Braydon(4)

But then Jessie’s shock returned full force when Braydon shrugged her off, effectively dislodging her hand as he said, “I’ve got to get out of here.”

Without another word, Braydon stormed off. The only positive was that he was moving toward the door and not toward Brendon and Cheyenne. For that she was grateful, even if she felt like the biggest fool standing there while the man she loved walked away from her. Something he had never done before.

“Braydon,” Jessie called, but he continued walking.

“Let him go,” Travis told her, his words causing Jessie to spin around to face him. “He needs to cool off.”

Although she wanted to tear into Travis—for what, she didn’t know—Jessie kept her lips sealed shut. She was hurt, and there was no reason for her to take that out on Travis.

Instead, she nodded and turned away, hoping no one noticed the agony she knew was written across her face right then.



UPON RETURNING TO his house after running out of Ethan’s reception with little more than a good-bye to the happy couple, Braydon had ditched his tux, all but ripping the damn thing off. His anger had been a tangible thing, but somehow he’d managed to refrain from doing any damage to the monkey suit. After yanking on shorts and a T-shirt, he plopped his ass on the couch and stared blankly at the television.

The same thing he was doing when Brendon and Jessie walked inside.

At first, he was surprised to see Jessie standing there, staring back at him as though he’d sprouted a third eyeball in the center of his forehead. He expected her to be pissed, but what he saw on her face was probably something closer to tolerance.

Yeah, she was pissed, but just as Jessie always did, she was trying to hide her reaction.

Avoiding looking at Brendon, Braydon kept his eyes on Jessie, watching as she moved across the room, that silky gown clinging to every soft curve. Damn it, she made him so f*cking hard, and his frustration wasn’t helping.

In fact, it was amping up his response, something he knew wasn’t a good thing.

“Hey,” Jessie greeted him, her voice soft. “You doing all right?”

Leave it to Jessie to pretend nothing had happened earlier.

And no, he f*cking wasn’t doing all right. But he didn’t say as much. He wanted to grip her shoulders and shake her, insist that she tell him what she was feeling. But then he’d be a hypocrite because he was keeping just as much inside.

Turning his attention back to the television, Braydon ignored her.

“He must be, since he’s watching the f*cking nature channel,” Brendon stated sarcastically as he walked past the two of them toward his bedroom.

Braydon glowered at his brother’s back, wishing like hell he had the nerve to confront him.

If it weren’t for Travis interfering, Braydon would’ve done so earlier. Part of him was thankful that his brother had stopped him; the other part wanted to rip into Brendon in front of everyone, just to release some of the pent-up aggravation that was churning in his gut.

“Mind if I sit with you?” Jessie asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Braydon shrugged, taking the time to peer up at her where she now stood beside his chair.

The next thing Braydon knew, Jessie was sitting. With him. Or rather, on him was more like it.

Braydon’s body immediately reacted to her nearness, the sweet, flowery scent of her shampoo mixed with the spicy, floral fragrance of her perfume. His head was spinning by the time he was holding her weight on his thighs.

“What are you doing?” he growled softly, furious at her for ignoring the elephant in the room.

“The same thing you are,” she said softly, her voice lacking any of the sweetness that it had before.

They stared back at one another for a moment, Braydon’s hands gripping her hips firmly while she straddled his lap. There was a tumultuous sea of emotion roiling between them, but as always, neither of them said what really needed to be said.

“Pretending nothing happened?” he finally asked.

“Exactly.”

“And sex is your answer to this?” he asked, knowing he was pushing her, not caring that he was probably pissing her off in the process.

“Yes,” she insisted. “It is.”

Braydon didn’t say a word in response. He knew she was just attempting to soothe the tensions the only way she knew how—by distracting them with sex. It wasn’t that she did it on purpose, but that’s what Jessie proclaimed that she wanted.

Not that Braydon had any intention of turning her away.

He was in love. Not an idiot.

At the moment, he couldn’t think of anything better than sinking deep inside of her and forgetting everything, including his own damn name. But he wanted to do this his way tonight. Not hers. Not Brendon’s.

Jessie maneuvered so that she was straddling his lap fully, her knees wedged on either side of his hips while her dress pooled high on her thighs. Instinct had Braydon placing his hands on her thighs, slowly sliding his fingers upward until the tips traced the silky softness of her panties.

When she leaned in to kiss him, Braydon braced himself for the impact.

He groaned when her tongue slipped past his lips and delved into his mouth. She was fire in his arms, primed and ready. He loved when she was the aggressive one, which was about 50 percent of the time. Unfortunately, the other half of the time, Brendon was generally the one in control, leaving Braydon odd man out.