Braydon(9)

Braydon laughed. “I’ve heard that before.”

“When I told her I had a hotel, she told me, ‘Nonsense, honey. We’ve got more than enough room upstairs.’ ” Cheyenne gave a fairly good impression of his mother’s voice.

“How are you getting to the reception?”

“I was hoping to catch a ride with Travis, Kylie, and Gage.”

“They already left,” Braydon apprised her. “Kylie needed to get over there to make sure things were set up and ready for Zane and V.”

“Well, hell,” Cheyenne said, glancing around. There were still a few guests lingering at the church, but even the limo that was taking Zane and V over to the resort had already left.

“I’ll take you,” Braydon offered.

“I’ll take her,” a gruff voice cut in.

Braydon and Cheyenne both turned at the same time to see Brendon walking up behind them. Although he didn’t respond immediately, Braydon heard his brother loud and clear. It wasn’t just the words he said, but the way he said them that brought him up short.

Cheyenne glanced up at Braydon, then over to Brendon. She didn’t look happy, but she didn’t argue.

“We’ll see you there,” Brendon told Braydon, pretty much dismissing him, which only pissed him off. But Braydon had become familiar with not causing a scene lately. Rather than argue, he nodded and headed back toward his truck.





chapter TWO

Stumbling upon Cheyenne and Braydon hadn’t been Brendon’s intention, but now that he had, something disturbingly possessive had ignited in his chest. Offering to take Cheyenne over to the reception had been the only thing he could think of when he heard his brother’s offer, his single goal to get Cheyenne alone for a few minutes.

“You don’t have to take me,” Cheyenne informed him as they made their way toward the nearly empty parking lot of the small church.

“I’m going there anyway, so it’s no big deal.” It was a huge f*cking deal for him, but Brendon wasn’t going to tell her as much.

“Thanks,” she said quietly as they approached his truck.

At the risk of making her think he was trying to come on to her, Brendon made his way around to the passenger-side door and opened it for her. Based on his usual behavior when he was around her, his gesture had probably surprised her somewhat. Brendon wasn’t known to be a true gentleman when Cheyenne was around.

For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why that was. There was an incredible amount of friction between the two of them, and Brendon knew that only a small part of that was due to physical attraction. It didn’t matter that Cheyenne had knocked down every advance he’d ever sent her way; Brendon knew she was attracted to him. He could see it in her smoldering green eyes. Not that she would ever admit it—probably not even to herself.

Once in the truck, Brendon found his need to keep his mouth shut was overpowered by his need to talk to Cheyenne, to try to clear the air between them.

“Why’re you here, Cheyenne?” he blurted, not especially proud of his defensiveness when he was around this woman.

Brendon could feel Cheyenne’s eyes on him, feel the heat of her glare even though he was paying attention to the road.

Finally, Cheyenne sighed heavily before answering. “Your mother invited me.”

“My mother?”

“Yes. She’s the reason I’ve been at all the family functions, Brendon.”

Cheyenne’s tone wasn’t quite defensive, but it wasn’t exactly friendly, either.

“Why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place?” he snapped.

“If you knew how to have a civil conversation, maybe I would have.”

It was Brendon’s turn to sigh, his deep exhale one of exasperation. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he thought about all the times he’d questioned Cheyenne and how she had evaded answering him every damn time. His mother? His mother was the one responsible for Cheyenne showing up whenever there was a Walker family function?

As much as he knew his mother liked to meddle in her sons’ business, he just couldn’t figure out how Cheyenne played into it. What was his mother’s angle?

“So, what? She just calls you up and invites you?”

“Pretty much,” Cheyenne said firmly. “Apparently she doesn’t realize just how much you hate me.”

Shit.

Brendon damn sure didn’t hate Cheyenne. In fact, he was quite fond of her. Too fond of her for his taste. She was an obstacle he hadn’t yet figured out how to steer clear of no matter how much he tried.

“I don’t hate you, Chey,” he finally said.

“Coulda fooled me.”

Unfortunately, the trip from the church to the resort didn’t take long enough. And before he was ready for their conversation to be over, Brendon was pulling the truck up to the main doors, where a handful of valets were waiting to park the vehicles when the guests arrived.

Before the valet made his way to Cheyenne’s door, Brendon turned to face her. “We need to talk.”

“I thought that’s what we just did,” she stated, a little harshly. “If you’re gonna insist that I stay away, I’m not sure I can do that. I happen to like your mother. And Travis is a friend of mine. Just because you can’t stand to be in the same room with me doesn’t mean I’m just gonna go away.”