Braydon(46)

Fire erupted in his bloodstream; emotions he had just come to accept ripped through him, and he felt the physical remnants of the hold she had on his heart. And when she kissed him back, her hands sliding around his waist and then up his back, he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to pull away from her.

She was sweet, warm, and so f*cking soft.

He tried to keep the kiss slow, gentle. He wanted to savor the way she went liquid in his arms. It registered that they were completely alone. No one waiting on the other side of a door, or in another room . . . They were alone. And he didn’t have to rush. This was a moment that would forever be emblazoned in his memory. There were no expectations of what was going to happen. No premeditated sexual exploits to be carried out.

This was a kiss. Pure and simple.

Braydon didn’t care what happened next, but he didn’t want to stop kissing her.

Jessie’s body pressed against his, her breasts crushed against his chest, her fingernails digging into his back while she tried to pull him to her. Braydon kept his hand at the back of her head, refusing to yank her closer because he didn’t want to ruin the moment. He tried to tell himself that he didn’t need more than this. Kissing her was better than breathing, better than sunshine after a weeklong rainstorm.

Yes. Yes, he had gone there. This woman made him wax poetic about f*cking rainstorms and he didn’t even care.

Air was in short supply and he pulled back slightly, refusing to let her go. As he pressed his forehead to hers, he opened his eyes and looked at her. “Jess,” he said again. Her name was the only word he could come up with.

“What are we doing, Bray?”

He didn’t know, so he didn’t even try to answer.

“We can’t do this,” she finally said.

“We can,” he disputed, forcing his voice to work. “It doesn’t have to be tonight, Jess. But we can do this. We can make this work. If you want it bad enough.”

“Me?” she asked, and the warmth of her body was stolen from him as she let him go. “I’m not the one who made the rules. And I don’t want to play by them anymore.”

“There aren’t any rules,” Braydon informed her.

“Sure there are. Remember Brendon?”

Braydon sighed. Why did Brendon have to be brought into this? Braydon was tired of the incomplete relationships, the ones that were simply based on sex. That’s all he had ever known, and he didn’t want to go back to where they were when Brendon had been involved. He wanted to start over. Shit. If it came down to it, Braydon would rather be celibate than be in another meaningless sexual relationship like that.

Then again, it wasn’t her fault that Braydon had fallen in love with her.

Braydon moved to the wooden post that held up the roof above the porch as he stared out into the darkness surrounding them. He placed one hand on the smooth wood, the other on the back of his neck, trying to massage some of the tension out of the knotted muscles.

The only sounds were the crickets chirping in the underbrush, the lonesome howl of a coyote somewhere in the distance, and the steady rumble of his truck’s engine, which was, yes, still running. Oh, and the erratic thump of his own heartbeat.

“I’m sorry if I came between you and Brendon,” Jessie said faintly.

Braydon lifted his head to see her standing a few feet away, leaning against another one of the cedar posts.

“What are you talking about?”

“I never thought you would leave. I knew from the beginning that what the three of us had was supposed to be temporary. It went on too long, but I . . .” Jessie trailed off and Braydon waited for her to continue. He needed her to continue.

She didn’t.

“You what?”

“I got too comfortable,” she said.

That wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

“I enjoyed your friendship. And Brendon’s, too. It was easy to be around the two of you. And like it or not, the sex was amazing. But . . .” Jessie paused again. “Being with both of you . . . That was exciting at first. But I don’t think I’m capable of being in a relationship like that. My sister has managed to do it. But it isn’t for me. And I know that you and Brendon don’t have relationships without the other being involved.”

Braydon let go of the post and moved closer to Jessie. “Jess, that’s exactly what I want.”

“What? A relationship without him?”

“Yeah. Exactly that,” he told her. “I’ve been dying to have you all to myself, Jess.”

“But what about Brendon?” she asked.

“What about him? He’s a big boy. He can figure it out on his own.” Braydon glanced away briefly. “Not to mention, Brendon’s on a single-minded quest to win Cheyenne Montgomery, which might be an impossible feat. But I know Brendon. He’s not gonna stop until he gets her.”

Jessie nodded. “I’ve seen the way he looks at her.”

“This is new for us, Jess. Brendon and I have always done things one way. But then you came along and . . .” Braydon sucked in a deep breath, but before he could say anything more, Jessie spoke.

“I don’t want to come between the two of you,” she told him, her blue eyes sparkling in the light from the moon as she looked up at him.

“You won’t,” Braydon said. He wasn’t sure whether that was the truth, but he would make it work. If she gave him half a chance, he would prove his love to her. Prove to her that he could be the man she needed.