Braydon(54)

“Technically I didn’t hit anything, I dropped it in,” he told her.

Jessie put her hands on her hips and looked up at him. “I forgot about that. You’re right. In that case, you owe me another fifty.”

Braydon cocked an eyebrow, waiting to hear her new made-up rule.

“That’s what the rules say.” Jessie laughed, and the sight of her face all lit up made him grin like a fool. He wanted to put that smile on her face for the rest of his life.

Strange thing to be thinking on a first date, Walker.

But it was true. And technically this was a first date, but it really wasn’t. Which made it so much better.

“How about air hockey?” he suggested.

“Skee ball first,” she said quickly, glancing beside them.

Braydon followed her gaze to see that they were standing beside a row of skee ball machines. “You’re on.”

After retrieving the tokens, way more than they probably needed, Braydon returned to find Jessie talking to a mom who was watching her kid play skee ball. When Jessie noticed him, she excused herself to the woman and made her way over.

“You ready to lose?” she asked him seriously.

“Want to place a wager on this one?” he asked playfully.

Jessie glanced around them, and Braydon realized she was checking to see if there were kids listening in.

Braydon laughed. “Dirty girl. It’s an innocent wager.”

“Bray, I’m not sure you’re capable of innocent,” she teased him.

Braydon pretended to be hurt by her comment, but then moved over to the end and dropped tokens into two of the machines.

“So what are we betting?” Jessie asked as she stepped up to the machine.

“Foot rub,” he said, blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

“You wanna rub my feet?” she asked, grinning.

“If you win, yes. If I win, you get to rub mine.”

“Fine. You’re on.”

They shook hands and then turned to the machine. Braydon watched Jessie roll the first couple of balls, and he realized then that she didn’t suck at skee ball.

Just because he could, he tossed one of his balls onto her lane, earning a glare from her.

“Keep it on your side, Bray,” she demanded, bumping his shoulder as though that might help.

They played three more games after the first, and Braydon lost every damn one of them. Not because he’d thrown the game either, he just well and truly sucked at skee ball. But it was all worth it to see the spark in Jessie’s eyes.

“I win,” she said resplendently, bestowing him with a huge grin. “And I beat you enough to recoup points from losing at golf. I think it’s safe to say that I’m the first date champion.”

Unable to help himself, Braydon grabbed her and pulled her close, smiling down at her.

“I’ll let you have that title,” he whispered, “if I can have a kiss.”

“On the first date?” she asked innocuously. “What kind of girl do you take me for?”

Her smile was brilliant, her eyes crinkling at the edges, and at that moment, Braydon felt as though nothing in the world could possibly be better than standing there with her. “The sexy kind,” he said softly.

“Sweet words will get you everywhere,” she replied, her smile sliding away as she glanced down at his mouth.

His resistance was futile when it came to her, so Braydon gave in to the urge momentarily. He didn’t kiss her long and hard like he wanted, because there were kids around, but he kissed her deeply enough that she gripped his waist possessively. If he hadn’t been worried about innocent eyes watching them, he would’ve pulled her into a dark corner and deepened that kiss even more.

Instead, he leaned away from her, releasing her lips but not taking his eyes off her.

“So what now?” she asked.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“Yes. But not for this place,” Jessie answered, gesturing behind her.

The arcade was equipped with a pizza bar, but Braydon had to agree with Jessie. It didn’t sound all that good. “I know this great little Mexican food place.”

“As long as it doesn’t have a drive-thru, I’m game.”

“No drive-thru, I promise.” Braydon took her hand, entwining his fingers with hers as he led her toward the front doors.

They had managed to pass the majority of the day riding go-karts, fooling around at miniature golf, and playing arcade games. That was after they’d stopped for lunch at, yes, a place with a drive-thru. But it had been Jessie’s suggestion, so Braydon didn’t feel guilty. Now he was hungry for real food though. And real conversation.

Once they reached his truck, Braydon unlocked the doors and then opened the passenger side for her. When she climbed in, he allowed his eyes to travel down the slender length of her, stopping briefly to admire her sexy legs. She was wearing denim shorts, and they weren’t necessarily designed to be sexy, but Jessie made anything look sexy.

When she cleared her throat, Braydon looked up to see her watching him, a glimmer of amusement in her eyes.

“Busted,” he said.

“Definitely.”

With a smirk, he shut the door and made his way around to the driver’s side.

On the way to the restaurant, they managed to rehash the afternoon and all the ways that Jessie believed she had come out the reigning champ. Braydon argued his viewpoints until they both finally agreed that it was a tie. By the time they’d come to that conclusion, he was pulling into the parking lot of the restaurant.