table, waiting for everyone to finish before the table was going to be cleared. It was another Sunday dinner with his parents, and just like normal, everyone was there. And by “everyone,” he meant the whole crew, including Jessie’s parents, who’d recently moved to town and were joining them for Sunday dinner whenever Jessie’s father, Joe, was home.

Of course, his brothers were there. Gage and Travis were practically hovering over Kylie, smothering her with attention. They only let up when she begged and pleaded for them to give her some space. And then that only lasted for a few minutes.

As far as Braydon was concerned, the woman looked absolutely miserable. If he heard correctly, she was like just shy of eight months pregnant, counting down the days until the baby was born. Travis and Gage apparently were too, but someone forgot to tell those guys that they still had several weeks to go. If he didn’t know better, Braydon would’ve thought Travis was getting ready to catch the baby just in case it popped out unexpectedly.

On the other side of the table from him, Brendon sat talking to Sawyer. Braydon was trying to tune them both out because they were talking about dogs. Their dogs. The same dogs that were currently running circles around the big dining room table, yapping excitedly every so often.

Not only had Sawyer gone and gotten himself a dog, but Brendon had, too. They’d all been shocked, especially Braydon because he had come home one evening to find a wiry-haired mutt sleeping in his chair. But it wasn’t like he could ridicule Brendon for the move, although he still didn’t understand it. The scrappy little dog, aptly named Scrap, gave Brendon something to focus on, so who was he to interfere?

Braydon was still worried about Brendon. Things had improved somewhat, but he knew Brendon was still having a difficult time dealing with everything. The drinking had slowed, from what Braydon could tell, but Brendon had managed to close himself off rather than opening up the way Braydon had hoped. On the positive side, Brendon was spending more time with Sawyer, and everyone knew that Sawyer could get anyone to open up, even if they didn’t necessarily want to.

But Sawyer was going to be crucial pretty soon because Braydon was about to do something that would ultimately change his and Brendon’s lives forever.

At the far end of the table, Braydon’s father was talking to his mother and Jared. He heard Curtis mention the name Walker Demo a few times, but even after straining to hear more, he couldn’t. So he’d left that conversation alone while he continued down the table. Zoey was next to Kaleb, Mason bouncing on Kaleb’s knee as he grabbed for anything and everything within reach, and they were both chatting it up with V and Zane. Zane was telling some crazy-ass story about his club at AI, and everyone was laughing, including Joe and Melissa, who were dividing their attention between all the conversations going on. As Braydon stared at Zane and V, he had to wonder whether the two of them would be making a big announcement sometime in the near future. But not tonight. Tonight he wanted the floor.

As he was turning to look at Jessie beside him, his gaze landed on Ethan and Beau. The two of them looked more at ease than he had probably ever seen them. Ethan was actually leaning in toward Beau, their heads just inches apart, and they were looking at one another as they spoke. Yeah, it was safe to say that Ethan had definitely found his happy. Braydon hoped like hell that lasted for the rest of their lives because if anyone deserved it, it was Ethan.

And finally, Braydon glanced to his left to the spot where Jessie was sitting. Her hand was resting on his thigh beneath the table and she was talking to Kylie, both of them laughing at Gage and Travis still hovering.