Braydon (23 page)

When the waiter returned, Braydon signaled him to get Jessie another margarita. He was giving up after one because he had to drive, but he wasn’t ready to leave just yet.

“Tell me about the last guy you dated, Jess,” Braydon said.

Jessie’s eyebrows dipped down as she frowned. “What do you want to know?” she asked, already sounding defensive.

“Everything,” he said truthfully. “I want to know everything there is to know about you.”

They were silent for a moment, and Jessie didn’t speak until after the waiter returned with her margarita. But then, after she took one sip, Jessie surprised him.

Meeting his gaze across the table, Jessie started talking.

“His name was Mike. I met him at work. He was nice enough.” Jessie stared down at the table while she wiped the condensation from her margarita glass. “We didn’t work in the same department, but he was an executive at the company and I had to talk to him on occasion. When he asked me out, I felt . . . special, I guess. Come to find out I wasn’t the only special one.”

“Did he hit you?” Braydon asked, not knowing how to ask other than to come right out and say it.

Jessie’s eyes met his and he could see pain and shame reflecting back in the beautiful blue depths. “Can we talk about something else?”

Braydon didn’t want to change the subject. He wanted to learn more about this woman, her history. But he wasn’t interested in ruining their date, and the idea of any man putting his hands on her in anger was enough to set him off, so he held his tongue. At least in regard to the question. “Sure. I’m actually looking forward to getting more acquainted with your lips anyway, if you want to know the truth.”

Jessie blushed, her cheeks turning a pretty shade of pink as she looked down at the table.

He had told her he wasn’t holding back, and he’d meant it.

“Are you ready to get out of here?” he finally asked when they did nothing more than stare at one another, the sexual tension ratcheting to astronomical levels.

“Yeah,” she whispered.

chapter
THIRTEEN

H
alf an hour later, Braydon was pulling up to her house and Jessie was wringing her hands together in her lap so tightly that her knuckles were white. Ever since Braydon had mentioned getting acquainted with her lips, she’d thought of kissing him. And she hadn’t stopped thinking about it.

Even now, she could imagine him taking her into his arms and pressing his mouth to hers. She could still feel the softness of his lips, the gentle urging of his tongue as he slipped inside . . .

Yeah, tonight wasn’t going to end well.

Well, it was, but it wasn’t.

Jessie knew she should be expecting him to walk her to her front door. Maybe a quick kiss before he disappeared back to his truck while she went inside and relived every single moment of their date over and over again until she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

But the smile she was imagining came from a different ending to the perfect day.

The truck came to a stop in front of her house, but Braydon didn’t turn off the engine. Her heart sank a little as she realized he was going to be a gentleman and walk her to her door and then leave. But she was okay with that.

Really.

She didn’t say anything when he climbed out of the truck, but for half a second, she considered reaching over and pulling the keys out of the ignition herself. She knew how easy it would be to give in to Braydon. To invite him inside, lead him to her bedroom, and let him make love to her for the rest of the night.

It would be too easy because she wanted him more than anything.

But she would be jeopardizing what they’d worked all day to build. If she wanted a chance at a real relationship with this man, she knew she couldn’t bring sex back into it too quickly. Not that she hadn’t already had sex with him. Which was probably why she wanted him so badly.

Remembering all the times they were together, all the ways in which he’d pleasured her body wasn’t a difficult task. What she seemed to have a problem with was imagining what it would be like with just the two of them. Alone.

Jessie was anxious to be alone with Braydon. “Alone” being the key word. No worries about who might walk in on them. Just like she’d dreamed about for so long.

But it wouldn’t be fair. Not to him. Not to her.

They needed to take things slow if they expected to move past everything they’d already put one another through.

The passenger-side door opened and Braydon reached in to take her hand, helping her out of the truck. She let him, and when he closed the door behind him, she knew this was the right thing to do. She would hope for a sweet good-night kiss and maybe a phone call later.

When they reached her front door and Jessie turned to face him, all good intentions went out the window. Especially when she looked up into his beautiful blue-gray eyes and saw everything she’d ever hoped to see reflected there. Without a doubt, Jessie knew he was struggling with the same things she was. What to do . . . What not to do . . .

“Thanks for taking me out today. I had a great time,” she told him, trying to rein in her thoughts before she did something really, really stupid, like invite him in and ravish him until the sun came up.

Sex was not a building block upon which a relationship should be built, and she knew it. Then again, she also knew that the emotional attachment she had formed to him would be solidified by some alone time with him. But was it the right time for that?

“What are you doin’ tomorrow?” he asked.

“Tomorrow’s Sunday,” she said absently. “I think I’m gonna sleep late. Maybe veg out on the couch for a little while and watch reruns of
The Big Bang Theory
. Oh, and take a nice, long bath.”

Heat flared in his eyes when the last words came out of her mouth, and she immediately envisioned the two of them in that big bathtub . . . Oh, God.

“Jessie,” Braydon whispered, moving closer.

She should’ve moved away, should’ve said a quick good-night and slipped into the house and locked the door behind her, shielding herself from the onslaught that was likely going to break her even more.

But she didn’t do either.

No, what she did next surprised them both. When Braydon was just a foot away, Jessie practically lunged for him, moving into his arms and wrapping her arms around his neck. Without considering the consequences of her actions, Jessie kissed him. And kissed him.

Their tongues slid together while their bodies melded against one another. The kiss blazed out of control, a firestorm of passion and desperation that engulfed them both on impact. The only reason she managed to pull away was because she needed to tell Braydon to turn off his truck.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice raspy with a mirroring need.

