How had she missed it?
Jessie’s thoughts drifted to the weeks right before Braydon disappeared. He hadn’t been himself; she realized that. And yes, she had noticed that in many ways he was acting more and more like his twin in the sense that he was standing up for himself in small ways.
But he never quite made it to the point where he laid it all out there like he had today.
A shudder wracked her body as she thought about the promise she’d seen in his eyes when he made the statement in the truck. And then for him to tell her to forgo panties for the night . . .
Someone rapping on the door broke her from her reverie, and Jessie’s heart pounded like a bass drum in her chest when she saw Braydon standing on the front porch through the window.
Forcing her feet to get with the program, she moved to the door, wrapped her hand around the doorknob, and took a deep breath.
“Ready?” he asked as soon as she had the door open.
Again she was at a loss for words.
There in front of her was the sexiest cowboy she’d ever met. From the light-colored Stetson on his head to his brown boots, the man made her mouth water.
Dark blue Wranglers, a crisp white polo, and that shiny belt buckle was the sexiest outfit she could ever imagine him in. And that was saying something, because the man could rock a tuxedo like no one’s business.
“Yes,” she whispered, realizing she was just staring at him.
“Come on,” he encouraged her with a grin. In a move she was becoming intimately familiar with, Braydon reached for her hand and linked their fingers together. She loved holding his hand. It felt so . . . romantic. Jessie couldn’t remember the last time a guy she dated held her hand. At least not after the first or second date.
But with Braydon, it was almost as though he needed the physical contact.
Jessie allowed him to lead her down the steps to the truck, but when he detoured beyond the passenger side, she looked up at him.
“I want you close to me,” he said by way of explanation.
He opened the driver’s door and took a step back. “For tonight, I want you in the middle.”
Jessie looked up into the truck, then back at Braydon. The middle, huh?
She wasn’t opposed to the idea, so she just nodded her head.
Doing her best to climb into the jacked-up truck as gracefully as possible—not an easy feat, mind you—not wanting her lightweight dress to fly up and reveal that she, in fact, didn’t have on panties, Jessie finally managed to get in.
Braydon was right behind her, and after he buckled his seat belt and put the truck in gear, he placed his right hand on her thigh.
Jessie stared at his big hand on her leg. He wasn’t doing anything inappropriate, but her mind immediately drifted to all sorts of lascivious thoughts right then and there. He squeezed gently, as though reading her mind, and Jessie tore her eyes off his hand and looked up at him.
“Did you find a movie?”
Crap. She knew she was supposed to do something.
Braydon chuckled as though he had known she wouldn’t be able to think clearly after what had transpired between them in the truck. “No worries. I found one. A couple actually. Your choice. Chick flick or action?”
“Depends,” she said, clearing her throat.
“On?”
“Which one you want to see more.”
“It doesn’t matter what I want.”
“Oh, yes it does,” she said, taking a deep breath as his hand slid a little higher on her thigh.
“Why is that?” he asked, glancing over at her from the corner of his eye.
“Because if you’re gonna be focused on an action movie, I’d rather see a chick flick.”
Braydon’s eyebrows dipped in confusion.
“I kinda like the idea of being able to distract you.”
Braydon’s deep inhale told her that he understood her meaning. That made her smile.
And when his hand inched up even farther on her thigh, Jessie knew just how this night was going to go.
chapter SIXTEEN
Foreplay.
Braydon swallowed a laugh as the word popped into his head. Again. Just last night he’d been thinking about it, too. Oh, hell, who was he kidding? He had probably been thinking about foreplay at least once an hour since he was old enough to know what it was.
But today’s brand of foreplay was decidedly different from what Braydon was used to.
It would appear that they were going to make up for all the foreplay that last night lacked during this particular date.
Not that he had a problem with that.
Quite the opposite, actually.
It took incredible concentration to keep his focus on driving and not the smooth, warm skin of Jessie’s thigh beneath his hand. He could feel a slight tremble in her leg, and every time he glanced down, he noticed her hands were balled into fists, her knuckles white.