Braydon(17)

Brendon remembered the night he met her and how wide Jessie’s eyes had been when she realized that there were two of them. At first he’d seen confusion, but then there was something else.

Heat.

Passion.

Lust.

Yes, he and Braydon were identical. Down to a matching birthmark on their left shoulder and the simple tattoos they each had on their upper right shoulder blade that read 1 of 2.

But their eerily similar looks hadn’t been what seemed to surprise Jessie in the beginning. No, she’d been stunned to learn that they both wanted to get with her. And that was the only way that they operated.

Surprised, sure. But Jessie Prescott hadn’t turned them down.

From that moment on, Jessie had played a huge role in helping Brendon forget about Cheyenne. But no matter how distracted he found himself, Cheyenne never ceased to exist in his head.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

If he were truthful with himself, he would’ve admitted that Jessie was the ideal woman. But he was biased in that regard because it had been about the time that he realized Jessie was using them just as much as they’d been using her that he came to that conclusion.

Jessie Prescott had issues. Personal issues. Not that he ever called her on them, because Brendon wasn’t perfect, either. Although she exuded a self-confidence that was to be admired, there was something extremely vulnerable about her. She wore her feelings on her sleeve for the world to see, even though she denied them most of the time. But more importantly, Jessie had relationship issues. Well, more like a relationship phobia. Of course, Brendon, trying to keep himself distant, had never actually delved into Jessie’s reasons for wanting to keep herself distanced from men, but that didn’t make it any less true. And it meant they had something in common, which made their tryst equally beneficial to all three of them.

So, okay, maybe Brendon had latched onto that little detail and used it to his advantage. He wasn’t interested in a relationship. Not long-term anyway. Keeping Jessie at arm’s length hadn’t been hard, because she seemed to expect it. It had worked for him. Sort of.

Apparently, Braydon hadn’t been keeping his distance from her though. Brendon had found a way to exploit that and tried to make Jessie choose. After that got smoothed over, things had gotten back to normal. As normal as they could get, anyway. Braydon hadn’t gotten that message though. No, Brendon’s twin had gone and developed feelings for Jessie. Strong feelings.

Not that he blamed the guy.

But it didn’t work. Not for them. Brendon didn’t want it that way. Or at least he’d thought that until he had experienced Cheyenne’s adamant insistence that she would never be shared between two men. Brendon hadn’t given up trying to persuade Cheyenne to give in that night, but sure enough, she had stood by her decision and she’d disappeared from his life. Briefly.

Then he’d run into her when they took a trip to Devil’s Bend to see his cousin Tessa and Cooper. Of course, that hadn’t been the last of Cheyenne. He’d run into her at Ethan’s reception, and he’d lost control of his common sense. Only to find out that his mother was playing Cupid again. He should’ve known.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Brendon bolted to his feet as someone pounded on his front door. He was startled by the demanding beat, but he managed to pull himself together before his hand gripped the knob.

A quick peek through the security hole in the door told him that Jessie was standing on the other side. And the woman clearly wasn’t happy.

Pulling the door back slowly, he peered out at her. She’d ceased the pounding, but now she had her hands on her hips, and she was glaring at him as though she wanted to kill him with the death rays shooting from her eyes.

Even angry, she looked just as pretty as always. Her golden-brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, accentuating the soft line of her jaw and the smoothness of her skin along her high cheekbones. Jessie wasn’t exactly short, but she wasn’t tall, either. Average was probably appropriate. He still had to look down at her, especially when she wasn’t wearing her favored footwear—sexy high heels.

“What’s up?” he asked as casually as he could manage. He didn’t feel at all casual when this woman was around. Not after their last encounter.

For three months, he’d been avoiding her, mainly because he was a selfish bastard and he was pissed that Braydon had disappeared. He’d even gone so far as to blame her, knowing good and damn well that Jessie wasn’t the reason Braydon left. Hell, if anything, Jessie would probably be the only thing that would get Braydon to return.

Not that he’d told her that, either.

“Call him,” she demanded.

“Call who?” he asked, pretending he had no idea what she was talking about.

“Call Braydon.”

“Why?” he probed, stepping back out of the doorway to allow her entrance. To his shock, she didn’t move from her position.

Yeah, it was safe to say she hated him.

“I’m not coming in,” she insisted. “Call him. Tell him it’s time to come home.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so!”

Brendon couldn’t help it; he started to laugh. His amusement died instantly when he realized Jessie had tears in her eyes. “What’s the matter?” he asked, pulling her into the house and shutting the door behind her.