“Positive.”

Braydon kept his eyes on her, but he didn’t move away. That was when Jessie realized he was as unsure of this as she was. Rather than wait all night, Jessie took matters into her own hands. She sidestepped Braydon, descended the stairs, and made her way to his truck. Less than a minute later, she was standing beside him again, only this time he was the one to pull her against him.

Things were a blur from that moment on. At least until they were safely inside, his keys deposited on the table near the door and their lips once again fused together.

“Jessie . . . Baby . . .”

Jessie couldn’t speak because her heart was lodged in her throat. This was the moment she had been waiting for, the opportunity to have this man all to herself. At least once. She didn’t even want to hope for more at this point. She just wanted to forget about tomorrow or the next day. The only thing that mattered was the way Braydon was kissing her, touching her, keeping her close.

When his hand slid down to her bare thigh, Jessie sighed into his mouth. His callused hands sent chills racing along her skin. “Braydon,” she pleaded.

“Jess, it’s been so damn long,” he growled.

It had been. Too long.

Pulling away, Jessie grabbed his arm with one hand and her shoe with the other. She hopped on one foot and then the opposite until she was barefoot, but then she was in Braydon’s arms again. The man plundered her mouth, his hands firm and hot against her skin, his body hard beneath her palms.

When she began pulling his shirt from the waistband of his jeans, he didn’t back up. His hands moved down to help her until finally she was touching hot, smooth skin. She caressed the angles and planes of his broad chest while she plunged her tongue into his mouth. During the fury to get closer, their teeth clashed together, but neither of them cared. This was the moment she’d been waiting for. This was the moment she’d dreamed about for longer than she cared to admit.

Braydon’s thick fingers found the button on her shorts, and he deftly released it, then lowered the zipper before the denim slid down her legs and pooled at her ankles. Her shirt was the next thing to disappear, and standing there in her bra and panties, Jessie was anxious to get Braydon just as naked. If not more.

But he wasn’t having any of it because his hands gripped her wrists, subduing her quest to unbutton his jeans. When she stilled, he released her and his hands slid up her arms, around to her back, and then down until he was cupping her ass. The muscles in his arms flexed and strained as he lifted her. Jessie clung to his neck and allowed him to pick her up, her legs immediately wrapping around him.

The hard ridge of his erection ground intimately against her, but it was clear he had something else in mind, because Braydon began moving. She never stopped kissing him. Knocking his hat to the floor, she cupped his head, unable to slide her fingers through his hair because it was even shorter than it used to be. But she didn’t let go until he was lowering her to her bed.

Time stood still as he stared down at her.

Neither of them spoke. For that, she was grateful. There was no telling what might come out of her mouth, and the last thing she wanted was for either of them to stop this.

Oh, mother of all things glorious. The man was beautiful. Tall, dark, and sleekly muscled. Jessie was pretty sure he had gotten even bigger since he left. Whatever it was, it looked good on Braydon.

Much to her disappointment, he didn’t lose the jeans, but he did join her, his body moving atop hers. When she tried to pull him closer, he kept his weight balanced on his arms. Jessie practically molded her body to his, lifting her shoulders up off the bed as she held on to him, their mouths meeting again.

Although the underlying tone spoke of something much deeper, this wasn’t a sweet joining. There wasn’t going to be anything gentle about their lovemaking. Not this time.

“Jess,” Braydon said, lifting his mouth from hers. “It’s been a long time for me.”

Jessie stared blankly at him. But . . . She’d thought . . . “You haven’t . . . ?”

“I haven’t been with anyone since you.”

Why did she believe him? She wasn’t sure why, but she did. And that made her heart swell to twice its usual size.

“What does that mean?” she asked seriously.

The sexy smirk that tipped Braydon’s lips made her smile.

“It means this first time probably won’t last long.”

“I’m okay with that,” she told him, grinning. “We’ve got all night.”

That was when she released him and slid her hands down between them. His position didn’t allow him to stop her when she reached for the button on his jeans again. While she watched his face, she unhooked the button, slid down the zipper, and then eased her hand inside until she felt the smooth length of him against her palm.

“Fuck, Jess,” Braydon hissed. “Baby . . .”

“You’ve got too many clothes on,” she told him. Since she wasn’t going to be able to undress him from her position beneath him, he was going to have to help.

She kept her eyes trained on him when he got to his feet again. As he stripped, she watched in awe as his magnificent body was uncovered. It was like her own personal striptease, only the reward was going to be much more than just ogling one of the sexiest men alive.

Before he tossed his jeans to the floor, he reached for his wallet and retrieved a condom from it. The leather then slapped the nightstand, but her attention was once again riveted to him as he ripped open the foil and then sheathed himself.

Jessie’s body began to hum and her heart began to pound wildly as she accepted her fate. This was going to happen. She was going to make love to Braydon. And tomorrow, she would have to deal with the consequences.

But for tonight, she promised herself that she wouldn’t worry about anything but loving this man. Because it might just be the first and the last time.

FOREPLAY.

That was one word that echoed in Braydon’s head, but he was having a hard time focusing. Especially when Jessie unclasped her bra, allowing the silky material to fall away, revealing the generous swells of her creamy white breasts and the puckered tips of her dusky pink nipples.

His cock jerked in his hand and Braydon hoped like hell he could at least make this good for her. She’d said they had all night. He only hoped that was true, because he feared that when he slid inside her warm, wet heat, he’d last a minute. Maybe two.