Braydon(62)

Several minutes later, he emerged to find the bed made and Jessie gone. His T-shirt was lying on the bed, as was his John Deere hat. After pulling on his socks and his boots, he grabbed his shirt and hat and went in search of Jessie.

He found her in the kitchen, the single-cup coffeemaker filtering coffee into a mug. She didn’t look at him, although he cleared his throat to announce his presence.

This was what he’d wanted to avoid.

The morning after. For them, it wasn’t just a matter of Braydon doing the walk of shame, either. They had made so much progress yesterday, yet they’d fast-forwarded once again, bypassing all the important stuff last night by giving in to their baser urges.

And to think, hardly a lick of alcohol played into it. She’d had two margaritas, but the last one had been left on the table, nearly untouched.

At least there was that.

When she started to walk past, Braydon didn’t let her get around. He simply sidestepped so that he was standing directly in front of her. Jessie seemed ready for that move too because she studied her coffee cup instead of making eye contact. “Jess.”

“Hmm?”

“I promised Gage I’d help him take care of something today. Travis had to go to Dallas yesterday and he won’t be back until later this evening. They’ve been working on their fence. Lumber was being delivered yesterday afternoon, and I told him I’d help him get it where it needs to go today before Travis gets back.”

Jessie did look up at him then. Braydon took that moment to retrieve her cup from her hands. He set it on the granite-covered island and then put his finger beneath her chin, tilting her head back more.

“I don’t want to leave,” he informed her. “And I sure as shit plan to come back.”

Jessie just nodded, but he could see the doubt in her eyes.

“Come with me,” he finally said.

“What?”

“Consider it a second date. You can talk to Kylie while I help Gage.”

Jessie shook her head. “You don’t have to do this, Bray.”

“Come with me,” he said again, refusing to take no for an answer. He wanted to spend the day with her. “I’ll help Gage, you chat with your sister. And then when we’re done, we’ll get some dinner and . . .”

“And what?” she asked skeptically.

Braydon felt like a teenage boy trying to get up the nerve to ask a girl to prom. His tongue was tied and he was pretty sure that was sweat trickling down the back of his neck.

“I was thinking we could try a more traditional date. You know, dinner and a movie.”

“A movie?” she asked, the hint of a smile forming on her mouth. “I thought you said that was frowned upon.”

“Only for the first date,” he informed her. “It’s perfectly acceptable for a second date.”

The smallest of smiles tipped the corners of Jessie’s mouth, and her eyes crinkled just slightly.

“You find that funny?” he asked, feeling a little of the pressure subside.

“Not at all,” she said on a giggle.

“Yup,” he finally said decidedly, placing his hat on his head. “That’s what I’m gonna do.”

“What are you gonna do?” she asked, curiosity lighting up her pretty face.

“I’m gonna court you. I’m gonna take you out on a million dates until you get tired of going out. Then we’ll stay in, watch movies, make popcorn, cook dinner together.” Grow old together. He didn’t tack on the last part, because he knew she wouldn’t receive it well.

“Court me? That sounds a little old-fashioned, don’t you think?” Jessie giggled again.

“No, I don’t.” And yes, Braydon was grinning like he had just won the lottery. Only, for him, putting a smile on Jessie’s face was so much better than any sum of money. So maybe that particular word did sound a little old-fashioned, but it didn’t change the fact. “I’m gonna run home, shower, and change. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. Be ready.”

“Fifteen minutes?” Jessie’s eyes flared wide.

“Okay, thirty. I’ll call Gage and let him know we’ll be there as soon as we can.” Braydon didn’t want to waste any more time, so he leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth. As much as he wanted to, he didn’t linger. “Thirty minutes.”

Jessie was laughing as she followed behind him toward the door.

“You’re serious?” she asked, causing Braydon to turn back around to face her.

“Yeah,” he answered, studying the way she nibbled on her bottom lip.

“Oh. Okay.”

Things might’ve started in reverse for them, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t start over. So what if they’d already had sex? So what if Braydon intended to f*ck her nine ways to Sunday every day until . . .

He wasn’t going to think about that now. For now, he just wanted to take things one day at a time. And when they figured it out, they figured it out.

There was a long road ahead of them, he knew that. But he wanted it bad enough for both of them. Not to mention, he was a Walker. And that meant he was determined, to say the least.



JESSIE WATCHED BRAYDON’S enormous truck back out of her driveway and disappear down the winding dirt road that would lead to his house. It wasn’t until she remembered that he was coming back—in thirty freaking minutes—that she went to the kitchen and grabbed her coffee.